Mission: MODIS IR calibration mission with Terra (1648 UTC).
Mission Objectives
Overfly clear sky Lake Michigan for MODIS cal/val studies. ER-2 racetrack (two orbits) is set up parallel to the Terra orbital track (scan angle view from Terra about 23 degrees) over Northern Lake Michigan where clear skies are most likely to be found.
Flight Summary
Take-off at 1545 UTC. ER-2 landed at 1815 UTC.
ER-2 flew from MSN towards OSH, and proceeded to racetrack pattern (45 deg 36.7'N, 86 deg 3.8'W to 43 deg 59.6'N, 86deg 38.5' W and 44 deg 4.3'N, 87 deg 5.3'W to 45 deg 41.4'N, 86 deg 31.4'W) starting on the NE corner. On 1st orbit, SCT to BKN cumulus cloud with some thin cirrus above on southern half of first leg (eastern leg; southbound); 2nd leg (western leg; northbound) was about 2/3 clear with some cirrus and some low cloud at southern end (Terra overpass on this leg). Low cloud continued to dissipate during 2nd orbit, leaving only some scattered low cloud at southern end of racetrack. AirMISR operated on western leg (northbound) of 2nd orbit.
Highlights
Coincident ER-2 and MODIS data in clear and some multilayer cloud sky conditions over Lake MI water background.
Instrument Status