TAMDAR AERI-bago Validation Experiment (TAVE) Daily Summary ----------------------- Date: 28 February 2005 CST (Sunday) 0000-2400 UTC Location: Tennessee Air National Guard at MEM Airport Operators: K. Bedka, T. Wagner http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tamdar/ Weather Conditions: 0100 UTC sonde launced in rain. Morning started out overcast, proceeded to broken and few, but clouded up towards the end of daylight. High mid 50s, but temperatures quickly dropping. Windy all day, maximum gust reported at around 15 m/s. Instrument Status: * Surface PTU sensors working and archiving. Operators have concern about the accuracy of the surface wind speed and direction observations. * Ceilometer working. * GPS system has been deployed and is collecting data. * AERI working and archiving. * Radiosonde system is working and archiving. Starting with the 2015 launch, the recorded surface winds are from the latest ASOS observation at Memphis International (KMEM). 0100 Launch normal, data good. 1430 Launch normal, data good. 1615 Launch normal, data good. 2015 Launch normal, data good. 2300 Launch normal, data good. Initial balloon was ripped apart by wind gust, but substitute balloon was inflated in time for launch. Science/Miscellaneous: No crew changes to report for today. There are concerns that the AERIbago's wind sensors are not accurate. The operators did a brief experiment and collected some data on this issue, but further examination once the AERIbago returns to CIMSS/SSEC is desired as the operators do not know what rounding/smoothing schemes are employed. Starting with the 2015 launch today, the surface data entered into the radiosonde launch files will contain ASOS information. Since the launch site is so close to MEM, these observations should be fairly representative of the environment. Surface pressure, temperature, and humidity observations will still come from the AERIbago's instrument tower. AERIBago contact number: 608-219-0565 Take care, all. Tim Wagner University of Wisconsin-Madison