1815 Blocked out 1824 Takeoff, Anchorage, climb southbound thru clouds 1855 Level at 22,000' 1927 Sulfuric vapor present, but no UCN at 57 N 2138 Quite a few UCN at 46 N 2140 In and out of clouds 2231 Descended to 20,000' because of warmer temps 2350 In and out of clouds much of the rest of the trip 0100 Clouds are pretty heavy for the remainder of the trip 0312 Began descent from 20,000' into HNL, through some strong turbulence 0343 Landed in HNL is a squall 0350 Blocked in
The lidar detected some aerosol layers below the aircraft during the flight. The aerosol measurements were pretty hard to interpret because of the intermittent cloud passages. At times even the CN counters operating from the CAI saw clear evidence of droplet shatter. It is possible that some regions in the CAI sampling plane feel more effect of shatter than others. That needs to be tested by operating multiple CN counters off the same tube from the CAI. From 2335:30 to 2336:10, at least two CN counters saw a notch cut out of the CN. Could this be an eddy of some sort, bringing in very different air?
Most instruments operated well, although the NH3 was not yet functional and the NO was undergoing testing. There may be some useful NO data, after the calibrations and testing on this flight.
It was not immediately apparent whether anyone saw significant concentration gradients over this long latitude span. -Barry Huebert