J. Sciare*, K. Neitola, C. Keleshis, M. Pikridas, M. Argyrides, P. Vouterakos, P. Antoniou, A. Apostolou, C. Savvides, M. Vrekoussis, N. Mihalopoulos, G. Biskos
The Cyprus Institute, Environment Energy and Water Research Center, Nicosia, Cyprus
R.-S. Gao, D. Murphy
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
The Unmanned System Laboratory
J. Schrod, D. Weber, H. Bingemer
Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
G. Mocnik
(USRL : http://www.cyi.ac.cy/index.php/usrl.html)
Aerosol do.o.o., Ljubljana, Slovenia
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have huge potential, currently not exploited,
to monitor aerosol-cloud interactions, providing cost-effective and easy-to-use
capacities 1) to collect large aerosols and document with high vertical
resolution the cloud region in the first 3-5 km of the atmosphere, 2) to perform
a large number of routine flights with optimal resources.
A comprehensive set of miniaturized aerosol instrumentation has been
selected in close collaboration with EU and US colleagues, including 1) a
miniature Scanning Aerosol Sun Photometer (miniSASP) a Printed Optical
Particle Spectrometer (POPS), an Ice Nuclei (IN) sampler, a dual wavelength
absorption monitor (DWP), as well as standard UAV parameters (P, T, RH,
video).
MOTIVATIONS
Cyprus : At the crossroads of air
masses from 3 different continents
Pollution
Western Europe
Pollution
Eastern Europe
+ Turkey
Fleet of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
Fixed wing
UAV lab at CyI
With the objective to explore the feasibility of long-term monitoring of aerosolcloud interactions and assess its added value compare to ground-based (insitu and remote sensing) observations, a 1-year continuous UAV flight
operation program has been designed in the framework of the EU BACCHUS
and ACTRIS2 programs with 1-day flights per week (starting in Jan. 2017)
performed by the Cyprus Institute USRL team over the Cyprus Atmospheric
Observatory.
We present here the CyI research infrastructure (USRL, CAO) that has been
recently developed in Cyprus to achieve this objective, the experimental
strategy and the future perspectives associated with long-term UAV
observations.
1 UAV
4 UAVs
Mini Cruiser
Small Size: 11 Kg
Payload: 4.5 Kg
Endurance: 3 hours
Ceiling: 4 Km
Cruiser
Medium Size: 35 Kg
Payload: 12 Kg
Endurance: 4 hours
Ceiling: 4 Km
Mobile Ground Control Station
1 UAV
Skywalker EVE
Small Size: 5.5 Kg
Payload: 2.5 Kg
Endurance: 2hours
Ceiling: 3 Km
Skywalker 1680
Small Size: 4 Kg
Payload: 1.5 Kg
Endurance: 1.5 hours
Ceiling: 3 Km
Dji S1000+
Small Size: 11Kg
Payload: 4 Kg
Endurance: ~20 minutes
Ceiling: 1 Km
Logo 800
Small Size: 12 Kg
Payload: 5 Kg
Endurance:~30 minutes
Ceiling: 3 Km
1 UAV
The Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory
(CAO : http://www.cyi.ac.cy/index.php/cao.html)
The Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) is operating under the Energy Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of The Cyprus Institute . It is situated at a
remote site in the center of the island (35.04N; 33.06E; 535m above sea level), close to the villages of Agia Marina and Xyliatos, at the Forestry Department premises of “Agia
Marina Xyliatou”. The station is co-operated with the Department of Labour Inspection, in charge of the air quality network in Cyprus, and is also the EMEP rural station for
Cyprus since 1997. The mission of CAO is to provide quality controlled long-term atmospheric observations of key atmospheric pollutants (gases/aerosols) relevant to climate
change and air quality; observations that have not been performed in the region. CAO offers modern facilities and supportive infrastructure for research, testing of
technologies related to atmospheric measurements, and hands-on training through educational programs. With logistic facilities of high quality, CAO is ideally designed to host
large intensive field studies and perform long term atmospheric observations. Consequently, The station benefits from EU funds (e.g., the H2020 ACTRIS-2 project) that
facilitate transnational access to the international scientific community on a merit-based priority scheme
Private UAV flight zone
Pollution
Middle East
Dust
3 UAVs
2 UAVs
Rotary Wing
Agia Marina Xyliatou Airfield
Sea Salt
Integration of new miniaturized
instrumentation
Agia Marina Xyliatou Monitoring Station
In collaboration with DLI
December 2014
April 2016
March 2015
Dust
Aerial view of the CyI runway
UAV air space notification
EMME : Eastern Mediterranean Middle East
Cyprus is a central location of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East
(EMME), a region with a population of about 400 million, affected by dust storms
from the two largest deserts in the world, dryness, heat extremes and
unparalleled air pollution. The EMME has been identified as one of the few
climate change “hot spots” with adverse impacts from extreme weather events
and poor air quality which are expected to exacerbate in the coming decades.
Air pollution, and more particularly particulate matter (PM), plays here a crucial
role in regional climate (temperature, precipitation).
The wide range of aerosol types (natural/anthropogenic) and their various mixing
states over Cyprus provide unique opportunities to better characterize their
interactions with clouds in a Mediterranean environment that undergoes major
droughts.
Troodos Monitoring Station
In collaboration with DLI
The experimental setup aims to provide a comprehensive atmospheric dataset
(climatology) that will be compared in the boundary layer with Agia Marina
Xyliatou observations, and in the free troposphere with Troodos observations.
Influence of liquid water on aerosol optical properties will be investigated using
POPS, miniSAPS, and RH with the objective to highlight the impact of the high
Mediterranean atmospheric ageing that occurs in the boundary layer (by
comparison with free tropospheric conditions).
NOx monitor
•
O3 monitor
•
Aethalometer AE31
•
Optical Particle Counter
•
PM1 filter sampling
•
PM10filter sampling
EU-H2020 ACTRIS2 Trans-national Access
100 access days for users
Latitude :35°02′18″N
Longitude :33°03′38″E
Altitude : 550m asl
Latitude :34°94 N
Longitude :32°85 E
Altitude : 1,940m asl
Objectives & Implementation
Our UAV routine flights will be performed once per week. The flexibility of our
flight plans will allow targeting contrasted atmospheric conditions, sampling the
first 3km of the atmosphere for every types of air masses (Europe, Turkey,
Africa, Middle East), cloudy/clear sky conditions.
Flight plan will also be defined based on LIDAR observations (for the boundary
layer height and for aerosol dust layers) and when possible in phase with
satellite overpass.
•
Skywalker
Dual wavelength
Prototype (DWP)
Skywalker EVE
Ice Nuclei
(IN)
Vertical distribution
of Black Carbon
• 1 sample (wafer) – 5 to 15 min
• Flow = 5 LPM
• 2- Absorption photometer
• 1-s time resolution
• Flow = 1.2 LPM
boundary
layer
Mini-Cruiser
Printed Optical Particle
Spectrometer (POPS)
• Single-particle detection
• 140–3000 nm diameter range
• 550 g, 5 W
• Lose-able (~$2000)
All UAV
Raw signals from the four channels,
showing the two direct sun signals 30 s
apart. The deviations from the smooth
curve between the direct sun signals
might be clouds or reflections.
T – RH
Gao et al., 2016
PERSPECTIVES
Mini Scanning Aerosol Sun
Photometer (miniSASP)
• 460, 550, 670, 860 nm
• 0.02 AOD detection limit
• 350 g, 2 Watts
• Lose-able (~$1500)
Murphy et al., 2015
Comparison of the measured size
distributions during a flight.
On-Screen-Display Video
Autopilot - ADC
AQABA campaign (June-August 2017)
The Middle East is a populous region with a hot, arid climate. Heat extremes, scarcity of precipitation, atmospheric dust and photochemical air pollution combine into a
major public health hazard. Environmental research in the region is needed to address these issues, but observational data, especially of atmospheric composition, are
lacking. AQABA aims to perform pioneering field measurements across the Arabian Basin in summer, using a research vessel and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to
simultaneously and
comprehensively characterize photochemical and aerosol processes.
Sailing from Cyprus to Kuwait around the Arabian Peninsula, AQABA will encounter a unique environmental “spectrum”, ranging from pristine conditions over the
Arabian Sea, unpolluted but dusty air from Africa over the Red Sea, via moderately polluted conditions over the Mediterranean, downwind urban areas (e.g., Cairo) and
the Middle East, ship exhausts in the Suez Canal, to exceptional petrochemical emissions in the Persian Gulf area. The annual maximum of atmospheric desert dust
occurs in summer, when photochemistry is intense. Taken together, this creates a “natural laboratory” to study multiphase interactions of gaseous and particulate
pollutants with crustal and sea salt aerosols.
The measurements, complemented by model calculations, will help determine the intricate effects of natural and anthropogenic emissions on the atmosphere in the
Middle East. AQABA will investigate the processes that determine the life cycle of natural and anthropogenic aerosols and oxidants, and investigate their role in air
quality and public health, as well as impacts on clouds, climate and biogeochemical cycles.
IMPLEMENTATION
OBJECTIVES
The Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) is part of the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of The Cyprus Institute and offers on-site
facilities and related infrastructure for research, development, and testing of technologies related to UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles).
The mission of the USRL is to provide high-quality observations of atmospheric pollutants and other parameters relevant to air quality and climate change. Taking advantage of
several other CyI infrastructures, such as the instrumentation and analytical laboratories for testing and qualifying miniaturized sensors, as well as a private runway and
dedicated airspace at our Atmospheric Research Facility at Agia Marina Xyliatou, USRL performs regular (weekly) UAV flights to document and contrast long range transported
pollution from three continents (Europe, Africa and West Asia) and dust aerosols from the largest desert regions in the world (Sahara, Middle East).
author: [email protected]
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
ABSTRACT
*Corresponding/presenting