High-performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research

The high-performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research (HIAPER) is a modified Gulfstream V aircraft operated by the Earth Observing Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. The aircraft was purchased brand-new from Gulfstream Aerospace in 2002 and then modified by Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina over a period of two years, for a total cost of $80 million.^[1]

HIAPER
NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft
Role	atmospheric research
Manufacturer	Gulfstream
Primary user	National Center for Atmospheric Research
Number built	1
Developed from	Gulfstream V

The aircraft includes a wing mounted cloud radar which allows researchers a high resolution view into snow producing storms.^[2] The aircraft is designed and instrumented to observe and measure clouds from the stratosphere.^[3][4]

The HIAPER cloud radar (HCR) is an airborne, polarimetric, millimeter-wavelength radar capable of cloud remote sensing.^[2] Whole air samplers also collect air samples for later analysis on the ground.^[5]

Data collected by the 2013 HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) campaign is publicly available.^[5]