The Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) and the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) both began their shipment to Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) to integrate on the NASA ER-2 aircraft in advance of the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) field campaign. These instruments will be installed and tested over the course of November, with test flights occurring in December and the main campaign in January/February 2023. IMPACTS is focused on understanding heavy snow in winter storms over the eastern and central United States, with AMPR helping to characterize the horizontal structure of heavy snowstorms while LIP measures electric fields and the propensity for thundersnow.
This is the third IMPACTS deployment for both instruments, with previous flight campaigns during the winters of 2020 and 2022. Timothy J. Lang (ST11) is the lead for the AMPR deployment, and will also serve as a mission scientist during IMPACTS 2023. Christopher J. Schultz (ST11) is the lead for LIP in IMPACTS. Paul Meyer (ST11) is the project manager who is coordinating the AMPR and LIP shipments. The instrument deployments will receive significant technical support from ES61, UAH, and USRA.
