through the Fifth Framework Programme
| INCA | funded by the European Community
through the Fifth Framework Programme |
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This page shows a day by
day report on activities and progress of the INCA campaign in Punta Arenas.
Please click on a date to get the relevant report.
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Many of the participants have arrived, some more will arrive in the afternoon. The office space at the Servinaut building has been set up, phone, fax, and network access are operational. The relevant phone and fax numbers are:
INCA office
phone: +56-61-214302
fax: +56-61-232726
Hotel Finis Terrae phone +56-61-228200
Cellular phones:
+56-9-2197909 (Heinz Finkenzeller)
+56-9-2197904 (Reinhold Busen)
The Falcon has arrived at Punta Arenas at 17:30 local time.
The Falcon was pulled to the hangar for the first time, the front part
towards the wings fits inside. The wing pylons have be mounted and ground
power to the aircraft is established using a power generator. First instrument
checks are performed by the aerosol groups form DLR and ITM.
Inside the office complex a local network was established, most of
the computers are connected and have access to e-mail and internet.
In the morning the kick-off briefing was held starting with some brief
review of the experimental goals given by Johan Ström. A generic schedule
for flight planning and briefings was proposed and discussed. Weather briefing
and flight planning will be at about 14:00 local time each day. The intention
is to have at 15:00 a decision for filing a flight plan for a mission 2
days ahead. A target area will be identified connected to a synoptic system
to be investigated, together with a flight track proposal.
1 day before the mission the flight plan will be confirmed/altered/rejected
based on the 14:00 briefing. On the day of the flight final adjustments
will be made in the morning as soon as the latest satellite pictures are
available (about 9:00 local time).
This time schedule is a first attempt, it may be changed dependent
on the needs of ATC and other authorities involved in the flight planning
process.
A general briefing will be held every day at 17:30 local time at the
office building. This will include brief weather information, input from
all groups on the status of the aircraft instrumentation, some planning
for next days work, and presentations and discussions of data and scientific
results.
Heinz Finkenzeller provided some logistical details during the briefing.
The first flight of the Falcon is scheduled for Thursday, March 23.
For the scientists it will be a technical flight, for the pilots it will
mean an introduction to the airspace and the associated flight rules. For
this reason a Chilean Air Force officer will join the first flights.
Status of the instrumentation: Most of the instruments are in perfect shape. Some need final adjustments and/or calibration.
The exact position of the AWI Lidar Container was measured by using a hand held GPS system:
Status of the instrumentation (as yesterday): Most of the instruments are in perfect shape. Some need final adjustments and/or calibration.
Today an article showed up in the local newspaper "La Prensa Austral"
on the overall goals of the experiment and on the operation of the AWI
Lidar. The press conference took place at the office building, and later
on at the aircraft. Both local and national newspapers and TV stations
participated.
In the afternoon there was a very productive and promising meeting
with the Air Force officer who will join the first flights. The airspace
accessible for the Falcon out of Punta Arenas was divided into different
sectors or target areas for an easier flight planning. Especially over
sea no major restrictions regarding the flight operations are to be expected.
Two technical flights of about 90 minutes each are scheduled for tomorrow
(Thursday), first takeoff at 10:30 local time, second takeoff at about
14:30 local time.
All instruments are operating well.
The LIDAR made first cirrus measurements last night, but its needs
some further adjustment for providing quantitative results.
Most of the day the network was down due to problems of the local provider.
Today the Photo Gallery was installed on the web page.
The first technical flight of the Falcon was on schedule, take off at
10:30 local time. The second takeoff was also exactly in time at 15:00
local. Due to the restriction to 3 experimental seats in the aircraft the
air chemistry instrumentation was off for the first flight and the Polar
Nephelometer was not operated on the second flight.
From the first reports during the debriefing the following can be concluded:
In the morning the afternoon flight was confirmed. However, the target
area for the investigation of cirrus clouds was changed completely according
to the latest forecasts and satellite pictures. But that caused no major
problems, neither to the pilots nor to the civil and military ATC.
So far we learned, that the numerical forecast based on the ECMWF-products
are providing a tendency in the 36 to 48 hour forecast range, but the synoptic
systems are usually approaching distinctly faster than predicted. Therefore
the comparison of short time forecasts and satellite pictures at the moment
seems to be the most suitable way for the mission planning.
The first mission flight was performed in the afternoon with basically penetrating a cirrus field at three different levels (top, center, and base of the cloud with some intermittent clear air periods). The scientific instrumentation performed excellent.
Based on the weather forecast the scientific team voted for a day off
on Saturday. Work at the aircraft (instrument maintenance) and at the office
(data evaluation) will be continued on Sunday morning. The next scientific
flight is presently expected for Monday.
DAY OFF. No work on the aircraft, some data evaluation work is going on at the office. According to the numerical forecast the next scientific flight is presently scheduled for Monday morning.
