Date: Mar 31, 2001
Mission: MODIS Water Vapor Mapping Mission and NASA Trace Gas Detection Mission.
Mission Objectives
Map water vapor in the Central Facility region of the ARM SGP site for comparisons to MODIS (Terra at 1729 UTC). Overfly Hutchinson, KS to detect natural gas leaks with SHIS.
Flight Summary
Take-off was at 1445 UTC. ER-2 landed at 2015 UTC.
ER-2 flew from Kelly AFB northward to four flight lines oriented parallel to Terra orbital track with the westernmost line centered over the ARM SGP Central Facility (36.606 N, 97.485 W). Starting at the western line, flew the four lines and then returned to the westernmost line to begin the sequence again. Skies during the first sequence contained low clouds in southern 1/2 on western leg (Central Facility was partly cloudy) and were mostly cloudy (low clouds) on the other 3 legs. On the 2nd sequence, the westernmost leg was 70% clear (low cloud at far southern end, isolated thin dissipating water cloud), the next leg about 70% clear, and the 3rd leg about 50% clear (spotty thin cloud); the 4th leg was not flown due to cloud cover. The ER-2 met Terra (1729 UTC) at about the position of the Central Facility on the 2nd sequence. After completing the 2nd sequence (about 1815 UTC), the ER-2 flew north to a SE-NW oriented line to overfly (1825 UTC) natural gas leaks in the Hutchinson KS region. Skies were partly cloudy along this short 3 minute line. The ER-2 then turned for base, overflying the Central Facility in clear skies (about 1847 UTC) on the way home.
Highlights
Clear sky scenes of Central Facility with MODIS overhead. Partly cloudy views of natural gas leak in KS.
Instrument Status