Director's Message

The 2003 Annual Scientific Review shows ATD at its best. We report successful support of a range of NSF field projects, covering topics as diverse as large scale organized severe weather over the middle U.S. as in BAMEX to moisture and energy fluxes over snow-covered sage desert in FLOSS. We report another successful airborne instrument test program (IDEAS) that allowed university investigators to develop and evaluate new instruments for future research. We also report one of our most successful summer engineering undergraduate internship programs.

These activities occur simultaneous with a large ATD effort on HIAPER, covering power and signal wiring, data acquisition and display, aircraft infrastructure such as pods, racks, and optical port windows, fundamental instrumentation, and general support for the design reviews and modification oversight of the aircraft itself. The HIAPER activities grow in amount and urgency as the reality of the aircraft delivery to ATD grows.

At the same time, the 2003 ASR shows the creativity and energy of ATD staff in a wide range of technical developments, to add new capabilities to current systems and to explore new technologies for the future. This report documents remarkable advances in real-time data distribution, communication, and coordinating among ground observers and aircraft. Capabilities only dreamed of in year-old information technology proposals have become reliable and required features of today's complex aircraft missions. ATD applied many of those same advanced communication technologies in a successful deployment of driftsonde. This report also shows ATD's efforts to develop eye-safe aerosol backscatter lidars and new configurable and intelligent wireless sensor arrays. Finally, this report shows ATD's Analytical Photonics and Optoelectronics Lab (APOL, operated jointly with NCAR's Atmospheric Chemistry Division) in full operation, developing advanced sources, implementing new measurement approaches, and developing new absorption cells for airborne measurements of reactive trace gases. The APOL group is also developing a new real-time isotope-resolving CO2 sensor and serving as a reference lab for studies of air quality on the International Space Station.

Most of all, this report documents the energy, creativity, and commitment of ATD staff. Scientists, hardware and software engineers of all types, technicians, mechanics, pilots, system and technical administrators, all worked together to allow first rate observing systems to provide high quality data for researchers and students across the range of geosciences. Looking ahead, ATD faces one of its busiest project years ever in 2004 and will increase its efforts on HIAPER. I consider it my very great privilege to have shared and guided the work of the ATD staff.

- Dave Carlson, Director, Atmospheric Technology Division