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MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS)

FLIGHT SUMMARY INFORMATION

Flight Track Map
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Flight: 00-151
Date: 25 August 2000
Location: South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia
Deployment: SAFARI
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael King (NASA GSFC)
Flight Scientist: Dr. Michael King (NASA GSFC)
Additional Sensors: AirMISR, CLS, LAS, MOPITT-A, S-HIS, & SSFR
Objective: To understand the key linkages between the physical, chemical and biological processes, including human activities, that comprise the southern African biogeophysical system.

Data Evaluation
Overall quality is good

Processing Information
Level-1B Data in HDF format is available
Flight Line Summary
Spectral Band Configuration
Spectral Response Function Table

Browse Imagery
Flight Tracks: 16
Scanlines: 106006

Browse Imagery Table
Click a Flight Track number to view a quicklook image
Lat/Lon ranges are for the BEG-END scanline nadir pixels
Flight
Track
Time Span
(GMT)
Heading
(Deg)
Lat Range
(Deg North)
Lon Range
(Deg West)
Length
(scanlines)
Altitude
(meters)
1 07:32-07:46 307 21.71-20.75 27.75-26.38 5334 19363
2 07:46-08:12 307 20.75-19.04 26.38-23.81 9772 19830
3 08:13-08:40 9 18.94-16.01 23.76-24.26 9999 19987
4 08:40-08:43 14 16.01-15.68 24.26-24.33 1126 20037
5 08:49-09:03 13 15.59-14.02 24.35-24.66 5352 19846
6 09:04-09:18 11 13.93-12.36 24.70-24.98 5399 19980
7 09:20-09:39 85 12.27-12.17 25.09-27.30 7303 19919
8 09:41-09:54 125 12.21-13.02 27.45-28.70 4961 19968
9 09:56-10:23 267 13.16-13.39 28.62-25.55 9999 19949
10 10:23-10:44 268 13.39-13.54 25.54-23.03 8036 20054
11 10:47-11:14 175 13.79-16.81 22.99-23.39 9999 19999
12 11:15-11:20 168 16.98-17.54 23.41-23.57 1933 20094
13 11:21-11:47 177 17.57-20.55 23.58-23.59 9999 20089
14 11:47-11:51 179 20.55-20.93 23.59-23.59 1293 20104
15 11:52-12:19 123 21.03-22.41 23.65-26.40 9999 20132
16 12:19-12:33 118 22.41-23.14 26.40-27.93 5502 20131
Images 01 through 16 in sequence
Flight Summary Report

Author: Dr. Michael King
Mission Scientist: Dr. Michael King
ER-2 Pilot: Jim Barrilleaux
Takeoff: 0700 (UTC)
Landing: 1300 (UTC)
Duration: 6:00 (h:mm)

Objective and Summary:

  1. Overfly Francistown en route to the surface site at Sowa Pan,
  2. Underfly Terra overpass at Kaoma, Zambia,
  3. Overfly a prescribed burn at 14°49´S, 24°31´E.

Key Flight Legs:

Terra passed over Kaoma at ~0856 UTC with an orbital inclination of 12.4°, coincident with the ER-2 overpass of the prescribed burn. The ER-2 then flew over the copper belts in northern Zambia before flying west along the Zambezi River and 3 AERONET sites at Zambezi, Mongu, and Senanga. The ER-2 then did a pass over the Maun Tower in Botswana.

The RC-10 camera was turned on for flights over Francistown and Sowa Pan, Kaoma, the copper belts in northern Zambia, the Zambezi River from Zambezi through to the Caprivi Strip, and over Maun.

Highlights:

N/A

AERONET sites and features overflown during this mission:

  • Sowa Pan (20° 33´ S, 26° 04´ E)
  • Kaoma (14° 49´ S, 24° 31´ E)
  • Zambezi (13° 32´ S, 23° 06´ E)
  • Mongu airport (15° 15´ S, 23° 10´ E)
  • Senanga (16° 07´ S, 23° 18´ E)
  • Maun Tower (19° 55´ S, 23° 36´ E)

Pilot Report:

The skies were largely cloud free, but smoky over northern Zambia in particular. The skies were generally hazy over western Zambia and the Okavanga Delta but were less hazy than in northern Zambia.

Meteorology:

A ridge of high pressure ran from the Atlantic high to the west through the central regions of South Africa to the Indian Ocean high to the east. A weak easterly wave passed westwards across Zambia on Thursday and over the night, and moved into northern Namibia. The cloudy areas with fog patches over the eastern and northeastern parts of South Africa cleared during the course of the morning. Isolated thundershowers developed over the eastern highveld regions. Fine weather occurred over Zambia and western Botswana throughout the mission.

ER-2 Science Instrument Payload Status

  • AirMISR: not on aircraft; being repaired
  • CLS: Lidar worked properly, but navigation data not recorded
  • LAS: not on aircraft
  • MAS: worked well
  • MOPITT-A: worked well
  • SHIS: operated in nadir mode; worked well
  • SSFR: worked well
  • RC-10: worked well

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Flight 00-151

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Sample Imagery
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Track #2
Botswana
Click to load the full resolution image Flight Direction Indicator
R: 11.01µm
G: 2.15µm
B: 0.46µm

Sample Imagery
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Track #3
Namibia & Zambia
Click to load the full resolution image Flight Direction Indicator
R: 11.01µm
G: 1.64µm
B: 0.55µm