2008-07-09 (Flight #2021) |
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Aircraft Flight SummaryDate: 2008-07-09 |
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Flight Mission Details
Overview:
This was the eighth flight out of Cold Lake, Canada. Science goals include:1) TERRA-MISR underpass (17:51 UT) over Reindeer Lake in aged plumes, 2) Coordination with B200 for CALIPSO underpass (19:38 UT) in Athabaska fire plume, 3) Stacked radiation closure in plumes along CALIPSO track, 4) Validation of COAMPS predictaded Athabaska plume direction and intensity, 5) Validation of model predicted long range transport over southern Saskatchewan, 51N.
P-3B instrument payload: (no available instrument reports)
AATS: Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotomter (AATS.
AERO3X: Partially successful.Main AERO-3X instrument absent. Good data for relative humidity system.
BBR: No problems reported.
CAR - Cloud Absorption Radiometer measured angular distribution of scattered radiation and acquired imagery of cloud, smoke, and surface. Filter wheel channel occasionally unstable.
CCN Counter - Continuous-Flow Streamwise Thermal Gradient Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) Counter (CFSTGC) -No problems reported.
COBALT - Carbon monOxide By Attenuated Laser Transmission (COBALT), an autonomous instrument based on off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy. Collected good data. Inlet problem solved.
HiGEAR - Hawii Group for Environmental Aerosol Research (HiGEAR) suite of instrument. Excellent flight. AMS had computer crashes - twice.
PDS Project Data System (PDS) measured base meteorological and navigational measurements. Fully operational.
REVEAL - The Research Environment for Vehicle-Embedded Analysis on Linux (REVEAL) system is a prototype next-generation tool for aerospace vehicle sensor webs and the future Earth Observation System. Operational the whole flight.
SSFR -Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer. Reported good data.
Summary (Colleen Kelly, 9 July 2008):
Very Good Flight: Initial delayed start due to engine problems required some modification to TERRA-MISR underflight plan, but we were still able to get to target area over Raindeer Lake on time. Cloud conditions were not ideal but we completed profiles and radiation legs in the most cloud free area possible - thanks to RTMM real time GOES imagery. Worsening conditions prompted early departure to CALIPSO track and rendezvous with B200 was rearranged in-flight. Excellent cloud conditions were present on most of CALIPSO leg and Athabaska fires were found to cross track in location predicted by COAMPS model (between Lake Athabaska and Great Slave Lake). We completed two radiation profiles that bracketed the radiation stacks along CALIPSO track in the fire plumes coordinated with the B200. Should be an ideal data set combining in-situ data, B200 lidar, in-situ radiation all with high signal to noise under CALIPSO.
This was followed by an in-situ sampling of the chemistry and optical properties of the fires responsible for the plumes under CALIPSO including a range of “black” and “white” smoke. A final leg south to 51N was intended to test model predictions of long range aerosol transport and optical properties in that area. No significant elevated plumes were encountered along this southern part of the flight path. REVEAL and RTMM worked well and some B200 lidar imagery was received in flight.
Flight Path, Timing, and Measurements
Approximate time in UTC ( Local Edmonton/Cold Lake time: -6 hours). Activities during CAR flight 2021 on July 07, 2009 out of Cold Lake, Canada. Observations by CAR operator/PI, Charles Gatebe. Some notes adapted from a report by Anthony Clarke, flight scientist.
14:35 -- CAR door opened manually.
14:40 -- CANS power on.
14:48 -- CAR instrument on.
14:56 -- engines on. (14:55 in Tony Clark's report).
15:03 -- 45 minutes delay announced due to aircraft maintenance issues.
15:40 -- CAR door shut. Aircraft engines shut down.
15:45 -- Engines started. CAR door had to be re-opened manually again.
15:47 -- cryocooler power on.
15:48 -- all heaters power on.
15:52 -- taxing.
15:59 -- take off.
16:00 -- CAR acquiring data in the starboard.
16:11 -- Ci above.
16:17 -- 2.1 micron still bouncing around.
16:24 -- solar zenith angle noted: 45.5 deg. AOD 0.22.
16:25 -- no clouds above. Fair weather cumulus starting to form below.
16:30 -- O3 high -- 74 ppb.
16:31 -- AOD 0.02 at 499 nm.
16:33 -- O3 - 80 ppb. Could be from stratosphere.
