ER-2 Flight: 97050

Date: February 13, 1997

Mission: Ferry ER-2 w/MAS back to Moffett Field, CA. ADEOS/OCTS validation. SSEC instrumentation w/cirrus scenes.

Mission Objectives

Compare OCTS to MAS by flying ADEOS orbital track (1716UTC overpass). Compare MAS depiction of thin cirrus to uplooking lidar and interferometer located at SSEC. Overfly clear snow scenes along WY/CO border for snow detection interests. Overfly Lake Tahoe for U. Arizona visible reflectance interests. Land at Moffett Field, CA.

Flight Summary

Take-off was at 1600 UTC. ER-2 landed in California at about 2200 UTC.

ER-2 climbed out of Madison and aligned on a 240 degree heading to overpass HSRL and AERI instruments based at Space Science with thin cirrus overcast sky conditions. The ER-2 then flew SW to meet ADEOS overpass at about 1657 UTC over the Iowa, Wisconsin border and flew the orbital track until about 1733 UTC (1716 UTC overpass). Skies were filled with mostly high thin to thick cloud. ER-2 then turned westward and flew to CO/WY border track (43n, 109w to 43n, 111w) and then on to overfly Lake Tahoe from NE to SW. Flight finishes with ER-2 landing at Moffett Field, CA. This is the end of the data collection phase of WINCE. Thanks to all who participated!

Highlights

Cirrus over snow scenes with uplooking HSRL lidar at SSEC. 30 minutes data collection bracketing ADEOS overflight at 1716 UTC.

Instrument Status

• Modis Airborne Simulator (MAS): Operated, data collection.
• Cloud Lidar System (CLS): Not on plane.
• High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS): Not on plane.
• Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR): Not on plane.
• Tilt Scan CCD Camera (TSCC): Not Operated.
• RC-10 Camera: 12" camera only (b/w film). Operated over clear scenes.

Additional Pilot Notes: No debrief.