High Altitude Disturbance: An Integrated Experimental and Modeling Approach to Quantifying Turbulence and Aerosols at Hypersonic Flight Height

Executive Summary

We will develop a zero-pressure stratospheric balloon observational platform and multiscale modeling capability to obtain never-before measured and resolved atmospheric disturbance parameters. These data are critical to developing sustained hypersonic flight in support of national security.

Publications, Presentations, and Patents

Ehrmann, T.S., A. Hidy, S. Skinner, S. Laurence, S. Wharton, 2021. “Stratospheric Turbulence Associated with Deep Convection Observed Through In-Situ Measurements of Wind and Atmospheric Tracers.” Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) 2021 Science Team Meeting. November 16, 2021.

Ehrmann, T.S., P. Cameron-Smith. “Determining Stratospheric Turbulence Statistics from ER-2 Flight Data.” 22nd Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, 102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Houston, TX. January 25, 2022.

Ehrmann, T.S., P. Cameron-Smith, S. Wharton. “A Climatology of Clear-Air Turbulence and Mountain Wave Turbulence through the Stratosphere Using MERRA-2 Data.” 21st Conference on Middle Atmosphere, 102nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Houston, TX. January 25, 2022.

Ehrmann, T.S., P. Cameron-Smith, S. Wharton. “Determining Stratospheric Turbulence Statistics from ER-2 Flight Data.” SPARC Gravity Wave Symposium, Frankfurt Germany. March 28-April 1, 2022.

Hidy, A., S. Wharton, S. Skinner, T.S. Ehrmann, M. Repasch. “Obtaining Spatial Datasets of Atmospherically Produced Cosmogenic 10Be/7Be to Fingerprint Stratospheric Disturbances.” International Conference on Methods and Applications of Radioanalytical Chemistry (MARC). Kona, HI. April 3-8, 2022.

Wharton, S. “LLNL High Altitude R&D in Support of Hypersonics.” United States Air Force/Army Weather R&D Workshop. Virtual. September 24, 2020.