2014-07-31 (Flight #2050) |
Aircraft Flight SummaryDate: 2014-07-31 |
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Flight Mission Details
This was P-3B twelfth flight out of Bloomfield Municipal Airport, Colorado. The aircraft took measurements over the six D-AQ sites: Fort Collins/site-1, Platteville/site-2, Golden NREL/site-3, BAO Tower/site-4, Denver/La Casa/site-5, and Chatfield Park/site-6.
Key instruments on P-3B include:
1. LARGE (Langley Aerosol Research GroupE): aerosols.
2. PDS (Project Data System): base meteorological and navigational measurements.
3. TD LIF: NO2, HNO3, PNs, ANs;
4. DLH (Diode Laser Hygrometer), H20.
5. DACOM (Differential Absorption CO Measurement): CO, CH4
6. DFGAS (Difference Frequency Generation Absorption Spectrometer): CH20
7. Chemiluminescence (NCAR 4-channel Chemiluminescence Instrument): O3, NO2, NO, NOy
8. PTR-MS (Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometer): non-methane hydrocarbons.
9. AVOCET (Atmospheric Vertical Observations of CO2 in the Earth's Troposphere): CO2.
10. CAR (Cloud Absorption Radiometer): scattered light and surface radiance that is reflected off of surfaces.
11. Fast Ethane Spectrometer: ethane, methane.
Flight Path, Timing, and Measurements
Approximate time in UTC (Colorado, -6 hours). Activities during CAR flight 2050 on July 31, 2014 out of Bloomfield Municipal Airport. Observations by CAR operator/PI, Charles Gatebe.
17:02 -- preflight checks. Filter wheel problems observed, which seemed to persist for a long time. Kurt Rush, Bryan James and Rajesh Poudyal present during the preflight inspection.
17:55 -- Bryan, Kurt and Rajesh leave the aircraft.
18:01 -- aircraft door closed.
18:03 -- aircraft engines on.
18:07 -- aircraft start taxiing.
18:13 -- take off.
18:15 -- CAR door fully open. CAR in science mode. Very cloudy, almost overcast.
18:18 -- Ch 3 & 4 seem to saturate when looking at the clouds.
18:21 -- Sky clearing up as we approached Fort Collins.
18:22 -- scattered Cu.
18:23 -- cloud bow seen at 20 and 90 deg. Very interesting bow shape.
18:25 -- missed approach at Christman Air Field, Fort Collins. Spiral up begins. Clear sky, but small Cu and thin Ci observed.
18:30 -- GPS roll data look suspicious.
18:31 -- took some pictures. One side more cloudy than the other.
18:35 -- very high O3, >100 pp.. Alt. 4950 m. Bottom was much cleaner.
18:39 -- end of spiral up. Heading to Platteville.
18:42 -- scattered Cu below aircraft. Alt. 5511 m. Thin Ci above.
18:45 -- Spiral down over Platteville.
18:48 -- generally clear, but widespread thin Ci and scattered Cu. Beautiful shadows from the Cu.
18:56 -- Ch 4 signal much higher than the rest of the channels at Platteville. Very interesting soil type.
18:59 -- end of spiral down at Platteville.
19:01 -- thin Ci.
19:03 -- missed approach at Weld County airport, Greeley.
19:05 -- headed toward the Platteville tower.
19:06 -- mixed clouds, low Cu, high thin Ci.
19:00 -- over Platteville, heading toward La Casa. Clouds increasing.
19:12 -- NO2 and other gases reportedly high. Heading towards Golden. Lots of clouds.
19:17 -- passing over Denver.
19:19 -- spiral up over Golden. Very cloudy.
19:25 -- some pictures taken over Golden. Widespread clouds.
19:27 -- spiral below a cloud. Alt. 4790 m.
19:29 -- nice uniform cloud beneath. Ci above. End of spiral. Heading toward BAO tower. Alt. 5497 m.
19:31 -- flying between two cloudy layers.
19:32 -- Cloud below has a lot of structure in the reflected light at 470 nm band.
19:35 -- spiral down over the BAO tower. Very cloudy.
19:40 -- pictures over the BAO sites. Overcast in some directions. Other directions almost clear.
