Mission Summary
20140826I1 Aircraft 43RF
TDR Experiment into Tropical Storm Cristobal

Aircraft Crew (43RF)
Aircraft CommanderJustin Kibbey
Co-pilotKerryn Schneider
Co-pilotScott Price
NavigatorPete Siegel
Flight EngineerJoe Klippel
Flight EngineerChris Lalonde
Flight DirectorIan Sears
Flight DirectorMike Holmes
System EngineerDana Naeher
Data TechnicianJoe Greene
AVAPSJeff Smith
Program ManagerJim McFadden

Scientific Crew (43RF)
LPSKathryn Sellwood (HRD)
DropsondesHua Chen (HRD)
RadarSim Aberson (HRD)
SFMRHeather Holbach (FSU)
IWRAPPaul Chang (NESDIS)
IWRAPSteve J Frasier (NESDIS)
IWRAPZorana Jelenak (NESDIS)
IWRAPTom Hartley (NESDIS)

Mission Plan :

NOAA43 will conduct an EMC tasked TDR pattern in hurricane Cristobal which was to the southwest of Bermuda and accelerating northward. The aircraft will take off from MacDill AFB, FL at 1800 UTC and recover at MacDill AFB, FL at 0400 UTC. Cristobal was still a minimal hurricane at 65kts although the central pressure had decreased somewhat since the previous flight to 998mb.The forecast called for minor strengthening before merging with a frontal system and becoming post tropical within the next 72 hours, moving rapidly off to the northeast. The convection had wrapped around to the north side of the storm and the principle rainband (fig 2 ,6) was beginning to align with the cold front which extended to the north and east. The wind shear directly over the storm had relaxed somewhat (fig 1) and Cristobal appeared to more vertically aligned (fig 7,8).Dry air was now located both east and west of the storm but did not appear to be making its way into the core (fig 2).


Figure 1: CIMSS wind shear (yellow) and
wind (orange) displayed over GOES IR
image. Image valid at 18Z 8/26

Figure 2: CIMSS water vapor from
METEOSAT. Image valid at 20Z 8/26.

The flight plan (fig 3.) called for a butterfly pattern with 120 nautical mile legs, entering the storm from the west and finishing to the northwest at a height of 10,000ft. Dropsondes were planned for the end and mid points of each leg and at the center. Extra dropsondes were planned for sampling the radius of maximum wind speed. The Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, AV6, was sampling the larger environment around Cristobal at the same time. The primary objective was to provide real time radar analyses for assimilation into the HWRF model with the secondary objectives of obtaining high incidence angle SFMR data and to conduct sector scans for NESDIS. A convective burst module was planned to coincide with the NESDIS pattern which called for crossing back and forth across the eastern eyewall region and releasing dropwindsondes and AXBTs. Another test of the mini dropsondes and IR sensor dropsondes was planned, again with concurrent AXBT and GPS dropsondes.

TDR MISSION PLAN: Bertha
Hurricane Research Division
Augus 2, 2014 03:45 PM
Aircraft: N49RF
Proposed takeoff: 03/1730Z
TURN LOCATIONS
# LAT LON RAD/AZM LEG TOTAL TIME
deg min deg min nm/dg nm nm hr:mn
222 0073 18100/270 613.613. 2:41
322 0069 42100/090 200.813. 3:33
423 2770 37100/030 100.914. 4:00
520 3372 23100/210 200.1113. 4:53
620 3370 37100/150 100.1214. 5:20
723 2772 23100/330 200.1414. 6:13


Figure 3: planned flight track

Figure 4: actual track flown
Mission Summary :

Take off Landing
MacDill AFB, FL17:39 UTC MacDill AFB, FL01:31 UTC
Penetrations 4

Mission Summary: Takeoff was at 1740Z from MacDill Air Force base in Tampa Fl. The early take off time was to ensure that the radar analysis would make it into the 18Z HWRF cycle due to the distance from the storm. During the first pass through the storm the surface winds on the eastern side of the storm maintained 50kt strength all the way out to the end of the flight leg. The central pressure continued to drop throughout the flight to a minimum of 983mb. As in the previous flight the maximum winds, measuring 70kts by dropsonde, were found on the southeast side of the storm. The radar analyses incdicate nearly 85kt winds in this reagion (fig 6). An IR sensor and mini dropsonde were released near the RMW here along with a GPS sonde and 2 AXBTs. Once again the IR sonde measured an SST which was 4-5 degrees cooler than that measured by the AXBT and rain contamination appeared to be the likely cause. Convection began to increase significantly as we started this final pass through Cristobal and once again we encountered frequent lightning. The aircraft experienced extremely strong vertical motions as we sampled the southeast eyewall forcing us to abandon the NESDIS pattern and continue through the center of the storm. Toward the end of the final leg a safe location was found to execute 3 circles at 45° incidence angles for the SFMR tests, this time with 25-30m/s surface winds. The lower incidence angle circles were not executed due to lack to time. A total 3 radar analyses were produced and provided to EMC in real time for data assimilation. Nineteen GPS dropsondes, 1 mini dropsonde, 1 IR sonde and 4AXBTs were released. All GPS sondes were processed and transmitted in real time. The flight ended at 0131Z on August 27, landing at MacDill.


Figure 5: GOES visible image
valid 18Z 08/26

Figure 6: GOES IR color
image valid 18Z 08/26


Figure 7a: Radar, dropwindsonde composite
wind speed at lowest radar level

Figure 7b: Same as figure 6 but at 3km
aproximate flight level

23 sondes launched, 2 AXBTs

Mission Evaluation and Problems :

All mission objectives were successfully completed. The data collected will be useful for increasing our understanding of tropical cyclones interact with synoptic features, such as cold fronts and how they are able to maintain convection in the presence of dry air.

Kathryn Sellwood
Nov. 5, 2014


Mission Data :

Flight Director log | Flight Director manifest | LPS log | Radar log | Drop log

NetCDF | serial


Page last updated Sept 5, 2014
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