The use of kites, tethered balloons and miniature unmanned aerial vehicles for performing low level atmospheric measurements over water, land and sea ice surfaces

Miniature multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) are both inexpensive and easy-to-operate due to GPS and inertial navigation system technologies. They can be fitted with atmospheric sensors and flown in a variety of conditions including over land, water and sea ice surfaces. The author will present results from recent experiments comparing MUAV platform measurements with fixed towers and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using such aircraft in various environments. The author will also present results from tethered balloon and kite platform measurements over the ocean performed during the Trident Warrior 2013 program and compare these types of measurements with those from MUAVs. The ability of all three types of platforms to perform multiple profiles in one setting makes them ideal for studies of the atmospheric surface layer, low level internal boundary layers and associated effects on electromagnetic propagation in locations where it is impractical to deploy other types of platforms such as towers.