TIME (UTC) REMARKS
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1536:00 Takeoff Hobart. Ferry at 18,000'.
Best clear area: 45.0S, 142.5E.
1630:24 Current balloon position: 45 deg 10.1'S, 142 deg 46.7'.
1650:31 Balloon position: 45 deg 11.0'SS, 142 deg 54.5'E.
1654:21 Start descent
1711: At 2500'. Top of BL: 3000'
1713: Balloon altitude reported at 999.95mb.
1715: Balloon position: 45 deg 12.2'S, 143 deg 5.8'
1715:30 - 1745:30 CCW circle at 500'. Clear at the beginning, in and
out of scattered/broken clouds later.
Climb to 1800'.
1749:08 - 1819:08 CW circle at 1800'. Start heading 270 deg ree. In fairly
dense cu layer, thin and broken layer cloud above.
Climb up to 2500'.
1822:40 - 1852:40 CCW circle at 2500'. Mostly in cloud, close to scattered
cu top.
Climb up to 3200', then descend down to 100'
1828: Balloon position: 45 deg 15.8'S, 143 deg 40.2'E.
1855:30 - 1925:40 CW circle at 100'. Cloud street above, appeared to be
be aligned crosswind.
Climb up to 4500'.
1930:26 - 2000:00 CCW circle at 4500'. Some clouds penetrating through
level of 4500'. Over nearly solid stcu after 1951:37.
Thin alto stcu above.
1931: Balloon position: 45 deg 17.0'S, 149 deg 10.0'.
2002:00 - 2012:00 Porporsing at cloud top. Heading north.
Descend down to 500'.
2011:37 Balloon position: 45 deg 17.5'S, 144 deg 27'E.
2023:10 - 2053:10 CW circle at 500'. Cloud above is a mixture of scattered
cu and stcu. Two layers of cloud at times.
2056:21 - 2126:21 CCW circle at 2000'. Into cumulus at times. A lot more
turbulent inside cu.
Climb up to 3000'.
2120:23 Balloon position: 45 deg 22.3'S, 144 deg 58.3'E.
2129:28 - 2159:28 CW circle at 3000'. Very inhomogeneous cloud field.
2155:02 Balloon position: 45 deg 27.5'S, 145 deg 17.0'E.
2202:50 - 2232:40 CCW circle at 100'.
2232:41 - 2241:07 Spiral ascend at 500 fpm to 5000'. BL top about 3400'.
Thin stcu with some holes. Cloud top flat.
2241:52 - 2311:52 CW circle at 5000'. Over stcu, thin and broken at times.
Climb up to 10,000'.
2319:27 - 2330:10 Lidar leg at 10,000'.
2331: Ferry at 11,000', heading Hobart.
2332: Balloon position: 45 deg 38.8'S, 146 deg 8.8'E.
2357:25 Start descend. Cloud top at 7700', cloud base 6500'.
Cloud base flat.
~2407: Landed Hobart.
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This is the first successful flight of a Lagrangian mission. The balloon released from the Discover was detected early in the flight and we were able to trace the balloon positions all through the flight, although the balloon altitude seemed extremely low early in the flight.
The south edge of our initial circle at 500' was placed about 5 nmi north of the balloon so that the measurements could be made in a relatively clear area. It turned out that the boundary layer was always complicated by the presents of broken stcu and scattered cumulus. Midlevel altostcu and high-level cirrus clouds were also present. Boundary layer height was between 4000' to 4500' most of the time. Decoupling of the boundary layer was seen from the aircraft sounding.
The boundary layer cloud was characterized by two layers, one with cumulus cloud, and the other one with broken stratocumulus. Both layers have significant horizontal inhomogeneity. It should be a challenge to analyze the dynamics of the boundary layer.
Two vertical stacks of measurements were made, each contained four circles in the boundary layer and one above. One porporsing leg of 10 minutes long across the circle were made between the two stacks and a lidar leg at 10,000' were made at the end of the measurements. The total on station time was about 5 hour and 40 minute.