16:35 -- 2.1 micron still noisy.
16:37 -- AOD 0.016 . Alt. 6.4 km MSL.
16:43 -- GOES imagery showing clouds. But no clouds below P-3, but some Ci above.
16:47 -- cryocooler power off for a few seconds, then on.
16:51 -- AOD 0.011 at 499 nm. Broken clouds below.
16:53 -- in progress descent.
16:58 -- active roll off, for a few seconds.
17:06 -- aircraft ramping down from 6000 ' to a lower altitude - 500'.
17:16 -- change heading to 025 to get clear air under Terra over the lake. (Tony Clarke)
17:17 -- 2.1 micron now stable; took too long to stabilize.
17:20 -- AOD 0.16 at 499 nm.
17:21 -- reverse course. Stay out of clouds -- above. Thin Ci noted.
17:25 -- AOD 0.2. Organic aerosol dominant.
17:31 -- spiral up to 12500'; AOD 0.15. (Tony Clarke)
17:38 -- AOD 0.042.
17:41 -- spiral down to 500'. AOD 0.39.
17:45 -- try to stay in cloud-free air over lake for radiation but not easy. (Tony Clarke)
17:46 -- Cu observed during spiral down.
17:48 -- head to CALIPSO path early at 500'; wind SE 15-20 kts.
17:52 -- AOD 0.42.
17:53 -- lots of clouds above during Terra overpass.
17:58 -- AOD 0.124.
18:07 -- roll data doesn't look good.
18:13 -- AOD 0.09.On CALIPSO track.
18:19 -- 321 deg heading; plume here; B200 about 3 km away. (Tony Clarke)
18:24 -- AOD 0.065, increasing to 0.14 and 0.42.
18:29 -- AOD 0.42.
18:32 -- thin Ci above Cu.
18:34 -- AOD 0.78.
18:38 -- start ramp up to haze and smoke. AOD increases to 0.9.
18:39 -- in a smoke plume. AOD 1.0 -- decreasing to 0.6 on ascent.
18:42 -- no change at 4000'. AOD 1.0. (Tony Clarke)
18:43 -- AOD 1.2; continue climbing. (Tony Clarke)
18:47 -- Alt. 4000'. Scattering increased to 100Mm-1. AOD 0.34 in a pseudo-clear layer.
18:49 -- Strawa instruments down. (Tony Clarke)
18:51 -- roll data questionable. Spiral through plume near 10000', scattering 750 Mm-1, CO 600ppb; multiple layers.
19:03 -- going through some thin stuff.
19:04 -- AOD 0.4; Alt. 3.414; lots of organics - emissions from fire plumes.
19:10 -- climb out of plume and reverse for radiation above plume on CALIPSO track.
19:13 -- AOD 0.03; Alt. 4.1 km.
19:16 -- radiation leg (top layer).
19:20 -- do square descent to surface for radiation profile from 14000'.
19:22 -- spiral down.
19:25 -- AOD 0.55.
19:26 -- bottom of upper layer. (Tony Clarke)
19:30 -- aerosol forward scattering in the aureole region - check the signature.
19:35 -- radiation leg; alt. 568 m.
19:39 -- AOD 0.5; Alt. 574 m. CALIPSO overpass. Plume peak near 11000', up and down profiles similar.
19:42 -- CAR circles at 61 61' N, 106 10'W, climb to 11000, head to Athabaska fires. (Tony Clarke)
19:43 -- BRDF circle #1.
19:45 -- circle #2. Some clouds while doing the circle.
19:48 -- end of CAR circles. 2.1 micron stable during BRDF.
19:52 -- level at 11,500 in plume, scattering 250Mm-1 but little above as AOD is 0.06. (Tony Clarke)
19:57 -- layer above.
20:00 -- fly below plume but over cloud. Sebastian wants aerosol forcing above cloud layer but some Ci make it hard. (Tony Clarke)
20:03 -- clouds below and Ci above.
20:13 -- descending to fires near Athabaska. (Tony Clarke)
20:15 -- PyroCu to the right. (Tony Clarke)
20:17 -- smoke penetration.
20:19 -- white plume on entry, then black and then white.
20:21 -- roll problem.
20:24 -- big pyroCu with lightning in it. (Tony Clarke)
20:25 -- active roll on.
