SRP-2004: DAILY Messages: 22 Entries..

Daily Report for Wed, 28 April 2004

IOP #16 took place between 12 UTC on Wed and 12 UTC on Thurs. 
Soundings from MAPR were launched on Wed at 12,18 and Thurs: 00, 03,06 UTC.
Soundings from MGAOS were launched on Wed at 12,18,21 and Thurs at 00,03 UTC.
All but the 12 UTC MGAOS sounding were from Madera, CA.

Winds began to rapidly increase around 20 UTC first
Wave clouds overhead and extend north up Owen's Valley.

A fire erupted soon after the onset of the wind event near Fort Independence.
Smoke from the fire remained to our north and east during the day. The smoke
could be seen well above the boundary layer.

While the IOP will end at 12 UTC on Thurs, the project is scheduled to 
continue until 00 UTC on Friday the 30th to document the cessation of
the northerly winds behind this system.

The 00 UTC 29 Apr 04 sounding was trapped in a spectacular wave likely
on the other side of INYO range. Estimated vertical velocities within
the wave of between -10 ms-1 and +5 m s-1.

Note dramatic layering in MAPR data between 02 and at least 06 UTC, likely
related to turbulence generated by strong shear layer. Lots of waves
evident in the upper layer.

Data Quality:

Profiler and surface met data look good at both sites. MAPR winds look
good, limited bird contamination.

Some trouble with soundings at MAPR and MGAOS, related to loosing 
lock on satellites. The 12 Z MAPR sounding has very little wind
data.

Daily Report for Mon, 26 April 2004

Outreach presentation today. Went very well. We had about 25 students
from grade 9-12. We did a sounding launch and demonstrated RASS.

Clear skies and warm (32 C) after a morning low of 6 C. Winds mainly light
and variable with a period of stronger northerlies around 16 UTC.

An IOP window has been set up for between 12 UTC on Wed 28-Apr-04 
and 12 UTC on Thurs 29-Apr-04 when fairly strong shortwave
trough is forecast to brush past to the northeast.



Data Quality:

MAPR set up in wind100_ras100 mode after outreach on a 55/5 schedule.

Surface met data look good at both sites. 

MAPR and DBS Profiler winds contaminated with birds between 3 and 13 UTC.
Note: Sounding is evident for several minutes in MAPR data due to small
translational velocity.

Outreach sounding data looks good.

Daily Report for Sat, 24 April 2004

Strong northerly winds associated with last shortwave
trough finally died down yesterday around 10 AM.

Large upper level ridge is now dominating the weather 
resulting in warmer temperatures and light and variable
winds. Large diurnal variation in temperatures with 
high of 29 C and a morning low of 3 C. Shallow drainage
flows appear to have set up last night with a pulsing
flow from the north (downvalley flow).

RASS system was re-enabled at 0100 UTC on 25-Apr-04
on an hourly schedule to look at thermal evolution
of nocturnal boundary layer along with associated drainage winds.


Outreach for the students of Indepence high school is scheduled
for Mon morning. Students will be given a presentation at the 
school by Alex and then given a tour NCAR facilities by
us.

Next possible IOP (#16) will be Wed 28-Apr-04 when fairly strong shortwave
trough is forecast to brush past to the northeast.



Data Quality:

RASS was deliberately turned off until 0100 UTC on Sun 25-Apr-04.

Surface met data look good at both sites. 

MAPR and DBS Profiler winds contaminated with birds between 2 and 15 UTC.
Note: There is a narrow layer of good MAPR data around 3 km AGL between 
1 and 4 UTC.

No soundings were launched.

Daily Report for Thur, 22 April 2004

IOP #15 took place between 20 UTC on Wed and 12 UTC on Thurs. 
Soundings from MAPR and MGAOS at Cuchilla were made
at 20 UTC on Wed and 00, 06, and 12 UTC on Thurs.

