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Activity Summary for FIRE-ACE Phase IIJuly 1998 |
The FIRE.ACE Operations Center opened for business. Hangar 4 is ready for the experimenters to arrive and begin experiment operations.
The C-130 arrived successfully from Colorado at 1700 to temperatures that peaked at 91 degrees.. Equipment will be offloaded tomorrow.
All of the experimenters have arrived. At the C-130 flight planning meeting, Curry outlined the C-130 Proposed Mission Distribution for Phase II:
There are enough flight hours for 7-8 flights. This means about 2 flights/week. Weekends are possible if circumstances limit weekday flights.
The NO GO criteria are inadequate number of instruments (on C-130 and SHEBA) operational or predictions of low, thick fog only that prevents low sampling and cannot see surface. Fog with "interesting" cloud layers aloft may be considered.
Possible flight patterns would be:The C-130 itself is ready to go. However, several instruments (CPI, AIMR, CCN) are down and would not be ready for Tuesday.
SHEBA reported that the lidar is down and that the radar, while operational, is not collecting data.
The weather forecast for Tuesday was for low level fog and clear above. The fog would consist of both crystals and liquid drops.
Consequently, the C-130 flight for Tuesday was canceled with the flight rescheduled for Wednesday.
The C-130 flight was canceled due to fog forecasted for SHEBA. At the Flight Planning Meeting, the weather forecast for SHEBA tomorrow called for low stratus clouds with cirrus aloft. A high is building up from the northwest, which should max about Friday with attendant clear skies.
The instruments at SHEBA are operational, except for the tethered balloon (for state variable only) due to high winds. Due to limited sondes available at SHEBA for the next month, the sondes will launched 2/day nominally, but 4/day on C-130 flight days.
The instruments on the C-130 are also operational. Consequently, there will be a C-130 flight to SHEBA on Wednesday.
There was a C-130 flight to SHEBA. The science patterns were conducted as planned, with mid-level clouds over SHEBA and cirrus clouds aloft. The surface was visible for leads and radiation studies.
However, on the return home, the C-130 an engine was malfunctioning but the plane was able to land safely at Fairbanks. The engine will have to be replaced.
At the Update Meeting, the status of the C-130 was given.. A spare engine is being air shipped from NCAR to Anchorage for the engine replacement. Consequently, the C-130 left for Anchorage at 1500. The guestimate is that the C-130 would not return until Tuesday or Wednesday. The next science flight would be Wednesday or Thursday.
Science Data Presentations are scheduled for Friday at 1500.
Bob Serafin, NCAR Director, has canceled his visit until late July.
At the Science Data Presentations, Wylie showed his extensive website, with weather summaries, satellite images, flight patterns, and cloud top analyses using the CO2-slicing technique.
Baumgartner reported on the cloud-aerosol interactions. He compared the measurements of the CN, PCASP, FSSP-100, and FSSP-300 instruments and showed the similarities and differences due to dissimilar size responses, particle volatilities, and inlet losses.
Hudson showed results from the July 8 flight. The CCN concentrations near the surface (in clear air), were low (<50 per cc), but not as low as measured in May in clouds. The sampled air over SHEBA had recently been dissipated from clouds the night before.
Powers will investigate the cloud properties (concentrations, LWP, and Re) on different spatial scales (20, 100, and 1000m) and their relationships to radiation.
Jensen commented that the CPI can make size measurements between 20-2300 microns, to 2.6 micron resolution. This range covers the measurement ranges for the FSSP, 260X, 2DC, and 2DP probes. The CPI will be used to determine particle concentrations, distributions, discrimination between water and ice particles, riming, habits, and comparison with 1D, 2D, cloud radar, lidar, and satellite observations.
Valero showed measurements from the July 8 flight. The TDDR measured lower albedos (45%) than in May (60-80%). The upwelling visible flux was also lower, across the visible spectrum. The upwelling IR fluxes over the sea ice and leads show very little spatial responses, which differ considerably from May. This implies that the sea ice is very thin and has broken up. The surface temperature is very close to 0 d C. The upwelling VIS fluxes, when measured between clouds aloft and the surface in the Arctic, are higher due to multiple reflections between the cloud and surface. This does not occur in the tropics.
Jeff Key is investigating the VIS fluxes and cloud optical depths for various cloud types, heights, and surface conditions.
Haggerty showed that the AIMR observations are also different now than in May, indicating that there is little or no snow cover and that the surface temperature is about 0 d C.. The brightness temperatures are a function of surface temperature and emissivity.
Laursen reported that the MCR has been improved and is now performing on 6 channels. The C-130 is having the damaged engine taken off on Friday. The new engine arrives at Anchorage on Saturday and will be installed on Monday and Tuesday. The earliest the C-130 would return would be Wednesday. Thursday would be for instrument checkout. The next science flight would be Friday.
Nothing was planned for Saturday.
A Status Update Meeting was held at 1530. The C-130 is expected to return from Anchorage on Tuesday night or Wednesday. If the plane returns on Tuesday night, a full mission could be flown on Wednesday. If it does not return until Wednesday, we might be able to have the plane pick-up PI's at Fairbanks International Airport and continue to the SHEBA station for radiation and albedo measurements. The down-looking video and the Scripps' radiometer are the only instruments required to be operational for these measurements.
