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Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.

AS4.27

Unmanned Aerial Systems for Atmospheric and Earth-Surface Observations
Convener: Manfred A. Lange  | Co-Convener: Joachim Reuder 

The utilization of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) for Earth-Science applications has increased significantly during recent years. UASs are widely used for a host of different investigations providing an important link between in-situ ground-based measurements and satellite remote sensing observations. UASs have initially been introduced for various atmospheric studies addressing issues related to boundary layer physics, atmospheric turbulence and aerosol-cloud interactions, to name but a few. However, with the advent of smaller and lighter instrumentation, UASs have also been utilized for remote sensing missions employing, e.g., multi- or hyperspectral cameras, infrared sensors, laser altimeters and even synthetic aperture radars, thereby enlarging the scope of possible missions to be carried out.
While extremely versatile and cost-effective, UASs represent a number of challenges with regard to platform selection, sensor design- and adaptation, instrument miniaturization and integration, mission planning and authorization procedures. Cooperation between different European and international groups and institutions in the framework of COST Action ES0802 – “Unmanned Aerial Systems in Atmospheric Research” (http://www.cost0802.net/), has paved the way for exploring and utilizing common and optimized solutions to some of the technical as well as a number of scientific complexities in UAS employment. However, it is to be expected that there are numerous scientists and organizations engaged in airborne atmospheric- and Earth-surface observations that have not been involved in this network.
We would like to invite colleagues engaged in UAS-based atmospheric and environmental research to contribute to this session. Presentations dealing with technical issues of UAS- as well as instrument designs are equally welcome as those dealing specifically with focused applications of UASs for atmospheric- and Earth-surface observations.