Small uncrewed aircraft based microphysical measurements of polar stratus cloud during the Pallas Cloud Experiment 2022

A dataset of in situ observations of stratus cloud microphysics was created from measurements performed at the Pallas atmosphere-ecosystem super site during the Pallas Cloud Experiment (PaCE) in autumn 2022. The data were collected using a small uncrewed aircraft (SUA) and the low-cost, lightweight Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS, Smith et al., 2019). Data from the instrument – platform combination was previously validated in Girdwood et al. (2022b) during a similar field campaign at the same site. These measurements are intended to expand on the previous campaign since they form an extended dataset with the uncertainties already evaluated by previous experimental work. The dataset contains cloud droplet size distribution, number concentration, and mass concentration, in addition to geolocation data, and meteorological variables. The flight pattern of the SUA was planned to provide a quasi-vertical profile. A total of 84 of these profiles across 39 flights were performed during the campaign period. The data from the SUA flights are available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14756233 (Girdwood et al., 2022a).