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Photo (left): Hans Verlinde of Pennsylvania State University
working on the C-band radar's remote display and control computers
deep in the bowels of the ship, far from the radar itself. Hans
will be working with the Mirai and Nauru to identify storm cells
for study, and to direct the Cessna 404.
Other
snapshots from the Ron Brown
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Commentary:
We arrived at the Ron Brown's "small triangle" location at about 0915
local time this morning, 2115 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on June 30. Nauru
Island is clearly visible about 10 miles away, rising 200 feet from the
sea. With binoculars we see buildings, roads, and ships.
The Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud Station 2 staff on the island can
see only the ship's large round radome, affectionately called Neptune's
Doorknob, due to the earth's curvature. High-frequency communications
are solid with Nauru, but very high frequency does not work at all. We
both have concerns about communicating with the Mirai tonight on any frequency;
they are 50 km away from both of us, a distance bad for both line of sight
and ionospheric skip.
The weather is not cooperating (i.e., not producing good storms for dual
Doppler observations, our primary goal for the "small triangle" configuration).
No RHIB (small boat) runs to Nauru today, but they will begin tomorrow.
A New Zealand film crew will come aboard and live with us for one day,
starting tomorrow.
| Date: |
July 1, 1999 |
| Local Time: |
1545 Local, 0345 Z |
| GPS Ship Position: |
Lat. 0 deg. 37.5 min. S
Long. 166 deg. 46.6 min. E
|
| Heading: |
087 deg |
| Surface Wind: |
6.1 m/s @ 081 deg. (14 m height) |
| Temperature: |
28.0C (13 m height) |
| Sea Surface Temperature: |
28.8C (5 m depth) |
| Relative Humidity: |
71.9 % (13 m height) |
| Precipitation last 24 hr: |
0.0 [mm] |
| Column Water Vapor: |
3.9 cm (MWR) |
| Cloud Layer Heights: |
Ceilometer: 0.8, 2.0 km bases
Radar: n/a
Lidar: 0.7 km base
|
| Radiosonde Inversion Height: |
0.6 km @ 1731 Z (Day 181) |
Visual Observations:
It was another fair day with moderate breezes, popcorn cumuli, and a
few whitecaps.
Instrument Status:
No changes. All is well.
Previous Days' Updates:
June
30, 1999
June 29, 1999
June 28, 1999
June
27, 1999
June
26, 1999
June
25, 1999
June
24, 1999
June
23, 1999
June
22, 1999
June
21, 1999
June
20, 1999
June
19, 1999
June
18, 1999
June
17, 1999
June
16, 1999
June
15, 1999
June
14, 1999
June
10, 1999
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