Fast Response Meteorological Measurements aboard Uncrewed Aerial Systems

In the past years since 2021, the ARM Aerial Facility deployed the uncrewed aerial vehicle ArcticShark several times over the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in northern Oklahoma. The aircraft is equipped with a variety of meteorological sensors and aerosol measurement instruments, including a LICOR-840 for H2O and CO2 measurements and a fast response temperature sensor. These measurements can be compared and validated with the frequent radiosonde balloon launches at SGP. Here, we present the full capabilities of the aircraft. Furthermore, we discuss the comparison of the ArcticShark and radiosonde meteorological data, with a focus on temperature, humidity and wind measurements. Especially when the radiosonde and aircraft are spatially and temporally close, we do find strong agreement between the measurements, which is encouraging. However, direct measurements from high temporal resolution as well as fast response sensors are necessary; measurements such as the AIMMS-derived temperature and relative humidity are exhibiting lag during altitude changes, while our new fast temperature sensor does not.