MUSAS Projects

The ground and air vehicles that make up the MUSAS instrumentation fleet have been used in many previous field deployments in the past decade. Below are several of the NSF-funded field campaigns on which we have collaborated. We have also participated in projects funded by NASA, the Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research, and NOAA, among others.

 

Previous NSF-funded Research

In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail In the Plains (ICECHIP)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Award AGS 2410914

Period of Performance: 09/01/2024 - 08/31/2028

Collaboration Principal Investigator: Dr. Rebecca Adams-Selin, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.

This two-year field campaign was designed to close critical observational knowledge gaps in hail research by exploiting an almost entirely mobile observational fleet to ensure opportunistic sampling of convection wherever it occurs.This two-year field campaign was designed to close critical observational knowledge gaps in hail research by exploiting an almost entirely mobile observational fleet to ensure opportunistic sampling of convection wherever it occurs.

Tracker and Expedition vehicles by the side of the road while the team collects samples

Maritime to Inland Transitions Towards ENvironments for Convection Initiation (MITTEN CI)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Award AGS 2349937

Period of Performance: 04/01/2024 - 03/31/2027

Collaboration Principal Investigator: Dr. Jason Keeler, Central Michigan University

This  campaign was designed to develop the most thorough understanding to date of warm season boundary layer thermodynamic and kinematic structure due to inland advection of the marine atmospheric boundary layer in the Great Lakes coastal environment.

IRISS pilot adjusts the coptersonde on its landing pad

Supercell Left Flank Boundaries and Coherent Structures‐‐Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells Left‐flank‐Intensive Experiment (TORUS‐LItE)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Award AGS 2312996

Period of Performance: 05/01/2023 - 04/30/2026

Collaboration Principal Investigator: Dr. Adam Houston, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

TORUS-LItE provided a focused, single-field-season follow-on to TORUS that targets data collection using a subset of TORUS assets focused on the supercell left-flank.  

IRISS pilot and crew watch the RAAVEN in the distance