Updated: 6 October 2009
NOTE: THIS PAGE AND ALL ASSOCIATED LINKS ARE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCITON
The Measurements of Humidity in the Atmosphere and Validation Experiments (MOHAVE) 2009 campaign will take place at the JPL Table Mountain Facility (TMF) on October 12-26, 2009. MOHAVE 2009 is an extended version of the MOHAVE and MOHAVE-2 campaigns held at TMF in October 2006 and 2007. These campaigns allowed a thorough evaluation of the Raman Lidar measurements throughout the troposphere by comparing to RS92 radiosonde and Cryogenic Frost-Point Hygrometers profiles.
The MOHAVE 2009 not only will host the same instruments hosted in 2006 and 2007, but will host three additional instruments and/or techniques, leading to the correlative measurement of temperature and water vapor from the ground to the mesopause, and ozone from the ground to the stratopause. Three primary goals of the MOHAVE 2009 campaign are:
- Identify and quantify UT Humidity (UTH) changes associated with transport processes in the vicinity of the Sub-Tropical Jet
- Estimate the capability of the Raman lidar in detecting such UTH changes
- Provide continuous water vapor profiles from the ground to the mesosphere by combining the measurements of the various participating instruments and techniques, including sonde, lidar, and microwave.
In order to achieve these goals, simultaneous and co-located measurements will include the following:
- 3 water vapor Raman lidars (JPL/Leblanc, GSFC/McGee and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-20 km]
- 15 CFH launches (JPL/Leblanc and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-30 km and total column]
- 3 NOAA Frost-point Hygrometer (FPH) launches (NOAA/Hurst) [0-30 km and total column]
- 50 RS92 launches (JPL/Leblanc and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-12 km and total column]
- 2 improved microwave radiometers (NRL/Nedoluha and Univ. Bern/Kampfer) [20-80 km and total column]
- 1 FTIR (JPL/Toon) [total column]
- 2 GPS receivers (JPL/Leblanc, NOAA/Gutman and Whiteman/GSFC) [total column]
To optimize the lidar range, the core of the campaign is centrered near Oct 19 at the occurrence of the new moon. Additional high priority nights (i.e., selected timing and increased density of the measurements and balloon launches) will correspond to the Aura MLS, Aura TES, Aqua AIRS, ACE, and MIPAS best coincidence with TMF. The campaign operations will also be adjusted in real time following the most favorable atmospheric conditions. High-resolution PV analysis and forecasts from the MIMOSA transport model (Hauchecorne/CNRS) will support the measurement planning..
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