Mission Science Report

The mission utilized the assets of three aircraft to sample the convective structure of a precipitating system. The NOAA P-3 (42) sampled below 27,000 ft. while the NASA DC-8 flew at about 31,000 ft. and the ER-2 flew at 65,000 ft. during most of the flight. The primary convective target was chosen by the KAMP Mission Scientist (Michael Biggerstaff) using satellite imagery while the flight legs through the storm were defined by the NOAA P-3 Mission Scientist (Robert Black) using aircraft research radar. The DC-8 Mission Scientist (Robbie Hood) also chose to have the ER-2 and DC-8 aircraft fly over the MIPS MPR site as one of the last manuevers of the mission.

The mission was flown to address research objectives of the Keys Area Microphysics Project and to provide flight time for NASA aircraft instrumentation which had not been flown in over a week.

The NOAA P-3 Mission Scientist was designated to choose the flight legs through convective regions of interest because the ground-based NPOL radar was not available to the KAMP Mission Scientist due to problems with scanning performance. The NOAA P-3 Mission Scientist contacted the NASA DC-8 Mission Scientist via the satellite telephone system (satphone) to recommend that a relatively short convective cell with a top less than about 15,000 ft. should be the first target of interest at 25o 25” N, 81o 42” W. While approaching this area, a new target was passed via communication with the ER-2 pilot to sample a convective region near 26o 56” N, 84o 47” W instead. This target had been chosen by KAMP Mission Scientist using satellite imagery. The coordinates for this target were relayed through the CAMEX ground-based coordinator (Anthony Guillory) and the mobile ER-2 pilot (Jan Nystrom) at the Jacksonville Operations Center to the mission ER-2 pilot (James Barrilleaux). After arriving at the target area, a North-South line was set up using coordinates chosen by the P-3 Mission Scientist. The line was flown three times beginning at the north end. After the third pass, the P-3 returned to base after receiving a lightning strike. The DC-8 and ER-2 flew over the MIPS MPR site at 24o 40.9” N, 81o 33.1” W to provide an opportunity to compare HAMSR, MTP, and LASE temperature and water vapor profiles with those of the MIPS MPR. After this pass, both NASA aircraft returned to Jacksonville. The DC-8 Mission Scientist was able to successfully receive satphone calls from the P-3 and to place and receive satphone calls with the Jacksonville Operations Center. The DC-8 Mission Scientist experienced difficulty in making radio contact with the P-3. One successful communication effort was made from the DC-8 to the P-3 after the science communication frequency was changed from 122.925 to 123.175.

Many of the ground-based assets at the KAMP appeared to have worked well except the NPOL which had problems with scanning performance. The Aerosonde did not fly.