UW King Air
The University of Wyoming King Air (UWKA) is a modified Beechcraft King Air 200T twin-engine turbo-prop research aircraft fitted with a suite of weather observing instruments. The current aircraft has been in operation with the University of Wyoming since 1977 and has participated in numerous field projects throughout the world, including
PECAN and
OWLeS. In addition to measuring standard atmospheric parameters such as pressure, temperature, water vapor and wind, UWKA can measure a number of important cloud microphysical parameters such as liquid water content, condensed water content, and the size spectrum of the cloud droplets themselves. Additionally, the aircraft is fitted with the Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR), a high-frequency W-band radar useful for studying cloud microphysics, and an experimental Ka-band profiling radar useful for observing precipitation. The aircraft is also equipped with a downward-pointing lidar which can help identify layers of aerosol.
During SNOWIE, IOPs will be primarily centered around UWKA flights and will be coincident with the release of silver iodide by a separate aircraft, or by ground-based generators. The aircraft will be based out of Boise, and will operate for approximately 4 hours in a pre-determined flight pattern designed to sample the silver iodide plume with the greatest precision. Flight tracks for the UWKA will be near to the DOW sites, and the DOW scan strategies will be adjusted to match the UWKA flight track.