MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS)

Take-off at 1545 UTC. ER-2 landed at 2145 UTC.

ER-2 flew from MSN to CART site setting up on a line parallel to TERRA orbital track and timed to meet TERRA when the ER-2 was over the Central Facility (CF). Cloud IOP Citation was on station measuring in cloud beginning 1700 UTC. Beginning 1727 UTC, ER-2 did a southbound and northbound run on a 12 minute line, meeting TERRA on the southbound run a few miles south of CF. A thin cirrus streak was dissipating and moving east of the CF on the southbound run and northbound run was apparently clear sky. AirMISR operated on both these legs. ER-2 then proceeded to a line oriented upwind/downwind at cirrus level (275° heading) over CF. This line was about 150 km long with CF located about 40 km from eastern endpoint so that ER-2 covered entire Cloud IOP ground measurement square. Flew 6 up and back runs of this line (i.e. 6 overpasses); sky conditions ranged from clear to stratoform mid level to cirrus (line 4). Location of Citation during these runs was mostly above cloud making turbulence measurements. After 6 overpasses, ER-2 broke off as Cloud IOP aircraft were ending their activities.

Coincident ER-2 and MISR data in mostly clear (some thin cirrus?) conditions over CART Central Facility. Much MAS data of clouds advecting over CF ground based instruments. Coincident measurements by ER-2 and Citation of cirrus cloud.