5 Sep 2010 Tri-Agency Mission Scientist Report

Mission synopsis: 05 Sept 2010.

NOAA/IFEX:
Their are currently no operational or research taskings for the NOAA P-3s and G-IV.  NOAA 43 ferried back to MacDill yesterday (Sat 04 Sep) and HRD scientists are heading back to Miami today.  The G-IV deployment to Barbados scheduled for today (for a Synoptic Surveillance mission tomorrow Monday 05 Sep) was cancelled.  There are no current G-IV taskings in the POD.

Extended: NOAA will continue to watch Gaston and if it becomes a viable target for operations based from Tampa.  NOAA is also watching the system in the Gulf, but any missions would involve long ferries- therefore flights into this system are unlikely at this time.  

NASA/GRIP:
The DC-8 is ferrying to St. Croix today for flights into Gaston on Monday (06 Aug) and Tues (07 Aug).  Today's ferry to St. Croix could involve a short module to fly through some Saharan dust in the vicinity of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola with an anticipated arrival in St. Croix at 21 UTC.   There are no current plans for a Global Hawk mission and the repair of its GPS dropsonde system remains a high priority.  The WB-57 is awaiting a part to complete some repairs and will likely not be ready to conduct potential missions until later this week.

Tomorrow's (Mon 06 Sep) DC-8 mission will likely take-off at 18 UTC (though that time is subject to change) and will recover back to STX.  Tuesday's (07 Sep) mission will likely also take-off at 18 UTC and recover back to Ft. Lauderdale.  Coordination with PREDICT is planned for these missions.  

NSF/PREDICT:
PREDICT is currently conducting a mission into the remnants of Gaston (PGI38L)- take-off was at 11 UTC with ~25 dropsondes planned.  This mission may include a low-level module.

Monday (06 Aug) and Tues (07 Aug): the G-V will continue missions into ex-Gaston and coordination with the NASA DC-8 is planned.  Airspace restrictions may become an issue for the G-V as the storm moves generally to the west toward Hispaniola.   

 
AIR FORCE:
The AF is currently tasked for fixes on:
Gaston:
-these missions will likely be conducted at or below 5,000 ft...see daily CARCAH POD for updates
-the C-130s currently deployed to St. Croix may need to be evacuated to Barbados, depending on the track & intensity of the storm
06 Sep: 18 UTC
07 Sep: 00/06/12 UTC

Gulf of Mexico invest area:
06 Sep: 16 UTC
07 Sep: 06/12 UTC