METEOR-20240821

METEOR-20240821#

Summary#

RV Meteor arrived at 5.5N, 26.7W midday to meet HALO. Originally we had planned RHI scans with SEA-POL during HALO’s overpass of our location at the centerpoint of their southern circle, followed by circles with Meteor to fill SEA-POL’s blanked sector during HALO’s circle. However since the southern HALO circle was shifted at the last minute to 5N, Meteor was unable to make it to the center. Since the flight leg through the circle centerpoint cancelled due to flight duration restrictions, the planned RHI scans were also cancelled. Instead, Meteor performed small circles about our position at 5.46N, 26.7W, in the northern half of HALO’s circle. Meteor had been experiencing moderate to heavy rain all morning associated with a SW to NE oriented band of convection, and this continued during the HALO circle. The 4 circles that Meteor performed during HALO’s 1-hour circle provided us with excellent SEA-POL radar coverage of the convective system. After HALO completed its circle and headed North, Meteor performed an MSS measurement and CTD before steaming East/Northeast towards the planned southern circle for the HALO flight tomorrow (22.08).

The daily status briefing and science discussion was held at 10:20. Marcus Dengler presented an overview of the physical oceanography scientific research goals during the cruise. He discussed the role of episodic mixing at the base of the mixed layer driven by near inertial waves (excited by wind stress) in the tropical surface heat budget. This is inadequately represented by coupled storm-resolving models. He also discussed measurements of ocean turbulence from the MSS and shared preliminary data from the drift buoy and gliders that were deployed a few days ago.

Remarks#

  • Radiosondes were launched on the normal 3-hourly schedule. An extra radiosonde was launched at 13:50 LT during the coordinated HALO flight.

  • Skew T diagrams are now being posted on a publicly-accessible cloud server

  • SEA-POL continues to operate in single-polarization mode.

  • Coordination with HALO occurred today and is also planned for tomorrow 22.08.

Plans#

  • 21.08 14:15 LT - 22.08 11:00 LT: Steam northeast towards 7.18N, 24.44W (northern entry point of HALO southern circle for 22.08), with MSS, CTD, SEA-POL circle every 6 hours.

  • 22.08 11:45 LT: Meet HALO at 7.18N, 24.44W (northern entry point of their southern circle) for overpass, coordinated SEA-POL scans

  • 22.08 12:45 LT: After HALO finishes their southern circle, steam NNE along EarthCare track

  • 22.08 14:52 LT: EarthCare overpass, coordinated SEA-POL scans

  • 22.08 16:00 LT : Steam north towards northern edge of ITCZ, with MSS, CTD, SEA-POL circle every 6 hours.

Events#

Time (Local)

Comment

6:08 - 6:45

MSS

6:54 - 8:13

CTD

9:25 - 10:00

SEA-POL circle & zig-zag

10:20

Meeting led by D. Klocke, Science presentation by M. Dengler

12:50 - 14:10

SEA-POL circles during HALO circumnavigation

13:50

Extra radiosonde launched

14:18 - 14:56

MSS

15:03 - 16:26

CTD

16:36

Begin steaming northeast towards 7.18N, 24.44W (northern entry point of HALO southern circle for 22.08)

22:34 - 23:17

MSS

23:23 - 0:44

Incubation CTD
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