6 minute read
EUFAR2
Supporting the future of airborne research
Instrumented aircraft are an important scientific tool, allowing researchers to gather data on the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, yet such facilities are not always available in some countries. The EUFAR2 project helps widen access to airborne research facilities and supports the growth of the environmental science research community, as Philip Brown explains
Research aircraft offer rich
opportunities for scientists to gather data and gain new insights, yet such aircraft are not always available in all European countries and are typically quite expensive to operate. Established in 2000, the EUFAR programme was designed to widen access to airborne research infrastructure among European scientists, and its scope has since widened further in EUFAR2. “Initially, EUFAR was simply a networking activity, amongst a number of different operators of research aircraft across Europe,” outlines Philip Brown, the scientific coordinator of EUFAR2. Alongside linking aircraft operators with key scientific users, the new contract under which EUFAR2 was funded includes provision for further activities. “The contract also provided us with money to run some joint research activities focussed on improving data quality,” explains Brown. “We can also support transnational access to research aircraft. We can offer flight time for users and user groups, where they don’t normally have access to such facilities in their own country. The overall objective is to broaden access to – and optimize the use of – these expensive facilities.”
Trans-national access
There are 43 research aircraft advertised on the EUFAR website, of which 17 are open to transnational access for researchers. Remote sensing aircraft like the CASA 212-RS typically carry airborne imaging sensors, operating at both visible and infrared wavelengths. “These instruments get used a lot for characterising soil and vegetation properties for example, as well as investigating forestry and surface water properties. They can be used for a wide
range of different types of environmental science studies,” says Brown. Other aircraft are more suited to gathering atmospheric data. “They usually measure a broad range of different types of data,” continues Brown. “The UK aircraft for example, which are generally representative, have sensors to measure basic properties like temperature, humidity and static pressure. Another
Group photo in front of DRL’s HALO research aircraft during the 2nd EUFAR2 General Assembly meeting, at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen (March 2015). Copyright EUFAR. thing you typically want to do for meteorological purposes is to measure the wind speed and direction – with an aircraft that might be moving at 100 metres per second, you can imagine that is not a trivial process.”
On the FAAM BAe-146 aircraft we have a range of instruments which are carried under the wing, for sampling atmospheric aerosol particles, and cloud
This process involves combining data from several different sensors on the aircraft, including GPS, an inertial navigation system, and air speed and flow angle sensors. From these measurements researchers can build the full 3-d wind vector, while Brown says further instruments are also available on some aircraft. “For example, on the FAAM BAe-146 aircraft we have a range of instruments which are carried under the
The ECO-Dimona aircraft operated by University of Edinburgh with underwing pods carrying a range of atmospheric measurement instruments. Copyright: University of Edinburgh.
wing, for sampling atmospheric aerosol particles, cloud precipitation particles, across a whole range of sizes. That spans the range from about 0.1 microns up to several millimetres in diameter,” he outlines. These aircraft are available for researchers to use, with flight time awarded after a project proposal has been reviewed and assessed in terms of both its viability and its scientific content. “We can typically support about ten flight hours per approved proposal, and we expect to support somewhere in the region of 35 such projects during our present contract, which runs to the end of January 2018,” says Brown.
The process of arranging aircraft access is a significant logistical challenge. It is not efficient to fly an aircraft to a distant location purely for a single research project, so Brown says the project aims to cluster trans-national access activities together with pre-existing research, pointing to the SAVEX-D project as an example. “This was a trans-national access project proposed by a group of scientists from Spain making use of a UK aircraft – FAAM BAe-146 – which was on campaign in the Cape Verde islands around August 2015. They were able to propose a campaign of their own at the same time, to take advantage of the fact that we were going to be there,” he outlines. The SAVEX-D team derived further benefits from sharing access to the aircraft. “We planned to be on the Cape Verde islands for around three weeks. They were able to stay there for essentially that whole period, and therefore use the aircraft in the atmospheric conditions which best suited their scientific objectives, which might not have been possible in a normal campaign,” explains Brown. “A similar clustering of EUFAR flights happened in association with a large international observing campaign called DACCIWA in West Africa using the ATR-42 aircraft from France and the Falcon-20 from DLR in Germany.”
The trans-national access users may also have the opportunity to take responsibility Illustration of phenomena on the jet stream related to downstream propagation of wave activity and high impact weather (Image credit: John Methven).
for a particular area of scientific interest within an overall problem during combined field campaigns. A study by several UK groups a few years ago into dust aerosols in the Sahara region provides a case in point. “The trans-national access user group were able to take responsibility for a particular part of that study, looking specifically at the source regions where dust is lofted into the atmosphere across the whole Sahara region,” says Brown. This helps spread knowledge and also widens the environmental science research base, which is an important part of the project’s overall agenda. “Several countries in Europe don’t have these airborne research facilities independently. So, without programmes like EUFAR2, it would be very difficult for scientists from those countries to get involved in research,” points out Brown. “When they are able to take part through trans-national access, they get full use of the aircraft and essentially training on how to make full use of the facility.”
This commitment to widening the research base extends to training the next generation of scientists. Summer schools have been established under EUFAR2 covering particular areas of airborne measurement activity; the SWAMP course in July 2015 focused on airborne remote sensing techniques for example. “Students were introduced to a whole range of techniques, including measurement and calibration techniques. There were also tutorials on processing the data and Met Office operational global model dust forecast for 16 August 2015, showing a large plume of dust arriving at Cape Verde archipelago (black star in the map). SAVEX-D flight campaign with FAAM’s BAe146 © Crown Copyright, Met Office, UK
linking it to ground-based supporting measurements,” outlines Brown. Three further summer schools will be supported under the current EUFAR contract, covering remote sensing and atmospheric in-situ measurement techniques. “There will be a course on trace gas measurements and another on air-sea exchange and turbulence measurements,” continues Brown. “The course on trace gas measurements will be supported by the FAAM BAe-146 and will hopefully be hosted at its home base of Cranfield, so we can maximise flight time. The air-sea interaction school will be hosted in Ireland using the ATR-42 aircraft from France. Using these two large aircraft enables the maximum number of students to experience a real research flight.”
External configuration of ALIDS, an innovative new airborne cloud drop measurement probe developed through a EUFAR Joint Research Activity.
