TOGA COARE Aircraft Mission Summary Images: An Electronic Atlas

Abstract

An electronic atlas of research aircraft missions in TOGA COARE (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment) has been prepared and is available on the Internet via World Wide Web browsers such as Mosaic. These maps are in the form of time sequences of color imagery assembled using the NCAR Zebra software. Initial versions of these maps were prepared in the field at the TOGA COARE Honiara Operations Center to aid in the evaluation of each aircraft mission immediately after it was flown. The maps prepared in the field have been updated, corrected, and remapped at standard scales and with common color schemes. They show the meteorological setting of sampling by all seven aircraft participating in TOGA COARE?the two NOAA WP-3D aircraft, the NCAR Electra, the FIAMS C-340, the UK C-130, and the NASA DC-8 and ER-2?by overlaying flight tracks, GMS satellite infrared data, and NOAA WP-3D airborne radar images. The map sequences are combined with text of scientists? notes and other background information on the research flights to form a summary of each aircraft mission. The resulting aircraft mission summaries are intended as a road map to the COARE aircraft dataset. They indicate where and when data were collected and the meteorological context for those data. As an electronic document, the atlas of aircraft mission summaries is available on demand, and it is dynamic: as further information becomes available, the mission summaries will continue to be added to and updated as appropriate, and new releases will be issued periodically.