The numerical forecast shows a large field of high relative humidity
approaching from the West. It is expected to reach the coast during early
Monday, therefore a flight was filed for a 10:00 local time takeoff. The
goal is to reach the front edge of the cloud field and fly into the cloud
along the large humidity gradient at different levels. This time the cirrus
is expected to extend to higher flight levels and to be distinctly colder
than the previous one.
The instrumentation was checked during the day and the systems were
prepared for the flight. In parallel the data obtained from mission 1 have
been evaluated and compared during the day.
During the evening briefing first preliminary data plots from the 1.
mission flight were presented. The time series of the different aerosol
measurements and the air chemistry data agree well. In and out of
cloud sequences, changes in air mass properties as well as the final ascent
to the lower stratosphere are clearly visible. Although the cirrus cloud
investigated was relatively warm with temperatures between -40 and -25°C,
all particles were identified as ice particles with completely irregular
shape. The humidity level iside the cirrus was about 1000 ppm, which means
a relative humidity with respect to ice of about 65 percent.
Instrument status: All instruments are well prepared for next days flight.
Today the flight situation was good with a cloud band with high level
cirrus approaching the Chilean coast from the West. The flight preparation
was in time for a 10:00 local time take off.
Unfortunately the flight finally had to be cancelled due to a broken
air speed indicator in the cockpit instrumentation, its malfunction was
discovered during the pre flight check. There was no success in trying
to get it fixed. A replacement instrument was ordered immediately, its
arrival is not confirmed yet, but expected for Tuesday night under optimum
conditions.
From these circumstances no flight can be made today and tomorrow.
The next flight mission should hopefully be possible on Wednesday.
The sky is covered with cirrus today, associated halos are visible,
pictures can be found in the photo gallery.
The air speed indicator has been modified by the manufacturer according
to the needs of the Falcon and has been shipped today. Therefore reallistically
the next mission flight is expected to be on Friday, with very good luck
a mission might be possible on Thursday afternoon.
Due to the break in flight activity some more intensive calibration
work is done on the instrumentation.
There is not much to report today: The replacement speed indicator is now announced to arrive in Punta Arenas tomorrow afternoon, it can be installed then and tested and we should have the Falcon status finally at the evening briefing. Therefore a flight is planned for Friday morning. From the numerical forecast a huge field of high relative humidity reaching up to 250 hPa is expected to approch the coast from the West on Friday.
During the day the instruments were checked at the aircraft, and in the late afternoon the replacement speed indicator arrived and was installed and successfully tested on the aircraft. For Friday two flight are scheduled with take off times at 9:00 and 15:00 local lasting 3:30 hours each. The cloud field is expected to be at the West coast right in time.
Instrument status: All instruments are well checked and calibrated and ready for the flights.
The 2 flights planned for today were performed close to schedule. The cloud field was off the coast as expected from the forecast. The first flight was mainly in clouds with 6 flight levels between 9500 and 6000 m altitude. After a two hour ground stop for instrument maintenance and calibration the second flight was made in about the same area. This time only 4 but longer legs were flown, and at the most western end the clear air behind the edge of the cloud field was reached. Most of the instrumentation worked perfect, but some instruments need major maintenance tomorrow, therefore no flight is planned.
Maintenance work was done on the aircraft all day long. All instruments
are installed again, but some of them still need further time for
a final check and a definite statement on being ready for a flight.
The weather briefing showed good chances for a favourable situation
on Monday, therefore is was suggested and decided to have a day off for
the flight crew tomorrow. Access to and power on the aircraft is guaranteed
for those needing to work on their instruments. An early briefing is planned
for Monday morning for the flight planning.
DAY OFF. Some maintenance work was performed on the aircraft. A late
afternoon flight is planned for tomorrow. According to the forecast a field
of high humidity is approaching, the front edge of it shall be investigated.
A general briefing is scheduled for 11:00 local time, take off is
presently planned for 16:00 local time.
All instruments are in very good condition and ready to fly.
At the morning briefing a flight was scheduled for 15:00 local time take off to catch the front edge of a cirrus band approaching from West. According to the GOES picture received in the middle of the flight the target area was selected quite good. For the flight report see the flight log page.
Instrument status: all instruments performed perfect on the flight, just one of the ITM pumps broke down.
For tomorrow a mission flight is planned with take off at 13:00 local time.
The flight for today was confirmed in the morning, take off is
scheduled for 13:00 local time. A cloud field approaching with high speed
from the West was choosen for todays mission.
The takeoff was shifted to 14:00 to wait for the clouds
moving to the most suitable position. Measurements and vertical profiles
were performed both in clear air and inside the clouds. Overall the flight
was very successful.
All instruments were performing very well.
Today strong westerly winds in about all altitudes induced strong waves
over the Punta Arenas area, exactly as forecasted by Hermann Mannstein
the yesterday night. Therefore a flight was scheduled focussed on measuring
the waves in the cirrus level. The main investigation area was choosen
right above the ground LIDAR, but unfortunately clouds in lower levels
blocked the LIDAR most of the Falcon flight period. Only occasionally observations
were possible using short cloud gaps.
