UND Cloud One Research Aircraft Returns to Grand Forks (UND Research Newsletter, 08/21/15)
The UND Citation II Research Aircraft, dubbed UND Cloud One, returned to Grand Forks earlier this week after a two week mission over the skies of Florida.
“We studied thunderstorm anvils, sampling the clouds up to an altitude of 40,000 ft,” said David Delene, associate research professor and principal investigator on this mission.
The storm cloud sampling was done concurrently with one of the most advanced radars systems in the world, the U.S. Navy’s Mid-Course Doppler Radar.
Now comes the hardest part of this data-intense research.
“We’ll be analyzing the gigabytes of airborne observations, reviewing the hundreds of gigabytes of images and videos, and understanding the terabytes of radar data,” said Delene, who managed the aircraft’s data acquisition instruments and computers during the mission.
“The unique data set produced by the field project provides exceptional opportunities for UND students to contribute to advancing our understanding of thunderstorms, weather and climate,” Delene said. “New discoveries come from new observations.”
The data set that UND Cloud One helped to create in its latest storm research mission used some of the most advanced instrumentation in the world, Delene noted.
“UND students thus have the unique opportunity to work with leading scientists to advance our understanding of cloud physics and make new discoveries,” Poellot said.
Several other people—all from the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences—participated in this mission, as follows:
- Wayne Schindler – a UND alum, Research Jet Pilot, and pilot-in-command of the mission.
- Jonathan Sepulveda – a UND alum and Research Jet Pilot and Technician.
- Jamie Ekness – from Shepherd, Mont., a master’s degree student in Atmospheric Sciences.
- Nick Gapp – from Fargo, a undergraduate major in Atmospheric Sciences.
About the UND Citation II research jet “UND Cloud One”
Cloud One is the call sign for the University of North Dakota Cessna Citation II Research Aircraft. The University of North Dakota uses the aircraft for atmospheric research. Cloud One has two under-the-wing pylons; it also has weather research equipment and instrumentation on the fuselage. The equipment is capable of measuring winds and turbulence, cloud microphysics, atmospheric aerosols, plus more. The aircraft itself can operate from low altitudes near the surface to 43,000 ft enabling many different research missions to take place. This aircraft has the capability to sample atmospheric state parameters, winds and turbulence, including dropsonde launch; cloud microphysics; atmospheric chemistry and aerosol; and electric field.
Mike Poellot, Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor and chair of Atmospheric Sciences is the jet’s overall PI. Atmospheric Sciences is part of the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