Clear skies and brisk this morning at MAPR site. Surface winds increased
overnight, reaching a peak (17.5 m s-1) just prior to the 1200 UTC sounding.
Soundings at 06 and 12 UTC were very difficult to say the least. Stong 
winds and cooler temperatures prevailed through much of the day.

Between 12 and 16 UTC, MAPR picked up strong shear layer around 2 km AGL 
where winds turned from northerly to WNW. Same shear layer is evident in 
the sounding data with good inversion layer around 2 km.

IOP #15. No further IOPs are scheduled at this time.

Generator was serviced this afternoon. All systems were down between
2100 UTC and 2300 UTC. MAPR transmitter power was initially not
correctly set. Had to reset using BLANKING which was done around 00 UTC
on the 23rd.

Tomorrow will be a hard down day.


Data Quality:

RASS was deliberately turned off for entire wind event. Will re-enable
if winds calm below 8 m s-1 today.

Profiler and surface met data look good at both sites. MAPR winds look
excellent.

Sounding data at from MAPR and MGAOS at Fresno and Chauchilla look good.

Daily Report for Wed, 21 April 2004

IOP #15 is scheduled to take place between 21 UTC on Wed and 12 UTC on
Thur 22 April 2004. Soundings from MGAOS will be made from Cuchilla
at 00, 06, and 12 UTC. Soundings from MAPR are scheduled for
20 UTC on the 21st and 00, 06 and 12 UTC on 22 April 2004. 
This IOP was designed to look at impact of northwesterly flow
associated with 700 mb low to the northeast and then
east of our region on winds in the Owen's Valley.

Clear skies and warmer today with high around 26 C. Surface winds
began to increase around 2030 UTC from the WNW at both MAPR and 
MISS sites. 20 UTC sounding indicated that strong WNW flow aloft
with an inversion layer at 550 mb.

Strong (8-12 m s-1) winds from the WNW persisted at MAPR through 
0400 UTC on 04-22-04, then shifted to more northerly but continued to
strengthen. Peak surface winds (17.5 m s-1) were attained just 
prior to the 1200 UTC sounding.


Data Quality:

RASS was deliberately turned off for entire day due to high winds.

Profiler and surface met data look good at both site.

Sounding data at from MAPR and MGAOS at Fresno and Chauchilla look good.

Daily Report for Sun, 18 April 2004

IOP 13 scheduled to begin at 06 UTC on Monday 19 April 2004
with soundings at 12 UTC at MAPR and MGAOS.


Data Quality:

MAPR winds again contaminated overnight by birds, otherwise all
systems look good.
MGAOS has been refurbished with MISS sounding rack. This seems to
have eliminated noise problem.

Daily Report for Sat, 17 April 2004

IOP#12 finally ends... 

Trough axis passed through the region during the day. Cold core of
the trough set off cumulus and scattered rain showers. MAPR indicates
pulses of virga between 19 and 00 UTC. MAPR winds up to 5 km when clouds
and precip around. Strong southerlies at low levels in the afternoon
(i.e., after 19 UTC) seen in MAPR surface met and MAPR data with
weaker southerlies at the MISS site during this time.

Soundings were performed from MAPR on the 17th at  00,06,12 UTC

MGAOS soundings were launched at 00,03,06,12 UTC.

Next possible IOP wouldn't start until 00 UTC on Monday 19 April 2004.


Data Quality:

MAPR winds again contaminated overnight by birds.
MGAOS sndgs still noisey - maybe due to RF interference - plan is to
send MISS sounding rack to Fresno. Charlie Martin will drive it
over there.

Daily Report for Tues, 20 April 2004

IOP #14 is scheduled to take place between 21 UTC on Tues and 09 UTC on
Wed 21 April 2004. Soundings from MGAOS in Fresno and MAPR are scheduled for
00 and 06 UTC 21 April 2004. This IOP was designed to look at the
impact that a shortwave vort max has on flow over the Owen's Valley.

