WHAFFFERS 2025

W-band, HiSRAMS, AERI, FIRR-2, FINESSE and FIRMOS Experiment on Remote Sensing

The FIRMOS team spent most of January and February 2025 in Canada to take part to the WHAFFFERS field campaign.

FIRMOS was first deployed at the Aerospace Research Centre of the Canadian National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, Ontario where it collected more than 2000 spectra in 16 ground-based measurement sessions. During several sessions FIRMOS measured the downwelling atmospheric radiance while in turn the NRC Convair aircraft sampled the atmosphere above the measurement site with in-situ and remote sensing instrumentation.

FIRMOS with its winter coat @NRC Ottawa

Below is a quick look of the measurements taken on January 15, 2025.

FIRMOS quick look spectrum from the measurements taken at NRC, Ottawa Jan 15, 2025 at 20:52 UTC.
FIRMOS quick look spectrum from the measurements taken at NRC, Ottawa Jan 15, 2025 at 20:52 UTC.

In February, during the second phase of the campaign FIRMOS was moved to McGill University’s Gault Nature Reserve in Mont Saint-Hilaire Québec. FIRMOS was deployed on the ground and measured together with the Imperial College London‘s spectrometer Far-INfrarEd Spectrometer for Surface Emissivity (FINESSE) and with McGill‘s Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) which is permanently based in the reserve.

FIRMOS and FINESSE also measured ice and snow samples to study the surface emissivity in the far‑infrared.

FINESSE and FIRMOS dur
FINESSE (left) and FIRMOS (right) joint atmospheric measurements in Gault.
FINESSE (left) and FIRMOS (right) measuring snow samples in Gault.

The atmosphere above the ground-based instrumentation was also characterized thanks to the launch of several weather balloons by McGill University. The balloons were released both in Ottawa and in Gault and carried radiosondes to measure temperature and humidity.

FIRMOS team’s member, Paolo Pettinari (CNR‑ISAC), helping with the release of a weather balloon in Ottawa.
Radiosonde launch in Gault, during FIRMOS (in the foreground) operations.

FIRMOS team members at WHAFFFERS: Silvia Viciani (PI), Marco Barucci, Claudio Belotti, Giovanni Bianchini, Enzo Papandrea, Paolo Pettinari.