POLARIS PROJECT OFFICE EMAIL ARCHIVE FOR 970226

Dear POLARIS Colleague,

There have been several discussions between the POLARIS Program and Project
Offices regarding the payload and schedule for the mission and, specifically,
the September deployment.  We would like to bring the entire POLARIS Science
Team up to date on our current thinking and the rationale behind this
discussion.  Please read the following information carefully and respond with
any comments and/or concerns that you may have as soon as possible (no later
than 4 March 1997).  We will then finalize our plans so that you can begin
making your travel arrangements in a timely manner.

In preparation for POLARIS, the Project Scientists have been examining the
high-latitude region using both ten-day back trajectories and the Goddard
chemical transport model.  When parcels are mapped using the total amount of
photolysis experienced along the trajectories, significant gradients in these
values are found poleward of 60 degrees in all phases of POLARIS (using 1992
data).  Particularly important for POLARIS are parcels that experience nearly
uninterrupted photolysis.  These parcels respond by increasing the fraction
of NOx in the NOy reservoir and the loss rate of ozone due to the NOx
catalytic cycle.  In the last POLARIS phase, the latitude region of
uninterrupted photolysis decreases rapidly to zero by the fall equinox (21
September).  The new schedule listed below maximizes the number of Fairbanks
flight opportunities before equinox 
without changing the starting date of this phase.  In this way, we will be
able to sample air parcels that have experienced a wider range of photolysis
conditions at high latitudes.  As a consequence of this change, the southern
survey from Hawaii will be delayed by two weeks.  Based on Kristie Boering's
analysis, this delay does not affect the value of this flight to her
evaluation of the tropical ascent rates in the preceding months.

The strawman schedule for the September deployment follows. *** Please note
that any delay along the way will impact the rest of the schedule
accordingly, especially the transit dates to/from Hawaii.  Therefore, you
should allow some flexibility in your arrival/departure dates when making
hotel/BOQ reservations throughout the mission.***

-	2 September - Commercial arrival in Fairbanks
-	3-4 September - Integration
-	5 September - First possible flight opportunity
-	13 September - POLARIS Open House - Fort Wainwright
-	18 September - Last possible flight opportunity
-	19 September - Pack/load
-	20 September - Transit to Barbers Point
-	21 September - Down day
-	22 September - Southern survey flight
-	23 September - Pack/load
-	24 September - Earliest possible transit to Ames
-	25 September - Earliest possible commercial transit home

This proposed schedule eliminates the science transit at the end of the
June/July campaign, thereby changing the dates of that deployment as follows:

-	23 June - Commercial arrival in Fairbanks
-	24-25 June - Instrument integration
-	26 June - First possible flight opportunity
-	11 July - Last possible flight opportunity
-	12 July - Download instruments
-	13 July - ER-2 transit to Ames (no instruments) and commercial transit home

A significant advantage of this schedule is that we are eliminating the need
to set up the Ames lab space at the end of the June/July deployment and at
the beginning of the September deployment.  In addition, we will save
considerable resources by reducing the number of C-141 transits by two.  And,
finally, we are decreasing the total number of days in the field somewhat, an
advantage that we all can appreciate.

For your information, we have the ER-2 as of 9 April.  This will allow us to
integrate specific instruments, recertify instruments as needed, and perform
a couple of 2-hour and 4-hour test flights before we transit to Barbers
Point.  The test flights may only include the full payload on the last 4-hour
test flight.  Because of weather and payload changes, early integration would
allow a better opportunity to complete flights on schedule.  Only those
investigators who want additional time with the aircraft and the chance for
extra flying time would be asked to arrive early; the bulk of participants
would arrive 16 April as originally scheduled.  Mike Craig will poll each PI
to determine their interest in this early integration.  Based on this poll,
Mike will develop strawman payloads for various test flights.

Finally, a meeting with the press has been proposed for the first deployment
and an Open House has been suggested for the September campaign.  Based on
the interest expressed by the Army and the people in Fairbanks, we plan to
invite the local press to visit our operation immediately after the ER-2's
arrival in Fairbanks in April.  During their short visit, we will explain our
purpose, distribute the POLARIS home page address, and allow brief
interaction with mission representatives.  We will not offer quotable results
or documentation other than perhaps the mission handbook, which currently is
in the planning stages.  We would like to plan the Open House at Fort
Wainwright on 13 September.  The Open House will last three or four hours,
allowing visits to the aircraft, pilot, and investigators.  Given the success
of such events in the past (e.g., AASE-II), we are optimistic that this will
provide the Fairbanks community with a unique opportunity to witness our
operation and gain an understanding of the significance of our research.

Please review the items discussed in this memo and contact David Fahey
(fahey@al.noaa.gov), Paul Newman (newman@notus.gsfc.nasa.gov), and Steve
Hipskind (hipskind@cloud1.arc.nasa.gov) with any concerns that you may have. 
We would like to receive any feedback from the investigators by (five days
from the date of transmission) in order to immediately finalize plans for
this mission.

Sincerely,

POLARIS Program/Project Office

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