23 Aug 2010 Tri-Agency Mission Scientist Report - Scott Braun
Mission synopsis: August 23, 2010
NOAA IFEX has no flights planned in the next 24 h. They will be watching developments in the Gulf of Mexico to determine if flights on Wednesday and Thursday, August 25-26, are warranted. A Wednesday flight would take off near 20 UTC. Currently they are planning to forward deploy to Barbados on Friday, August 27.
NASA GRIP will fly a DC8 survey along the weak frontal zone on Tuesday, August 24, to perform a pre-genesis or microphysics module. Take off time is currently set as 14 UTC in order to perform underflights of the TRMM PR and Aqua. The pre-genesis module includes a lawnmower pattern with longer legs oriented normal to the frontal zone. If a mesoscale vortex forms by Wednesday morning, NASA will conduct another flight that day, with a square spiral centered on the vortex. A flight on Thursday will be done if possible genesis conditions persist. There will be no Global Hawk or WB-57 science flights prior to Thursday, Aug. 26.
NSF PREDICT has no flight planned for Tuesday, August 24. A possible flight for August 25 is to be determined.
