Autonomous unattended precipitation and meteorological measurement from Marine Platforms

Increasingly, commerce, security, and society are impacted by weather extremes driven by climate change, with measurements in marine areas being the least sampled despite oceans covering 71% of the globe. Topic C59-12 of this announcement Atmospheric Measurement Technology subsection d. Autonomous Unattended Atmospheric Measurements from Marine Platforms has among its objectives novel and innovative measurement technologies for “autonomous measurement of... precipitation, or atmospheric state properties that are suitable for unattended operation on marine platforms such as commercial ships, barges, or buoys for at least 1-week periods”. This transformation will require accurate networks of ocean-based observing systems capable of monitoring current weather state and extremes without interfering with standard commercial shipping operations. Marine meteorology is characterized not only by substantial spatial and temporal heterogeneity, but by sparse measurement networks. Precipitation in particular has high heterogeneity, varying dramatically on scales of tens-of-meters to the planetary. In marine environments it can be exceptionally light in the stratiform regimes off the western coasts of continents or the Southern Ocean, sometimes below typical sensor measurement thresholds. Or, it can rain at extremely high rates in the storm tracks or tropical convective regimes. At higher latitudes or in winter, precipitation ranges from purely liquid to purely frozen. No single currently available precipitation-measurement technology can cover the range of possibilities, and certainly none under conditions characteristic ship-borne marine environments characterized by extreme motion, sea-spray, corrosion, and vibration. For this 8-month Phase I SBIR project, Particle Flux Analytics will improve on the novel Differential Emissivity Imaging Disdrometer, making it effective for marine applications (DEID-m). The DEID is based on a newly patented, high-resolution technology developed by Particle Flux Analytics through support from the Department of Energy. This Phase I proposal will introduce an innovative precipitation measurement technology that outperforms existing technologies in terms of precision, accuracy, size measurement range, and maintenance needs, and that is hardened for deployment in the extreme conditions anticipated for ocean vessels. Specifically, we will (1) validate and incorporate a new technique for quantifying and differentiating precipitation and sea-spray, (2) determine the impact of ship and sea motion on DEID-m observations, and (3) develop software and hardware capabilities to ensure low maintenance and high reliability.