HIPPO III: Research Flight 08 - American Samoa to Hawaii

April 10, 2010

5 dips were performed during Research Flight 08 from American Samoa to Hawaii, sampling the atmosphere at altitudes as low as 500' above the ocean surface to upwards of 45,000', covering 2,600 miles

Check out all of the forward looking camera images in the HIPPO III Field Catalog, in the Research Products section. Feel free to poke around the field catalog, as there is an amazing amount of information such as pre-flight weather discussions.

The HIPPO Project Manager, Pavel Romashkin, reported seeing a whale on a low dip just after they crossed the equator at 4° north! This was the first time that they have seen a whale during a HIPPO campaign, and hope that it is not their last!

On another note, the pilots planned the approach into Kona so that, in descent, the GV flew in a spiral around the northeast side of Hawaii, descending through the air that the Mauna Loa observatory would sample an hour later. The island was covered by clouds on the East and by vog (volcanic fog, a typical occurrence for Kona) on the west, and they could see the steam rising from the place where lava flows into the ocean, forming a long band of clouds extending for miles downwind.