TU Delft researches desert dust with drones on Cyprus

Researchers from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, The Netherlands) will be involved in a remarkable measuring campaign on Cyprus in April, where for the first time UAV's (drones) together with remote sensing instruments will be used for measurements of the atmosphere. The idea is to see how dust particles coming from the desert (one of the main natural sources of atmospheric particles) contribute to cloud formation.

Dust from Africa

"One of the biggest unknowns for understanding climate change is how efficient atmospheric particles from different sources are in forming cloud droplets. In these measurements we will look at how dust particles from the deserts behave in the atmosphere, and particularly how they influence cloud formation and the climate", says dr. George Biskos of the TU Delft. "Cyprus, and the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean, is particularly interesting for atmospheric scientists because it receives air masses of different pollution characteristics from three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. The prevailing winds in spring and autumn are from Africa, bringing with them a lot of dust particles."

UAV's for Atmospheric Observations

In April, Biskos together with PhD student Dimitra Mamali, will be among the scientists participating in a remarkable measuring campaign on Cyprus. "For the first time UAV's (drones) together with remote sensing instruments will be used for measurements of the atmosphere. The idea is to see how dust particles coming from the desert, which is one of the main natural sources of atmospheric particles, contribute to cloud formation. New miniaturized sensors capable of measuring the concentration of gases and particles will be used on-board the drones, providing new data that will help us predict the impact of aerosols on climate much better than before. On the technical level, another big question we aim to answer is how do in-situ measurements, using the data from the instruments on-board the drones, compare with remote sensing observations." http://www.cyi.ac.cy/index.php/eewrc/eewrc-research-projects/environmental-research-and-monitoring.html

A number of UAV's will be equipped with a variety of instruments to carry out the observational tasks. These are planes (with a wind span of 4 meters) that can carry 12 kilos of equipment and can fly up to 4 kilometres altitude. There is also one helicopter and a hoctacopter (see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_prZBF1PPA) that will be used to probe vertical profiles up to 1 kilometre.

Atmospheric Detectives and the Holy Grail

"In field observations we act as detectives, where we need to figure out where the air masses came from, and how they were affected from the different sources they passed over", says Biskos. "An important capability in the upcoming field campaign is that we will be able to monitor how the vertical structure of the atmosphere varies from hour to hour and from day to day. Such in-situ data are the "holy grail" in our field since they will allow understanding better the remote sensing observations and improve the predictability of climate models."

The Cyprus Institute

Apart from the in-situ field measurements, Biskos is involved in the development of miniaturized and lightweight instruments for drones. Biskos also has a part-time appointment at the Cyprus Institute http://www.cyi.ac.cy/index.php/eewrc/about-the-center/eewrc-overview.html that coordinates the current campaign, which has strong ties with leading research centres in Europe such as the German Max Planck Institute. "There is a lot of activity here at the Cyprus Institute. Apart from the infrastructure with the drones, the Institute has a newly developed monitoring station that has been built with the objective to become one of the main observatories of the atmosphere in Europe, like CESAR at Cabauw in The Netherlands (www.cesar-observatory.nl/) . After the field campaign in April, there are more campaigns, each with a different focus, scheduled for the coming years."

Provided by Delft University of Technology