Mission Briefing:

This final flight in Tropical Storm Isidore was to be a tasked mission for the Tropical Prediction Center. Joe Cione and Eric Uhlhorn came up to Tampa the day before in hopes of obtaining data to further validate the Stepped Frequency Micowave Radiometer (SFMR) surface wind speed estimates. This would be accomplished by flying over buoys and C-MAN stations at different altitudes, while also deploying AXBTs and GPS sondes. A flight plan was drawn up that would satisfy the operational requirements, accomplish the buoy overflights, and include one run along the coast to gahter landfall data near the wind towers and portable radars that were being deployed by various university groups.
The plan had to changed quite a bit when, at the pre-flight briefing, it was pointed out that the planned take off time would require us to head straight to the center in order for AOC to make the 00 UTC fix. The plan was amended accordingly with the help of Barry and Carl.

Mission Synopsis

NOAA 43 left MacDill Air Force Base at 2230 UTC, and descended to 10,000' at the IP at 2333 UTC. Isidore had a huge circulation, filling most of the Gulf, but the core had weakened after landfall in Mexico and the center was not that easy to find. Barry fixed the center at 27° 39' N, 90° 15' W at 0005 UTC. The plane continued a figure 4 pattern, passing thorugh the center again at 0114 UTC. From 0206 to to 0222 UTC we flew west along the coast, deployinmg sondes, most of which had no winds. We headed south to get the 0300 UTC fix. At 0351 UTC Richard Pasch called from TPC and requested that the P3 repeat the coastal pass, because the wind max appeared to be around Gulfport. We repeated the coastal run starting at 0502 UTC. Once again, most of the sondes had no winds. At 0614 UTC Barry declared the storm center was inland, near 29° and 90° 33'. We landed back at MacDill at 0759 UTC.

Mission Evaluation:

HRD was not able to accomplish many of the scientific objectives during this flight because of the changing nature of the operational mission. It was an excellent training opportunity for newer HRD personnel to get involved in the field program more directly. This just reinforced the need for HRD to be flexible when tagging along on tasked flights. Valuable radar and flight-level data were collected on the coastal runs, and if the GPS sonde winds can be recovered, they will also prove useful in further validation of the remote surface wind estimates.

Problems:

There were numerous failures of the GPS sonde winds. These may be recovered in post-processing at AOC.

Acknowledgements:

Barry Damiano, Carl Newman, and the flight crew tried to include our research objectives in the flight track whenever possible. Terry Lynch kept the radar running, and Jeff Smith, Ray Tong and Damon Sans Souci managed to keep up with our evolving plans for GPS sonde and AXBT drops.

Return to Mission page.