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NOVICE

The Newly-Operating and Validated Instruments Comparison Experiment (NOVICE) is a series of test flights for airborne instruments that require their initial flight after construction or require additional performance assessments after heavy modifications. Additional mature instruments that have flown in previous science campaigns will provide the validated measurements of chemical species for the newer instruments. The flight series will be performed from Ellington Field on NASA’s WB-57F during the first two weeks of September 2008.

 

Many of the instruments are being designed for flying on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as the NASA Global Hawk in future atmospheric missions. With the emphasis of NOVICE being a functional and performance test aided by the availability of heritage coincident measurements allows NOVICE to focus on the comparison component to elucidate anomalous instrument behaviors, such as offsets, drifts, and transient phenomena, rather than as a rigorous double blind intercomparison of stable, well characterized, calibrated instruments.


NOVICE Instrument Payload

Instruments on the NOVICE payload include:

ACAM
NASA GSFC - Scott Janz
Optical photo w/ NO2 filter
Argus
NASA Ames - Max Loewenstein
CO and CH4
DCS
NASA Ames - Jeff Meyers
Optical photo
DLH 
NASA Langley - Glenn Diskin Open-path H2O vapor
Frostpoint
NOAA ESRL - Ru-Shan Gao
H2O frostpoint
Harvard Water Vapor
Harvard University - Elliot Weinstock
Lyman Alpha H2O vapor
HHH
Harvard University - David Sayres
Closed-path H2O vapor
JLH
Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Robert Herman
Open path H2O vapor
MMS
NASA Ames - Paul Bui
p, T, u, v, w
NOAA Ozone
NOAA ESRL - Ru-Shan Gao
O3
NOBALT
NASA Ames - Jim Podolske
CO, CH4 and N2O
TILDE
Harvard University – Mark Witinski
CO2, CH4, N2O, H2Ov
UAS Ozone
NOAA ESRL – Ru-Shan Gao
O3
ULH
Jet Propulsion Lab
Open-path H2O vapor