High temporal and spatial resolution measurement of hydrometeor mass for automated assessment of precipitation rate and type

The Particle Flux Analytics Inc. (PFA) Multi Angle Snowake Camera (MASC) has been operating at the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Oliktok Point site since 2015, providing the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program community with unprecedented information about hydrometeor shape, size, and fallspeed. However, no technology currently exists for completing the critically needed suite of data with hydrometeor mass, density, and precipitation rate.
This Phase II STTR effort will accelerate development of the Hotplate Present Weather Sensor, an advanced ground-based, self-contained, hockey-puck sized precipitation and wind sensor. The instrument basis is the nano-fabrication of a high density array of individually insulated micro-hotplates that provides a video image of cooling signatures created by winds and hydrometeor evaporation. Signal analysis yields statistics for the mass, frequency, and microstructure of individual snow and rain particles, along with precipitation rate and type, and the direction and speed of wind gusts.In Phase II Particle Flux Analytics will develop a new sensor based on advanced microelectro-mechanical sensor (MEMS) technologies for measurement of high precision measurement of precipitation, winds and turbulence. The Hotplate Present Weather Sensor is intended to be a potentially disruptive entry to the weather station market by offering an inexpensive, sophisticated, and small, automated, meteorological sensor for the weather, agricultural, insurance, military, and transportation safety sectors.