Meteorological Measurement System

T. Paul Bui

NASA Ames Earth Science Division

The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) is a PI-led airborne instrument that provides calibrated, science quality, in situ state measurements of static pressure, static temperature, and three-dimension wind. Accurate measurements of these quantities require judicious choices of sensor lacations, repeated laboratory & flight calibrations, proper corrections for compressibility, adiabatic heating and flow distortion.

Primary Products 1-20 Hz    Typical value          Precision                Accuracy

Pressure                                 ~ 60 mb                ± 0.003 mb           ± 0.3 mb ~ 0.5%

Temperature                           ~180 K                 ± 0.05 K                ± 0.3 k ~ 0.2%

Horizontal Wind                    ~ 30 m s-1            ± 0.1 m s-1            ±1 m s-1 ~3.3%

Vertical Wind                         < 1 m s-1               ± 0.05 m s-1          ± 0.3 m s-1

Derived Parameter:

Potential Temperature, True-Air-Speed, Turbulence Dissipation Rate, Reynolds Number

Measured Parameters:

GPS Positions, Velocities, Accelerations, Pitch, Roll, Heading, Angle-of-Attack, Angle-of-Sideslip, Dynamic Total Pressures, Total Temperatures

Integrated Platforms: ER-2, DC-8, WB-57F, GLOBAL HAWK, SIERRA UAV, ALPHAjet

Past Missions:

• 1987 STEP Stratospheric-Tropospheric Exchange Project.
• 1987 AAOE Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment.
• 1989 AASE Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition.
• 1991-92 AASE-II .
• 1992-93 SPADE Stratospheric Photochemistry, Aerosols and Dynamics Experiment.
• 1994 ASHOE/MAESA combined mission of Airborne Southern Hemispheric Ozone Experiment and Measurements for Assessing the Effects of Stratospheric Aircraft.
• 1995-1996 STRAT Stratospheric TRacers of Atmospheric Transport.
• 1996 SUCCESS SUbsonic aircraft Contrail & Clouds Effects Special Study.
• 1997 POLARIS Photochemistry of Ozone Loss in the Artic Region In Summer.
• 1997 SONEX SASS(Subsonic Assessment) Ozone and NOx EXperiment.
• 1998 CAMEX3 Third Convection And Moisture EXperiment.
• 1999 SOLVE SAGEIII Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment.
• 2001 CAMEX4 Forth Convection And Moisture EXperiment.
• 2002 CRYSTAL-FACE Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Forida Area Cirrus Experiment.
• 2004 MidCix Middle Latitude Cirrus Experiment.
• 2005 AVE Houston Aura Validation Experiment.
• 2006 CR-AVE Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment.
• 2006 NAMMA NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses.
• 2007 TC4 Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling.
• 2008 NOVICE The Newly-Operating and Validated Instruments Comparison Experiment.
• 2009 CASIE Characterization of Arctic Sea Ice Experiment.
• 2010 GloPac Global Hawk Pacific.
• 2010 GRIP The Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes.
• 2011 MACPEX The Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties EXperiment.
• 2011 RRV Railroad Valley Greenhouse Gas Project.
• 2011-2014 ATTREX Airborne Tropical Tropopause EXperiment.
• 2012-2013 SEAC4RS/DC3 Southeast Asia Composition, Cloud, Climate Coupling Regional Study.
• 2013 AJAX Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment.