Campaigns
MOHAVE 2009
General
The Measurements of Humidity in the Atmosphere and Validation Experiments (MOHAVE) 2009 campaign took place at the JPL Table Mountain Facility (TMF) on October 12-26, 2009. MOHAVE 2009 was an extended version of the MOHAVE and MOHAVE-2 campaigns held at TMF in October 2006 and 2007. These campaigns, endorsed by the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Composition Change (NDACC), allowed a thorough evaluation of the Water Vapor Raman Lidar measurements up to the lower stratosphere by comparing to RS92 radiosonde and Cryogenic Frost-Point Hygrometers profiles.
The MOHAVE 2009 not only hosted the same instruments hosted in 2006 and 2007, but hosted three additional instruments and/or techniques, leading to the correlative measurement of temperature and water vapor from the ground to the mesopause, and ozone from the ground to the stratopause. Three primary goals of the MOHAVE 2009 campaign were:
- Identify and quantify UT Humidity (UTH) changes associated with transport processes in the vicinity of the Sub-Tropical Jet
- Estimate the capability of the Raman lidar in detecting such UTH changes
- Provide continuous water vapor profiles from the ground to the mesosphere by combining the measurements of the various participating instruments and techniques, including sonde, lidar, and microwave.
In order to achieve these goals, simultaneous and co-located measurements included the following:
- 3 water vapor Raman lidars (JPL/Leblanc, GSFC/McGee and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-20 km]
- 16 CFH launches (JPL/Leblanc and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-30 km]
- 4 NOAA Frost-point Hygrometer (FPH) launches (NOAA/Hurst) [0-30 km]
- 50 RS92 launches (JPL/Leblanc and GSFC/Whiteman) [0-12 km]
- 2 improved microwave radiometers (NRL/Nedoluha and Univ. Bern/Kampfer) [20-80 km and total column]
- 1 FTIR (JPL/Toon) [total column]
- 1 FTUV (JPL/Sander) [total Column]
- 2 GPS receivers (JPL/Leblanc/Haines, NOAA/Gutman and GSFC/Whiteman, Braun/NCAR) [total column]
To optimize the lidar range, the core of the campaign was centrered near Oct 19 at the occurrence of the new moon. Additional high priority nights (i.e., selected timing and increased density of the measurements and balloon launches) corresponded to the Aura MLS, Aura TES, Aqua AIRS, ACE, and MIPAS best coincidences near TMF. The campaign operations were adjusted in real time following the most favorable atmospheric conditions. High-resolution PV analysis and forecasts from the MIMOSA transport model (Hauchecorne/CNRS) supported the measurement planning.