DCCLOUDRADAR

 

DC-8 Cloud Radar Campaign

16 June 1998 - 28 June 1998

Lead Scientist: Stephen Sekelsky

Observatory: sgp, sgp

The objectives of the IOP were to collect coordinated ground-based and aircraft-based millimeter-wave cloud radar measurements, to intercompare radar calibrations, and to better characterize clouds and precipitation located between the surface and aircraft by analyzing the propagation of millimeter-wave radar signals from opposite directions.

Activity Summary

The NASA DC-8 was based at Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City between June 15, 1998 and June 30, 1998. There were 31 hours of total flight time, including a transit flight from the Dryden Flight Facility, California. The flights went over the Southern Great Plains Clouds and Radiation Testbed (SGP CART) site (36 37 ' N, 97 30 ' W) where ground-based remote sensors collected data along with the DC-8 instruments. Instrumentation on the DC-8 included the JPL/UMass 95 GHz Airborne Cloud Radar (ACR) and a nadir pointing PRT-5 IR thermometer.

Ground based millimeter-wave cloud radars operating at 33 GHz, 95 GHz, 94 GHz and 35 GHz were deployed at the SGP CART site prior to the DC-8 arrival in Oklahoma City. In addition, the SGP CART site has numerous surface and remote sensing instruments continuously operating, including a 35 GHz cloud radar. Colorado State University also fielded a IR radiometer.

98-06-15 Transit flight from NASA Dryden to Oklahoma City

98-06-20 Anvil flight over CPRS and PSU radar at DOE SGP CART site. DC-8 engine stalled after first track and aircraft returned to tinker AFB.

98-06-21 Mid-level clouds over SGP CART site. 11 overpasses.

98-06-24 Chasing thunderstorms over Northeast Kansas. several N-S legs to East of convection. One E-W leg to south. Two N-S legs to west of convection where we overflew several small convective cells. Most legs have cirrus and precipitation. No Ground-based radar data. NEXRAD data is available from Topeka, KS and Hastings, NB.

98-06-26 PSU radar is down. No clouds anywhere in Oklahoma. UMass CPRS has been re-deployed to New Iberia, LA, which is near the Gulf Coast south of Lafayette. A tropical depression is moving north onto the coast. Flying east-west patterns over CPRS. 22 overpasses. All show thick cirrus and some precipitation.

98-06-27 Similar conditions as previous day. Flying N-S patterns parallel to the surface winds. Except for the first few passes this pattern overflies CPRS and has a straight and level portion over the gulf. Thick cirrus clouds. Some precipitation over land. Heavier stratiform precipitation over ocean. 16 passes.Data was also collected during transit to Dryden after the lines in LA were completed.

Timeline

2008

Luke EP, P Kollias, KL Johnson, and EE Clothiaux. 2008. "A Technique for the Automatic Detection of Insect Clutter in Cloud Radar Returns." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 25(9), 10.1175/2007jtecha953.1.

2001

Stephen LL, M Sekelsky, SC Reising, CT Swift, SL Durden, GA Sadowy, SJ Dinardo, FK Li, A Huffman, G Stephens, DM Babb, and HW Rosenberger. 2001. "Retrieval of atmospheric attenuation using combined ground-based and airborne 95-GHz cloud radar measurements." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 18, 10.1175/1520-0426(2001)018<1345:roaauc>2.0.co;2.

1999

Sekelsky SM, L Li, G Sadowy, SL Durden, SJ Dinardo, FK Li, AC III, GL Stephens, HW Rosenberger, DM Babb, and TP Ackerman. 1999. Radar Calibration Validation for the SGP CART Summer 1998 DC-8 Cloud Radar Experiment. In Proceedings of the Ninth Annual ARM Science Team Meeting, Ed. by N. Burleigh and D. Carrothers, pp. 1-5. Richland, WA: U.S. Department of Energy.


View All Related Publications

Campaign Data Sets

IOP Participant Data Source Name Final Data
Eugene Clothiaux Radar Order Data
Stephen Sekelsky CPRS Order Data
Stephen Sekelsky DC-8 Order Data