Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sonde System (UCASS)

Meteorology and atmospheric research make wide use of systems called "radiosondes", which supply essential, routine measurements for weather prediction on the one hand, and for wider atmospheric research on the other hand. However, radiosondes and their aircraft-launched equivalents called "dropsondes" are limited to providing three or four basic measurements, including temperature, pressure, humidity and sometimes ozone concentration. Missing through lack of technical capability is any information on atmospheric particulates, such as aerosol or cloud particles.
This project aims to develop, test and commercialize a modular, low-cost, atmospheric sonde for the characterization of cloud and aerosol particles, including volcanic ash. The module will be compatible with several widely used commercial sounding systems giving standard meteorological quantities, but will be complementary to them, as it will provide variables not yet routinely measurable. Initially, we will focus on the most basic property, that is particle size, but this can be extended in the future to particle shape. The sonde system will be deployable using meteorological balloons, manned aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles. Therefore, it will allow accessing environments where direct measurements are not currently possible. Applications extend from weather prediction, through air quality monitoring, to civil contingencies, such as volcanic eruptions, as well as numerous uses in atmospheric research, including climate change, extreme weather events or the validation of satellite remote-sensing measurements.

The direct benefit of the project will be the availability of low-cost devices for measuring the size of atmospheric particles in clouds or aerosol layers. The devices will allow measurements of variables not hitherto available in many contexts, including some environments where measurements were difficult, expensive or not previously possible (e.g. some types of cloud, volcanic ash layers, planetary boundary layer). Adding other variables, such as particle shape or gas concentration is anticipated in the future.

Direct beneficiaries will include:

* National meteorological agencies (e.g. Met Office in the UK, Deutscher Wetterdienst in Germany, NOAA in the US), as access to hitherto unavailable properties will allow improving weather and climate forecasting both short term through cloud and aerosol data assimilation into models, and long term through superior models.

* National and international space agencies (e.g. ESA, DLR, CNES, NASA), as sonde-based measurements will permit validation of remote sensing retrievals of atmospheric properties from satellites.

* Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs), because ash soundings will allow initializing, constraining and verifying dispersion models.

* Civil and military aviation, as well as economy in general, in the event of future volcanic eruptions, because more accurate ash dispersion prediction will minimize unnecessary airspace closures.

* Agencies concerned with monitoring and maintaining air quality (Defra in the UK), as aerosol measurement (and other pollutant in the future) will be possible at greater spatial resolution and will not be confined to the ground level.

* Research aircraft operators (e.g. UK FAAM, EU EUFAR, DLR in Germany, SAFIRE in France, NASA, NOAA and NCAR in the US), specifically because the use of dropsondes will improve the efficiency (and spacial coverage) of aircraft-based measurements.

The final product will also benefit researchers in many fields of atmospheric science, including: weather prediction, cloud physics, aerosol physics and chemistry, atmospheric dispersion modelling, climate change, air quality and pollution, extreme weather events, satellite remote sensing validation, lidar measurement validation, and others. Indeed, following the development of the earlier low-cost DREAME aerosol counter in 2009, University of Hertfordshire received numerous enquiries and requests for units for research purposes. These requests could not be met because of lack of volume production capability.

Therefore, long-term, indirect impacts will be significant, some on the society as a whole (e.g. due to improved weather or volcanic ash cloud forecasting), some on specific areas like aviation, tourism, insurance, defence and national security, or public health.

Contacts have already been established with many stakeholders, including several divisions of the Met Office in the UK, Deutscher Wetterdienst in Germany, Met Eireann (Irish Meteorological Service), UK Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement (FAAM), European Facility For Airborne Research (EUFAR), UK Civil Aviation Authority, Irish Aviation Authority, and others. Bilateral exchange of information will exist, to define optimum operational parameters for the sonde system on the one hand, and to disseminate the outcomes from the project on the other hand.

It is also anticipated that the project will benefit the manufacturing economy in the UK and the EU through the introduction of an entirely new product that is likely to be competitive on the world market, and should also open up new applications for existing atmospheric sounding systems.