The NASA Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface (AirMOSS) campaign focused on observations of root zone soil moisture (RZSM) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide over a variety of North American biomes across several seasons. AirMOSS completed 34 deployments from 2012-2015, over parts of Canada, the US, and Costa Rica. Airborne observations included P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements as well as carbon and other gas concentrations. AirMOSS supports NASA’s carbon cycle and ecosystems, climate, and Earth surface missions.
The AirMOSS P-band Radar is an airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It was designed based on the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) L-band radar and has been a part of the UAVAR instrument suite since the completion of the AirMOSS investigation in 2015. AirMOSS collects radar data to derive measurements of root-zone soil moisture, permafrost, and underground structures and subsurface changes. It operates across the 280-440 MHz frequency range and can detect up to 1.2 m below the land surface. AirMOSS has a slant range resolution of 7 m and a range swath width of 7 km at a nominal altitude of 12,500 m.
Rain gauges are ground-based instruments that provide in situ measurements of liquid precipitation amounts over a set time. There are multiple types of rain gauges that each collect and record data differently such as the tipping bucket rain gauge and weighing precipitation gauge. Rain gauges can be deployed in various locations due to their relatively small size and easy set-up and are typically colocated with other precipitation instruments such as disdrometers to provide more details about precipitation being collected such as precipitation rate and size distribution.
The Best Air Turbulence Probe, also known as the BAT probe, was invented in the late 1980’s by NOAA in an effort to better measure wind turbulence. The bat-shaped probe is equipped with a number of pressure sensors and a temperature sensor. Perturbations measured by those probes are then translated into wind flow measurements. Although the bat probe has been used on a number of different aircraft, it is most commonly used on the Airborne Laboratory Atmospheric Research (ALAR), which is owned and operated by Purdue University.
The Best Air Turbulence Probe, also known as the BAT probe, was invented in the late 1980’s by NOAA in an effort to better measure wind turbulence. The bat-shaped probe is equipped with a number of pressure sensors and a temperature sensor. Perturbations measured by those probes are then translated into wind flow measurements. Although the bat probe has been used on a number of different aircraft, it is most commonly used on the Airborne Laboratory Atmospheric Research (ALAR), which is owned and operated by Purdue University.
Earth Science > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Temperature
The Picarro gas concentration analyzer is an in situ airborne or ground-based sensor manufactured by Picarro, Inc. It uses Wavelength-Scanned-Cavity Ring Spectroscopy (WS-CRDS) to measure trace gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and water vapor. For carbon dioxide measurements, the laser within Picarro operates at 1603 nm wavelength and 1651 nm wavelength for methane and water vapor measurements. Picarro has a typical sampling time of 2.5 seconds. Depending on the model, Picarro can also provide measurements of carbon isotopes for gas concentrations.