Partly to mostly cloud skies with alot a wave clouds evident
(a number of photos of clouds were taken from Bishop and MAPR site). Surface
winds were light through much of the day at both sites. At 2130 UTC,
winds from the north-northwest picked up dramatically at MAPR site, 
exceeding 10 m s-1 and reaching 20 m s-1 around 00 UTC on the 21st.
Winds at MISS also increased in strength, but were not as strong as
observed at MAPR. Mountain wave even persisted well into the evening.

MAPR data indicate period of strong downward motion (10 m s-1) 
coinciding with sudden increase in winds. This was followed by a
prolonged period of upward motion exceeding 1.5 m s-1.

May have observed funnel cloud to the north over Independence!

Data Quality:

Experienced a number of problems during first launch. First aspiration
stand blew over with sonde in it. Tried to inflate without bag and
balloon was whipped all into a frenzy before bursting. Balloon bag was
used and sonde was successfully launched, however, met data stopped
transmitting. Wind data looked ok so collected data for about 40 min,
before launching another sonde around 0100 UTC. Data only available
in W file binary format.

MGAOS sounding at 0000 UTC stopped transmitting at 750 mb, so a 
second sonde was launched.
MGAOS sounding at 0044 UTC needs to be reprocessed from the M file.

Profiler and surface met data look good.

Daily Report for Mon, 19 April 2004

IOP #13 took place between 06 UTC and 18 UTC with a 12 UTC sndg at
MAPR and 12 and 18 UTC MGAOS sndgs at Fresno.

Partly cloudy (Bishop was mostly cloudy) and cool day with light winds
at MAPR site. 

MISS site experienced a period of strong (10 m s-1) westerlies during the late
afternoon and evening. Other DRI stations to the east experienced 
easterlies, indicating that flow reversal did occur during this IOP.


Data Quality:

MAPR winds again contaminated overnight by birds.
Soundings, profiler and surface met data look good.

Daily Report for Fri, 16 April 2004

Windy day with lots of mid and high cloud around, particularly in the 
morning. Cloud also shrouds the Sierras where it looks to be snowing.

IOP#12 continues.... This is the 5th day of intensive obs. The MAPR
site was vailed in a shield of high cirrus for much of the morning and
early afternoon. This gave way to shallow cumulus over the center of
the valley to the north of MAPR site. Temperatures kept down (high of
about 20 C) by cloud cover and cold air associated with approaching trough.

Note, between 18 and 22 UTC both MAPR and MISS profiler seeing strong 
(up to 15 m s-1) SSE flow at low levels (up to 1200 m AGL) and SW flow 
aloft (2500 m AGL), with weak flow in the middle. Is this a rotor?

The following soundings will be performed from MAPR on the 17th:  00,06,12 UTC

MGAOS soundings on the 17th will be at: 00,03,06,12 UTC

These will be the last soundings of IOP #12


Data Quality:

MAPR winds again contaminated overnight by birds.
MAPR winds look good during the day until 22 UTC
MGAOS sndgs have a great deal of noise - maybe due to RF interference

MISS profiler winds look good

Daily Report for Thurs, 15 April 2004

IOP#12 continues.... This is the 4th day of intensive obs. Several
interesting features affected the NCAR ISS sites. A mtn wave cloud
developed after 3 PM local (22 UTC) and persisted well into the night.
Easterly flow (possible associated with a rotar) was observed at 
both sites, but was much more persistent at the MISS site (17-23 UTC).
At MAPR, the event only lasted about an hour beginning around 2330 UTC.

At 1 UTC, a sudden windsift from SSE to NW took place at MAPR site, 
possible associated with a the passage of a density current. The windsift took
place an hour earlier at MISS site from SE to W.

The following soundings will be performed from MAPR 
				16th: 00,06,12 and 18 UTC 
       				17th: 00,06,12

Upstream Soundings are back on line thanks to hard work of T Lim and
N. Chamberlain. MGAOS soundings 16th: 00,12,15,18,21 and
                                17th: 00,03,06,12

Daily Report for Tuesday March 30,  IOP #9

IOP #9 called to document a strong south and southwesterly flow produced by a tough near the coast.  IOP from 18Z (March 30) to 6Z (March 31).

