The University of Wyoming’s Beechcraft King Air 200T (UWKA) is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft instrumented to support various research missions, notably in cloud physics and boundary layer processes. The aircraft has an endurance up to 4 hours and a range of 1,800 nautical miles. The flight ceiling is 28,000 feet and the maximum payload is 1,850 lbs. In service since 1977, the aircraft is operated by the Donald L. Veal Research Flight Center within the UW Department of Atmospheric Science.
Configuration: Airborne research platform
Number of available systems: 1
Dr. Jeff French / jfrench@uwyo.edu / (307) 766-4143
University of Wyoming King Air facility
Estimated duration of each flight: Typically up to 4 hours maximum, depending on payload
Number of scientific observers on each flight: 1-2, limited seating
Each research payload is unique and will typically consist of some combination of UWYO and user-supplied instrumentation. The tables in this document list available airborne sensors and measurements. Please note that different instruments require differing levels of support. Instrumentation is therefore separated into the following categories:
Standard Instrumentation: The UWyo King Air’s standard measurements, which are provided on all projects, include time and location, aircraft and atmospheric state parameters, and flight log files. Complete information on variables and instruments can be found here. Standard measurement data made available after quality control include:
3-D position, ground velocity, orientation, airspeed, flow angles, altitude,
pressure, winds, temperature, water vapor, liquid water
Instrumentation by Request: Before requesting instruments in this section, please consider that some require additional resources and may need special preparation, maintenance, or data handling and processing. The number and/or combination of instruments may exceed UWYO’s personnel and/or hardware resource limits. In addition, some instruments are mutually exclusive and may result in the inability to request others in the list. Please indicate requested instruments in the following tables.
User-supplied Instrumentation: All user-supplied equipment must meet Univeristy of Wyoming safety and design specifications.
Instrument | Available Measurement |
Cloud Measurements | |
Rosemount 871FA | Icing Rate |
DMT LWC-301 | Cloud Liquid Water |
DMT Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) |
Cloud Particle Size Distribution (2 - 50 μm) Total Concentration |
Nevzorov TWC-LWC probe |
Cloud Liquid Water Total Mass Content |
Canister-based Measurements The UWYO King Air has four PMS-style wing canisters; therefore NO MORE THAN FOUR instruments may be selected as mission critical and/or low priority. |
|
SPEC High-Volume Precipitation Spectrometer |
Hydrometeor particle imagery (150 μm resolution)
|
SPEC Two-Dimensional Stereo particle imager (2DS) |
Hydrometeor particle imagery (10 µm resolution) Hydrometeor size distribution Measurements available from two orthogonal orientations |
DMT Two-Dimensional Greyscale Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP) |
Hydrometeor particle imagery (25 µm resolution) Hydrometeor size distribution Measurements available at three levels of greyscale sensitivity |
PMS Two-Dimensional Precipitation particle imager (2DP) |
Hydrometeor particle imagery (200 µm resolution) Hydrometeor size distribution |
Air Chemistry Measurements | |
LI-COR LI-7000 Closed-Path Gas Analyzer | CO2 & H2O concentrations |
LI-COR LI-7500 Open-Path Gas Analyzer | CO2 & H2O concentrations |
Picarro Gas Analyzer | CH4 & H2O concentrations |
Aerosol Measurements | |
DMT Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (PCASP-100X; two available) |
Aerosol particle size distribution (0.1 – 3.0 µm diameter) Total particle concentrations |
TSI 3010 CPC | Cloud nuclei concentration (>15 nm) |
TSI 3025 CPC | Ultra-fine nuclei concentration (>5 nm) |
TSI 3563 Nephelometer |
Light scattering extinction coefficient at 450, 550, and 700 nm 50 nm bandwidth on each wavelength |
UWyo CCNC-100A cloud concentration nuclei sampler |
IR Radiometric Surface Temperature Secondary Surface Temperature Measurement Precludes downward lidar |
Other | |
Digital Video Recording |
Standard forward-looking video is supplied for every project Down-looking with date/time stamp may be requested by checking this box Video is composite of 1 frame per second images |
Cabin Pressure |
Ambient cabin pressure Recommended when in-cabin aerosol or gas phase measurements are required |
MRI Universal Indicated Turbulence System | Intensity of turbulence in inertial subrange |
The above list summarizes base facility instruments, click here for a more detailed list of measurements and derived parameters.
A basic data analysis center with LAN connection to the UWYO computers and access to the Internet will be provided in the field by the University of Wyoming. Support, if requested, may include real-time communications links to the aircraft via chat and real-time display of selected variables. Access to forecasting tools and preparations of operational forecasts are not usually included as part of the service.
Data are provided at 1 Hz rates. High-rate processing is available for some instruments. Initial preliminary data will be made available during the project. Following the conclusion of the experiment, the fully processed dataset will be made available. A Level 2 user file, complying with RAF Nimbus NetCDF conventions will be disseminated, including all standard measurements and data from selected instruments. Further information on data files and instruments can be found here. These files can be visualized via the NCAR AEROS software package (https://www.eol.ucar.edu/software/aeros).
UWKA data will be made publicly available once the data are quality controlled. If a PI wants to have exclusive access to these data for the first year, s/he has to officially request such a restriction via email from the University of Wyoming Flight Facility Manager (jfrench@uwyo.edu) eight weeks prior to the start of an experiment.)