HR: 08:15h
AN: A21F-02    [Abstracts]
TI: Synopsis of TC4 Missions and Meteorology
AU: * Starr, D
EM: David.Starr@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 613.1, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Pfister, L
EM: lpfister@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, M/S 245-5, Moffett Field, CA 94035, United States
AU: Selkirk, H
EM: hselkirk@mail.arc.nasa.gov
AF: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, NASA Ames Research Center M/S 245-5, Moffett Field, CA 94035,
AU: Nguyen, L
EM: l.nguyen@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 420, Hampton, VA 23681, United States
AB: The TC4 (Tropical Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling) Experiment conducted 26 aircraft sorties on 13 flight days from July 17 to August 8, 2007 (23 days). Quality science observations were also obtained during the transit flights to/from from San Jose, Costa Rica, where the mission was based. On 9 days, coordinated aircraft missions were flown with the NASA ER-2 and DC-8, and with the NASA WB-57 on 3 occasions (and transit flights). The ER-2 served as an A-Train simulator (MODIS, CloudSat, CALIPSO, AIRS/TES, partial AMSR-E) while the WB-57 provided in-situ measurements of upper tropospheric cloud particles, aerosols and trace gases. The DC-8 provided both in-situ and remote sensing measurements, where the latter were focused on Aura validation, and also including a down-looking scanning precipitation radar (TRMM PR simulator). This paper will provide a synopsis of the science observations that were obtained, as regards the clouds and cloud systems sampled, from a meteorological perspective. A diversity of clouds were sampled and the meteorology proved more interesting than expected, at least to this author. Upper tropospheric cirrus outflows were sampled from a number of convective cloud systems including ITCZ-type systems as well as systems close to and affected by land. The low level inflows to these systems were also sampled in some cases (DC-8) and missions were flown to sample stratocumulus clouds over the Pacific Ocean exploiting the unique instrumentation on the DC-8 to add to the knowledge of these clouds which are so important to the Earth radiation budget. Measurements were made in the tropical Tropopause Transition Layer (TTL) by the WB-57. Upper tropospheric clouds and TTL properties and processes were central TC4 objectives. Excellent data were also obtained on the fate of the Saharan Air Layer and its aerosols over the Caribbean and Central America, as well as samples of plumes from volcanoes in Ecuador and Columbia and biogenic emissions over Columbia and the Pacific Ocean. Satellite observations, including those from various A-Train sensors, were used in planning the missions which were, in many cases, coordinated, at least in part, with satellite overpasses, especially Aura and other A-Train sensors (DC-8) and Terra.
UR: http://www.espo.nasa.gov/tc4/
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0320 Cloud physics and chemistry
DE: 0321 Cloud/radiation interaction
DE: 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting