SUCCESS 04/30/96 Mission Daily Schedule

The DC-8, T-39 and B757 flew a coordinated mission north of Albuquerque, NM. to sample in and near a wave-cloud and the B757 emissions. The DC-8 sampled the B757 exhaust, not closer than ten miles. The T-39 d B757 exhaust sampling after both aircraft left the New Mexico airspace while DC-8 continued wave-cloud sampling.

Flight Reports

DC-8 SUCCESS flight #211 [960211] (scientists: Brian Toon and Eric Jensen)

SUMMARY: The flight was primarily successful: We did find and sample a wave-cloud. Measurements in and around the cloud should be very interesting. Sampling the 757 plume was more difficult than expected. We did not get closer than about 10 mi., we were not directly along the wind, and the 757 was not making a substantial contrail.

Mission Objective

DC-8 TEST-FLIGHT
take advantage of the simple, well-defined dynamics and sharp cloud boundary at the leading edge of wave clouds over the Rocky Mountains:

  • deposit exhaust upwind of the wave cloud
  • sample the leading edge of the wave cloud to determine the ice nucleation activity spectrum and if the exhaust has any impact on the wave cloud

follow the 757 (on the outbound leg) to

  • sample 757 exhaust
  • determine how close we can get

 

Flight Track

 

Flight Log

OPERATIONS
FLIGHT PLAN:
Part 1: Transit to New Mexico with DC-8 sampling 757 exhaust
The 757 and T-39 will take off together and fly in formation to New Mexico. The DC-8 will take off shortly after the 757 and T-39, and follow them at 10-20 miles out. We will attempt to sample their exhaust and see how close we can get without too much turbulence.
Part 2: Wave Cloud sampling and seeding programs
Starting near the highest point in the wave-cloud, we will fly upwind, following potential temperature surfaces, through the leading edge of the cloud and upwind 15 min. Then we will turn and fly back up our exhaust trail back into the cloud. Next, we will turn 270 deg. and fly a 10 min. leg normal to the wind, along the leading edge of the cloud. Finally, we will execute a dog-leg turn and fly another 10 min. leg along the leading edge of the cloud, attempting to intersect our exhaust trail flowing into the cloud. This pattern should take about an hour.
We will repeat this pattern 3 times. After the first pattern, the ER-2 should arrive and fly a compact pattern above the leading edge of the cloud. No strict coordination with the ER-2 is required other than sending them the point on our track normal to the wind at the leading edge of the cloud.
Part 3: Transit back to Salina

TAKEOFF/LANDING
The DC-8 left Salina at 17.29 UTC (12.29 am local time) and returned to Salina at 20.40 UTC

FLIGHT REPORT
During the transit to New Mexico (35 deg. 58 min., 105 deg., 30 min.), we flew 15 min. legs at 18, 27, and 35 K' 10 mi. behind the 757. The wind was about 30 deg. off our flight track, and the 757 generated only a small contrail only on the 35 K' leg. We crossed the 757 exhaust plume several times, but were never able to stay in it longer than a few sec. The plume crossings were detected by minor turbulence and the chemistry and CN measurements.
At the designated wave-cloud point, a wave-cloud was present, but it was at or above 41 K', so we had no chance of flying in it until the end of the flight. We then headed south to a cluster of lenticular clouds that appeared to be lower. We flew through these clouds several times at 28-29 K'. We were unable to fly upwind due to a restricted area just upwind. We flew cross-wind legs, attempting to fly upwind of the clouds, in the leading edge, in the middle of the cloud, and downwind. The cloud cluster consisted of several separate lenticular clouds with leading edges in different locations, so the pilots had to maneuver considerably to stay in the leading edge as much as possible.
Eventually, we headed back to our original waypoint to sample the high wave-clouds. When we got there we discovered that the bulk of the cloud had shifted north. We flew through a thin patch of cirrus at 41 K', did the MMS maneuvers, and headed back to Salina.

METEOROLOGY-REPORT
FORECAST: Wave-clouds are expected over mountains in northern and central New Mexico with relatively cold cloud tops. Short-lived contrails are expected during the transit to New Mexico.
OBSERVATIONS: Most wave clouds were above 40000ft and could not be reached.

INSTRUMENT STATUS
All instruments are functioning.

