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MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS)

FLIGHT SUMMARY INFORMATION

Flight Track Map
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Flight: 03-921
Date: 10 December 2002
Location: Gulf of Mexico
Deployment: TX-2002
Principal Investigators: Drs. Paul Menzel & Chris Moeller (UWISC)
Additional Sensors: CPL, MVIS, RC-10 (dual), SHIS, VIS
Data Evaluation
Overall quality is good
TERRA Underflight @17:04
ER-2 Navigation Recorder failed
Processing Information
Level-1B Data in HDF format is available
Flight Line Summary
Spectral Band Configuration
Spectral Response Function Table
Browse Imagery
Flight Tracks: 6
Scanlines: 33939
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 15:59 - 16:25 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 9999 0.0
2 16:25 - 16:32 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 2384 0.0
3 16:35 - 16:51 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 5915 0.0
4 16:53 - 17:11 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 6596 0.0
5 17:14 - 17:30 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 6010 0.0
6 17:32 - 17:40 0.0 0.000 - 0.000 0.000 - 0.000 3035 0.0
Images 01 through 06 in sequence
Flight Summary Report

Mission Objectives

Collect thin cirrus scenes over Gulf of Mexico w/Terra (1704 UTC) to assess MODIS Cloud Product performance.

Flight Summary

Take-off at 1530 UTC.  ER-2 landed at 1825 UTC.

ER-2 flew east from SAT to Houston then south to racetrack in the western Gulf of Mexico.  Racetrack consisted of two 16 minute legs separated by 12 nm and oriented parallel to Terra orbital track.  Flew eastern leg on southbound, then returned on western leg.  Skies are undercast strato-cumulus on both legs with some cirrus wisps at southern quarter of western leg (few at bottom of eastern leg too).   On 2nd orbit, cirrus coverage increased on both legs but still limited mostly to southern third of western leg.  Met Terra (1704 UTC) on southbound (eastern) leg of 2nd orbit (about 9 deg offnadir view away from sun) with low overcast and cirrus wisp as shown by CPL.  CPL also documented larger cirrus wisp at 1706 UTC.  After finishing 2nd orbit of racetrack, ER-2 turned to return to SAT.

Highlights

Wispy cirrus over uniform stratus w/Terra.  Single layer stratus w/Terra over water.

Instrument Status
  • Modis Airborne Simulator (MAS): Operated. Good data.
  • NPOESS Atmospheric Sounder Testbed (NAST-I): Not Flown.
  • Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL): Operated. Good data.
  • Scanner High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS): Good data.
  • VIS video camera: Good video data.
  • M/VIS mini video camera: Good video data.
  • RC-10 Cameras: Film used with MAS data to re-create navigation data
Additional Pilot Notes

Strong crosswinds at altitude.  No turbulence.  Elevated haze layer apparent when looking from oblique angle.

GOES Satellite Image
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Flight 03-921

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Sample Imagery
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Track #05
Gulf of Mexico
(South of Texas)
Click to load the full resolution image Flight Direction Indicator
R: 2.15µm
G: 1.64µm
B: 0.55µm