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FIRE-ACE ER-2 FLIGHT LOG |
| Author (Mission Scientist): King, Michael Date: 1998051819 Submitted at: Wed May 20 01:35:00 UT 1998 |
Mission 1 Monday, May 18, 1998 Michael King: Flight Scientist |
Objectives: To fly the ER-2 over surface sites at Barrow (71°19.37'N, 156°34.9'W) and the SHEBA ice station (76°18.7'N, 166°7.1'W), then to fly a repeated E-W and N-S cross pattern over SHEBA. The mission was coordinated with the C-130Q at 2300 (local noon), with the ER-2 flying north over the SHEBA ice station while the C-130Q was within the mid-tropospheric cloud layer for 50 km on a southbound leg. Other coordinations included:
The ER-2 overflew the SHEBA ice station (point 1) during an E-W grid from point 2 (76°18.7'N, 167°45'W) to/from point 3 (76°10'N, 157°W) that consisted of 2 flight legs 284 km in length, followed by a N-S grid from point 4 (74°18.7'N, 166°7.1'W) to/from point 5 (77°12.7'N, 166°7.1'W) that consisted of 2.4 flight legs 285 km in length. These flight tracks passed over the SHEBA ice station at:
The AirMISR was turned on for two acquisitions over the Barrow ARM site (en route and return) and 3 acquisitions over the SHEBA ice station, and operated at the following times:
The ER-2 pilot reported 98% low cloud cover (undercast) starting about ~200 nm north of Fairbanks. Very few breaks in the clouds were observed.
A multilayer cloud system consisting of low stratus, mid-level altocumulus (3-4.5 km) and upper level cirrus (7.25-8 km) reported at the SHEBA ice station. A dry layer was seen in the sounding from the ice station between 900 and 650 mb. The satellite imagery showed a low level cloud to the south of SHEBA and a multi-layer cloud at SHEBA at 1415 UTC, with temperature inversions at 0.5, 3.2, and 4.2 km. Winds were from the 65° at a speed of 21 kts.
