SCIENCE PLAN
United Arab Emirates
Unified Aerosol Experiment (UAE2)
Prepared for
DWRS, NASA, NRL, and ONR
Version 1.0
September 15th, 2004
Compiled & Edited by:
Jeffrey S. Reid, Charles Gatebe, Brent N. Holben, Michael King, Stuart Piketh,
and Douglas L. Westphal.
With Contributions from: Garret de Leeuw, Phillip Durkee, Christina Hsu, Becky
Eager, Piotr Flatau, Tara Jensen, Ralph Kahn, Ming Liu, Steve Miller, Sethu
Raman, Elizabeth Reid, Benjamin Ruston, Robin Schoemaker, Alexander Smirnov,
Dominick Vincent, and Ellsworth Judd Welton
Executive
Summary:
The United Arab Emirates Unified Aerosol Experiment (UAE2) is an international science initiative designed to make a detailed characterization of atmospheric aerosols in the Gulf region while simultaneously characterizing the lower boundary condition with measurements over bright and dark surfaces, under cloud-free conditions, and coincident with satellite overpasses such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra and Aqua. The experiment, based from several sites in the UAE, will be carried out from 5 August–30 September 2004.
Recent
reports and various satellite data show that the Arabian Gulf region hosts one
of the largest confluences of aerosol types in the world. Emissions, smoke
transported from the Indian subcontinent, and natural dust episodes result in a
unique aerosol laboratory. To further complicate the intricate consortium of
aerosols in this region, the Arabian Gulf also has an exceedingly complex
meteorology that includes variable sea surface temperatures, enormous latent
heat fluxes, strong land sea gradients, and strong mesoscale circulations. Remote sensing systems are hindered by the
bright surfaces over the deserts, the Gulf’s shallow waters and variable
sediment loads. These factors combine to make the Arabian Gulf a significant
challenge to climate and meteorology models, as well as satellite sensors that
carry out environmental monitoring. A
mission was required to characterize this demanding region, and develop and
improve the next generation of remote sensing algorithms.
In the fall of 2003, the Unified Aerosol Experiment-United Arab Emirates (UAE2) was initiated between the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), the Department of Water Resources, Office of the President (DWRS-United Arab Emirates), and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC-United States). The UAE2 mission was originally proposed to be an extension of a currently operating United Arab Emirates Dept of Water Resources, South African, and Nation Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) cloud seeding experiment. By leveraging with this ongoing research program, additional research would be cost effective. As the UAE2 program developed, however, mission objectives and participants expanded greatly. This document outlines the current mission plan for the UAE2 experiment.
In response to invitations by the ongoing UAE cloud seeding program, NASA, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the UAE Department of Water Resources Studies, the University of the Witwatersrand, and 18 other US and foreign research laboratories have embarked on a measurement campaign, the UAE2. Ultimately, scientists wish to gain insight on the properties and concentrations of aerosols in the gulf region, and understand how these aerosols might affect the atmosphere with respect to climate change and numerical weather prediction. To accomplish this task, 15 Aerosol Robotic Network Sun Photometers (AERONET), the NRL Mobile Atmospheric Aerosol And Radiation Characterization (MAARCO), and the NASA’s Surface-sensing Measurements for Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SMART) will be deployed and utilized in the gulf, coast, and desert region of the UAE, respectively. Numerous coordinated aircraft experiments involving in situ and remote sensing sensors such Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) will be conducted under a variety of conditions and during satellite overpasses to provide essential information to the remote sensing and meteorological modeling communities.
Currently, there are 4 overarching goals of UAE2. 1) Evaluate and improve the suite of satellite aerosol and ocean products commonly used by e scientific community in this optically complicated region of the world. 2) Determine the fundamental microphysical, optical and transport properties of aerosol particles in this mostly un-sampled region. 3) Understand how aerosol particles interact with the regional radiation budget in bright surfaced locations. 4) Model and explain the complicated flow patterns in the coastal regions of the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
Links:
· Aerosol and Radiation Modeling Section
· MAARCO
· NRL Marine Meteorology Division
· The Naval Research Laboratory
· AERONET