SOW.docx

5/31/2016

STATEMENT OF WORK

NRMAG000-16-00993

PURPOSE:

The National Severe Storms Laboratory requires a service provider to obtain frequent, vertical soundings of the atmospheric boundary layer (0 - 2500 ft AGL) using an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that will be provided by the contractor. The service is needed to fulfill objectives of a proposal funded by the NOAA UAS Program Office within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. The service will be provided by an experienced UAS sounding operator to demonstrate a benchmark capability against which other emerging capabilities can be evaluated. The soundings will be combined with other high-resolution lower-atmospheric observations to assess the ability to improve forecasts of severe thunderstorms. Because of this objective, the service must be able to consistently provide observations of known accuracy, as specified below.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

The vendor must be able to deploy from Norman, OK (staging) to two locations within 100 km of Enid, Oklahoma, with a four-hour notification during a predetermined period in October-November 2016 and May-July 2017. One location will be the Southern Great Plains research area near Lamont, the second site will be at an established Oklahoma Mesonet site, to be determined the morning of deployment. Each period of time to be of 1-2 weeks duration. The vendor must have experience and proven success in obtaining approval for operations from relevant federal authorities. Soundings must include pressure observations with an accuracy of 1.5 mb and precision of 0.1 mb; temperature observations with an accuracy of 0.1 C and precision of 0.1 C; dewpoint observations with an accuracy of 0.2C and precision of 0.1C; wind direction observations with an accuracy of 5 degrees and a precision of 1 degree; and wind speed observations with an accuracy of 2 m/s and precision of 1 m/s. Observations must be obtained with a vertical resolution of 5 meters. The vendor provided UAS must be able to obtain these observations in winds as strong as 40 kt. The service provider must have at least three years experience (and/or 100 soundings) obtaining UAS atmospheric soundings that have been used in the context of numerical weather prediction or operational forecasting.

Travel from a base of operations in Norman, OK to each of two test sites within 100 km of Enid to develop a concept of operations will be required during the Fall 2016 operations. An identical number of trips will be required during the severe storms experimental operations in Spring 2017.

DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE:

The UAS sounding service is requested intermittently, as weather conditions dictate, and as to be determined by NSSL, during the months of October-November 2016, and during the months of May-July 2017. Deliverables include quality-controlled observations of atmospheric properties to be obtained by the UAS, accurate mapping of the observing locations, engineering data pertaining to the instrument and UAS performance, and a final report to NSSL.

TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT:

Dr. Steven Koch, Director, National Severe Storms Laboratory.

CERTIFICATION OF BONA FIDE NEED:

I certify that there is a bona fide need for the supply or service described in this document; that the supply/service is necessary and funding supplied is appropriate for use for this requirement and in this fiscal year.