Chief Scientist: Watson/Ziegler Flight Director: Damiano Doppler Radar: Shepherd/Atkins Pilots: Tichnor/Tennesen Kennedy Cloud Physics: Jacobs Data Technician: Pradas Observer: Systems Engineer: Lynch Media: Irish Air Letters (2) Takeoff Time: 2010 UTC Landing Time: 0206 UTC Official Mission Duration: 6.2 hrs Number of Data Tapes Used: Radar: 2 Cloud Physics: 1 Video: 2Data Systems Log
Radar Data System Log Time On(UTC) Time Off(UTC) Comments 2030 Begin REC on LF/TA 2010 Stop REC on TA 2116 Radar down Rewinding Tapes to start again Tape #1 2223 Begin REC LF/TA 2308 Radars down Tape #2 2326 Begin REC again 0044 Radars down Tape #3 0050 Radars up 0202 Stop REC LF/TA Cloud Physics Log Time On(UTC) Time Off(UTC) Comments 2023 0143 Recycled after check
We broke off the pattern to evaluate an east-west convective line developing in the vicinity of Archer and Seymour, TX some 30 mi SW of Wichita Falls.. The ground teams were enroute. We made several east-west convective patterns on the north side of the convection. While the radar rebooted, we crossed through the weak line to the south side and made several Doppler pattterns. However, the convection remained weak and the ground teams became impatient and departed for a cell just northwest of Wichita Falls (SPS) which had apparently developed in the low-level cyclonic circulation which we sampled 2 hours before.
NOAA 43 arrived at the supercell at 0000 UTC and immediately setup east-west Doppler patterns. Visually, the wall cloud could be seen for the first 15 min. Storm motion was toward the southeast at 25 kts. We continued sampling the storm until 0131 UTC making some 12 to 14 passes on the cell.
Apparently, at 0045 UTC when the radar went down, the radar tapes were accidently rewound. At 0051 UTC, when we started our southest-bound leg we started copying over the old data. We were assured on our first flight that this was not the case. Therefore, from this point on, we will always put in a new tape when the radar is rebooted. It ramains to be seen if the data are recoverable after the 2 EOFs at 0150 UTC when we ceased collecting data. The mission was successful and proved that we can identify the mesocyclone region of the supercell and fly tight short legs sampling the convective evolution of a supercell. Baseball size hail was reported near Granfield, TX. Very strong outflow was observed on the ground from the P-3 and a very well developed shelf cloud formed on the southern flank. The supercell appeared to feed on the west side and had a somewhat tilted appearance in the later stages. NOAA 43 arrived back in OKC at 0206 UTC accumulating 6.2 hours flight time. The repeater seemed to act somewhat erratic today with periodic clicking sounds.
Irv Watson