Lead Project Scientist | Eric Uhlhorn |
Radar Scientist | Paul Leighton |
Dropsonde Scientist | Jun Zhang |
Pilots | M. Nelson C. Newman A. Ebhardt |
Flight Director | J. Parrish |
Navigator | T. Gallagher |
Flt. Eng. | Dewey |
Data Tech | T. Lynch J. Smith |
Elec. Tech | D. Naher Steve Wade |
Mission Plan :
N43RF will fly a EMC-tasked Tail Doppler Winds mission into Hurricane Gustav. It will leave MacDill AFB, FL at 08:00 UTC, and recover at MacDill. The planned flight altitude was 12000'. Additionally, a landfall mission was coordinated with a land-based deployment, as well as a drifer/float buoy overflight. The pattern consisted of a rotated figure-4, modified somewhat in relation to the coastline and real-time ocean buoy locations. Several other flight modules were conducted, as discussed below.
Mission Summary :
Take off | Landing
MacDill AFB, FL | 08:13 UTC
| MacDill AFB, FL | 15:15 UTC
| |
General synopsis: N43RF took off from KMCF at 0813 UTC on 1 Sept, departing toward the WNW en route to an IP 105 nmi to the NE of the center, just offshore of Biloxi. While approaching the IP, a band of cellular convection was found lined up offshore of Mobile Bay1 . The IP was reached at 0922 UTC, when N43RF began Leg #1, proceeding toward the SW passing through the center (MSLP 956 mb) at 0951 UTC. The leg ended at 1015 UTC, when the aircraft turn to the E for an overflight of ocean buoys2 before beginning a second pass through the storm. Leg #2 begun 105 nmi SE of the center at 1049 UTC, proceeding to the NW through the storm, eventually flying directly toward the TTU StickNet array located to the SW of New Orleans, LA3. After completing the leg, N43RF turned to the S to perform an offshore-flow module4, and ending at a point W of the center to begin Leg #3 at 1209 UTC heading E through the storm. After completing Leg #3 E of the center, the aircraft descended to 7000' and turned toward the N, flying just E of the Chandelleur Is toward Bay St. Louis. An onshore-flow/SFMR shallow-water module45 was performed along this leg. Just before reaching the coastline, N43RF ascended back to 12000' and turned toward the W over Lake Ponchartrain (darn - wish we had dropped sondes over the lake!), flying to a point due N of the center. Leg #4 was begun at 1311 UTC, proceeding N to S, and completed at 1350 UTC, at which time N43RF turned E for a second buoy overflight. The pattern was completed at 1423 UTC, and the aircraft returned to KMCF at 1515 UTC.
1. TC rainband supercells: Along the route toward the IP,
a pair of rainbands containing highly cellular convection was found offshore
of Mobile Bay. N43RF altered the flight path slightly to pass between cells,
and then paralleled a band for 5-7 minutes. Three GPS dropsondes were deployed
in succession beginning at 0910 UTC, spaced 2 minutes apart.
2. Buoy overflights: A primary mission goal was to overfly
ocean floats and drifters deployed by the 53rd three days prior. A total of 12
buoys were deployed along and ahead of Gustav’s track. Two E-to-W
legs were flown over the general location of the floats, providing SFMR surface
winds and near-surface atmospheric data from GPS dropsondes to assess
sea-surface forcings. In all, 24 dropsondes and 10 AXBTs were dropped in the
vicinity of the floats.
3. Coordinated Landfall mission: Since Gustav was in the
process of making landfall during the flight, a mission was coordinated with
land-based sensors. Several groups were involved, including TTU, FCMP, and UAH.
See figure below for locations.
4. On-shore/off-shore flow: To assess boundary-layer
structural differences between off-shore and on-shore flow, a series of GPS
dropsondes were deployed in these regimes. Six sondes were dropped in offshore
flow (NW of center) beginning at 1146 UTC, spaced around 2 minutes apart.
On-shore winds were measured to the NE of the center from a set of 5 sondes
dropped beginning at 1237 UTC. See Fig. 3.
5. SFMR in shallow water: Much of the flight was conducted
over coastal waters with depths less than 50 m. Numerous dropsondes were
deployed over the shelf to evaluate SFMR wind measurement capabilities in
shallow water. In particular, the on-shore flow leg to the E/NE of the storm
was flown over very shallow water, just east of sandbars associated with the
Chandelleur Is. string. See Fig. 3.
Four Doppler wind analyses were completed and transmitted.
Problems :
No major problems to report.
EWU
Mission Data
NetCDF listing |
One second listing
GPS dropwindsondes 44
AXBTs 19/19
23 April 2009
700 mb
850 mb
925 mb
Surface
Flight Data
Flight track
Temperature and Moisture
Wind and Atlitude
Return to Mission page.