[A-CG41] Aircraft and UAV Observations for Earth-planetary sciences

[ACG41-P03] Recent movements in earth observation by aircraft

*Nobuhiro Takahashi¹ (1.Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University)

Keywords:Aircraft observation

Observation of the Earth's environment is becoming increasingly important for the mechanisms of recent rapid climate change and its long-term monitoring. Recently, the number of satellites and the types of sensors are increasing, and the scope of research and application is expanding. In addition, rapidly progressed numerical models researches becomes more collaborative with observations due to the development of high-resolution global models and data assimilation technologies. Under these circumstances, the role of aircraft observation is changing. In other words, airborne observations are required to compensate for the lack of information in satellite observations and the large error areas in numerical model calculations. For example, direct observation of the spatial distribution of aerosols is a great help for remote sensing retrieval (physical quantity estimation). The same can be said for the observation of greenhouse gases. In the case of typhoons, which cause heavy rainfall disasters, the lack of direct observation of the dynamic and thermodynamic structures in the developed precipitation clouds prevents the improvement of prediction accuracy, and observations using drop sondes and radar from aircraft are expected to make up for this lack. When we turn to sea ice and forests, satellite observations can provide us with their bulk quantities, but the inability to obtain their distribution (size distribution of sea ice and characteristics of each tree) hinders the elaboration of water/energy cycle and carbon cycle. Thus, new needs for airborne observations have emerged, while the traditional roles of readiness and verification/calibration of (satellite) remote sensing instruments remain important. In the former case, it is clear that it will play an important role in disaster prevention and mitigation. In the latter case, there is a growing need to ensure the accuracy of these products due to the rapid increase in the number of small satellites.
Under these circumstances, the Meteorological Society of Japan, the Japan Society of Atmospheric Chemistry , and the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences have taken the lead in proposing a master plan to promote airborne observations in order to overcome the current lack of dedicated aircraft for earth observation in Japan, and the momentum for promoting airborne observations is growing. In the U.S., airborne observations have been actively conducted mainly by NASA and NCAR, and following a decadal survey by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences in 2018, the future of observations by large aircraft is being envisioned in the U.S. as well. In Europe, the European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) has been formed in cooperation with other countries to promote airborne observations.