SOCRATES Aircraft Payload

Our research aircraft are essentially "flying laboratories". For each field project a specialized suite of instruments are uploaded to the aircraft to meet the research needs of the study. SOCRATES will quantify how clouds, aerosols, air-sea exchanges interact over the Southern Ocean, therefore the payload consists of a suite of instruments specific to this research project including radar, lidar, radiometers, cloud droplet probes, and dropsondes.

   

Instrument

Acronym

Instrument

Name

Measurement

AVAPS

Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (Dropsonde System)

High resolution vertical profiles of ambient temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and wind direction; dropsondes are ejected out of the back right side of the aircraft through a small pressurized port



Left Wing Stores


Instrument

Acronym

Instrument

Name

Measurement

2DS Two-Dimensional Stereo probe

Two-dimensional images of cloud and precipitation particles from 10-1280 µm

Ballast

--

A non-operational pod that mirrors the weight and aerodynamics properties of the opposite side wing store

Gust Pod

All Weather Wind Gust Pod

3-D wind in all conditions and provides aircraft position, attitude, ground speed, aircraft attack angle (AKRD), Solid State Recording Device (SSRD), and aircraft true air speed (TASX)

King Probe

King (CSIRO) Liquid Water Sensor

Cloud liquid water content

PHIPS

Particle Habit Imager and Polar Nephelometer

Simultaneously images a cloud particle and measures its angular scattering phase function

UHSAS

Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer

Concentration and size distribution of aerosol particles having diameters from 0.060 --1.0 µm

 

Right Wing Stores


Instrument

Acronym

Instrument

Name

Measurement

2DC-25

Two-Dimensional Optical Array Cloud Probe

Two-dimensional images of hydrometeors from 25-1560 µm

CDP

Cloud Droplet Probe

Cloud droplet size distribution and various measurements derived from that size distribution from 1-50 µm

CLH-2

University of Colorado Closed-path Laser Hygrometer, v2 

“Total water”, the sum of water vapor and particulate water, water vapor resulting from the evaporation of cloud particles

Forward Camera

Forward Camera

Provides imagery of the scene ahead of aircraft. Image resolution is 1024x768,  with a 62° (horizontal) x 48° (vertical) field of view

HCR

HIAPER Cloud Radar Radar W-band reflectivity factor and radial velocity of hydrometeors

PIP

Precipitation Imaging Probe

Quantity and images of precipitation sized particles from 100 microns to 6.4 mm in size

RICE

Rosemount Icing Detector Presence of supercooled water; also a rough measurement of the quantity

 

Top Instrumentation


Instrument

Acronym

Instrument

Name

Measurement

CCN

Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter Spectrum of cloud condensation nuclei concentration

CN

Condensation Nucleus Counter

Total ambient concentration of aerosol particles larger than the threshold size for the instrument, typically about 11 nm diameter (6 nm for the water-based counter); dependent on flight conditions

IR radiometer

Infrared radiometer

Infrared radiation

VCSEL

Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser Hygrometer

Water vapor concentration and related derived values (mixing ratio, dew point, etc.)

 

Bottom Instrumentation


 

Instrument

Acronym

Instrument

Name

Measurement

CFDC

Continuous Flow Diffusion Chambers Particle size distribution

CVI

Counterflow Virtual Impactor

Cloud particle concentration, condensate mass, water vapor (for isotopic analysis) and aerosol particle residuals

AutoGNI

Giant Nuclei Impactor

Giant aerosol particles

HSRL (Viewport)

High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Back scatter cross section, extinction and depolarization properties of atmospheric aerosols and clouds

Radiometers

Broadband Radiometers

Infrared (IR) and Visiible spectrum

RSTB

Radiometric Surface Temperature

Terrestrial radiation