STEP Payload

1. Spring 1984 Variability and GTE Co-op Mission

Objective: Investigate the irreversible transfer of air from troposphere to stratosphere during large-scale cyclogenesis at midlatitudes.

Staging Site; A/C: Moffett Field, California; U-2.

Cooperative Project; A/C: Global Tropospheric Experiment; CV-990, Electra.

U-2 Payload: MMS* (P, T, u, and v); Ozone; MFS; Water Total; CNC; Aerosol Size Spectrometer.

2. Early 1986 Intercalibration Mission

Objectives: Calibrate new MMS using radar range and radiosondes. Compare temperatures measured by MMS, MTP and Radiosondes. Compare ozone values measured by NOAA and Ames photometers. Investigate ER-2 performance with all instrument protuberances in place.

Staging Site; A/C: Moffett Field, California; ER-2

ER-2 Payload: MMS (P,T,u, v and w); MTP; NOAA Ozone; Ames Ozone; MFS; Water Vapor; Water Total; CNC; Aerosol Size Spectrometer; Cloud Spectrometers; IR NFOV Radiometer; Inlets for CO and Radon.

3. Spring 1986 Quantitative Process Mission

Objective: Similar to 1, but with new measurement capabilities aboard the ER-2, the irreversible transfer processes can be identified and quantified. Specifically, the new air motion system and more sensitive INS should permit vertical and horizontal flux computations. Also, the microwave radiometer's measurements of static stability will permit computations of potential vorticity for correlations with trace gases on the large, medium, and perhaps the small scales.

Staging Site; A/C: Moffett, Field, California; ER-2

ER-2 Payload: Same as 2.

4. Summer 1986 Colorado Cloud Mission

Objective: Test Instruments and flight profiles by flying over and descending into the anvil of a large cumulonimbus over the Rocky Mountains in preparation for Australia mission.

Staging Site; A/C: Moffett Field, California; ER-2

ER-2 Payload: Same as 2 plus NOy (test); CO; Radon; Hemispheric Radiometers.

5. Late 1986 Intercalibration Mission

Objective: Recalibration new MMS using radar range and radiosondes. Compare temperatures measured by MMS, MTP, and Radiosondes. Compare ozone values measured by NOAA and Ames photometers. Investigate ER-2 performance with all instruments in place.

Staging Site; A/C: Moffett Field, California; ER-2

ER-2 Payload: MMS (P, T, u, v, and w); MTP; NOAA Ozone; Ames Ozone; NOy (test); MFS; Water Vapor; Water Total; CO; Radon; CNC; Aerosol Size Spectrometer; Cloud Spectrometers; IR NFOV Radiometer; Hemispheric Radiometers.

6. Jan-Feb 1987 Tropical Mission

Objective: Determine dehydration mechanism or mechanisms by sampling in and above the minimum temperature regions in the tropical lower stratosphere. Possible mechanisms include Newell's regional scale forced ascent, Danielsen's radiatively destabilized cumulonimbus anvil, and oblique ascent by a large-amplitude internal wave.

Staging Site; A/C: Darwin, Australia; ER-2

Cooperative Projects; A/C: Australian Monsoon Experiment; Equatorial Mesoscale Experiment; NOAA P-3

ER-2 Payload: Same as 5 (all instruments in full-up science mode).

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* Instrument Abbreviations:

CNC: Condensation Nucleus Counter
MFS: Multi-Filter Sampler (cosmogenic radionuclides)
MMS: Meteorological Measurement System
MTP: Microwave Temperature Profiler

 

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