CAMEX-3 Airborne Vertical Atmosphere Profiling System (AVAPS)

The Airborne Vertical Atmosphere Profiling System (AVAPS) uses dropwindsonde and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to measure the atmospheric state parameters during the its descent. Dropwindsondes measure vertical profiles of pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind during their descent through the atmosphere. During CAMEX-3, the AVAPS system was deployed on the NASA DC-8 aircraft. There were over one hundred dropwindsondes released during the experiment, with 39 released on one flight alone.

Vertical measurement of the atmosphere goes back many decades with the current dropwindsonde coming into being in 1993. Working in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/ Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/AOML) and the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), the National Center for Atmospheric Research/ Atmosphere Technology Division (NCAR/ATD) developed a third-generation dropwindsonde using a new sensor module and a GPS receiver from Vaisala, Inc. More accurate wind profiles are now available because of a NCAR/ATD-developed, unique square-cone parachute that reduces the initial shock load and stabilizes the dropwindsonde as it falls. The dropswindsondes are the responsibility of NCAR/ATD/Surface and Sounding Systems Facility who provided the final post experiment quality control processing. For more information about the AVAPS system, see AVAPS. Additionally, the Vaisala page details the sonde and the GPS dropsonde page at ATD describes the system.

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(START DATE: 1998-08-03 STOP DATE: 1998-09-28)

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