High-performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research

The high-performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research (HIAPER) is a modified Gulfstream V aircraft operated by the Earth Observing Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The aircraft was purchased brand-new from Gulfstream Aerospace in 2002 and then modified by Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina over a period of two years, for a total cost of $80 million.[1]

HIAPER
NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft
Role atmospheric research
Manufacturer Gulfstream
Primary user National Center for Atmospheric Research
Number built 1
Developed from Gulfstream V

The aircraft includes a wing mounted cloud radar which allows researchers a high resolution view into snow producing storms.[2] The aircraft is designed and instrumented to observe and measure clouds from the stratosphere.[3][4]

The HIAPER cloud radar (HCR) is an airborne, polarimetric, millimeter-wavelength radar capable of cloud remote sensing.[2] Whole air samplers also collect air samples for later analysis on the ground.[5]

Data collected by the 2013 HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) campaign is publicly available.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "HIAPER Project Office > What is HIAPER?". ucar.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Johnson, Nate. "Advanced radar makes maiden voyage". WRAL. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  3. ^ "HIAPER (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research) Project Office". ucar.edu. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  4. ^ Laursen, Krista K.; Jorgensen, David P.; Brasseur, Guy P.; Ustin, Susan L.; Huning, James R. (July 2006). "Hiaper: The Next Generation NSF/Ncar Research Aircraft". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 87 (7): 896–909. Bibcode:2006BAMS...87..896L. doi:10.1175/bams-87-7-896. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0011-FC68-B. S2CID 120519177.
  5. ^ a b "HIPPO global-scale air chemistry dataset now available". Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
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