PNNL

Abstract

Between 1 July and 30 September 2018, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), tethered balloon systems (TBS), and additional radiosondes were deployed at Oliktok Point, Alaska to measure the atmosphere in support of the second special observing period for the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP). These measurements collected as part of the "Profiling at Oliktok Point to enhance YOPP Experiments" (POPEYE) campaign, targeted quantities related to enhancing our understanding of boundary layer structure, cloud formation for model evaluation and improvement work. Over the three-month campaign, a total of 59 datahawk2 sUAS flights, 52 TBS flights, and 238 total radiosonde launches were completed as a part of POPEYE. The data from these coordinated activities provide a comprehensive three-dimensional data set of the atmospheric state (air temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind), surface skin temperature, aerosol properties, and cloud microphysical information over Oliktok Point. These data sets have been checked for quality and submitted to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program data archive (http://www.archive.arm.gov/discovery/) and are accessible at no cost by all registered users. The preliminary dataset DOIs are 10.5439/1418259 (DataHawk2 measurements; Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, 2016b), 10.5439/1426242 (TBS measurements; Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, 2017) and 10.5439/1021460 (radiosonde measurements; Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, 2013a).