Using a Balloon-Launched Unmanned Glider to Validate Real-Time WRF Modeling

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric Science
• Meteorology
• Unmanned Aerial Systems

Background:

• Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are increasingly used for high-resolution meteorological measurements.
• Advances in weather research and forecasting (WRF) modeling and GPU computing enable high-resolution weather simulations.
• Accurate atmospheric data is crucial for improving weather model performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate real-time weather models using data from a balloon-launched unmanned glider.
• To demonstrate the utility of sUAS for enhancing atmospheric sampling.
• To contribute to more reliable weather forecasts for safe sUAS operations.

Main Methods:

• Deployment of a balloon-launched unmanned glider equipped with sensors for temperature, pressure, and relative humidity.
• Collection of high-resolution atmospheric data.
• Validation of mesoscale weather models using collected in-situ data.

Main Results:

• The sUAS glider successfully collected atmospheric data.
• The collected data was used to validate and assess real-time weather models.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of sUAS in improving weather model accuracy.

Conclusions:

• sUAS are valuable tools for meteorological measurements and weather model validation.
• Improved weather models derived from sUAS data can lead to more reliable forecasts.
• This work supports advancements in safe and predictable sUAS missions, including beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.