TIME (UTC) REMARKS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1532:14 Takeoff Hobart, ferry at 17,000'.
1712:00 30 minutes from predicted Balloon position.
1720:00 Sunrise at ferry level.
1729:11 Still no signal from the balloon. Use the predicted
balloon position (50$^o$55'S, 157$^o$00'E) as reference.
1733:39 Start descend at 1000 fpm rate
to 10,000' at 40 nmi north of reference position.
1739:21 - 1749:21 Lidar leg, southbound across circle.
1749:21 - 1801:40 Spiral descend at 1000 fpm from 10,000' to 100'.
Two layers of broken clouds.
BL top is 4600'. Cu layer top at 3600',
Cu base at around 1700'.
1802:00 - 1832:00 30 minute CW circle at 100', starting at the south end.
90/270 climb to 1500'.
1835:00 - 1905:00 30 minute CCW circle at 1500'.
90/270 climb to 3000'.
1910:20 - 1940:00 CW circle at 3000'.
90/270 climb to 6000'. BL top at 5600'.
1945:30 - 2015:30 CW circle at 6000'
2015:31 - 2020:00 Continue the 6000' circle for 5 more minutes.
2021:00 - 2023:00 Northbound descending mini sounding from
6000' to 4000' at 1000 fpm.
2023:01 - 2028:47 Southbound sampling at 4000'. End at the south
end of the original circle.
Spiral climb to 10,000'.
2032:00 - 2042:00 Northbound lidar leg at 10,000'.
Climb up to 18,000'.
2053:30 Leveloff at 18,000', heading Hobart.
2332:00 Start descending.
2350:00 Landed Hobart.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the third flight of the first Lagrangian intensive observation period. Since no balloon signal was obtained during the entire flight, the balloon location extrapolated from its position during the second flight of this Lagrangian was used as the reference position.
The measurement started with a lidar leg across the circle at 10,000'. A spiral descending sounding to 100' at the south edge of the circle was then made to obtain a boundary layer vertical profile. Boundary layer height was about 4600' from this sounding and was decoupled at around 3000'. Since there was plenty of daylight by the time we were on station, we started the first circle at 100', followed by two others at 1500' and 3000', respectively. The 3000' circle was in the scattered cumulus layer with very small liquid water content. One additional circle was made above the boundary layer at 6000'.
The south edge of the first circle (100') was positioned at about 4 nmi north of the reference position. Because of the strong northeast wind (10 to 15 ms$^{-1}$ in the boundary layer), the aircraft was drifted about 93 miles southwestward of its original position at the end of the flight. As a result, we had to give up the fourth circle at the upper level of the boundary layer to allow more ferry time. However, we were able to do a mini sounding from 6000' to 4000' and sample the upper boundary layer at 4000' for 5 minutes. The measurements on station ended with a northbound lidar leg at 10,000'.
Total on station time was about two hour and 40 minutes, not including the two lidar legs.
The aircraft appeared to pass the front at about 17:25, where large spatial variation of cloud was observed. The cloud on station was characterized by muti-layers, including at least two layers of boundary layer cloud, two layers of alto-stratocumulus cloud, and one layer of cirrus. Boundary layer clouds was broken and patchy. The stratocumulus was very thin, less than 100 m deep. The cumulus layer was fairly deep, but with very small liquid water content. Because of the small liquid water content in the cumulus layer, it was difficult to tell whether we were in cloud or not. There were some cumulus clouds that are fairly developed in vertical dimension. Their tops extend above the boundary layer to as high as 6000'. A 5\% coverage may be a reasonable guess for these penetrating cumuli. One drizzle shower was encountered during the 100' circle at around 1823:33. It also seems clearer at the south and west edge of circle.