20:27 -- sample outflow at 7000'. Air traffic restrictions above 3000'. (Tony Clarke)
20:28 -- preparing for fire plume penetration.
20:29 -- drop into an apparent darker layer; scattering 900Mm-1; high CO. (Tony Clarke)
20:30 -- penetrate smoke plume at 6200'. (Tony Clarke)
20:31 -- roll data not good.
20:32 -- penetration through smoke. Alt. 4000'.
20:41 -- start of a run through smoke. Alt. 4700'. CO 2000 ppb.
20:42 -- heading S to test model performance near 51N.
20:47 -- finished with smoke plume penetration. Looking for another site.
20:48 -- lots of clouds.
20:54 -- fire spikes in the IR channels.
21:06 -- collecting Lorraine's samples.
21:13 -- cloud deck below. Cu developing, Ci above. Alt. 5.3 km. Changing filter wheel between 2.1 and 2.3 micron.
21:29 -- lots of Cbs and very active.
21:35 -- roll data not good.
21:41 -- circling around in hold pattern at alt. 5.3 km.
21:46 -- Ralph Kahn says clear at 51 18'N, 105 50', cleared to 23000'. (Tony Clarke)
21:50 -- Alt. 7.0 km. Playing with filter wheel channels.
21:51 -- AOD 0.024. Very thin layer near out altitude.(Tony Clarke)
21;58 -- 2.1 micron noisy.
22:04 -- AOD 0.020.
22:08 -- in some glaciated cloud outflow. (Tony Clarke)
22:10 -- penetrating cloud top.
22:13 -- icing cloud just passed; turned the mirror heater on.
22:15 -- increase in ice nuclei. PVM LWC working. (Tony Clarke)
22:22 -- inside clouds.
22:23 -- Convection ahead of us and to the west. Fly over cloud top that had lighting 5 min ago, SP2 incandecence (soot) increase and coarse refractory (dust?) increase, CO-118, O3-50ppb, RH 89-94%, Absorption and scattering increase some. (Tony Clarke)
22:28 -- inside an ice cloud.
22:32 -- in and out of diffusion domain.
22:32 -- when scattering increases CN increases 10 to 200 and SP2 10 to 50. (Tony Clarke)
22:35 -- skimming the cloud top at 7.12 km.
22:38 -- breaking out of clouds.
22:44 -- AOD 0.013 at 23000'. Clean above. (Tony Clarke)
22:44 -- sky above is clear; cloud below.
22:45 -- 2.1 micron still unstable.
22:46 -- roll data not good.
22:48 -- Start descent to surface at 1500’/min in clear, some small Cu, no high Ci, thin stratus in spots, CO<100ppb. (Tony Clarke)
22:49 -- spiral down.
22:53 -- AOD 0.03 near cloud tops.
22:50 -- roll data still not good.
22:56 -- roll data good. Near cloud base; CO 130 ppb.
22:57 -- Alt. 10500'. AOD 0.077. (Tony Clarke)
23:00 -- base of low small Cu at 7500’ , scattering increases a bit from 5 to 15 Mm-1, CN from 500 to 3000, sulfate, nitrate and OC up. (Tony Clarke)
23:04 -- AOD 0.09 at 981 m. Nitrate down. At 1000'.
23:04 -- drop to 500'. (Tony Clarke)
23:08 -- climb to 1000 and start 20 min surface radiation run heading 260 deg. Clouds above - overcast. Roll data suspect.
23:15 -- concentrations constant on leg. (Tony Clarke)
23:19 -- 2.1 micron noisy.
23:20 -- coming out of cloudy region to broken mid-level clouds. (Tony Clarke)
23:22 -- continue 1000', heading 290; AOD 0.11. (Tony Clarke)
23:28 -- AOD 0.94, CO-126ppb, O3-48ppm, scattering 12Mm-1, Charles says BRDF is isotropic. (Tony Clarke)
23:33 -- climb to 18000'. (Tony Clarke)
23:35 -- on transit to the base. Alt. 18000'.
23:36 -- pass cloud base and CO and AOD drop. (Tony Clarke)
23:38 -- very clean, visually may be some haze to the west. (Tony Clarke)
23:44 -- 2.1 micron unstable.
00:08 -- CAR door closed and parked.
00:09 -- CAR power off.
00:11 -- landing. (Tony reporte 00:15).
00:15 -- stop taxing.
00:17 -- CANS power off.
