Abstract:This study is to demonstrate whether the accurate and high spatio-temporal resolution thermodynamic profiles of the lower atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the urbanized areas could be obtained by small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS). Twenty flights in total were conducted in Shanghai during winter (in December 2018) and spring (in March 2019) months, and 19 profiles (surface-200 m) of temperature and relative humidity were collected. Measurements from automatic weather station (AWS) and radiosonde at the same site were used to evaluate these profiles. The results showed that surface temperature and relative humidity observed by sUAS are close to those from AWS, with the mean differences of -0.5℃, 4.9% for winter flights and 0.9℃, -5.9% for spring flights. The general features of temperature and relative humidity profiles obtained by sUAS are consistent with those from radiosonde, such as temperature inversion near the ground and so on. These findings indicate that sUAS is capable of revealing detailed structures and variations of the lower ABL over the urbanized areas.