The Puerto Rico Dust Experiment (PRIDE) is an applied science field research study of the radiative, microphysical, and transport properties of Saharan dust, scheduled for June 27-July 25, 2000. A group of Navy, NASA, and university scientists intend to conduct a combined surface, airborne, satellite and modeling campaign out of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico in an effort to measure the properties of African dust transported into the Caribbean. There will be two principal tasks: 1) Determine the extent to which the properties of dust particles and the spectral surface reflectance of the ocean surface need to be known before remote sensing systems can accurately determine optical depth and flux. 2) Evaluate/validate the skill in which the Naval Research Laboratory’s Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) predicts the long-range transport and vertical distribution of African dust. The results of these tasks will support Navy and NASA applied science objectives on satellite validation and the prediction of dust-induced visibility degradation. In addition, secondary tasks of PRIDE will address in situ issues of coarse mode particles and basic research issues on climate forcing, geochemical cycles, and meteorology. This document gives a brief overview of PRIDE's objectives, participants, and implementation.
