30 Aug 2010 Tri-Agency Mission Scientist Report

IFEX
The P-3's will have a down day tomorrow, Tuesday, August 31.  The next P-3 mission (N42RF) will depart Barbados at 08 UTC Wednesday, Sept. 1.  It will fly a mission into Hurricane Earl from Barbados enroute to Tampa.  The other P-3 (N43RF) will depart Barbados at 20 UTC Sept. 1, also flying a mission enroute from Barbados to Tampa.  The G-IV is tasked by NHC to conduct a synoptic surveillance mission around Earl, departure time of 1730 UTC Tuesday, August 31.  Follow-on missions for the P-3's into Earl are planned throughout the week.

GRIP
The DC-8 is conducting another ~8 hr mission into Earl today.  It will recover at St. Croix if possible.  If so, it will continue with follow-on missions Tuesday & Wednesday.  If they can't land at St. Croix today and have to recover at FLL, they don't have the ground crew they need to fly Tues & couldn't fly again until Wednesday.  The WB-57 is planning ~6 hr missions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday into Hurricane Earl.  The Global Hawk has a tentative plan for a 00UTC (5pm local) take-off from Dryden on Wednesday to fly Earl.  It will possibly circumnavigate the storm until dawn and then attempt overflights of Earl on Thurs (only in daylight).  Airspace limitations may alter the exact take-off time, but it is likely to be earlier rather than later.

PREDICT
The G-V completed a mission into PGI36L.  It launched ~30 sondes.  On Tuesday there is another PGI36L mission with a 10z take-off.  It will likely return to Barbados.  On Wednesday there is a possiblilty of another PGI36L (Fiona) mission, with a tentative 10z take-off.  The aircraft will likely return to St. Croix.  They are likely to stick with PGI36L (Fiona) for continuity, even if it becomes a TS tomorrow.

The latest satellite imagery for PGI38 suggests that it may be a good science target on Wednesday or Thursday. This issues will be discussed by the PREDICT team tomorrow at 14 Z weather briefing.