Flight Report

September 15, 2014

Summary

1. G1 Flight Report – Flight#6 ...................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Flight Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 2

1.2 Weather Conditions Before the Flight................................................................................. 2

1.3 Conditions During the Flight ............................................................................................... 5

1.4 G1 Team Summary ............................................................................................................. 7

1.5 G1 Quick-look ................................................................................................................... 10

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1. G1 Flight Report – Flight#6

1.1 Flight Strategy

In the September 15, 2014 occurred the sixth G1 flight (Flight#6) in ACRIDICON-

CHUVA campaign. The aircraft took off at 14:56 UTC (10:56 Local Time) from

Manaus Airport and landing at 18:02 UTC (14:02 Local Time) with total duration of 3

hours and 6 minutes. The objective was aerosol characterization and cloud profiling,

following the flight plan 7b. The flight got 2000 ft between 15 and 16:40 UTC, and

after that done some spiral movements from 10,000 ft until low levels. The Fig.1.1

shows the realized flight path.

Figure 1.1 - Flight path of G1 aircraft in September 15, 2014 (Flight#6).

Source: G1 Team/IARA project.

1.2 Weather Conditions Before the Flight

The Fig. 1.2 shows the infrared image at 13:30 UTC (1 hour and 26 minutes before the

flight), fire spots (dark red dots) and lightning from STARNET network. The green

circles represent the range of Manaus radar. Before the flight not deep clouds occurred

close to Manaus. In contrast, two deep and concentrated systems were observed close to

Alta Floresta (Mato Grosso state) city and South of Pará state. In addition several fire

spots we can see in the north of Mato Grosso state and Pará, Maranhão and Tocantins.

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Figure 1.2 - Weather conditions before (1 hour before the flight) of the G1 flight (Flight#6)

at around 13:30 UTC (09:30 Local Time) in September 15, 2014. It is showed the infrared

GOES-13 image, fire spots (dark red dots) and lightning from STARNET (colored dots).

The green circles represent the range of Manaus radar. Source:

http://sigma.cptec.inpe.br/sosmanaus/#

The Fig.1.3 shows the radiosonde for Ponta Pelada site in September 15, 2014 at 12

UTC (almost 3 hours before the flight) (a) skew-t and (b) trajectory. The results

suggested a dry environmental between 800 and 300 mb. In consistency the CAPE and

CINE had low value of 114 J/Kg. The CINE parameter was of 58 J/Kg. In that time the

wind was predominantly from east-northeast.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 1.3 - Ponta Pelada radiosonde in September 15, 2014 at 12 UTC. (a) skew-t and (b)

balloon trajectory. Source: CHUVA/GoAmazon.

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1.3 Conditions During the Flight

The Fig. 1.4 shows the weather conditions (satellite images and fire spots) during the

flight. The numerical prediction of O3 was around 26-30 ppb at 12 UTC (8 hours local

time). The clouds distribution suggested just Cirrus clouds during the flight.

Figure 1.4 - Weather conditions (from satellite image, fires spots and precipitation)

during the sixth G1 flight (Flight#6) in September 15, 2014. Source:

http://sigma.cptec.inpe.br/sosmanaus/#

The Fig. 1.5 shows images in visible channel from GOES-13 since 13 until 19 UTC. At

departure of flight no cloud was observed close to Manaus. After the 14:30 UTC Cirrus

clouds can be seen, covering all the Amazon state. That condition continued until the

landing time.

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.

Figure 1.5 - Visible image from GOES-13 satellite from 13 to 19 UTC in September 15,

2014

1.4 G1 Team Summary

GOAmazon_Flight_Journal_template.doc

Flight date (YYYYMMDDa): 20140915

Pilots: Hubbell, Ray

Scientists: Tomlinson, Nelson, Shilling, Machado, Major Julio

Start 1022

Shutdown 1413

Eng Time 3+51

Takeoff 1056

Land 1402

Flt Time 3+06

Flight Summary: Flight plan 7b aerosol characterization and cloud profiling

Weather: Only weak cumulus build up today, dissipated after flight.

Flight Details: Flight plan 7b at 1500 ft first time through the pattern. Leg B80 to B81 was

extended by 10 nm to catch the plume and then overflew T3 and continued.

We got off about 30 minutes late. The clearance was not available from the Defense Force. I

don’t have any further reasoning.

We flew the pattern at 1500’. Extended the 2 legs (in yellow) 15 miles. Ran the line B20-B80 at

1500’, spiral climb to 10,000’ at B80, back down to 8,000’ and ran legs at 8,000’, 6000’, and

5500’ (in cloud bases). We reversed course and flew half a leg at 5500’ to a point where the

plume was the strongest and ran it to the other side of Manaus.

We did not have a power transfer as there were 2 air ambulances out in front of the hangar.

We are pulling the plane in at this time, should be another 5 or 10 minutes.

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Cabin low to mid 30C upfront.

Some local Bio Plumes. Main plume C0 upper 100. Up to 200. 1500-1800 on CPC3010. Easy to

see the plume Well mixed to 6000 ft. Entrainment layer 6000 to 8000 ft. FT upper 8000 ft.

5000-8500 ft clouds. 3 passes in clouds (see altitudes above).

Instruments: No NO2.

Layers (Height):

Boundary Layer:

Aerosol Layers:

Plume Layers:

Clouds:

Atmospheric state:

Rosemount 102, 101F1, GE-1011B:

Gust Probe 1221F2 x3:

TANS:

DSM:

AIMMS:

TDL:

Aerosol inlet collection:

Iso-Kinetic inlet:

Diluter

Aerosol properties:

UHSAS:

PCASP:

UCPC TSI 3025:

CPC TSI 3010:

PSAP:

Nephelometer (TSI 3563):

DMT CCN counter (dual SS):

Hr-ToF-AMS:

FIMS:

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OPC:

Cloud Probes:

WCM:

CDP:

FCDP:

2DS:

HVPS:

CPI:

Radiation:

SPNs:

Gases:

CO analyzer:

Oxides of Nitrogen:

Ozone:

PTRMS:

PICARRO:

Other:

Video camera:

Power System

downlink:

Xchat:

KML:

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1.5 G1 Quick-look

Below follow some quick-look from G1 instrumentation.

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