Aircraft make second flight with TRMM
Space Science News home
Aircraft make second flight with TRMM
CAMEX-3 status report
Aug.
18, 1998: (This is the fourth in a series
of stories covering the ongoing CAMEX mission to hunt hurricane
data in a way not done since the 50s. Other
stories are linked in below.)
The DC-8 and ER-2 aircraft made a second sortie to match an overflight by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite on Saturday, Aug. 15.
At
the 1630 UT briefing, we postponed takeoff time for the NASA
aircraft by one hour, until 1930. The Mission Scientist traveled
to the S-POL radar between ~1700-1810, arriving just in time
to participate in the decision (with forecaster Geerts at Patrick
AFB) that an additional 30-minute postponement until 2000 was
wise, because the convective clouds were not developing into
our operational area as rapidly as anticipated.
Left: Dr. Marian Klein of the Ocean Remote Sensing Division at NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, Colo, inspects the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer's scanning sensor head under the NASA DC-8 aircraft. (Links to 468x303-pixel, 55KB JPG.) credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Shortly after launch of all three aircraft at about 2000, and while en route to the first target area about 70 nm NW of S-POL, the University of North Dakota Citation lost cockpit radar and had to abort.
The
ER-2 and DC-8 were given N-S lines (1 and 2) through a dissipating
convective storm, which was worked from about 2043-2123. Just
in time for the (2141 UT) TRMM overpass, a larger area including
the original target became workable as a formerly strong storm
weakened considerably.
Right: Dr. Marian Klein (foreground) and Dr. Albin J. Gasiewski of the Ocean Remote Sensing Division at NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, Colo, operate the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR), a new imaging instrument on board the NASA DC-8 aircraft. (links to 446x284-pixel, 65KB JPG.) credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA
The
two aircraft were set up along Line 3, WSW-ENE, which they flew
3 times from about 2134-2217, the first leg including the overpass.
After 2217, the DC-8 went offshore to drop a sonde and find a
clearer area for LASE, while the ER-2 was directed to a solid
110 km (60 nm) N-S line of convective cells which had formed
near the merged east coast and west coast sea breeze lines (resembling
a zipper on radar). They made one run in each direction over
this line of storms, which weakened during the runs. Both aircraft
were on the ground by about 2320.
Left: Dr. Ramesh Kakar, Earth Science Program Manager at NASA Headquarters, conducts a morning coordination meeting with the CAMEX and TEFLUN teams. (links to 446x270-pixel, 62KB JPG.) credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Communications at S-POL were excellent from my perspective with all aircraft. Dave Webber did an excellent job on the radio, and Ed Brandes was a major help at S-POL in keeping ahead of the weather and spotting opportunities for flight track changes. A team of three is needed there, especially if the Citation were flying in addition to the two NASA birds.
Note: More details are available in the NASA press release describing CAMEX-3. Check back as hurricane season progresses. We will post science updates as the campaign develops. PIX: High resolution scans of 35mm camera photos from the CAMEX-3 campaign are available from Public Affairs Office at NASA headquarters. Please call the NASA Headquarters Photo Department at 202-358-1900, or contact Bill Ingalls at bingalls@hq.nasa.gov.
CAMEX Series Headlines August 12:
Overview CAMEX story , describes
the program in detail. NCAR has an extensive writeup on the GPS dropsondes used in CAMEX-3 and other atmospheric campaigns. A new study - not related to CAMEX-3 - by the Arizona State University suggests a link between hurricanes in the northwest Atlantic and air pollution. |
CAMEX-3 is an interagency project to measure hurricane dynamics at high altitude, a method never employed before over Atlantic storms. From this, scientists hope to understand better how hurricanes are powered and to improve the tools they use to predict hurricane intensity.
Lead CAMEX-3 personnel
 |  |  |  |
Dr. Ramesh Kakar, Earth Science Program Manager, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA | Robbie Hood, Lead Mission Scientist, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA | Dr. Ed Zipser, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, Field Campaign Lead, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA | Dr. Frank Marks, Field Program Director, Hurricane Research Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami, FL credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA |
An overview story (Aug. 12, 1998) describes the program in detail. The study is part of NASA's Earth Science enterprise to better understand the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment.
|  Sign up for our EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery |