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Driftsonde Flights during AMMA Stratospheric balloons to study African monsoon and formation of cyclones. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) [French National Center for Space Studies]. Terry Hock,
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DriftsondeFlights during AMMAStratospheric balloons to study African monsoonand formation of cyclones National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales(CNES) [French National Center for Space Studies] Terry Hock, Dave Parsons, Hal Cole, Jack Fox, Joe VanAndel, Keith Romberg NCAR/EOL Nov. 2, 2006 5th International Conference on Mesoscale Meteorology and Typhoon
Driftsonde Concept • Cost-effective dropsonde observations of wind, temperature, and humidity to fill critical gaps in coverage over oceanic and remote artic and continental regions over days to weeks.
AMMA Driftsonde Project Goals Support of the THORPEX International Science and Implementation Plans for demonstration tests of new technologies for the delivery of in-situ sensing The tests were supported by CNES for the ballooning (French Space Agency) Support within the US by NCAR and NOAA/THORPEX for the driftsonde gondola and new dropsondes 8 Balloon flights 24 to 40 Miniture Dropsondes per balloon flight Launch Location Zinder, Niger Flight Operations Center Paris and Boulder Engineering team effort between CNES & NCAR Flights 10+ days CNES Delveloped Super Pressure Balloon and Flight Control System NCAR Developed Driftsonde Gondola System, Miniture Dropsonde and Ground Sounding Software
AMMA Driftsonde Team Zinder Team Philippe Cocquerez, Stéphanie Vénel (CNES); Terry Hock, Jack Fox,, Keith Romberg (NCAR) Paris Team Philippe Drobinski (IPSL/SA); Dave Parsons, Joe VanAndel, Hal Cole (NCAR) Boulder Team Dean Lauritsen, Charlie Martin, Gary Granger, Dennis Flanigan, (NCAR)
Zinder Flight Operations Sonde Loading Final Testing Payload Balloon Inflation
Driftsonde AMMA Launch Location Zinder, Niger Zinder Niger
Miniature In-situ Sounding Technology (MIST Sonde developed at NCAR) GPS Antenna • MIST Design Criteria & Motivation • - Low cost (current aircraft dropsondes cost >$700) • - Small (credit card size) • - Lightweight (Gondola to carry 80 sondes) • - Pressure derived from GPS & hydrostatic equation (using known launch pressure) • - Operate at -70º C (20km altitude) • MIST Sonde Specification • Size: 4.62 cm diameter, length 22.86 cm • Weight: 145 grams • Fall rate ~10 m/s at surface, cone parachute • Sensors: Temperature, Humidity, Winds & Position • 50 mil Thermsitor • Humicap w/temperature sensor for substrate • 16 channel GPS receiver • Sensor sample rate 0.5 secs • Remote control Power On & Sonde Release GPS Receiver (16 channel) 2 Microprocessors Transmitter (400 MHz) Humidity Sensor (humicap w/substrate temperature) TemperatureSensor (50 mill bead thermistor)
Gondola Electronics- sonde receiver system Lower Part of Gondola Iridium Satellite Transceiver Lithium Batteries Miniature Dropsonde Upper Part of Gondola NCAR System Electronics
AMMA Driftsonde Flights • 6 successful missions from the 8 Driftsondes launched
Driftsonde Flights Sonde release Predicted Flight Trajectories
Driftsonde dataDriftsonde 3 in the vicinity of tropical cyclone Florence Tropical cyclone Florence Sondes released from driftsonde #3
Driftsonde dataDriftsonde 4 in the vicinity of tropical cyclone Gordon Tropical cyclone Gordon Sondes released from driftsonde #4