======================================================================= INFORMATION REGARDING THE GOES-8, GOES-10, AND GMS-5 SATELLITE IMAGES FOR THE 1999 NASA GTE PEM-TROPICS B MISSION DC-8 AND P3-B FLIGHT TRACKS ======================================================================= The GIF images listed in this directory were produced for general use by the participants of the 1999 NASA GTE PEM-TROPICS B field mission. McIDAS software was used to display the GMS-5, GOES-8, and GOES-10 4-km visible, 4-km infrared, and 4-km water vapor McIDAS satellite imagery and to save the images in GIF format. If a participant of the 1999 NASA GTE PEM-TROPICS B field mission requires a different version of the flight track GIF images provided here, then they should contact David Westberg (see end of Readme file). Should any of the GIF images be used in a publication, please acknowledge the contributions made by the University of Hawaii, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center [ftp://geo.msfc.nasa.gov/Weather/], and the NASA GTE Project Office in providing the McIDAS data to the public. FILE NAMING PROCEDURE --------------------- Naming procedure for the satellite images is as follows: RaFLTNoCh.GIF as in the following example: D8FLT22VS.GIF where: "Ra" = Research Aircraft, so that 'D8' = NASA DC-8 'P3' = NASA P3-B "Ra" = 'D8' in above example "FLTNo" = Flight Number, corresponds to aircraft "Ra" "FLTNo" = 'FLT22' in above example "Ch" = Channel or Window used GOES8/GOES10 'IR' = infrared channel or 10.7 microns, band #4 'VS' = visible channel or 0.65 microns, band #1 'WV' = water vapor channel or 6.8 microns, band #3 GMS5 'IR' = infrared channel or 11.0 microns, band #2 'VS' = visible channel or 0.63 microns, band #1 'WV' = water vapor channel or 6.8 microns, band #4 "Ch" = 'VS' in above example McIDAS INFORMATION BAR ---------------------- When viewed, each GIF image has an information bar at the bottom of the image in the form of: POS SATSEN Bd Dy Mn YrJdy HhMmSs Xline Yline RESL as in the following example taken from file 'D8FLT22VS.GIF': 0001 G-8 IMG 01 18 APR 99108 204515 04567 07200 07.00 where: "POS" = frame number {reader may disregard} "POS" = '0001' in above example "SATSEN" = satellite sensor used, so that G-10 IMG = GOES-10 G-8 IMG = GOES-8 GMS-5 = GMS-5 "SATSEN" = 'G-8 IMG' in above example "Bd" = band or channel used, so that GOES8/GOES10 '04' = infrared channel or 10.7 microns '01' = visible channel or 0.65 microns '03' = water vapor channel or 6.8 microns GMS5 '02' = infrared channel or 11.0 microns '01' = visible channel or 0.63 microns '04' = water vapor channel or 6.8 microns "Bd" = '01' in above example "Dy" = day of month "Dy" = '18' in above example "Mn" = month of year "Mn" = 'APR' in above example "YrJdy" = combination of year and Julian day of the year, so that "Yr" = year "Jdy" = Julian day "YrJdy" = '99108' in above example, where "Yr" = '99', meaning year 1999 "Jdy" = '108', meaning 108th day of year "HhMmSs" = time (UTC) in Hours, Minutes, Seconds "HhMmSs" = '204515' in above example, meaning 20 hours, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds UTC "Xline" = number of lines/elements used in X-direction {reader may disregard} "Xline" = '04567' in above example "Yline" = number of lines/elements used in Y-direction {reader may disregard} "Yline" = '07200' in above example "RESL" = resolution of image in kilometers "RESL" = '7.00' in above example, meaning 7 kilometer resolution SATELLITE IMAGE --------------- Once the halfway point in time was determined for each research flight, a satellite image corresponding to that time was used to superimpose the flight track upon. --SPECIAL NOTE-- The visible satellite images to Flights 16 and 19 of the DC-8 and Flight 03 of the P3-B were partially or totally dark since the halfway point occurred around sunset. Extra visible and infrared satellite images corresponding to 3 hours before the halfway point of these three flights were used to correct this problem. These images have an "a" appended to their file name. FLIGHT TRACKS ------------- The flight tracks were produced by plotting the DC-8 or P3-B aircraft latitude/longitude positions from start to finish at 5-minute intervals. The latitude/longitude points were extracted from the GTE Project Data files. LATITUDE/LONGITUDE LABLES ------------------------- Latitude labels are indicated on the right side of the image at intervals of either 5 or 10 degrees. Southern latitudes are indicated as negative while northern latitudes are indicated as positive. Longitude labels are indicated on the top of the image if the image is in the southern hemisphere or bottom of the image if the image is in the northern hemisphere at intervals of either 5 or 10 degrees for most images. Western longitudes are indicated with a "W" while eastern longitudes are indicated with a "E". IMAGE PROJECTION ---------------- A Mercator projection was used on the images to remove the curvature effects of the round earth in the full-disk image. Continental boundaries and flight tracks are highlighted by a solid white line. Latitude and longitude lines are highlighted by a dashed white line. --------------------------------- compiled by David Westberg NASA Langley Research Center email: d.j.westberg@larc.nasa.gov (757) 864-5616 August 18, 1999