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 AC10 1.1 Flight Strategy In the September 12, 2014 occurred the fourth HALO flight (AC10) in ACRIDICON- CHUVA campaign. The aircraft took off at 15:02 UTC (11:02 Local Time) from Manaus Airport and landing at 22:15 UTC (18:15 Local Time) with total duration of 7 hours and 10 minutes. The first objective was to underfly the A-Train satellites (Cloudsat and Calipso) to intercomparison. Flight above the convective clouds was realized during the passage of the satellite. As second objective several sample of microphysical data from the cloud tops was done and reflected radiation above those clouds was taken. The Fig.1.1 shows the realized flight path. Figure 1.1 - Flight path of HALO aircraft in September 12, 2014 (AC10). Source: http://sigma.cptec.inpe.br/sosmanaus/# 1.2 Weather Conditions Before the Flight The Fig. 1.2 shows the visible image at 14:00 UTC (1 hour before the flight), precipitation from Manaus radar and lightning from Starnet (colored dots). We can see a large storm in the southeast of Airport, with higher reflectivity (~50 dbz) and several lightning are occurring. Also some clouds is observed in the southwest of airport, with just few lightning. 2
Figure 1.2 - Weather conditions before (1 hour before the flight) of the AC10 Halo flight at around 14 UTC (10:00 Local Time) in September 12, 2014. It is showed the visible GOES- 13 images, precipitation from Manaus radar (at 14:30 UTC) and lightning from Starnet (colored dots). Source: http://sigma.cptec.inpe.br/sosmanaus/# The Fig.1.3 shows the radiosonde for Ponta Pelada site in September 12, 2014 at 12 UTC (3 hours before the flight) (a) skew-t and (b) trajectory. It is suggested a dry environmental until 300 mb, but more wet above that level. The CAPE and CINE had value of 576 J/Kg and 41 J/Kg, respectively. The balloon trajectory shows wind from west close to 2-10 km, from east in 10-15 km and from east in 15-30 km. The maximum wind magnitude observed was around 20 m/s close until 20 km altitude. 3
(a) (b) Figure 1.3 - Ponta Pelada radiosonde in September 12, 2014 at 12 UTC. (a) skew-t and (b) balloon trajectory. Source: CHUVA/GoAmazon. 4
1.3 Conditions During the Flight The Fig. 1.4 shows the weather conditions (satellite images and precipitation from radar) during the flight. When the aircraft took off in toward to north of region, it found some Cirrus clouds. In contrast deep clouds were observed in the south of region. After that time the aircraft done several loop between the north and south region, where several Cirrus clouds was found. Close to the landing, some deep clouds were observed close to airport. 5
Figure 1.4 - Weather conditions (from satellite image, fires spots and precipitation during the first part of HALO flight (AC10) in September 12, 2014. Source: http://sigma.cptec.inpe.br/sosmanaus/#
Figure 1.4 - Continuation.
The Fig. 1.5 shows images in visible channel from GOES-13 since 13 until 21 UTC. Cirrus clouds are evident at 14:00 UTC (time of flight) covering the Amazon state and some deep clouds are observed in the south of Manaus. After 17 UTC several local storms appear in the Amazon state. Close to the landing of aircraft large clouds (but not so deep) is observed covering the Manaus city. Figure 1.5 - Visible image from GOES-13 satellite from 14 to 21 UTC in September 12, 2014.
The Fig. 1.6 shows the reflectivity (dbz) from Manaus radar from 14 until 23 UTC. We can see more a time a big convection in the southeast of radar (the core cell reached 50 dbz) with displacement from east. Close to landing just weaker, clouds, but with large size is observed in the south of radar. Figure 1.6 - Reflectivity (dbz) from Manaus radar at 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22 and 23 UTC in September 12, 2014.
