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Airborne measurements are crucial to understanding the atmosphere, improving models and validating satellite observations. The FAAM research aircraft provides these measurements using Met Office, University and core FAAM instrumentation.

The facilities group within  Observational Studies maintains and develops the Met office instrumentation. The instruments cover a wide range of measurements including in-situ probes and inlets, active and passive remote sensing. New instruments are developed or existing instruments upgraded as the scientific requirement changes or as new technology provides an improved instrument performance.

Key Aims

• Maintenance of Met office airborne instrumentation
• Development of new instrumentation and technologies
• Provision of high quality atmospheric data
• Operation of instruments during flight campaigns

Current Projects

• ISMAR - a novel submillimeter radiometer for the measurement of cirrus, mixed phase clouds, precipitation and snow emissivity.
• Ice Nucleus Counter - a continuous-flow diffusion chamber to measure ice nucleating aerosol.
• FWVS - upgrade to a Lyman-alpha fluorescence water vapour sensor to measure very dry atmospheric conditions