TC4 ER-2 Science Flight: July 25, 2007

*Tentative Flight Plan*

**Flight Scientists:** P. Newman, S. Platnick

**Sortie:** 07-9021

**Pilot:** Dave Wright

**Takeoff (MROC)**: 1400 UTC (8:00 AM local)

**Landing (MROC)**: 2030 UTC (2:30 PM local)

**Duration**: 6:30

**Objectives:**

-   To provide a coordinated underflight of the Cloudsat/Calipso
    satellites with the ER-2 remote sensing payload.

-   To profile the N-S gradient of the Saharan dust layer on either side
    of the Caribbean and Pacific.

-   Perform a Lagrangian transect across Central America of the aeorosol
    dust layer.

**Satellite Coordination:**

Cloudsat/Calipso overpass at 19:20 UT immediately to the west of Costa
Rica. The image below shows this overpass as the red line (Rabindra
Palikonda, LaRC). The TRMM overpass is also close to Costa Rica, but
occurs prior to the ER-2 launch. The Terra overpass occurs at
approximately 1618 UT while the ER-2 is expected to be just east of
Costa Rica (see map of waypoints).

![](media/image1.png){width="6.0in" height="3.6in"}

**Flight Plan Summary (see map):**

Takeoff at 1400 UT (8 AM local time). The ER-2 initially flies NE over
the Carribean into relatively clear air while gaining altitude (waypoint
3 on the map). The ER-2 will then fly N along a line (34) in order to
view the Carribean aerosol concentrations. After reaching 4, the ER-2
will fly reverse course and fly a line southward line to waypoint 5.
After flying westward to waypoint 7, the plane will turn south again and
fly to waypoint 8, profiling aerosols on the Pacific side of Central
America. The ER-2 is expected to reach waypoint 9 at approximately 1830
UT. At waypoint 9, the aircraft will be directed along the
Calipso/Cloudsat line and will coordinate at 1921 UT (plot courtesy of
Leslie Lait). Following the overpass, the ER-2 will return to MROC.

![](media/image2.png){width="5.99375in" height="4.63125in"}

red line = ER-2 flight track

color image: accumulated precipitation from (1200-1800 UT)

yellow wind barbs (m/s) for near surface wind

**Expected Cloud Conditions during flight:**

The tracks 45 and 78 are set in relatively precipitation free zones in
order to view the boundary layer aerosols. The forecast map (see above)
shows precipitation accumulation. The 850 hPa (\~32,000 feet) wind
pattern shows direct easterly flow across Nicaragua.

**Proposed Plan:**

**Proposed Waypoints:**

**[WP Lat Lon ETA]{.underline}**

MROC 10o 00\'N 84o 13\'W 14:00

4 16o 36\'N 82o 38\'W 15:22

5 10o 19\'N 82o 46\'W 16:20

6 11o 15\'N 82o 43\'W 16:32

7 11o 21\'N 87o 57\'W 17:19

8 6o 42\'N 86o 53\'W 18:03

9 9o 24\'N 85o 34\'W 18:32

10 15o 24\'N 86o 54\'W 19:26

**ER-2 Science Instrument Payload and Status:**

+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| ##### Instrument                  | #      | ###### Notes           |
|                                   | #####  |                        |
|                                   | Status |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # CPL                             |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Cloud Physics Lidar               |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # CRS                             |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Cloud Radar System                |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # EDOP                            |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| ER-2 Doppler Radar                |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # AMPR                            |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Advanced Microwave Precipitation  |        |                        |
| Radiometer                        |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # CoSSIR                          | **NA** | **Balasted out**       |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Compact Scanning Sub-mm wave      |        |                        |
| Imaging Radiometer                |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # MAS                             | **NA** | **Hard failed, flying  |
|                                   |        | as balast**            |
| # MODIS Airborne Simulator        |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| **S-HIS**                         |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Scanning High Resolution          |        |                        |
| Interferometer                    |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| **IR Radiometer**                 |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Broadband flux radiometer         |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| (nadir & zenith)                  |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| **SSFR**                          |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| ##                                |        |                        |
| ## Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| #### (nadir & zenith)             |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| **MVIS**                          |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| video camera                      |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # MTP                             |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Microwave Temperature Profiler    |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+

## G = good; P = partial data collected; F = failure, no data