LAUTLOS/WAVVAP Campaign

MIAWARA took part in the LAUTLOS/WAVVAP (Lapbiat Upper Tropospheric Lower Stratospheric Water Vapour Validation Project) Campaign in early 2004 in Sodankylä. Sodankylä is located North of the Polar Circle at 67.3N,26.6E. Various balloon borne instruments (Vaisala RS 80/90/92, Lindenberg FN, Metolabor Snow-white, NOAA/CMDL Frostpoint and Lyman-alpha Flash-B) were flown intensively during February 2004. The Institute of Applied Physics participated in this campaign with MIAWARA and the airborne radiometer AMSOS. The main goal of this campaign was the intercomparison of the different sensors in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Links to different presentations of the LAUTLOS results can be found in the publications section.

MIAWARA in operation at Sodankylä

Comparison of microwave measurements with balloon soundings

The LAUTLOS campaign allowed us to validate the lower retrieval limits of the MIAWARA profiles. MIAWARA was compared to the stratospheric instruments FLASH-B and NOAA/CMDL. The campaign showed an excellent agreement between the microwave remote sensing instrument and the in-situ balloon sensors. For a total of 10 flights the difference in the altitude layer of 20 - 25 kilometres was less than 2%. The above figure shows an example comparison of the February-18 flight.

Preparation for a balloon launch

Microwave measurements in the sub-arctic winter