WVSS-II Validation Louisville (WVL)
UW-CIMSS AERIBago
   -----------------------

   Date: 7 November 2006 EST (Tuesday) 0000 - 1200 UTC
   Location: Kentucky Air National Guard at SDF Airport
   Operators: E. Olson, T. Wagner, and K. Bedka
   http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wvssii/

   Weather Conditions:

Temperatures in the low to mid 50Ős, constant light to
moderate rain, light and variable winds.

   Instrument Status:

* AERIBago - Intermittent power earlier in the day, stable
during late afternoon and nighttime hours

* Surface station was up and running by 2000 UTC on 6
November. Comparison of surface station temperature to
handheld Vaisala unit showed differences of ~1-1.5 C.
Surface wind speed/direction unreliable as surface station
positioned close to a tall domed structure.

* Ceilometer working and archiving at approximately 2000
UTC

* AERI working and archiving at 2000 UTC

* Radiosonde system is working and archiving

1 launch was completed today, with the remaining two being scrubbed due to flight delays

0328 UTC Launch normal, data good, 0340 UTC launch moved
to accommodate delayed UPS flight schedule
0705 UTC Launch scrubbed due to delays in UPS flight
arrivals/departures
1030 UTC Launch scrubbed.  UPS Flight Operatations indicated at 1030 UTC that ~30 flights still needed to take off, and that there were no breaks in traffic for a launch.  Operators re-contacted flight ops at 1130 UTC, at which time they were told that the launch would need to be delayed until after 1200 UTC due to 2 planes still left on the ground.  After reviewing Randy Baker's WVSS-2 flight departure schedule, it was decided that there was little chance of having any sonde-WVSS-II matches with a launch after 12 UTC, thus the launch was cancelled

   Science/Miscellaneous:

Today represents the first day of a two week campaign to
evaluate the relative accuracy of the WVSS-II sensor, that
has been retrofitted with a heated hose to improve
moisture sensing upon UPS aircraft descent.  Numerous
issues came up in getting all systems operational at the
KY ANG site, but everything appears to be stable at this
time. We havenŐt had an opportunity to perform any
comparisons of WVSS-II and our sonde data, but the data
should be viewable via the NOAA ESRL (formerly FSL) ACARS
data viewer.

UW-CIMSS WVSS-II web site:
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wvssii/

AERIBago contact number: 608-219-0565

If anyone you know would like to be included on this email
list, please respond to these summaries with their contact
information.

Thanks to all involved in getting WVSS-II up and running,
especially, Kris Tucker, Randy Baker, and Dave Helms.

Cheers,

Erik Olson, Tim Wagner, and Kris Bedka