Dr. Greg Blumberg- Nov 1

Name:     Ongoing Activities to Pick the PBL Fruit at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

Title:    Dr. Greg Blumberg

Location: NWC 5600

Date:     2019/11/1

Time:     2:00 PM

Series:   Boundary Layer, Urban Meteorology, and Land-Surface Processes

Abstract: The 2017 Decadal Survey published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine adds to a large list of reports and publications stressing the need for regular observations of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). In response to this call, scientists at NASA have mobilized to begin pursuing research and technology options that can meet this challenge, with the ultimate aim to develop a space-borne solution that can provide global coverage of the PBL. Currently, this is a difficult task. At NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), individuals from the research and operational branches are working to expand WFF into a heavily instrumented super-site that can help meet numerous atmospheric science needs. Situated on the Eastern Shore, WFF is NASAs only owned and operated launch range. WFF is uniquely positioned near several PBL gateways – boundaries between the bay, land, marshes, and sea – and is a location ripe

for numerous PBL studies. This presentation will represent several wide ranging efforts: from initial efforts to build a Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) Mesonet, to possible benefits of PBL research and observations on range operations (e.g., launches), and an update on an anticipated study to understand the PBL variability at WFF using ground-based remote sensors, several tall met towers, and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) led by the NASA GSFC SMARTLabs team. Collectively, we excitedly foresee that our unified efforts will help lay a solid foundation for future PBL-oriented science by NASA and others at WFF.