ERASMUS
In the summer of 2015, and the spring of 2016, teams of CIRES, CU and NOAA scientists will be heading to Oliktok Point, Alaska to operate two unmanned aircraft systems. This project aims to demonstrate the potential of low-cost unmanned aircraft in sampling this harsh environment. The first aircraft is the CU-designed DataHawk2 unmanned aircraft, and it will execute regular flights making measurements of basic atmospheric quantities such as temperature, humidity, and pressure while additionally providing an estimate of wind speed and direction. The second aircraft that will be part of ERASMUS is a CU-owned and modified Pilatus Porter kit aircraft. This aircraft has a 3.2 meter wingspan and is capable of carrying heavier instrumentation necessary for measuring atmospheric radiation and aerosols from the surface up to 1 kilometer in altitude.
The summer campaign has been completed using the DataHawk2 UAS. You can read about this deployment in the CIRES blog related to this effort.
Final preparations are being made for the spring 2016 campaign. We have a paper outlining the capabilities of the Pilatus UAS that is undergoing final review at AMT. The AMTD version can be found here.
Funding and Support Partners
