ER-2 Flight Summary for 07/17/2005
Sortie Number: 05-9030
Take off: 0600
Landing: 1350
Mission Description:
Hurricane Emily mission description provided by Dan Cecil, University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Early Sunday morning mission was flown into Hurricane Emily, a strong Cat 4 hurricane between Honduras and the Cayman Islands, approaching the Yucutan Peninsula. Prior to ER-2 launch, Air Force reconnaissance recorded deepening from 953 mb at 16/0541 UTC to 946 mb at 16/1152 UTC to 929 mb at 16/2340 UTC. The last Air Force fixes of the night showed rapid filling to 943 mb at 17/0534 UTC. There is speculation that Emily briefly reached Cat 5 intensity.
Mission Objectives:
The objective was to document the convective structure of an intense Category 4-5 hurricane. The ER-2 has never observed such an intense hurricane. Detailed measurements of the eyewall are the main objective, with sampling of intense convection in an outer rainband being a secondary objective. While hurricane eyewalls have been relatively well studied, these intense outer rainbands have not.
Mission Notes:
The pilot had a difficult time with the first eye crossing (ESE-WNW). EDOP measured reflectivities nearly to the ER-2's level, with very high reflectivity values in the upper troposphere (~40 dBZ to ~17 km altitude). LIP detected at least 10 flashes per minute, likely more. AMPR and HAMSR showed strong ice scattering, with even the lowest frequency channels scattered (indicative of very large graupel or hail). The second pass (SW-NE) was similar. The scanning instruments reveal that the ER-2 crossed near but not directly over the hurricane's center. The outer rainband had propogated further out during the night, with the most intense part in Cuban airspace. Therefore, we cut that leg short and set up for bowties across the center, studying the eye-eyewall in detail. On his third approach toward the center, the pilot wisely decided not to attempt more crossings of the eyewall for safety reasons. Instead, a box around the eye, with sides 25-30 nmi from the center, was flown. When daylight arrived, the pilot edged these boxes closer to the eyewall. A pass near the western eyewall confirmed that convection was still too tall / intense to resume eye crossings. 1.5 circumnavigations were performed in the box pattern before returning to Costa Rica.
The REVEAL-LIP combination was extremely useful in making sure the ER-2 went where we wanted, and understanding when/where/why it was necessary to depart from the original plans at times.
Although we were unable to execute the initial plan, the unprecedented measurements are considered a great success.
Other Mission Assets:
Ticosondes were launched.
Flight Track:
Navigation Data
Instrument Status:
| Instrument Acronym | Status during sortie | Full Report | Quicklooks |
| AMPR | Yellow |
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| CRS | Red |
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| EDOP | Yellow |
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| HAMSR | Green |
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| LIP | Green |
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| MAS | Green |
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| MTP | Green |
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| REVEAL | Green |
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