Hail Sensing Probes: Feasibility Analysis for Probes to Monitor and Study Hail

Abstract

This work presents the feasibility study regarding the realization of hail sensing probes for remote sensing and study of hail. The probes are designed as artificial hailstones in order to study both the physical properties of the portion of atmosphere where the formation of hail occurs and the modification of atmospheric conditions while the hailstones are falling to the ground. The basic idea is to realize sensors with a similar fluid-dynamic behavior with respect to hailstones; the density, the weight and the size of the probes are determined. Consequently, the specification of the electronic boards, sensors, and material to realize the probes are studied and presented. The hail sensing probes can be dropped by a plane, or potentially a UAV (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle), which fly above and through the clouds where the hail formation occurs. During their falling to the ground, the sensors installed on the probe measure directly different parameters such as humidity, temperature, pressure, acceleration. All data are sent to a receiver located on the ground. The study of the sampling frequency of each sensor is presented, together with the analysis of the propagation channel, in order to assure a robust communication link between probes and the ground receiver. The energy balance is also computed. The work demonstrates that a set of this kind of disposable sensors can be realized. They can be used for efficient monitoring operations and studies of hail formation dynamics and conditions, thus increasing the set of instruments for the monitoring and remote sensing of hail.

Evaluation of Mater Bi and Polylactic Acid as materials for biodegradable innovative mini-radiosondes to track small scale fluctuations within clouds

“…It is necessary to establish a connection from aerosol and particle microphysics Grabowski and Wang ((2013); Prabhakaran et al ((2017); Devenish et al ((2012) to macro-scale turbulent dynamics such as entrainment Mellado ((2017); De Rooy et al ((2013). However, though there are many instruments in use to study the atmosphere, from satellites Radkevich et al ((2008) to dropsondes Bertoldo et al ((2016); Tsai and Kiang ((2011) to big weather balloons Pommereau ((2015); Businger et al (2006), there is a lack of in-situ measurements along Lagrangian trajectories to track fluctuations of the physically relevant quantities on scales ranging from a few centimetres to a few kilometres.…”