August
14, 1998: (This is the third 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.)
Three of the aircraft involved in the third Convection and
Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3) probed through and above thunderstorms
and anvil-shaped clouds in a five-hour test mission Thursday
afternoon.
The mission also served as the first scientific flight for
studying tropical storms in conjunction with overflights of the
Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite in the
Texas-Florida Underflight campaign (TEFLUN). The TEFLUN-B ground
coordination flight seems to be a large success. All three aircraft
flew in stacked formation, on coordinated lines, through an active
storm, instruments working well, with an overpass by TRMM.
The primary goal for Thursday
was to sample a convective precipitation system - a thunderstorm
- with all three aircraft within a 90-km (54-mi) range of the
S-POL radar site located near Vero Beach, Florida at 27 degrees,
53.4 minutes N and 80 degrees, 44.7 minutes W. A second goal
of the mission was to fly the NAST-I and the Lidar Atmospheric
Sensing Experiment (LASE) over the ground instrumentation site
located at Andros Island, Bahamas, to collect water vapor calibration
measurements. Additional goals of the missions were to test the
aircraft to ground communications and to calibrate the DC-8's
Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) and the Polarimetric
Scanning Radiometer (PSR).
The
aircraft flew through and above thunderstorms in the near Atlantic
to "check out" the suite of scientific instruments
which will be used to study named Tropical Storms and Hurricanes
during the study period which lasts through Sept. 23. The DC-8,
a heavily converted commercial jetliner, took a spiraling flight
path down the Florida coastline gaining altitude to 39,000 feet
before heading Southeast over the Atlantic Ocean. The ER-2, a
converted U2 spy plane, took a more direct route to a pre-selected
rendezvous point.
Left, Above: A NASA map shows the ground
track of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite
and the fields of view of its instruments at the time of Thursday's
aircraft calibration flights. (links to 640x512-pixel
GIF.)
The ER-2, piloted by Bill Collette, and DC-8, piloted by former
astronaut Gordon Fullerton and Dick Ewens, launched at 1900 UTC
(3 p.m. EDT) which was an hour delay from the originally scheduled
takeoff time due to the slow development of convection within
range of S-POL.
After takeoff, the aircraft lingered in the Vero Beach area
to allow LASE and other instruments time to warm up to proper
operating conditions before beginning the Andros Island sortie.
The ER-2 flew over a developing convective cell south of the
Vero Beach during the waiting period. Each aircraft flew two
flight lines that were 5 km (3 mi) off shore and parallel to
the eastern rim of the island. The two aircraft were then directed
to an area north of Titusville where an area of convection was
developing. The University of North Dakota Citation launched
at approximately 2115 UTC (5:15 pm EDT) to join the ER-2 and
DC-8 in probing the thunderstorms.
The three aircraft were directed by the S-POL scientist to
fly primarily east-west legs through the trailing stratiform
rain region between the intersection of a convective outflow
boundary and a sea breeze gust front. The overall mission accomplished
its stated goals and was considered a success.
Daily Mission Scientist: Ed Zipser
Deputy Daily Mission Scientist: Gerry Heymsfield
DC-8 Scientist: Ed Zipser
S-POL Scientist: Gerry Heymsfield
Patrick Scientist: Robbie Hood
Water Vapor Scientist: Harvey Melfi
Nowcasters: Bart Geerts and Richard Wohlman
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.
August 13: CAMEX
maiden flight , for calibration
of TRMM satellite instruments
August 14: CAMEX
test flights , CAMEX flies over
tropical storm weather in successful calibration run (this story)
August 18:
CAMEX aircraft make second flight with TRMM , second calibration run for TRMM
August 20: CAMEX
may get first chance at a tropical storm , later this week
August 21: Here comes Bonnie!
, CAMEX scheduled to fly over T.S. Bonnie
August 22: West by Northwest ,
CAMEX team may have to evacuate to Georgia
August 24: Eye-to-eye, and Bonnie
winks, CAMEX team makes first flight through eye
August 25: Snow in August,
Bonnie surprises the hurricane team
August 26: Camera of many colors
Hurricane hunters using advanced scanner to peer into storms
August 28: Preparing for Danielle
NASA team takes break as Bonnie fades away
August 31: Quite a Windfall Hurricane
team completes first half of unique science campaign
September 2: Bonnie Cuts a Towering
Figure Satellite radar shows mountainous cloud chimney
September 4: Hurricane team studies
Earl Four aircraft probe storm
September 10: NASA team awaits
next hurricane
September 16:
Hurricane season passing its prime Thunderstorm
studies continue as a new hurricane candidate wends its way from
Africa.
September 18: Two new storms brewing
for hurricane research team Scientists fly 4 out of 5
days, clear air sampled over the Bahamas, oceanic convection
data collected east of Cape Canaveral
September 21:The last hurricane
- CAMEX team wrapping up campaign with flights into Georges
September 23: Hurricane Georges
puts on a light show - CAMEX team treated to purple sprites
and weird lightning
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. From this, scientists
hope to understand better how hurricanes are powered and to improve
the tools they use to predict hurricane intensity.
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.
Web Links |
CAMEX-3 home page contains
links to daily flight operations and instrument descriptions.
Lightning
Imaging Sensor
aboard the TRMM satellite observes lightning from above the clouds
- and my lead to better warnings on the ground.
MACAWS uses the Doppler
effect (red and blue shifts) to measure wind velocity.
SPARCLE is a Space Shuttle experiment
set for 2001 to demonstrate laser wind measurement from space. |
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