CAMEX-4 Mission Reports
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX) is a series of field research investigations sponsored by the Earth Science Enterprise of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The fourth field campaign in the CAMEX series (CAMEX-4) ran from 16 August to 25 September, 2001 and was based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida. CAMEX-4 focused on the study of tropical cyclone (hurricane) development, tracking, intensification, and landfalling impacts using NASA-funded aircraft and surface remote sensing instrumentation.
The Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX)-4 Mission Reports were filed every day that an aircraft flew in support of the experiment. The reports include a short description of the day's mission, its objective, and notes.
Data Format
Data is in a text file. A data file is created for each daily mission report and is of the form:
c4gmisrep_2001.ddd_mmddyy.txt
where c4gmisrep represents CAMEX4 mission report, 2001.ddd is the four digit year and day of year, mmddyy is month day year followed by the.txt extension.
An example is shown below:
CAMEX-4 Mission Science Report
MISSION DATE: 09/10/2001
SORTIE NUMBERS:
DC-8: 010413
ER-2: 01-137
AEROSONDE: 200101
MISSION SCIENTIST: Zipser, Edward
MISSION DESCRIPTION:
3 a/c mission in Hurricane Erin, located near 35.5 N and 65.1 W. This was an optimal data assimilation mission, following the flight plan developed by Dr. Krishnamurti and the LASE team.
MISSION OBJECTIVE:
The overaraching objective was to obtain comprehensive data on storm structure and the wind, temperature, and moisture structure of the environment of the storm. The experiment design featured the NOAA P3 obtaining radar and in situ data within the storm core and dropondes on the north and east periphery, the ER-2 obtaining remote sensing and dropsonde data in the inner 2 degrees of the storm, and the DC-8 circumnavigating the storm at about 3 degrees radius to obtain moisture profiles (LASE) dropsonde, and other data mainly outside the central overcast.
MISSION NOTES:
This mission was a notable success. It included the first ever dropsondes from the stratosphere (8 were launched) into a hurricane. The quick look of the eye sounding shows it to be excellent data. The ER2 drops alone will guarantee a place in history for this flight, giving comprehensive temperature, moisture and wind structure of the storm from stratospheric altitudes. The DC8 also had notable success, executing a comprehensive pattern with a high fractional coverage of LASE data in the clear slot south and elsewhere in the periphery. The 9 successful dropsondes from all quadrants from the DC8 also add to the completeness of the environmental conditions. The NOAA P3 helped coordinate the ER2 center fix, obtained radar coverage and other coverage of the inner core and the northern fringes before landing in Providence RI.
Contact Information
To order these data or for further information, please contact:
Global Hydrology Resource Center
User Services
320 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35805
Phone: 256-961-7932
E-mail: support-ghrc@earthdata.nasa.gov
Web: http://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/
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