Results from the Collaboration Leading Operational Unmanned Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics 2017 Flight Campaign

CLOUD-MAP is a 4 year, 4 university collaboration to develop capabilities that will allow meteorologists and atmospheric scientists to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) as a common, useful everyday tool.The focus is the development, evaluation and application of complete UAS system packages capable of acquiring needed meteorological and atmospheric data miniaturized, high-precision, and fast-response atmospheric sensors for wind and thermodynamic observations along with measurements of air chemistry and soil properties relevant to climate science as a whole. The 2017 campaign explored a multi-platform approach for observing needed mesoscale atmospheric and meteorological observations with UAS to gain experience in deploying the platforms, collecting atmospheric measurements, and coordinating operations among different UAS teams. Comparisons are made with local mesonet and DOE ARM SGP site towers. This presentation will discuss results of this year's flight campaign at sites in Oklahoma, which include flights of various systems, including fixed and rotary wing platforms, and approximately 500 flights over a 3 day period. Supported by the National Science Foundation under award number 1539070.