Research > Campaigns > ISDAC

Measurements and Platforms

 

The ISDAC field campaign will involve up to 45 hours of flight time to measure a suite of cloud and atmospheric properties: temperature, humidity, total particle number, aerosol size distribution, aerosol hygroscopicity, cloud condensation nuclei concentration, ice nuclei concentration, optical scattering and absorption, updraft velocity, cloud liquid water and ice contents, cloud droplet and crystal size distributions, cloud particle shape, and cloud extinction. In addition to aircraft measurements, the ISDAC science team will deploy a spectroradiometer from the surface to retrieve measurements of cloud optical depth and effective radius.

Platform Measurements
NSA Barrow Facility; subset of instruments from the ACRF site in Atqasuk Full suite of active (i.e., radars and lidars), passive (i.e., radiometers) and in-situ sensors for measuring cloud, aerosol, and other atmospheric properties
Canadian National Research Council’s Convair-580 Nearly 40 instruments will be used to obtain in situ and remote sensing measurements such as:

  • Aerosol Properties – particle concentration, size distribution, black carbon, optical scattering and absorption, composition, and ice nuclei concentration
  • Atmospheric state – temperature, humidity, water vapor, and vertical velocity
  • Cloud Microphysics – water concentration, temperature, particle size and distribution, and extinction
  • Precipitation – supercooled liquid and water concentration
  • Visible and Infrared Radiation – cloud emissivity and radiation flux

Flights will be coordinated with NASA’s B-200 King Air, DC-8, P-3 and NOAA’s P-3 when possible, as well as with overpasses of the A-Train satellites

Campaign Links