Flight Summary: HALO Campaign ACRIDICON CHUVA Flight number: AC10 Date, base: 2014 09 12 (Friday), A train flight pattern Block/Block/FH: 1450/2215/7:25 Mission type: Satellite validation Flight pattern: Along the predicted A train flight path at different altitudes, see below. Participants: Aircrew: Pilot: Steffen Gemser Co Pilot: Michael Grossrubatscher Technician: Thomas Lederer Scientists: Manfred Wendisch (Mission PI), Daniel Sauer, Frank Werner, Thomas Klimach, Mareike Kenntner Instrument status: Radiation EAGLE/HAWK: HAI: minidoas: SMART: SNOOPY: PMS CAS DPOL: CCP: MTP: NIXE CAPS: PHIPS: PCASP 100X: PIP: SID 3: UHSAS A: Gas ALABAMA NOy: PAN MS: AMTEX: TDS: Aerosol C ToF AMS: CVI Rack: CCN: AMETYST: FINCH: BAHAMAS: SatCom: ok ok, laptop crashed twice, fix power plug or cool Stabilization problems, spectrometer ok ok ok ok ok Low flow at low outside pressure (> FL400) Nop Nop Nop, one software crash Software trouble on startup, DMA crashed several times but could be restarted, HASI log file needed, high CPC values (to be checked?) (?), no time shifts for AC09 and AC10 detected? No problems (no file transmission tested)
Flight remarks: The first objective of this flight was to underfly the A train satellites (in particular Cloudsat [cloud radar], but also Calipso [aerosol lidar], and Aqua [Modis]) on the way south. The idea was to fly above convective clouds during the passage of the satellites. That turned out to be no problem for our professional pilots; we met the A train almost exactly in the middle of our flight path. The Modis image is shown below, the blue line represents the satellite path, the red line illustrates the flight path of HALO. The respective Calipso quicklook is plotted below the flight path figure.
The second objective was to sample as many as possible microphysical data from the cloud tops and then to measure reflected radiation above the same clouds, please see the sketch below: The cloud situation was more challenging than we had anticipated. In addition to the low level convective clouds we found quite some cirrus in high altitudes. Therefore, we decided to also sample the cirrus, which was only possible with the endurance and ceiling of HALO. The flight log is summarized below (all times in UTC): 14:54 Taxi 15:02 Take off 15:16 Go northward, climb to FL200 15:22 Short cloud penetration 15:38 500 cm 3 CPC aerosol concentration, SAT 8 C 15:42 We arrive at the northern point of the planed flight path beneath the satellite. 15:55 Southbound at FL200 above convective clouds: thick cirrus above, SAT 7 C 16:24 Descend to FL120, return the same way North 16:40 17:03 Switch to CVI, hitting 5 clouds at their upper part, SAT 6 C, all clouds were liquid 17:00 Switch to HASI 17:06 Start ascend to FL300 (Ppitch 8 C) 17:08 Anvil underfly 17:09 Aerosol layer 17:15 Reaching FL300 17:20 Start southbound leg at FL300 17:24 Decreasing cirrus 17:44 Nothbound at FL300 17:53 We meet the satellite at 17:53 18:10 Start ascend to reach cirrus, southward 18:30 We reach FL430, scratching cirrus lowest levels, we continue to ascent to FL450
18:37 Above cirrus, SAT 63 C, stay above cirrus for 15 minutes, slowly descend into the cirrus for another 20 minutes 18:45 Return to leg in northern direction at FL450 19:04 Start descending to FL140 to sample low level convective clouds again 19:28 Return to the south at FL140, no cirrus above 19:32 20:14 We penetrate about 10 clouds, all liquid, MVDs very different, the two CAS measure Similar values, the CIPs don t. 20:25 Ascend to FL200 above clouds, return northward 20:56 Descending to FL130, southbound, we hit about 10 more clouds 21:30 Back to Manaus 22:15 Touch down The flight is summarized by the quicklook, kindly provided by Martina Krämer (FZ Jülich).