Compiled e-mails from CBLAST... Mostly from Jerry Crescenti regarding the LongEZ missions. ---------------------------------------- July 21, Saturday (flight 1) The LongEZ flew this morning (Saturday, July 21) for about 3.5 hours. We are in the process of checking our data at this time. We are planning a LongEZ mission tomorrow morning (Sunday, July 22) from about 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. for a SAR Intercomparison. We will also plan to fly over the 3-D SST array deployed by Weller/Pritchard as well as the CBLAST buoy. ---------------------------------------- July 22, Sunday (flight 2) The LongEZ flew this morning (Sunday, 22 July 2001) at 6:15 a.m. to about 7:45 a.m. for the SAR intercomparison flight (SAR was over head at 6:49 a.m). Everything went well, winds were light from the SW (~ 1 to 3 m/s) and we think we saw some good structure in the SST. Tim visually saw changes in the relatively smooth sea surface and Doug's radar seems to reflect that (excuse the pun). Tim also flew over the 3-D SST array as well as the CBLAST buoy. We expect to fly again tomorrow (Monday, 23 July 2001). We will try to install the infrared camera system (Chris Zappa and Andy Jessup) either today or tomorrow. ---------------------------------------- July 23, Monday (flight 3) Hi folks, The LongEZ flew twice today (Monday, 23 July). This morning was a bust with the heavy fog. Nothing useful gathered. However, this afternoon, Tim was out for about 2.5 hours flying north-south legs over the 3D SST net, the Asterias, and the CBLAST buoy. We are digesting data right now. Tomorrow does not look too good, however, we will probably try to fly the LongEZ for a short time to test the Jessup/Zappa infrared camera system which was installed late this evening. The LongEZ launched about 7:30 a.m. this morning (Monday, July 23) and will be flying for about 3 to 3.5 hours over the 3D SST net and the CBLAST buoy. Later on today we will install the Jessup/Zappa IR camera system and anticipate flying with it tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 24) over the SST net and CBLAST buoy. In the meantime, Tim will be on the lookout for the R/V Asterias for intercomparisons. Asterias from Jim Edson The Asterias will begin operations tomorrow morning (Monday July 23rd). We will be leaving the dock at 6 am and will be at the 3-D mooring site around 8:30. We will operate near the mooring site, slowly steaming into the SW wind during the morning. We expect SSW winds to increase from 8-12 knts in the morning to 10-15 knts in the afternoon. We anticipate heading back to Woods Hole around 1:30 pm. We also plan to go out on the same schedule on Tuesday. SWerly winds are expected to remain around 15 knts during the morning hours increasing to 20-25 in the afternoon as the low pressure system to our north fights against the high pressure system offshore to move through the region. Lighter winds are expected to move back into the region on Thursday-Friday as another high pressure system builds into the area. We'll keep an eye on the forecast and let you know our plans on Tuesday afternoon for the remainder of the week. Cheers, Jim & Wade ---------------------------------------- July 24, Tuesday Good Morning, Thick fog and strong winds are making today (Tuesday, July 24) look rather nasty for flying. If the fog lifts by this afternoon, we may send out the LongEZ on a short mission to test the Jessup/Zappa infrared camera system. Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 25) does not look all that great either. Our best bet right now will be Thursday morning (July 26) to fly the LongEZ. Jerry Down day because of thick fog. As you probably may have guessed, the LongEZ did not fly today (Tuesday, July 24). Too much wind (MVY reported winds in excess of 20 knots) and way too much fog (does not help when you can't see where you are going). Tomorrow does not sound to promising and from the forecast provided by Jim Edson, Thursday now sounds questionable. Never the less, we are optimistic that the LongEZ will fly as soon as the weather cooperates. We got some decent data from yesterday afternoon's flight (Monday, July 23). Tim fly six north-south legs over the 3D SST Net, the R/V Asterias, and the CBLAST buoy. ---------------------------------------- July 25, Wednesday (flight 4) This was this morning's marine forecast out of NWS Boston (Taunton): Small