  • BALLENTHIN: Lost data due to computer crash.
  • BAUMGARDNER: No problems
  • BRUNE: No problems
  • CHAN: No problems
  • COGGIOLA: Failure after 2-3 hours. Need replacement part.
  • COOPER: No problems with CN, IN not operational.
  • DADS: RHI was flagged several times.
  • FERRY: No problems
  • GARY: No problems
  • GERBER: Probe did not work properly. Unknown prognosis.
  • HAGEN: No problems
  • HALLET: No problems
  • HEYMSFIELD: No problems
  • HUDSON: No problems
  • LAWSON: No problems
  • RODGERS: No problems
  • SACHSE: No problems
  • TALBOT: No problems
  • TWOHY: No problems
  • UTHE: No problems
  • VALERO: No problems
  • WEINHEIMER: No problems

 

Mission Highlights

 

  • wave clouds at 28-29 K' (about -38 C), had dark leading edges that appeared to be liquid water (Heymsfield indicated that these tips had low concentrations of spherical ice crystals; Hallett indicated that only a brief period of pure liquid water was observed)
  • MASP indicated extremely high particle concentrations in the wave cloud
  • persistent contrails were observed through most of the flight, especially during the outbound transit, and always above 41 K'
  • very low CN concentrations were observed at upper levels in the flight
  • water vapor concentrations appeared to drop when we went into the wave-clouds.

Mission Objective

T-39 Flight 11

  • To conduct sampling of the NASA 757 exhaust emissions under a variety of atmospheric conditions.

 

Flight Log

TAKEOFF/LANDING:
The T-39 departed SLN at 1708UTC and returned at 1941UTC

FLIGHT REPORT:
Departed SLN in formation with the B757 with the DC-8 trailing 10 Nm behind. Performed near-field sampling during ascends and at level at 18, 23, 31, 35, and 37 kft.

METEOROLOGY-REPORT:

INSTRUMENT STATUS:

  • CIMS - mass spec - WORKED
  • MS - Met/Nav system - Down for half of flight due to electrical problems.
  • AMS - Air Motion Sensor - WORKED
  • NDIR - CO2 - WORKED
  • 3760 - fine CN - WORKED
  • 3025 - ultra fine CN - WORKED
  • FSSP - 0.3-20um aerosols - under repair
  • PCASP - 0.1-3um aerosols - WORKED

 

Highlights

 

  • Obtained the first near-field trace gas and aerosol sampling behind a B757 at cruise altitude.
  • Recorded very interesting video of contrail dynamics and evaporation.

96/04/30 CART site activity

 

Meteorology at the Central Facility

Weather Conditions from Site Operators Log

 

Visiting Instruments at Central Facilities

 

 

 

CART Instrument Operations at Central Facilities

Key: O = operational, X = down or degraded

  • RASS, 50 MHz, (hourly): O
  • RASS, 915 MHz, (hourly): O
  • BSRN: O
  • SIROS: O
  • SMOS, (24 hrs): O
  • SWATS (24 hrs): O
  • EBBR, (24 hrs): O
  • WSI, (every 10 min.) X
  • MWR, (24 hrs): O
  • IRT: X
  • MPL, (24 hrs): O
  • BLC, (24 hrs): O
  • AERI, (24 hrs): O
  • SORTI, (daytime, sunny): O
  • Raman Lidar (daytime): X
  • 60M Temperature and Humidity: O
  • 25M Temperature and Humidity: O
  • 25M IRT: O
  • 25M MultiFilter Radiometer: O
  • 25M Upwelling IR: O
  • 25M Upwelling Solar: O
  • 10M IRT: O
  • 10M MultiFilter Radiometer: O
  • Aerosol System: X
  • Radiosondes, (Every 3 hrs, from 1:30 UTC): O

 

CART Instrument Operations at Boundary Facilities

There are four staffed Boundary Facilities, each having Balloon Borne Sounding Systems (BBSS) and MicroWave Radiometers (MWR). During the IOP period, sondes are launched every three hours round the clock, starting at 5:30 GMT (12:30 CST). The sites are listed below. Times listed following a site indicate questionable data or failed sonde launches. Weather conditions are recorded in the Boundary Facilities Site Operator's Log.

  • Hillsboro, KS (BF-1): Okay
  • Vici, OK (BF-4): Okay
  • Morris, OK (BF-5): Okay
  • Purcell, OK (BF-6): Okay

 

CART Instrumentation at Extended Facilities

There are numerous unstaffed Extended Facilities. The specific instrumentation at the extended facilities varies from site to site, but generally includes a flux station (either an Energy Balance Bowen Ration (EBBR) system or an Eddy Correlation (ECOR) system), a Solar and InfraRed Observing System (SIROS), and a Standard Meteorology Observing Station (SMOS). For the locations of the Extended Facilities, and their suite of instrumentation, see the table and map of the Extended CART site. The comments below indicate specific data streams with identified problems.

  • Problem at Extended Facility:
  • E1: ECOR
  • E2: SIROS
  • E3: SIROS
  • E4: SIROS
  • E6: SIROS
  • E7: SIROS
  • E8: SMOS, EBBR
  • E9: SMOS, EBBR
  • E10: SIROS
  • E11: SMOS
  • E16: ECOR
  • E20: SMOS, EBBR, SIROS
  • E24: SIROS

 

Key Comments/Observations related to flights

Morning has clear sky, best cirrus later in afternoon. Success went to Wyoming...