Flight Report Sunday September 21, 2014 Summary

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Sharleen Mason
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Flight Report Sunday September 21, 2014 Summary 1 Flight Report: G1 Flight#10 & HALO AC14 1.

1 Flight Report Sunday September 21, 2014 Summary 1 Flight Report: G1 Flight#10 & HALO AC Flight Strategy Weather Conditions Before the Flight Weather Conditions During the Flight Quicklook.10

2 1. Flight Report - G1 Flight#10 & HALO AC Flight Strategy Both the G1 and HALO aircraft flew coordinated today for the first part of the flight within the SIPAM and CHUVA X-Pol radar domains. The flight plan consisted of several horizontal, 15 minute legs with the G1 flying ~1000ft below HALO. The objective of these flights was to get stacked profiles of clouds. After this was completed HALO continued on to complete a second intercomparison flight with the A-train. G1 Takeoff: 15:14Z (11:14 LT) Landing: ~18:10Z (14:10 LT) Flight Duration: 3hrs HALO Takeoff: 15:04Z (11:04 LT) Landing: 22:03Z (18:03LT) Flight Duration: 2

3 1.2 Weather Before the Flight An hour before the flight there were only a few shallow fair weather cumulus over Manaus. There was no reflectivity present in the SIPAM or CHUVA domains. The GOES13 water vapor image taken at 13:00Z (2 hours before take off) shows relatively dry conditions for Manaus and to the west towards T3 (Figure 1). There is more moisture available to the south where the HALO aircraft will fly during the second half of the flight along the A-Train path. The T3 and Ponta Pelada soundings from 12Z confirm the dry conditions near Manaus (Figure 2). Multiple inversions are present in the Ponta Pelada sounding at the surface, 800mb, 700mb, and 450mb. This is not good for the cloud profiling missions. The soundings show typical surface flow from the E/NE across Manaus at 10knts. Conditions are even drier east of Manaus, so conditions will likely remain relatively dry for the duration of the flight. 3

4 Figure 1: GOES 13 water vapor image of Amazonia and surrounding states taken at 13:00Z. Conditions over Manaus and T3 are relatively dry. There is moisture available south of Manaus, where HALO will fly toward the end of their flight. Source: 4

Many small inversions in the Ponta Pelada sounding located in lower layers (surface, 800mb, 700mb,

5 Figure 2: T3 (top) and Ponta Pelada (bottom) soundings taken at 12Z (8:00LT). Dry conditions are observed along the entire profiles. Many small inversions in the Ponta Pelada sounding located in lower layers (surface, 800mb, 700mb, and 450mb) might inhibit cloud buildup this morning. Surface winds from the East at 10knts as usual, no moisture is available in this direction as seen in the WV image. 5

6 1.3 Weather During the Flight At take off there were only a few low cumulus clouds in the sky, but they continued to build at ever increasing rates. About an hour into the flight there were clouds and some convection SW of both the SIPAM and CHUVA X-Pol radar domains, but nothing was happening within the radar domains. Some small regions of reflectivity were observed at 1712Z in the upper NW corner of the SIPAM domain (Figure 3). These regions continued to grow peaking at 1824Z with reflectivity values as high as 40-45dBz Throughout the flight the midlevels were very dry and an inversion at ~450mb, present in both the Ponta Pelada and T3 18Z soundings (Figure 4), prevented the clouds from growing very high. Even with the surface heating, the dryness at midlevels kept the clouds from forming. A crew member on G1 reported a dew point of -25C at 0C (VERY dry for the tropics)! Some really nice convection continued to form in west Amazonas during the day, influenced by the cold front moving NE in southern Brazil (Figure 5). 6

7 Figure 3: SIPAM radar images from Reflectivity was first noted at 1712Z in the NW corner of the domain. These cells continued to grow, peaking at 1836Z. In order from left to right images were taken at: 1712Z, 1724Z, 1748Z, 1812Z, 1824Z, 1836Z, and 1848Z. Source: 7

8 Figure 4: Ponta Pelada and T3 soundings launched at 18Z. Midlevels remain very dry. 8

Figure 5: GOES 13 enhanced image taken on 9.21.

9 Figure 5: GOES 13 enhanced image taken on showing the deep convection that formed over western Amazonia midday and remained into the evening. Source: 9

10 1.4 Quicklook G1 altitude measurements on the ARM website and SOS are incorrect, but the instrument data is fine (Figure 6). In the top right plot of Figure 6 you can see evidence of the plane flying through clouds at 17:16 and 17:28UTC. Figure 7 shows GOES 13 IR images for the duration of the flights. 10

Figure 6: ARM Aerial Facility instrument data from G1 Flight#10 on September 21, 2014.

11 Figure 6: ARM Aerial Facility instrument data from G1 Flight#10 on September 21, Important note: The altitude measurements are off for this flight, and likewise the realized flight path at the bottom of the figure is also wrong, but the instrument data is correct. Source: 11

Figure 7: GOES13 IR images taken on 9.21.2014 for the duration of the flights. Continued on following page.

12 Figure 7: GOES13 IR images taken on for the duration of the flights. Continued on following page. In order from left to right images were captured at: 13, 1330, 14, 1430, 15, 16, 1630, 17, and 1730UTC. Source: 12

Figure 7(continued): GOES13 IR images taken on 9.21.2014 for the duration of the flights.

13 Figure 7(continued): GOES13 IR images taken on for the duration of the flights. In order from left to right images were captured at: 18, 1830, 19, 1930, 20, 2030, 21, 2130, and 22UTC. 13

Flight Report September 12, 2014 Summary

Flight Report September 12, 2014 Summary 1. HALO Flight Report AC10... 2 1.1 Flight Strategy... 2 1.2 Weather Conditions Before the Flight... 2 1.3 Conditions During the Flight... 5 1. HALO Flight Report