GRIP NOAA Global Hawk In-flight Turbulence Sensor (GHIS)

Table of Contents

Introduction

The NOAA Global Hawk In-flight Turbulence Sensor (GHIS) instrument measures acceleration at the location of the instrument. Two accelerometers (2g and 5g full scale) are used on each of two measurement axes. The GHIS accelerometers are from the Model 1221 family manufactured by Silicon Designs, Inc. with a frequency response of 400-600Hz. The data system samples each sensor output at 1000 Hz and processes these data to produce mean, maximum, and root-mean square (RMS) values at 10 Hz. The processed data are then broadcast on the GH internet and brought to the ground via Status and User UDP packets.

The Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment was a NASA Earth science field experiment conducted August 5 to September 30, 2010. The major goal was to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. NASA used the DC-8 aircraft, the WB-57 aircraft and the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne System (UAS), configured with a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments that were used to observe and characterize the lifecycle of hurricanes. This campaign also capitalized on a number of ground networks and space-based assets, in addition to the instruments deployed on aircraft from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida ( DC-8), Houston, Texas (WB-57), and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, California (Global Hawk). More information about this Campaign can be found on the GRIP web site: https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/home/field-campaigns/grip

The NOAA Global Hawk In-flight turbulence Sensor (GHIS) is an autonomous instrument that can be placed at various GH instrument locations to detect 2-axis local accelerations (the instrument is normally placed such that one axis is horizontal and the other one is vertical; both are perpendicular to the line of flight) caused by turbulence and local vibrations. The GHIS instrument may also be reprogrammed to test command, control, and communication (C3) links. The instrument will broadcast the User (10 Hz) and Status (1 Hz) UDP packets with parameters of local acceleration as well as the local air temperature and pressure at the instrument location and the voltage of the aircraft DC power.

Additional information about the GHIS instrument may be found in the PDF document Global Hawk In-flight turbulence Sensor

The data files are of the form:

grip_ghis_yyyymmdd.txt

where

yyyymmdd = year, month and day

These data are in ASCII format. At the beginning of each data file is a descriptive header with dataset details followed by two columns of data. A sample of the data columns is shown below.

The data provider is:

Laurel Watts
NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80305

To order these data or for further information, please contact:

Global Hydrology Resource Center
User Services
320 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35805
Phone: 256-961-7932
E-mail: support-ghrc@earthdata.nasa.gov
Web: http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/