Today  9/13/2000:  Terra Underfly Atlantic Ocean

Aircraft returned from an 8 hour flight at 16:40 local time.  Flight
objective was a Terra underpass over Atlantic ocean.  It was mostly
cloudly in the Terra region, although the pilot reports a small patch of
clear sky.  Conditions over the ocean were mostly cloudy, conditions over
land were clear with light to medium haze.

All instruments except for MAS were healthy.  MAS failed twice, but was
eventually brought back up by the pilot.

A couple of regions of interest -
Pilot reported a region of bright sand dunes near Walvis Bay.

Three passes were flown over the ?Tosha? Pan region.  This region shows
up as bright in visible satellite imagery.  Pilot reported the surface
looked nearly blue at some angles.




Tomorrow 9/14/2000:  Terra tracking and coordination with UK-C130

Due to wind forecasts for Friday (9/15), tomorrow will be a fly day. 
Objective is stratus off of Namibian and Angolan coasts.  Flight path is
further north and west than in the past in the hopes of catching a
persistant stratus deck.

Due to the long flight today, a synchronized Terra underpass is not
possible, but the plan is to fly the Terra track.  Coordination with the
UK-C130 is planned.




          -   Shaima