A Status Update Meeting was held at 1530. The C-130 is still expected to return from Anchorage on Tuesday night or Wednesday. The plan is still to fly a full mission flight on Thursday if the plane Wednesday night. If it does not return until Wednesday, we may have the plane pick-up PI's at Fairbanks International Airport and continue to the SHEBA station for radiation and albedo measurements. The down-looking video and the Scripps' radiometer would be the only instruments required to be operational for these measurements.
A Status Update/Mission Planning Meeting was held at 1530. The C-130 returned from Anchorage at 2030.
There was a C-130 flight to SHEBA. The science patterns were flown as planned, with mid-level clouds over SHEBA. The surface was visible for leads and radiation studies. The C-130 returned at 1900.
A Status Update and Preliminary Data Presentation Meeting was held at 1530. Because Friday's weather conditions are expected to be too similar to what has already been sampled, it was decided not to fly on Friday and have a hard down day. The next flight will be either Saturday or Sunday, depending on predicted weather conditions.
Julie Haggerty (University of Colorado), Ken Asmus (AES-Canada), Tara Jensen (SPEC, Inc.), and Jim Hudson (Desert Research Institute) gave presentations of preliminary data. In addition, Darrell Baumgardner announced that it was Julie's birthday and led the group in singing "Happy Birthday."
A Status Update and Preliminary Data Presentation Meeting was held at 1530. It was decided to fly on Saturday.
Anthony Bucholtz (Scripps Institution) and Krista Laursen (NCAR) gave presentations of preliminary data.
There was a C-130 flight to SHEBA. There were altostratus clouds over SHEBA. The surface was visible for leads and radiation studies. The C-130 returned at 1935.
A Preliminary Data Presentation and Flight Planning Meeting was held at 1530. Tara Jensen (SPEC, Inc.) reported that the C drive on the CPI is not functioning. It is expected that the instrument will be down until Wednesday at the earliest. However, until SPEC's technician is consulted, this cannot be confirmed.
Don Wylie and Judy Curry discussed the fact that weather conditions they are finding over SHEBA are not matching the conditions that were predicted at the Flight Planning Meetings. In an effort to get more accurate predictions, the go/no-go decision would not be made until early Monday morning, after that day's most current predicted weather conditions could be reviewed.
Shelly Pope (Scripps Institution) and Jim Hudson (Desert Research Institute) gave presentations of preliminary data.
A Preliminary Data Presentation and Flight Planning Meeting was held at 1530. Tara Jensen (SPEC, Inc.) reported that the C drive on the CPI would likely still be down until at least Wednesday.
There were no presentations of preliminary data.
The C-130 departed Ft. Wainwright at 0807 for a flight over SHEBA and returned at 1855. Samples of low level boundary layer clouds were taken.
There was a Mid-Mission Science Meeting at 1600. Judy Curry (University of Colorado) gave a review of mission accomplishments, showing the number of samples of each desired case. Other presentations were given by Darnell Powers (Truman State University), Darrel Baumgardner (NCAR), Tara Jensen (SPEC Inc.), Jim Hudson (Desert Research Institute), Shelly Pope and Brett Bush (Scripps Institution), Krista Laursen (NCAR), Mark Tschudi (University of Colorado), Tom Heck (AS&M) and Don Wylie (University of Wisconsin).
There was a C-130 flight over SHEBA.
Hard down day. Status Update /Flight Planning Meeting was held at 1530. A summary of Friday's flight (Flight 13) was detailed as follows:
A Preliminary Data Presentation and Flight Planning Meeting was held at 1530. Tara Jensen (SPEC, Inc.) and Jim Hudson (Desert Research Institute) gave presentations.
There was a C-130 flight over SHEBA which departed Ft. Wainwright at 0745 and returned at 1850. With no low clouds upon arrival over SHEBA, the surface mapping outlined in the flight plan was accomplished. Later, a precipitation case was observed.
A Preliminary Data Presentation and Flight Planning Meeting was held at 1530. Robert Serafin, Director of NCAR, who is in Fairbanks to observe the FIRE.ACE operations, was present.
The following summary of Flight 14 was given by James Pinto. The main accomplishments were surface mapping at SHEBA and the observation of storm evolution with developing precipitation.
Mission Summary:Following the mission summary, presentations were given by James Pinto (University of Colorado), Darrel Baumgardner (NCAR), Tara Jensen (SPEC, Inc.), Mark Tschudi (University of Colorado), Brett Bush (Scripps Institution), Steve Krueger (University of Utah), and Don Wylie (University of Wisconsin).
There was a C-130 flight over SHEBA which departed Ft. Wainwright at 0800 and returned at 1830.
There was a C-130 flight over SHEBA which departed Ft. Wainwright at 0900 and returned at 1835.
Participants and crews will be packing up in preparation for departing Fairbanks. The C-130 will fly to Fairbanks International Airport at 1400 for refueling for the flight home. The plane will remain at Fairbanks International overnight.
Continue pack up and preparations for return home. C-130 departs Fairbanks International Airport at 0600.
