TC4 ER-2 Science Flight: July 29, 2007

*Tentative Flight Plan*

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

**Sortie:** 07-9021

**Pilot:** Denis Steele

**Takeoff (MROC)**: 1200 UTC (6:00 AM local)

**Landing (MROC)**: 1745 UTC (11:45 AM local)

**Duration**: 5:45

**Objectives:**

-   **To investigate marine stratus near the equator in support of
    Terra/CloudSat.**

-   **To investigate volcanic SO~2~ emissions in support of OMI**

-   **Underfly Terra with ER-2/DC-8, ER-2 aligned with track**

**Satellite Coordination:**

The Terra overpass occurs at approximately 1556 UT (a heading of
192.05˚) while the ER-2 is expected to be south of Costa Rica near the
equator (see map of waypoints). The image below shows the Terra overpass
as the blue (Douglas Spangenberg, LaRC).

The Aqua, Cloudsat/Calipso, Aura overpasses occur 1853, 1854, and 1909
UT respectively near the equator near Ecuador. The TRMM overpass is also
close to Costa Rica, but occurs prior to the ER-2 launch at 1052 UT.

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

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

Takeoff at 1200 UT (6 AM local time). The ER-2 initially flies S over
the Pacific towards a region where (waypoint 3 on the map) marine
stratus is expected. The ER-2 will then fly NW along a line (34) in
order to link up with the DC-8 at approximately 1410 UT. After reaching
4, the ER-2 will fly reverse course and fly a line southeast line to
waypoint 5 (above the DC-8 and following a regular jetway path). The
ER-2 will again reverse course at waypoint 5 and fly back to waypoint 4.
At 1544 the ER-2 will turn onto a heading of 11.95 to parallel the Terra
track. Following the Terra overpass, the ER-2 will return to MROC (plot
courtesy of Chuck Bardeen).

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

grey line = ER-2 flight track

color image: low level cloud fraction (1800 UT)

yellow wind barbs (m/s) for 500 hPa.

**Expected Cloud Conditions during flight:**

The track 45 is set in a marine stratus region. The forecast map (see
above) shows expected low level cloud cover. The 500 hPa
(mid-troposphere) wind pattern shows weak SE flow.

**Proposed Plan:**

**Proposed Waypoints:**

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

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

**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                          |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| Compact Scanning Sub-mm wave      |        |                        |
| Imaging Radiometer                |        |                        |
+-----------------------------------+--------+------------------------+
| # MAS                             |        |                        |
|                                   |        |                        |
| # 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