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NOAA Gulfstream Aircraft will Enhance Winter Storm Forecasting Throughout the United States
NOAA's Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) aircraft has been tasked by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) to provide support for the Winter Storm Reconnaissance 2004 (WSR-04) mission during the period January 17 through March 15, 2004. The objective of WSR-04 is to obtain vertical profiles of key atmospheric variables using GPS dropsondes (more information about GPS dropsondes can be found at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) web site), and to transmit these data to NCEP via satellite communications link for immediate inclusion in forecast model runs. The ultimate goal is to provide improvements to winter storm weather forecasting throughout the United States. Winger storm formation over the Pacific Ocean can produce heavy rain, snow and high winds not only on the west coast, but throughout the US. Improved 1- to 4- day forecasts will help citizens prepare for such weather events before they occur.
The NCEP plan calls for NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) to base the G-IV's operations in Hawaii and Alaska , and to fly up to 155 hours during the WSR-04 period. Most of the WSR-04 missions will task the G-IV on any of the 58 pre-planned WSR flight patterns published in the National Winter Storms Operations Plan, although additional or modified flight tracks are occasionally required to ensure the most efficient and effective data collection schemes possible.
While deployed to the Pacific and not engaged in the primary mission of WSR-04 flights, the G-IV will also support NOAA's Aeronomy Lab with a study of ozone transport and distribution both along the sub-tropical jet stream and at the stratosphere-troposphere interface. Two types of flight profiles will accomplish this research. Horizontal transects along the jet stream core will investigate the spatial distribution of ozone across the sub-tropical jet stream as a function of distance along the jet stream. The variation of this structure from jet stream entrance to exit has not been well investigated until now. Vertical transects through the tropopause will investigate the detailed structure of tropopause folds associated with the jet stream, particularly the filaments of stratospheric ozone that are believed to peel off from the folds and mix into the troposphere.
A third mission of opportunity while operating in the region will be the validation of Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) satellite data. This will be accomplished by releasing high density, or "curtain", dropsonde profiles during transects directly under satellite passes which will then be used to compare the aircraft's in situ atmospheric measurements with the remotely sensed satellite data.
Throughout the project, the G-IV mission crew will be working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration's Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center to ensure safe operations over the large area of the North Pacific Ocean where the missions will be conducted.
For more information about the Winter Storm mission, please go to NOAA's press release.
Please visit the NOAA Aeronomy Lab Pacific Sub-Tropical Jet Study and the SSMIS Underflight Studies for more information. |
