CART-site Activity

96/04/11

CART site activity

Meteorology at the Central Facility

Weather Conditions from Site Operators Log
High broken cirrus throughout the day, joined by scattered Stratocumulus around 13:00 UTC. Moderate winds (10 mph) from the south become stronger (20 mph) coming from the southwest. This causes light to moderate blowing dust increasing from 15:00 to 19:00.

Visiting Instruments at Central Facilities

Active Systems Operating hours UTC
ETL - CO2 doppler lidar: X
UoU - Polarization Diversity Lidar (PDL): X
UoU - 95 GHz scanning cloud radar: X
PSU - 94 GHz vertical cloud radar: 13:00-21:00
UMa - 95 GHz scanning cloud radar: X

Passive Instruments
NOA - total and diffuse radiometers: X
NOA - Epply cavity radiometers: X
SCR - solar radiometers: X
ARC - SPectral Flux Radiometer (SPFR): X
ARC - Digital Array Scanning Interferometer (DASI): X
ASD - FieldSpec FR full range radiometer: X
DeU - Absolute Solar Trans. Interferometer: X
CSI - IR Radiometer: X
GSF - triple MWR system: X
PNL - wide-view camera and time-lapse VCR: X
BNL - CSPOT, Cimel Sun/sky PhOTometer: X

CART Instrument Operations at Central Facilities

Key: O = operational, X = down or degraded

RASS, 50 MHz, (hourly): O
RASS, 915 MHz, (hourly): X
BSRN: 0
SIROS: O
SMOS, (24 hrs): O
SWATS (24 hrs): O
EBBR, (24 hrs): O
WSI, (every 10 min.) O
MWR, (24 hrs): O
IRT: X
MPL, (24 hrs): X
BLC, (24 hrs): O
AERI, (24 hrs): O
SORTI, (daytime, sunny): O
Raman Lidar (daytime): X
60M Temperature and Humidity: O
25M Temperature and Humidity: O
25M MultiFilter Radiometer: O
25M Upwelling IR: O
25M Upwelling Solar: O
10M MultiFilter Radiometer: O
Aerosol System: X
Radiosondes, (Every 3 hrs, from 1:30 UTC): O

CART Instrument Operations at Boundary Facilities

There are four staffed Boundary Facilities, each having Balloon Borne Sounding Systems (BBSS) and MicroWave Radiometers (MWR). During the IOP period, sondes are launched every three hours round the clock, starting at 5:30 GMT (12:30 CST). The sites are listed below. Times listed following a site indicate questionable data or failed sonde launches. Weather conditions are recorded in the Boundary Facilities Site Operator's Log.

Hillsboro, KS (BF-1): Okay
Vici, OK (BF-4): Okay
Morris, OK (BF-5): Okay
Purcell, OK (BF-6): Okay

CART Instrumentation at Extended Facilities

There are numerous unstaffed Extended Facilities. The specific instrumentation at the extended facilities varies from site to site, but generally includes a flux station (either an Energy Balance Bowen Ration (EBBR) system or an Eddy Correlation (ECOR) system), a Solar and InfraRed Observing System (SIROS), and a Standard Meteorology Observing Station (SMOS) tower. For the locations of the Extended Facilities, and their suite of instrumentation, see the table and map of the Extended CART site. The comments below indicate specific data streams with identified problems.

Problem at Extended Facility
E1: ECOR
E2: SIROS
E4: SIROS
E12: EBBR, SIROS
E16: ECOR

Key Comments/Observations related to flights

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