Tuesday, August 23, 2005

	Today N43RF and the NRL P-3 flew another test flight to test the 
communications of radar imagery from the NOAA to the NRL P-3.  The flight worked 
well today.  Radar imagery was successfully transferred at about every four minutes from 
the NOAA P-3 to the ground and the NRL flight track was superimposed on the LF 
image and transmitted back to the NRL P-3.  The RAMSDIS satellite upload test was not 
successful, however.  There were some problems with the scripts on N43RF, and more 
work will be performed tomorrow when both N42RF and N43RF will be in the hangar.
	Conditions were rapidly evolving today.  The broad circulation north of 
Hispaniola, containing the remnants of T.D.#10, showed signs of better organization 
today, with convection occurring within the broad circulation in the morning hours (Fig. 
23).  An air force reconnaissance aircraft entered the system in the afternoon and found a 
circulation north of Cuba.  As a result NHC declared this system a tropical depression, 
the 12th of the season.  The track forecast guidance suggests two possible solutions (Fig. 
24): one where the system tracks toward the west-northwest, into the Florida Straits, and 
into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.  The other scenario involves the system moving 
predominantly northwest, making landfall along the southeast coast of Florida, and 
tracking west across the state and entering the Gulf from there.  The system is still very 
disorganized, and the likely intensity at closest approach to the Florida mainland is a 
moderate to strong tropical storm.  
There is a possibility of a Frequent-monitoring mission into this system using 
N43RF, if it takes the southerly track of the two scenarios outlined above.  The first 
mission would not likely be until Thursday in this case.  It would be followed by a 
follow-on mission on Friday.  There will not be a 12-h staggering in this case because 
N42RF is still undergoing integration of the Ocean Winds instruments and the system has 
too many other complicating factors to make for a clean data set to warrant tasking an 
extra crew going on night duty.  If N43RF does fly on Thursday, the NRL P-3 will likely 
accompany it as an intermediate-level test for the coordination of the NRL P-3 with 
N43RF in and around convection.  N42RF is scheduled to have a test flight on Thursday 
as well, takeoff 14 UTC.  If the other two P-3Ős fly, there is the potential of having 
N42RF participate in a pattern after completing the Ocean Winds objectives, if the 
system is strong enough and there is enough space over open water to conduct a three-
plane pattern.  If the system moves more slowly than this, the mission could be delayed a 
day.  If the system continues into the open Gulf, then it could very much become a target 
for a RAINEX/Frequent-monitoring experiment.
Elsewhere, the only other system of interest is a broad cyclonic circulation 
centered at about 17 N 35 W (Fig. 25).  While there is a clear circulation in the cloud 
pattern, most of the deep convection is located on the east side of the system.  Most of the 
track guidance curves this system toward the northwest and north by the time it reaches 
50 W.