Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2523-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2523-2018
Research article
 | 
02 May 2018
Research article |  | 02 May 2018

Comparison of Lyman-alpha and LI-COR infrared hygrometers for airborne measurement of turbulent fluctuations of water vapour

Astrid Lampert, Jörg Hartmann, Falk Pätzold, Lennart Lobitz, Peter Hecker, Katrin Kohnert, Eric Larmanou, Andrei Serafimovich, and Torsten Sachs

Abstract. To investigate if the LI-COR humidity sensor can be used as a replacement of the Lyman-alpha sensor for airborne applications, the measurement data of the Lyman-alpha and several LI-COR sensors are analysed in direct intercomparison flights on different airborne platforms. One vibration isolated closed-path and two non-isolated open-path LI-COR sensors were installed on a Dornier 128 twin engine turbo-prop aircraft. The closed-path sensor provided absolute values and fluctuations of the water vapour mixing ratio in good agreement with the Lyman-alpha. The signals of the two open-path sensors showed considerable high-frequency noise, and the absolute value of the mixing ratio was observed to drift with time in this vibrational environment.

On the helicopter-towed sensor system Helipod, with very low vibration levels, the open-path LI-COR sensor agreed very well with the Lyman-alpha sensor over the entire frequency range up to 3 Hz.

The results show that the LI-COR sensors are well suited for airborne measurements of humidity fluctuations, provided that a vibrationless environment is given, and this turns out to be more important than close sensor spacing.

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Short summary
We compared two different fast-response humidity sensors simultaneously on different airborne platforms. One is a particular, well-establed Lyman-alpha hygrometer that has been used for decades as the standard for fast airborne humidity measurements. However, it is not available any more. The other one is a hygrometer based on the absorption of infrared radiation, from LI-COR. For an environment of low vibrations, the LI-COR sensor is suitable for fast airborne water vapour measurements.