Date: Nov 23, 2002

Mission: LA coast sediment mapping mission (w/Aqua overpass).

Mission Objectives

Map and monitor turbid coastal water for sediment transport, underflying Aqua (1929 UTC) for transferring SSC algorithm to MODIS. Map western Louisiana muddy coast region for geomorphic measurement.

Flight Summary

Take-off was at 1630 UTC.  ER-2 landed at 2105 UTC.

ER-2 flew towards LA coast from SAT to pick up on ESE bound seaward leg of racetrack covering Atchafalaya Bay turbid water zone. Flew 3 orbits of this racetrack (16 NM spacing between lines for overlap with MAS to reduce impact of sunglint on the data set), shooting RC-10 on final landward leg. Skies clear on all orbits. Then flew south to open water to pick up line parallel to Aqua orbital track (offset by 18 deg view angle) meeting the satellite at 1929 UTC midway along this 17 minute leg and continuing up over Fourleague Bay region (LSU in situ sites). Some cumulus just at southern extent of this line but skies clear elsewhere. Then proceeded to western Louisiana muddy coast for photo line (clear skies) and then brought the ER-2 back to SAT..

Highlights

Sediment monitoring with in situ water quality measurements. Co-incident Aqua MODIS and MAS over turbid water.

Instrument Status

• Modis Airborne Simulator (MAS): Operated. Good data.
• NPOESS Atmospheric Sounder Testbed (NAST-I): Operated only from 1931 UTC to end of flight. Low signal in all bands.
• Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL): Operated. Data system failure.
• Scanner High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (SHIS): Good data.
• VIS video camera: Operated.  Good video collected.
• M/VIS mini video camera: Operated.  Good video collected.
• RC-10 Cameras: Operated 12" (f/c IR) and 6" (b/w) cameras (1843 - 1855, 1920 - 1937, 1947-1950 UTC) over turbid water, Aqua, muddy coast.

Additional Pilot Notes: Lots of shrimp boat tracks. NAST-I inadvertantly left off till 1931 UTC.