The flight was successfully finished, wave clouds were found up to
9.5 km altitude, flight legs at different altitudes were flown. All instruments
performed well.
For tomorrow (Thursday) a late afternoon flight is planned requested
by the air chemistry group. They plan to measure the decreasing photochemical
activity, therefore the flight is extended to darkness with a landing scheduled
for 20:00 local time.
For Friday no flight is planned, extremely dry air is expected to prevail
according to the model forecast. Maintenance and calibration work will
be performed.
The weekend will be completely off (Saturday and Sunday), the final
flight period starts with a general briefing at 9:00 local time on Monday
morning.
The flight was confirmed in the morning, take off 17:00 local time. A cloud field with the rear edge off the coast shall be investigated as an example for dissolving cirrus. The flight needed to be delayed by one hour due to some maintenance work on the airport electricity, which keeps the airport closed until 21:00 local time. Landing is scheduled for 21:30.
There was no flight today, but after last nights flight data needed
to be downloaded and checked, some maintenance work and exchange of instrument
components was done. The data from the late evening flight look very good,
especially it was noted during a first look at the data, that flying in
darkness avoids unfavourable light scattering on ice crystals, which otherwise
causes some amount of noise in the spectrometer data.
The next two days are off, next weeks duty starts with a briefing on
Monday at 9:00 local time.
DAY OFF
DAY OFF
The day started with a general briefing, all instruments were ready to fly, and a flight was scheduled for the late afternoon to catch a cloud band approaching from the west. Additionally a comparison with the Lidar was planned, and fortunately only few low clouds showed up at the Lidar site. The Falcon had 2 overflights and did the final step descent in the vicinity of the Lidar. An overpass of NOAA at 22:18 UTC completed the data set of todays successful mission.
Today a strong jet stream in west-east direction was expected
South of Punta Arenas with strong lift of air on the northern side
and subsiding motion on the southern side. Therefore a very sharp edge
of cirrus cloud was visible in the satellite picture. The flight was scheduled
for 15:00 local time, but was cancelled at 13:00 due to the forecast of
heavy rain, low clouds and gusts at the ground for the time period scheduled
for landing.
The flight will be made tomorrow morning (take off 9:00
local time), the jet is expected to stay and to be even closer to Punta
Arenas.
The flight was confirmed in the morning and the Falcon took off for
Mission No. 9 at about 9:00 local time. The edge of the cloud field connected
to the jet stream is clearly visible in the satellite pictures. A box pattern
was planned with one leg each in the clouds and the cloud free air, respectively,
and two intermittent legs towards the humidity gradient, i.e. perpendicular
to the wind. This box was flown at different levels.
For tomorrow the last mission is again devoted to another night flight
to study day-night differences both in aerosol physics and in air chemistry.
A sharp cloud edge is expected like today, however not connected with a
jet stream. Probably a quite similar pattern will be flown.
Today's work started with a briefing at 12:00 local time. The evening
flight was confirmed, also a time schedule was set up for Friday and Saturday
to get the Falcon ready for the transfer back. The Falcon will leave Punta
Arenas on Sunday morning. The ferry flight routing is indicated on the
flight log page.
The flight was successful, from first reports the cloud field was less
dense than expected. Therefore the Falcon returned earlier to Punta Arenas
and flew some pattern right over the LIDAR. The height of the cloud layers
indicated by the LIDAR was broadcasted to the Falcon, the flight altitude
was adjusted accordingly.
In the morning 4 of us were visiting the German school in Punta Arenas
to give a short overview of the experiment and the instrumentation to some
interested teachers and children. In the afternoon about 10 of them will
visit the aircraft at the hangar. The work on the Falcon made good progress,
the wing pylons and two racks including the inlet systems have been dismounted.
Most of the equipment inside the hangar has been packed for the transport
back to Germany.
For tomorrow some final calibration work on the humidity sensors of
the Falcon and on the air chemistry instrumentation is planned.
The calibrations were performed today and the Falcon was fueled and prepared for the ferry flight. Packing continued, first colleagues departed. The AWI Lidar also finished its operation today. It will be set up on board the Polarstern about three weeks from now and will be operated on the way back to Bremerhaven.
The Falcon left Punta Arenas this morning at about 9:00 local time, the remaining people gave them a farewell at the airport. The container to be shipped back on the Polarstern was mostly packed today, it will be closed finally tomorrow morning. Collecting all the air freight parcels by the freight forwarding company Ultramar is scheduled for tomorrow, and about all remaining colleagues will leave on Tuesday morning.
The internet line will also be disconnected tomorrow, therefore this
in the last report for the Inca-Journal for the moment.
Reports from the different segments of the ferry flight will show up
on the "Flight Logs" page in about ten days.
The Falcon returned to Oberpfaffenhofen, landing time was 16:20 local time. There were no problems during the transfer flights, the instruments worked well. However, some heavy rain was penetrated in the tropics, therefore the final data quality needs to be evaluated.