Using a Small Unmanned Aerial System for Atmospheric Research

NOAA/ATDD used a rotor-based small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) to measure the dynamics of land-atmosphere interactions in the lower boundary layer. A field campaign was conducted at Auburn University's Tennessee Valley Research and Extension Center in Belle Mina, AL in the summer of 2015 as part of an intensive study to investigate convective initiation. Measurements of the scale and extent of the temperature and moisture fields adjacent to stationary flux towers were made, as well as the diurnal development of the vertical temperature and humidity profiles to 120 meters in altitude. The sUAS also simultaneously mapped the thermal land surface temperature field with an infrared camera. These observations were compared to observations in the heat and water fluxes at the land surface.