Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Contact: Madge Gibson
news@utsi.edu
The University of Tennessee (UTSI) Aviation Systems Program
recently accomplished another airborne science milestone by flying
their first science missions for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in April 2010. These first
missions were flown over eastern Tennessee for NOAA’s Atmospheric
Turbulence and Diffusion Division (ATDD), Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ATDD
is one of several field divisions of the NOAA Air Resources
Laboratory, Silver Spring, Maryland. ATDD conducts research on air
quality, climate, and dispersion, providing data that impacts issues
of national and global significance. The UTSI airborne science
research is made possible through funding provided by NOAA, totaling
over $1.5 million for the next two years. Flying their Piper Navajo
Airborne Science Research Aircraft, the Aviation Systems team
collected scientific data over Crossville, Tennessee and near the
Oak Ridge National Laboratories.
NOAA ATDD is collaborating with the University of Tennessee Space
Institute to obtain airborne measurements of the Earth's surface
temperature over selected U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN)
ground measurement sites. While the Climate Network ground sites can
only obtain temperature data at a single point on the Earth’s
surface, UTSI’s aircraft can obtain data over a wide area over and
around these ground sites. The airborne data will help NOAA
scientists quantify the spatial variability and validity of the
single-point, ground measurements of surface temperature. The
airborne measurements will also be used to improve satellite
infrared reflectance measurements, such as those being made from the
NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series
(GOES-R). With the help of NOAA ATDD, UTSI is planning to erect a
ground station near the UTSI campus to provide valuable climate data
for many years to come and provide a unique opportunity for UTSI
researchers to become involved with climate research and novel
sensor development.
The airborne data was obtained using the highly instrumented,
Aviation Systems Piper Navajo airborne science research aircraft.
The UTSI Piper Navajo is a cabin-class, twin engine aircraft that
has been highly modified to carry an array of specialized airborne
science sensors, instrumentation, and data systems. For the ATDD
missions, these sensors included radiometers that measured direct
and reflected light intensity, an infrared temperature sensor, and a
laser altimeter that provided very accurate height above the ground.
The NOAA ATDD missions are the start of a series of airborne science
flight campaigns to be conducted by UTSI. In May 2010, UTSI will
again team up with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Alabama to fly the Marshall Airborne Passive Microwave
Imaging Radiometer (MAPIR). The MAPIR is mounted in the UTSI Piper
Navajo belly sensor pod developed by the Aviation Systems Program.
Previously, UTSI had flown the NASA MAPIR to collect surface
temperature data for nuclear power plant cooling water in Tennessee
and northern Alabama. In the upcoming tests, the NOAA ATDD missions
will be repeated with surface temperature data being collected using
the state-of-the-art NASA MAPIR sensor.
Then in the summer of 2010, the Aviation Systems airborne science
team will head to the Gulf of Mexico to conduct the Atmospheric
Mercury Sensing flight campaign for the NOAA Air Resources
Laboratory. This major scientific endeavor is a collaborative effort
between UTSI, NOAA, Georgia Tech, Florida State University, and the
University of Miami. The Aviation Systems Piper Navajo will be flown
to collect samples of atmospheric mercury over the NOAA ground-based
mercury monitoring site at the National Estuarine Research Reserve
(NERR) in Grand Bay, Mississippi and over the Gulf of Mexico. This
airborne data will be used by scientists to help understand the
sources and transport of atmospheric mercury and increase the
database for the modeling of atmospheric mercury.
Dr. Stephen Corda, Chairman of the UTSI Aviation Systems Program,
stated that “The success of the UTSI Airborne Science Program is due
to the dedication, expertise, and plain hard work of the Aviation
Systems team. This team is comprised of unique individuals with
outstanding skills in their respective fields and extensive flight
test experience. The UTSI Airborne Science team includes Associate
Professor John Muratore who heads up the systems integration area
and flies as a Flight Test Engineer, Professor Peter Solies who
leads structural design and integration and flies as a Flight Test
Engineer, Assistant Professor Richard Ranaudo who supports flight
safety and operations planning and flies as a Test Pilot, Research
Engineer Borja Martos who supports engineering integration, flight
operations planning, and flies as a Test Pilot, Head Aircraft
Mechanic Greg Heatherly and Aircraft Mechanic Shane Porter who both
not only provide extremely professional aircraft maintenance but who
also perform much of the specialized hardware fabrication and
installations of our research equipment, Brenda Brown who was
critical in handling our budget administration and our procurements,
and our graduate students, William Moonan, Joe Young, and Jonathan
Kolwyck, who have provided all manner of engineering support. It
takes a true team effort to conduct this type of flight research
with such a high quality data product and to perform these flight
operations safely.”
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