The following is the daily log kept by Dr. Laing during the CAMEX-4 experiment.
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Daily Bulletins: Linking CAMEX-4 with USF students |
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Scroll or click on specific
dates. 2001-09-11 2001-08-22 |
SEPTEMBER
Humberto ensures that CAMEX ends on a high note Rich
Wohlman was the man of the hour or, more appropriately, the man of the
seven hours. He was working continuously to prepare 25 sondes for
deployment, monitoring three in the air at one time, substituting for the
ER-2 drops when the AAVAPs encountered some problems. Chris, the mission director, and the pilots gave me a
special gift. I got to fly in the
cockpit for takeoff. It was
very cool to sit up front, watch all the preparations, listen to the cockpit
communications, and, yes, the view was great. Hope my photos will be
good. This time around, I did not have a digital camera, just slide
film so other kind souls, like Mike Goodman, have agreed to share their
digital photos with me. Rich wrote names on each dropsonde. I submitted the
names of my tropical meteorology students so somewhere in the Atlantic are
sondes with their names. I got to launch sonde, Joe, into the eye of
Humberto. More to come later. 12 September 2001 I awoke with a start on my living room floor close to
3:00 am. I had an inexplicable sinking feeling in my stomach as if
awakened from a nightmare. Then I looked up at the flickering TV images
and saw that it was frighteningly real. A lyric by Collective Soul was
playing in my head, "In a moment it could happen, we could wakeup and be
laughing". There is a tropical depression to the southeast of Tampa,
but few are paying attention because our minds are focussed on the previously
inconceivable violent attacks that occurred yesterday. CAMEX remains
suspended so tonight I will assume my Disaster Action Team member duties and
man telephones at the American Red Cross headquarters in Tampa Bay. "It's a shame our world responds to life as a
puzzle in disguise. I wish our course would lead us towards peace and
loving kind" (Collective Soul) An incredible and horrific tragedy struck the world
today. Terrorists hijacked and crashed three commercial airplanes into
the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, respectively,
while a fourth airplane crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania while allegedly en
route to Washington DC. My condolences and prayers go to the families,
friends, and loved ones of those who have been killed. To the injured
and otherwise traumatized, I pray for healing and comfort. In the wake of these attacks, all commercial flights in
the continental US have been prohibited by the FAA. The CAMEX project
has been suspended, the NAS is on high alert, and the Governor of Florida has
declared a 'State of Emergency'. It is back home to Tampa for me
tonight as the base is being cleared of civilians. I am gazing in disbelief and horror at the television
images of the towers collapsing and listening to reports of people jumping
from the top floors. As I recall from my visit to the observation deck
of the World Trade Center in the mid 80s, those buildings were so high that
cars on the street below look like ants. How desperate must have been
the situation that forced such a choice! What evil minds harbored
such hatred and conceived these violent acts! While it is possible to fill the gap in the New York City
skyline, it is not possible to repair the wounds inflicted on all of
humanity, or to fill the empty space left by those who were lost. May
they rest in peace. |
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"Stellar!" was Jeff's response.
"Excellent!" said Dean when asked to describe today's mission in a
word. The automated deployment of dropsondes from the ER-2, new
instrumentation for CAMEX-4, had achieved its potential. Take a look
at Ed Zipser's face when he sees the sounding for the first time.
He was especially grateful as the DC-8's flight was dedicated to ODA, optimal
data assimilation, flying around rather than into Hurricane Erin. The pattern was described as Bart Simpson's head upside
down but some of us think its
more like Lisa. What do you
think? It was also a historic day for the DC-8 dropsonde. For the first time, dropsonde measurements were sent
from the NASA DC-8 to the NOAA pipeline in real-time. That part of
the mission was the most striking for me because the data was going to be
used immediately. NASA has joined the NOAA and Air Force Recon
hurricane hunters in providing vital data to operational hurricane
forecasting. While some of the 38 people on today's mission did not have much
to monitor, we
were busy launching a total of 11 sondes of which nine provided good data.
We had just enough time between launches to transmit the message to
NOAA. Jeff was a great conductor, keeping time, and not getting mad if
Dev or I occasionally lost our rhythm during the sonde operations. With
a countdown and quick wrist action, he would send another sonde on its
mission to "save mankind". For others on the DC-8, the 8hr40min flight allowed for
some moments to mingle, even pilot
Ed Lewis was able to take a break . Comments at the end of the day
ranged from "Historic and dull" (Michael Goodman, MSFC), while the
AMPR team were "successful and happy". Dr.
Krishnamurti was happy since this mission focussed on his research
objectives. The
PR-2 team is longing for flights through hurricanes where their
instruments will shine. One could use "wildly ecstatic" to describe the
LASE team reaction, but they tend to be quiet, soft spoken folks. It
would have been a nice diversion to see them do a dance of joy.
Instead, we were treated to trivial pursuit (NASA mission manager version)
with questions on Greek mythology, hurricane climatology, and obscure NASA
facts. Some questions made some people consider parachuting to Bermuda. Tuesday's mission will have similar science objectives
and flight patterns. After rising at 5:45am this morning, flying for
more than 8hrs while remaining alert, and working another two hrs after
landing, I am beat. I hope that my students will get a chance to observe
the weather along our flight path during class tomorrow. Right
now, I am worried because I haven't heard from my TA who should have received
the presentations that I prepared for class. "It's easy like Sunday morning" does not apply
to CAMEX, everyone's been busy with today's KAMP mission and preparing for
tomorrow's Hurricane Erin mission. Erin, now a CAT III Hurricane, is
passing to the east of Bermuda. The dropsonde team
will be launching 9 sondes from the DC-8 and 7 from the ER-2. The DC-8
will fly a Bart Simpson pattern (picture Bart's head upside down).
The KAMP mission was successful with only one dropsonde
launch. We flew over Tampa on the way to Keys but I did not have time
to look out the window. Maybe next time I'll be able to
wave. On
the way back, we flew along the famous Florida Seabreeze cloud line.
It appears that I have returned to the CAMEX project at
the right time. Originally scheduled to rejoin the project last week, I
delayed my return because of the lack of significant convection over the Keys
and lack of tropical cyclones. As a result, a number of missions were
cancelled as CAMEX began to seem more like the "Clear Air and Moisture
Experiment" [groan]. Fortunately for the CAMEX program, this week's weather
has become much more interesting. Tomorrow I will fly my first KAMP
mission and test my skills at deploying the dropsonde. Dev, who
replaced Richard Wohlman as the fourth dropsonde team member on site, and I
will be operating the AVAPS under the watchful eye of Dr. Jeff Halverson, the
PI.
Tropical Depression 7 is moving across the mid Atlantic
and conditions appear favorable for strengthening. It is important to
note that this week is the period of maximum tropical cyclone frequency in
the Atlantic. Department of
Geography |
