S-HIS THORPEX Experiment Quicklook Page


Part of the  CIMSSWeb

Introduction
THORPEX objectives are, 1) to evaluate the potential of various in situ and remote sensing observation systems to provide the observations needed to accelerate improvements in operational weather predictions, 2) to evaluate model sensitivity studies and test the impact of targeted observations by participant systems on the performance of those operational models, and 3) to begin to acquire the observational data needed to develop intelligent observing systems and the models and data assimilation systems that will interact dynamically with those observing systems. 
 
SUMMARY OF DATA COLLECTION DURING THORPEX
 University of Wisconsin - Madison
 Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (SHIS);
 PI: Henry E. Revercomb (hankr@ssec.wisc.edu)
Flight Date Sortie Mission Data Start (UTC) Data End (UTC) Flight Length (Hours)
030219 036013 Ferry from Dryden, CA
030221 036014 Characterize atmosphere across a midlatitude jet streak in Pacific Ocean in coordination with G-4 flight.  Search for signatures of turbulence.  2100 0320 6.3
030222 036015 Characterize atmosphere across a midlatitude jet streak near 20 N, 147 W in Pacific Ocean in coordination with G-4 flight (dropsondes and profiling).  2140 0430 6.9
030224 036016 Collect ER-2 based observations for validating Aqua MODIS L2 Cloud Science Products including Cloud Top Height and Cloud Particle Phase.  Collect data to evaluate AIRS atmospheric profiles.  Aqua overpass at 2356 UTC.  2138 0300 5.4
030226 036017 Collect ER-2 based observations of multilayer thin to thick high clouds for validating Aqua (2342 UTC) MODIS L2 Cloud Science Products including Cloud Top Height and Cloud Particle Phase.  Underfly ICESat satellite (0120 UTC) with GLAS 1064nm band viewing scenes of thin and thick high cloud.  2200 0320 5.3
030301 036018 Collect ER-2 based observations of clear to partly cloudy (low cloud) conditions for validating Aqua (0010 UTC) MODIS and AIRS L1B and L2 Atmospheric Profiles products.  Underfly ICESat satellite (0154 UTC) with GLAS 1064nm band viewing clear and partly cloudy scenes. 2230 0305 4.5
030303 036019 Collect ER-2 based observations of clear to partly cloudy (low cloud) conditions for validating Aqua (2358 UTC) MODIS and AIRS L1B and L2 Atmospheric Profiles products.  Overfly Kilaeua volcanoe.  2155 0110 3.1
030310 039031 2150 0415 6.4
030311 039032 Flew to the northeast and then flew a cube pattern. 15 dropsondes. 2100 0405 7.1
030312 039033 Good day for both SHIS & NASTI. 8 dropsondes along the path plus AQUA overpass 2100 0415 7.3
Total Flight Hours: 6.7

Instrument Summary
The Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) is a scanning interferometer which measures emitted thermal radiation at high spectral resolution between 3.3 and 18 microns (specifications).  The measured emitted radiance is used to obtain temperature and water vapor profiles of the Earth's atmosphere.  S-HIS produces sounding data with 2 kilometer resolution (at nadir) across a 40 kilometer ground swath from a nominal altitude of 20 kilometers onboard a NASA ER-2 aircraft or 20 kilometer ground swath from a nominal altitude of 10 kilometers aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft. 

Data
Below are links to the online archive of S-HIS data and other information pertinent to this field experiment.

Related Links Software
S-HIS data are stored in network common data format (netCDF).  Programs for reading S-HIS data in this format are available in Fortran, IDL, Matlab source code.  To visualize S-HIS data, a Matlab browser is available for basic image viewing. 

Last Updated 12/09/2002 by kenneth.vinson@ssec.wisc.edu