19:44 -- Alt. 2260 m. Lots of clouds.
19:47 -- preparing for missed approach.
19:49 -- missed approach at the Parkland airport, BAO tower.
19:50 -- heading towards La Casa.
19:54 -- La Casa spiral up begins.
19:56 -- traces of black carbon reported. Alt. 2116 m. Scattered low level Cu, but extensive Ci above.
20:07 -- end of spirals over La Casa.
20:09 -- heading towards Hatfield. Pretty cloudy.
20:11 -- Ch 3 & 4 saturate in the directions of the clouds, above the aircraft.
20:12 -- Alt. 4475 m. Nice uniform cloud above. Spiral down at Hatfield. Clouds above and below.
20:15 -- power draw = 1.80A.
20:18 -- lots of clouds during the spiral -- above and below aircraft flight level.
20:21 -- very dark surface because of overcast sky. Isotropic in some cases.
20:22 -- end of spiral down. Headed towards Golden for Balloon inter comparison.
20:25 -- Starting a second circuit. Cloudy above.
20:30 -- over a power plant/Boulder. Spike in gas measurements.
20:33 -- few clouds on the way to Fort Collins.
20:37 -- river.
20:38 -- Alt. 1593 m. Missed approach at Christman Air Field, Fort Collins.
20:39 -- Spiral up over Fort Collins.
20:42 -- more clouds during the second circuit.
20:45 -- going through some small Cu.
20:50 -- lots of cirrus above. Alt. 5244 m.
20:51 -- end of spiral. Headed towards Platteville.
20:58 -- spiral down over Platteville. Thin cirrus above, scattered Cu below. Similar conditions to the morning flight.
21:07 -- Alt. 2917 m and punching through Cu. Cloud shadow on the surface. Oil and gas emissions reported.
21:12 -- end of spiral down. Alt. 1823 m.
21:15 -- surface looks dark in some places because of cloud shadows. Heading toward Greely for missed approach.
21:18 -- missed approach at /Weld County airport, Greeley. lowest alt. reached 1413 m.
21:19 -- mixed clouds (low level and high level Ci).
21:24 -- Alt. 1843 m, passing over Platteville and headed toward La Casa.
21:26 -- increasing cloud cover on the way to La Casa.
21:31 -- passing over La Casa and headed toward Golden.
21:33 -- thick clouds above. Irina Melnikova may like these measurements for her retrievals.
21:34 -- spiral up over Golden. Sky overcast. Spectral differences look interesting.
21:40 -- cloudy, but breaks seen in some directions. Some pictures taken/Anne Thompson. Surface looks very dark because of overcast sky.
21:45 -- Alt. 5102 m. Clouds above. End of spiral and heading towards to BAO tower.
21:51 -- spiral down at the BAO tower. Lots of clouds.
21:57 -- Clouds below. Alt. 3710 m.
22:04 -- end of spiral down. Going for missed approach.
22:07 -- missed approach at Parklands airport. Lowest altitude reached, 1610 m.
22:09 -- heading towards La Casa. Thick layered clouds above.
22:13 -- spiral up over La Casa.
22:17 -- very cloudy over Denver. Broken clouds.
22:23 -- Alt 5511 m near the end of spiral up.
22:24 -- filter wheel unstable.
22:25 -- heading towards Platteville. Alt. 5538 m.
22:27 -- Reset cryopump.
22:31 -- spiral down over Platteville. Clear sky above, but scattered Cu below.
22:38 -- Alt. 3344 m cloud base. Filter wheel stable.
22:43 -- end of spiral. Heading towards Greely. Scattered clouds on the way.
22:47 -- missed approach at Weld County airport, Greeley. Lowest altitude reached 1421 m. Scattered clouds visible.
22:49 -- heading back to Platteville.
22:31 -- scattered Cu, high thin Ci. CAR scanning in the principal plane.
22:54 -- over Platteville.
22:58 -- Alt. 1881 m. Mixed clouds.
23:01 -- CAR shutdown begins, in preparation for landing.
23:02 -- CAR power off.
23:05 -- landed.
23:09 -- stop taxiing.
23:09 -- engines power off.
