Mission Plan :

N42RF flew an Ocean-vector winds mission into Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico, dropping dropsondes near landbased team locations and AXBTs in transit near the vicinity of the drifting buoy locations. No TDR mission as there wasn't any Doppler radar. Last Ike mission with TO from MacDill AFB, FL at 2100 UTC, and recover at MacDill AFB, FL by 0600 UTC.

Mission Summary :

Pretty good landfall mission. Storm same intensity as last mission when we arrived and appeared to be intensifying as it made landfall. Very interesting storm structure with the eyewall trying to wrap around the center during the progress of the mission (see Fig. 1). The eyewall was fairly open to the SW when we arrived, but during the mission the major rainband wrapped around the SW and the S side making a nearly closed eyewall by the time we departed. There was still a large area of rain extending more than 200 nm to the E of the center.

For landbased team intercomparison we managed to get one leg down the TX coast from just W of Port Arthur to NE of Corpus Christi ahead of the first major rainband and twice moved up to coast near Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula in between major rainbands to drop sondes for landbased team (see flight track in Fig. 2). Completed AXBT and dropsonde combo drops along track on 1st E-W leg through center and near drifting buoy positions from the AFRC C-130 drops. Good coverage of offshore and onshore dropsondes, as well as some good shallow water SFMR data.

Managed to get great coordination with QuikSCAT pass during one leg from NW near Galveston to SE of center.

Problems :

No LF or Tail radar during this mission.

Frank Marks

Mission Data :