EOL/RAL JOINT SEMINAR - Robotic Revolution: Recent work in Earth System observing with remotely-piloted aircraft

Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) or drones continue to gain popularity in atmospheric science due to their ability to provide unique perspectives on atmospheric processes of interest. Over the last decade, I have worked to develop and deploy a variety of UAS around the world to better understand the physics of the lower atmosphere. In recent years, this has included a deployment to the tropical Atlantic to observe the drivers of trade-wind cumulus, a deployment to the central Arctic Ocean to advance our understanding of coupling between the surface and lower atmosphere over a thinning sea ice pack, and a deployment to Wisconsin to observe microscale flows over the Great Lakes and the impact of those flows on local ozone concentrations. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of the platforms and missions and offer some insight into the diverse scientific problems that we are attacking with UAS.