Mission implementation is primarily concerned with DC-8 and P-3B aircraft operations. Additionally, there is the operation of the C-130 cargo plane, ozonesonde network measurements, meteorological support measurements, ground station measurements, and satellite data products. The ground station measurements will be conducted by two PI’s (see Section 4.5) to obtain vertical column amounts of selected trace gas species and supplementary ozonesondes. The mission deployment schedule is given in Table 5.0-1.

5.1 DC-8 and P-3B Operations

The nominal flight schedule for the DC-8 and P-3B aircraft are given in Table 5.0-1 and the nominal flight tracks are shown in Figure 2.4-1 and Figure 2.4-2. Nominal flight profiles are shown in Appendix D. Layout of the instruments aboard each aircraft is shown in Figures 4.2. Aircraft characteristics are listed in Appendix C.

Measurement systems installation and integration aboard the DC-8 will be performed at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center where systems checkout flights will also be conducted. The same functions will be performed at the NASA Wallops Flight Center for the P-3B. Both aircraft will begin the deployment for TRACE-P with a transit flight from the U.S. West Coast to Kona, Hawaii. The two aircraft will proceed to Hong Kong and then to Yokota AFB, Japan where they will conduct coordinated local flights – 5 each at Hong Kong and Yokota.  The P-3B will then transit to Midway Island where one local flight will be conducted.  The DC-8 will transit from Yokota to Kona, Hawaii and conduct one local flight at Kona.  Following the Midway Island flight the P-3B will transit to Kona.  Both planes will return to their home bases of Dryden and Wallops, respectively.    

5.2 C-130 Operations

The Wallops C-130 will transport critical cargo and expendables unable to be pre-shipped or carried on the DC-8 or P-3B. It will also provide for supplementary P-3B crew. The C-130 will initially load P-3B related items at Wallops and then proceed with the P-3B to Dryden where it will load DC-8 related items. The C-130 will accompany the P-3B to Hong Kong, Japan, and back to Wallops. The DC-8 will have the same flight itinerary whenever possible.

Table 5.0-1   P-3B, DC-8, and C-130 Nominal Schedule During TRACE-P

5.3 Ozonesonde Network Measurements

Supporting measurements for the TRACE-P mission include releases from Trinidad Head, California; Hilo, Hawaii; Sapporo, Tsukuba, Naha, and Kagoshima, Japan; Java, Indonesia; Fiji; American Samoa; Hong Kong; Taiwan; and Cheju Island, Korea (Figure 2.5-1). The sondes from Trinidad Head, California and Hilo Hawaii are included in TRACE-P as sites operated by PI Sam Oltmans (see section 4.5.2).  The Cheju Island, Korea site is operated by Jae Kim, a co-investigator of Sam Oltmans.  The Sapporo, Tsukuba, Naha, and Kagoshima, Japan site are included as part of an agreement with the Japan Meteorological Agency and Hideyuki Sasaki.  These are standard on-going releases, which have a data sharing agreement with TRACE-P (see Section 2.4.4 and Appendix M).  The ozonesondes at Java, Indonesia; Fiji; and American Samoa are maintained by SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes) and provided to TRACE-P through PI Anne Thompson.  The ozonesonde data at Hong Kong and Taiwan are provided to TRACE-P per agreements described in Sections 2.4.2 and 2.4.6, respectively.  Data sharing will conform to the TRACE-P Data Protocol (see Section 6.1).

Table 5.3-1 lists the investigator and/or organization responsible for ozonesonde operations at each site as well as the nominal launch rate

Table 5.3-1 TRACE-P Ozonesonde Network

Launch Rate: 

¹Once per week early spring 2000 – spring 2002, three times per week during the mission
²Once per week from as soon as possible through October 2001
³Weekly
⁴Once per week premission through May 2002, twice per week during deployment
⁵Once per week March 2000 – May 2002, twice per week during deployment
⁶Rate unknown

5.4 Meteorological Support Measurements

Meteorological support for flight planning will be provided by a team of meteorologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Florida State University (FSU), Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), Yokota Air Force Base (YAB), and the GTE Project Office. The Co-Mission Meteorologists from MIT and FSU (see Table 3.0-1) will, respectively, travel with and provide the specific meteorological support required for the P-3B and DC-8 aircraft. Personnel from HKO and YAB will provide general forecasting assistance during deployment from Hong Kong and Japan. ECMWF gridded data will be used during the entire mission for real-time forecasting and post-mission analysis. The GTE Project meteorologist will support the DC-8 and P-3B mission meteorologists through the acquisition and the preliminary analysis of meteorological data products.

FSU will serve as the "home base" for accessing the primary meteorological data products supporting flight planning during the aircraft deployment. Personnel from both MIT and FSU will use ECMWF gridded data to generate daily meteorology products for the field mission. Additionally, satellite imagery and meteorology products from various WWW sites will be used during the field mission. All collected and generated meteorology products will be stored on a dedicated PC located at each location, and a subgroup of these products will be stored on the "home base" PC for transmission to the field. A portable IMARSAT-B satellite-based communication system coupled to a "remote-base" PC will provide the communication link for a high data rate (56/64 KBPS) PC-to-PC transfer of the meteorology products (e.g. calculated and satellite images) stored on the "home base" PC located at FSU.

MIT will generate a set of forecast products to include maps of surface pressure, temperature and winds, divergent wind component at 1000 and 200 hPa, geopotential height and temperature, specific humidity, potential vorticity, vertical motion, and streamlines all at various pressure levels. FSU will calculate backward trajectories during the deployment phase using the ECMWF gridded data. Clusters of arrival points will be selected at locations along the anticipated flight tracks of the next several DC-8 and P-3B missions. Ten-day backward trajectories will be computed at various altitudes for each of these arrival points. A computer set up at the NASA Langley Research Center will automatically collect daily satellite imagery and meteorology products from various WWW sites, and download 3-hourly, 4-km, visible, infrared, and water vapor McIDAS satellite imagery files from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center during the field mission.

After the deployment phase is completed, MIT, FSU, and the GTE Project Office will provide post-mission analyses. FSU will re-compute trajectories, using actual flight information to select the arrival points and levels. The Science Team will be asked to select additional locations/levels that are needed in their individual research analyses. These results will constitute the final trajectory archive located at the GTE Project Office at NASA Langley. Finally, trajectory climatology will be prepared for the Western Pacific Basin, emphasizing locations visited by the two aircraft. These results will also become part of the final archive. Table 5.4-1 lists the meteorological parameters that will be used for in-field flight planning, post-mission data analysis, and become part of the mission data archive located at the GTE Project Office at NASA Langley.

Table 5.4-1 Meteorological Parameters Required for Flight Planning/Data Analysis

                                      + Available post mission

5.5 Supporting Ground Measurements

The Japanese ground station measurements by Koike and ozonesondes launched from Hawaii and California by Oltmans are self contained operations and are generally performed independently of the DC-8 and P-3B aircraft flights. These two activities do coordinate their measurements in the time interval of the planned aircraft flights and likely will coordinate to the specific over flight time of day if, and when, the aircraft are in the same area.

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