NOAA WP3D AIRCRAFT - MISSION SUMMARIES F. Marks (NOAA/AOML, USA)
B. Smull (NOAA/NSSL, USA)
Announced availability: 1 June 1993
Data Access NOAA WP3D mission summaries are available via anonymous FTP from mrd3.mmm.ucar.edu in subdirectory /pub/TOGA-COARE, file name TOGA-AG.
Background During the four-month field phase of TOGA COARE, the two NOAA WP3Ds (P3s) operated out of Honiara in the Solomon Islands conducting 22 and 23 individual sorties for a total of 374 flight hours. Missions were conducted over a wide spectrum of weather from near "clear sky" to highly disturbed. Nearly 80% of the flight sorties were within the Intensive Flux Array (IFA); however, except for a three-day period from 12 to 15 December 1992, most of the convectively active missions were outside this region.
The majority of the missions were a mix of boundary layer and convective flight patterns depending upon the weather. Prior to mid-February, most of the convective patterns were at night, which precluded the collection of a large amount of boundary layer data. After mid-February, the convective missions were conducted during daylight hours so boundary layer and Doppler data were collected simultaneously.
A concise description of the Honiara turboprop missions was prepared in Honiara by Frank Marks (NOAA/AOML) and Brad Smull (NOAA/NSSL) based on their impressions of the flights and the written summaries by other airborne scientists.
Data File Information Data Example
Mission #1 (921102)
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Daytime dual-aircraft Class 0/1 BL over IMET/IFA to
determine optimal aircraft spacing in later armada patterns; if
possible, collect quad-Doppler and single pearl per aircraft on target
of opportunity during ferry.
ALTERNATE: Class 2 convection.
ACTUAL: CLASS 1 BL over IFA w/ limited triple-Doppler (43 tail radar
transmitting forward only) sampling of isolated Class 1 south of IFA
and LF mapping of Class 2 farther to its east on outbound ferry.
Aircraft Takeoff PIs On/Off Station Landing Duration
N42RF 2119 2 Nov CF, RAH, DPJ 2200/0415 0551 3 Nov 8.8 h
N43RF 2118 2 Nov DR, BFS 2200/0415 0549 3 Nov 8.8 h
For more information, please contact:
Frank Marks
NOAA/AOML Hurricane Research Division
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149-1097
USA
email: marks@aoml.noaa.gov
Phone: (305) 361-4321
FAX: (305) 361-4402
or
Brad Smull
NOAA/NSSL/Mesoscale Research Division
Mail Code: N/C/MRD
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80303
USA
email: smull@ucar.edu
Phone: (303) 497-6886
FAX: (303) 497-6930
Return to Aircraft Data Overview
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http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/coare/catalog/data/convection_mesoscale/turboprops_sum_noaa.html
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