craft advisory for seas Today: SW Wind around 20 kts. Seas 3 to 6 Ft. Vsby 1 to 3 miles in areas of fog and haze. Chance of a late day tstm. Tonight: SW Wind 15 to 20 kts, diminishing to 10 kts or less late. seas subsiding to 2 to 4 Ft. Vsby 1 to 3 miles in scattered showers, tstms and areas of fog. Thu: Wind becoming NE and increasing to around 15 kts. Seas 2 to 4 Ft. Vsby 1 to 3 miles in scattered showers and areas of fog. The weather does not look too great today, however, we may try to get the LongEZ airborne to test the Jessup/Zappa infrared camera system to assure it works and Tim can fly the airplane safely with all of the instruments that we have on it. However, we will see how the weather shapes up today. If we have visibilities greater than 5 to 10 miles, ceilings greater than 1000 feet and good VFR flight conditions, the LongEZ will do a test flight. The LongEZ flies again! After a down day (Tuesday, July 24) because of thick fog, the LongEZ flew a short (~2 hour) mission today (Wednesday, July 25) over the 3D SST net and the CBLAST buoy. The Jessup/Zappa infrared camera has been installed and seems to have worked (Andy and/or Chris can provide more details about their data). Meanwhile we are processing our data and will see how the weather shapes up for tomorrow. We are hoping for light winds at this point with clear skies. Right now, the fog is the biggest obstacle as it creates unsafe flying conditions. Once this cold front pushes through, visibility should dramatically improve. If conditions are safe for flying, then the LongEZ will launch sometime tomorrow morning. ---------------------------------------- July 26, Thursday Hi folks, I forgot just how fickle the weather is up here in the northeast, especially anywhere near the water. It's about 7:50 a.m., the rain is falling, and the weather radar shows more rain coming. Therefore, the LongEZ will not fly today. We will try again tomorrow. We will us today to check a sensors on the airplane and sit down at our house to digest the data we have collected over the last four flights. As you can imagine, the LongEZ was grounded today because of rain. However, things are begining to clear out and the weather looks like it will cooperate tomorrow for LongEZ flights. We will try to fly sometime tomorrow morning and may even try for an early evening flight at higher altitudes for Andy's and Chris' IR camera system over the 3-D SST net. The forecast is calling for northeasterly winds to slowly relax over the course of the day. ---------------------------------------- July 27, Friday (Flights 5 and 6) It's a beautiful morning! Although winds are from the NE, they are fairly light and look to stay light all day. Tim will try two flights today, one this morning, and one this early evening. This morning's flight will be oriented towards more flux work with a few high altitude flights for the IR camera system. Tonight (~ 7 to 8 p.m. local), the flight will be dedicated to SST mapping with the IR camera from high altitude (~1250 feet). The LongEZ flew this morning (Friday, July 27) for about 3.5 hours. It was a bit more windy than expected, however, we have a pretty good data set for unstable MABL. We will try a short flight tonight with a "mowing the lawn" pattern at 1300' to get SST variability. The LongEZ flew twice yesterday morning (Friday, July 27). Tim fly the LongEZ for 4 hours yesterday morning and for about 45 minutes early in the evening. The first flight was dedicated mostly to low-level (10 m) flux runs and a few 1280' runs for the IR camera system. The second flight was dedicated to "mowing the lawn" for SST documentation. Tim is airborne this morning at this time (Saturday, July 28). Winds are much lighter today! We are also planning an early morning SAR flight tomorrow (Sunday, July 29). ---------------------------------------- July 28, Saturday The LongEZ flew for 3 hours this morning (Saturday, July 28) gathering lots of good data. Winds were fairly light and we got in numerous low-level flux legs as well as some higher altitude (~ 400 m) legs for the infrared camera system. Many of those low-level flux legs were flown over the ASIMET buoy. We are planning to fly a SAR mission early tomorrow morning (Sunday, July 29). The overpass is scheduled for 06:44 EDT. We are going to launch early (~ 5 a.m.) to fly the IR camera before sunrise (to avoid glint from the sun). Then we will gather