PickUp based Mobile Atmospheric Sounder (PUMAS)

Where: Front Range of Colorado

When: June - October 2020, October - November 2021

microDop lidar in the truck bed
PUMAS mobile platform at the Cedar Point Wind Farm near Limon.

Coupling Doppler lidar measurements with mobile platforms allows researchers to investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of complex flows on regional scales. Due to COVID concerns, aircraft campaigns for 2020 were postponed creating the opportunity to mount the Micro-pulse Doppler (MicroDop) lidar in the bed of the CSL Ford pickup truck. The lidar was coupled with a motion stabilization platform which allowed for stabilization during vertical staring measurements and scanning during azimuthal scans.

The flexibility of the mobile platform allowed researchers to investigate complex flow phenomena along the Colorado Front Range, including the development and propagation of the upslope flow along the Boulder Canyon and wind flow distortion during test drives around wind farms near Sterling and Limon, Colorado. This data is used for model development and validation of regional models, and preparation for future field projects.