96/05/03 CART site activity

Meteorology at the Central Facility


Weather Conditions from Site Operators Log
Early low cumulus cloud cover gave way to clear skies in the mid-afternoon. No detectable cirrus or persistent contrails.

Visiting Instruments at Central Facilities


CART Instrument Operations at Central Facilities


Key: O = operational, X = down or degraded

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.

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). 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.

Key Comments/Observations related to flights

Joint SUCCESS & ARM UAV missions were conducted. Lack of persistent contrails made detection and/or scanning difficult for ground-based remote sensing instruments. UAV made use of the clear sky conditions to carry out another BDRF measurement and a GOES-8 calibration run.


Back to today's summary page