low-level (10 m) flux data and stay on station a little while longer running flux legs. We have been able to fly 7 missions over the last week. We have been very successful thus far, although some of the days were not the greatest for CBLAST-Low. I have attached 7 marker (MKR) files. The MKR file contains an ASCII data listing specific times and locations during the flight when the marker switch was toggled to an "on" or "off" position. When the marker switch is turned "on" during the flight, a value of "-1" along with the number of scans (i.e., number of elapsed seconds since the start of data acquisition), time, latitude, and longitude are written to the MKR file. Similarly, a value of "0" is written with the time and location information when the marker switch is turned off. The event switch is used to mark a specific occurrence of significance during flight (e.g., flying over a research ship, buoy, discontinuity). An event is recorded in the MKR file with the designation of "EVT" along with the number of scans, time, latitude and longitude. The MKR file is usually edited at the end of the flight to include a summary of the weather conditions, flight plan, problems encountered, and other notes that may be helpful during data analysis. When either the marker or event switch is toggled, a 3-character string is written in the first three columns of the time and location record. The default character string is XXX. However, during post-flight data processing, the string is replaced with a one- to three-character string which represents a specific flight pattern or event. The following listed below were used in the marker files for CBLAST-Low. For those PIs who have/are/will make observations out there, please check out these files to see if the LongEZ was in the area. Our hope is to combine our aircraft data with other measurements to help better understand air-sea processes for light winds. Please let me know if you have any questions. Marker File Codes ERR Error EVT Event FL Flux (level) Leg FLE Flux (level) Leg (eastward) FLN Flux (level) Leg (northward) FLS Flux (level) Leg (southward) FLW Flux (level) Leg (westward) FLX Flux (level) Leg FRY Ferry IRC Infrared Camera Run MSG Message PFA Profile Sounding Ascending PFD Profile Sounding Descending PRO Profile Sounding PTC Pitch Calibration Maneuver ROL Roll Calibration Maneuver SA Slant Sounding Ascending SAE Slant Sounding Ascending (eastward) SAN Slant Sounding Ascending (northward) SAS Slant Sounding Ascending (southward) SAW Slant Sounding Ascending (westward) SD Slant Sounding Descending SDE Slant Sounding Descending (eastward) SDN Slant Sounding Descending (northward) SDS Slant Sounding Descending (southward) SDW Slant Sounding Descending (westward) STC Static TXI Taxi WAG Roll wag WBE Wind Box Maneuver (eastward) WBN Wind Box Maneuver (northward) WBS Wind Box Maneuver (southward) WBW Wind Box Maneuver (westward) WCL Wind Circle Left (counterclockwise) WCR Wind Circle Right (clockwise) XXX Default Character String YAW Yaw Calibration Maneuver ---------------------------------------- July 29, Sunday (Flights 8 and 9) The LongEZ flew twice today. Originally, we planned for a single mission in which the LongEZ would an high level (1280') box before sunrise for the IR camera system, then get down to 10 m and repeat the same exact box for the SAR overpass. Unfortunately, our TANS GPS system (used for aircraft attitude such as pitch, roll, and Heading) decided to sleep in this morning. Thus, Tim only flew the high level box and came back early (the SAR overpass flight was scrubbed, sorry Don). We were able to wake up the system and Tim went out again to do a bunch of low-level (10 m) flux runs over the ASIMET buoy. Winds were nearly calm out there this morning, and Tim tells me that he found DAC with just a little bit of a lazy swell. Thus, while we missed the SAR (which probably would not be too valuable anyway during DAC), we did get some good data none-the-less. We will try to fly again tomorrow, although the winds will be blowing a bit... ---------------------------------------- July 30, Monday Tim flew the LongEZ for about 3.5 hours today (Monday, July 30) making numerous flux runs over the ASIMET buoy and the R/V Asterias. The LongEZ also flew a high altitude box at 1280' for the IR camera system. Winds were fairly light, but certainly not DAC. However, wave state was rather confused with wind generated waves from the east and swell from the southeast. We plan to launch the LongEZ at 5:15 a.m tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 31) prior to sunrise to gather some high level IR images before sun glint becomes a factor. ---------------------------------------- July 31, Tuesday The LongEZ flew for about 2.5 hours this morning at sunrise to do IR camera runs and flux legs. Tomorrow, we do a sunrise flight for more IR camera runs, SAR intercomparison at 7:00 a.m. local time, and more flux legs around the ASIMET buoy. The LongEZ will also fly in the afternoon for a couple of hours buzzing the Asterias and the cat. ---------------------------------------- August 1, Wednesday The LongEZ flew twice today (Wednesday, August 1). The first flight this morning was during the SAR overpass. Tim flew a high level box around sunrise for the IR camera system followed by the same exact box at 10 m for the SAR comparison. He then went over to the ASIMET buoy for numerous flux runs. This afternoon, Tim took the LongEZ out for a while and buzzed the Asterias to compare the LongEZ fluxes against the ship based measurements. We plan on a late morning flight tomorrow (Thursday, August 2) and will attempt an evening flight for the IR camera system. ---------------------------------------- August 2, Thursday: The LongEZ flew twice today (Thursday, August 2). This morning's flight included a high-level box for the IR camera and multiple flux legs over the ASIMET buoy. The LongEZ also flew tonight well after sunset at high altitudes for the IR camera using the "mowing the lawn" flight plan. I have decided to have a "down" day tomorrow (Friday, August 3) since there will be strong southwesterly winds (> 20 knots) and since we really need some rest after working pretty hard every day over the last week. We will probably fly on Saturday. We will make some sort of decision on that on Friday night. ---------------------------------------- August 3, Friday: The LongEZ did not fly on Friday, August 3 (too windy) ---------------------------------------- August 4, Saturday: The LongEZ did not fly on August 4 (too rainy, quite a few showers and thunderstorms in the area). We missed the SAR overflight this morning (Sunday, August 5) due to heavy fog. However, winds are light today, and once the fog lifts (I hope), Tim will fly the LongEZ. ---------------------------------------- August 5, Sunday: We were not able to conduct the SAR flight yesterday morning (Sunday, August 5) due to heavy fog over Martha's Vineyard and the waters off shore. Visibility was less than 1/4 mile with cloud ceiling of 100'. The fog slowly burned off over the course of the morning on the island. We decided to launch the LongEZ at noon. However, Tim quickly returned since fog was still very heavy off shore. The fog was so thick that our laser altimeters were reporting distances of 5 m even though Tim was still several hundred feet above the ocean surface. We launched the LongEZ at 4 p.m. when conditions were good at the airport, but once again, Tim quickly returned because of very poor visibility and heavy fog offshore. The good news this morning is that we have light winds. The bad news is that fog here on the Vineyard is quite heavy (1/4 visibility, 100' ceiling). We will keep an eye on today's weather. If the fog burns off here on the island and offshore, we of course will launch the LongEZ. ---------------------------------------- August 6, Monday ---------------------------------------- August 7, Tuesday After being down for several days because of strong winds, rain, and fog, the LongEZ flew a four hour mission yesterday (Tuesday, August 7). ---------------------------------------- August 8, Wednesday We plan to fly the LongEZ twice today (Wednesday, August 8). The first mission will be centered around the SAR overpass. In both cases, we will be doing a lot of low level flux work over the buoys and Asterias. The LongEZ flew twice yesterday (Wednesday, August 8). ---------------------------------------- August 9, Thursday The LongEZ flew 20 times and over 50 hours. Everything was ripped off the plane and packed in boxes late yesterday afternoon and sent back to Idaho this morning via Federal Express. Needless to say, we are all pretty tired but we were very successful over the last three weeks acquiring turbulent flux data and sea surface parameters (SST, wave characteristics).