NASA Langley Flight Ops Center, Bangor Maine
Atlantic THORpex Regional Campaign
Alliance Icing Research Study II

Mission Summary for Dec 14, 2003

Both ER2 and Citation flew an Aqua underflight mission centered at the easten tip of Cape Cod. The orbit time is 17:41 GMT. After the overpass time, the ER2 flew northward from Cape Cod to just east of the James Bay, then retured to Bangor. After the orbit, the citation did winter storm recon in the region off the NJ coast and south of the CT/RI/MA coast with dropsondes spaced 50nmi apart. This coincided with the time of a developing winter storm. The mission was in support of ATReC and satellite verification. The Citation took off from Bangor 1651Z and released a series of six dropsondes along a line between (N42:42, W69:53) and (N41:02, W69:14). The Citation then turned to the northeast and dropped three more sondes between (N40:08, N72:29) and (N40:17, W73:00). All the sondes were released from 33,000 ft and took place between the times of 1736Z and 1909Z. The aircraft was in thin cloud throughout the flight with the exception of takeoff and landing. The cloud was composed of ice crystals, the types and sizes varying along the path.

GOES-12 vis image (14 Dec 2003 18:45 Z) showing NASA ER-2 and Univ ND Citation flight tracks

ER-2 tracks on  visible and infrared image.   Citation tracks on  visible and infrared image.

• NASA ER-2 Flight Track overlayed on GOES-12 satellite
  
  • JavaScript Loop:   Visible,   Infrared
    
  • Animated GIF Loop:   Visible,  Infrared
    
  • VIS image:   16:15,  16:30,  16:45,  17:15,  17:30,  17:45,  18:15,  18:30,  18:45,  19:15,  19:32,  19:45,  20:02,  20:15,  20:32,  20:45 
    
  • IR image:   16:15,  16:30,  16:45,  17:15,  17:30,  17:45,  18:15,  18:30,  18:45,  19:15,  19:32,  19:45,  20:02,  20:15,  20:32,  20:45,  21:15,  21:32,  21:45 
    

• UND Citation Flight Track overlayed on GOES-12 satellite
  
  • JavaScript Loop:   Visible,   Infrared
    
  • Animated GIF Loop:   Visible,  Infrared
    
  • VIS image:   16:45  17:15  17:30  17:45  18:15  18:30  18:45  19:15  19:32  19:45  20:02 
    
  • IR image:   16:45  17:15  17:30  17:45  18:15  18:30  18:45  19:15  19:32  19:45  20:02 
    

• GOES-12 Derived Cloud Products from NASA Langley (Pat Minnis's group).

• Aircraft Navigation Data:   
  • Citation navigation and meteorological data written in NASA Ames format
  • NASA ER-2 (flight 04-6026)

• UND Citation Dropsondes (more available on quicklook link):   
  • Dropsonde 1 -    Time of launch: 17:36:07       Location of launch: 69 53.05' W, 42 41.94' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 2 -    Time of launch: 17:46:52       Location of launch: 69 35.06' W, 41 52.56' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 3 -    Time of launch: 17:57:31       Location of launch: 69 14.23' W, 41 01.65' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 4 -    Time of launch: 18:15:15       Location of launch: 70 20.56' W, 40 43.94' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 5 -    Time of launch: 18:30:38       Location of launch: 71 21.35' W, 40 28.04' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 6 -    Time of launch: 18:47:35       Location of launch: 72 28.64' W, 40 08.64' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 7 -    Time of launch: 19:02:14       Location of launch: 73 26.77' W, 39 48.18' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot
  • Dropsonde 8 -    Time of launch: 19:08:39       Location of launch: 73 01.64' W, 40 16.45' N    RH, T plot    Skew-T plot