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ER-2 Flight Summary for 07/09/2005 Sortie Number: 05-9027 Mission Description: This mission was the third ER-2 flight over Hurricane Dennis after it exited the western half of Cuba and moved northward into the Gulf of Mexico. The 11 UTC NOAA-42 reconnaissance had the storm at Category 1 with 71 kts, 972 mb, and a 12 nm eye. This was considerably weaker than before entering Cuba where it had 130 kt surface winds. The ER-2 takeoff time was 10 UTC and the mission duration was 7.3 hours. NOAA-42 was tasked for Dennis with a 5 UTC takeoff from San Jose, and NOAA-43 left after the ER-2 with a 14 UTC takeoff. Dennis was re-intensifying during the period of the ER-2 and NOAA-43 flights. Later it remarkably intensified to a Category 4 before landfall on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Mission Objectives: The mission objective was to measure the east-west vertical structure of Hurricane Dennis as it exited Cuba and was in an re-intensifying period. This day provides an interesting comparison with the two earlier Dennis flights. Mission Notes: Since neither of the NOAA aircraft were able to provide flight direction for the ER-2, the Key West 88D radar was used for obtaining the approximate center of Dennis. The close proximity of the storm to the Cuban ADIZ (24 N latitude) allowed for only east-west legs over the storm center. Four east-west legs were performed by the ER-2 each with a length of 120 nm with the first leg at approximately 24.3 degrees N latitude, and the last leg at 24.9 degrees latitude. Because the pilot Dee Porter ran out of time, a fifth flight leg across the storm was aborted shortly after its start point. The pilot reported a 38 kt wind out of the east at the ER-2 altitude. He also reported very bad turbulence and some overshooting tops (doming) on the last leg across Dennis. Preliminary indications are that the structure of Dennis was unspectacular during the ER-2 passes. The eye was not well-defined and the storm top was fairly low at about 14 km altitude. Other Mission Assets:
Flight Track: Navigation Data Instrument Status:
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