NSF-University of Wyoming King Air Research Aircraft Operations & Maintenance

The National Science Foundation – University of Wyoming King Air (NSF UWKA) research aircraft enables the study of a variety of atmospheric processes related to clouds, precipitation, chemistry, and the structure of the atmosphere closest to Earth’s surface. This award ensures the availability of the NSF UWKA to the research community by supporting the operations and maintenance of the aircraft and associated instruments. The types of research that the NSF UWKA specializes in are directly relevant to critical topics in weather and air quality that impact public safety, human health, and economic security. The facility also plays an important role, as a unique university-based atmospheric research aircraft, in providing training for the next generation of airborne research scientists. This project provides for the management, staffing, upgrading, testing, operation and maintenance of the NSF UWKA aircraft and associated instrumentation and software. The NSF UWKA is an agile platform, capable for use in studies ranging from cloud-aerosol interaction, to boundary-layer dynamics, air quality, cloud and precipitation physics, and chemistry of trace gases and aerosol. A new King Air 350i airframe was recently modified under NSF funding to provide the community with a more capable aircraft that has a higher ceiling, longer flight duration, and more power for instruments than the prior platform. The primary goals of this project are to: 1) Ensure that the NSF UWKA and associated instrumentation are available for deployment for NSF-supported researchers, 2) Ensure that the King Air Facility measurement capabilities and associated data products are of high quality and responsive to the evolving research needs and interests of the NSF-funded community, and 3) Continue to develop and enhance outreach and education efforts towards lowering the barriers of access to advanced airborne atmospheric measurements thereby making the NSF UWKA the platform of choice for training the next generation of airborne atmospheric scientists. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.