OPUS

Test flights of OPUS ozone sensor

1 August 2022 - 30 September 2022

Lead Scientist: Rushan Gao

Observatory: OSC

Ozone (O3) is a reactive greenhouse gas. High concentrations of O3 harm humans and vegetation. Surface O3 can be rapidly produced under poor-air-quality conditions and warm temperatures in the troposphere, resulting in substantial spatial heterogeneity. Measurements of O3 on the ARM tethered balloon system (TBS) are often required for various ARM campaigns. Currently, however, no commercially available O3 sensor is particularly suitable for the TBS. The ECC sondes currently used on the TBS are tedious to prepare and each sonde has a limited operation time before necessary services. The NOAA OPUS O3 sensor will address this particular problem. OPUS uses an absolute measurement technique (UV absorption) and is lightweight (~700 g with a battery pack) and convenient to operate. The instrument itself does not need extensive care and calibration. The operation time is only limited by its power source. A battery pack is estimated to last over 5 hours.