Soundings at MISS and MGAOS (at Portville south of Fresno) at 0Z March 31.
MISS is at Onion Valley road site number 5, which is 4 miles up Onion Valley from Hmy 395.  (Note that the MotoSat internet link is not running at MISS).   The MISS profiler was affected by clutter.

Before the IOP, winds were generally light southerlies last evening, switching to northerlies and variable winds around midnight.  Strong southerlies picked up at 17Z, peaking at 15 m/s at 18Z as the IOP began.  The southerlies gradually weakened, especially after sunset.

MAPR saw some vertical motion, particularly as the southerlies began and through the IOP. MAPR also saw some southwesterly flow aloft.

Scattered high cloud.  There did appear to be a lenticular cloud over the Inyo mountains to the east of MAPR. There was a lot of dust kicked up from Owens Lake, sometimes obscuring the mountains from the MAPR site.  The high temperature was about 26C.

Daily Report for Thursday March 25,  IOP #8

Strong westerly flow at mountain top generating waves with activity down to the surface at times.

Pre-IOP 0Z sounding at MAPR, the soundings every 3 hours from 12Z starting at MAPR and alternating with MISS to continue until 12Z March 26.  3 hourly soundings from MGAOS at Fresno.

Winds at surface were generally light, but occasionally would turn to brisk westerlies up to 10 - 12 m/s.  Generally more westerlies at MISS than MAPR.  Some dust kicked up at times.  Occasional dust-devils.

A line of cumulus-type clouds formed up the center of the valley, and more clouds formed at mountain top along the Sierras.  Some lencular clouds appeared to the north.

Soundings at 0Z and 3Z (March 26) appeared to be caught in downdrafts, probably rotors. For example, the 0Z sounding (from MAPR) rose to 6000m about 5km downwind of the site, then was pulled down to 4500m before rising again.

The 3Z (March 26) sounding from Fresno apparently went into freezing rain and dropped to near ground level.  A second sonde was launched which rose to 700mb then that too dropped (to 900mb).

The IOP is continuing.

Warm today, forecast predicted near record high, here got to 24C.
MAPR saw northerlies during the later part of IOP#4, which gradually moved down from 1km over several hours.  

One sonde launched from MAPR at 12Z, saw northerlies to about 2km, 
northwesterlies above.

Sky camera group came and checked their instrument.

Another warm day. MAPR showed birds last night. Weak NW wind during the
day. Tmax about 26C; light winds less than 4 m/s. IOP#4 will begin at
10 pm today [6Z March 15] through 10 am tomorrow [18Z March 15]. See tomorrow's
log for IOP description.

IOP#3 is scheduled for 15Z-221Z with a launch from the MAPR site at 18Z,
all subject to change. Target is strong NW flow aloft.

On sonde launched from MAPR at 18Z. Light winds up to 4 km MSL, with
westerly winds above.

Windy this morning. Surface winds steadily increasing 5Z (12 m/s), then
decreasing to 6 m/s by 01Z. Gusts to 12 m/s at 12Z (4am) and more gusts to
14 m/s at 18Z (10am). Direction fairly steady from the NW (down-valley).
Temperature stayed warm overnight and rose to 23C.

Excellent MAPR data this morning, 5 minute winds up to 3 km all of 16-22Z.
After 22Z there is a reflective layer aloft showing winds 3-3.5km; otherwise
winds only below 1 km (and above 500 m). Some NW MAPR winds near 1 km were
close to 20 m/s, as well as some NE winds around 3 km. We should take a
closer look at the MAPR vertical velocity. There are some periods of strong
vertical motion.

Coverage of the MAPR 5-minute winds often looks good, compared with the
30-min winds.

IOP#2 was scheduled from 21Z (1pm) today until 15Z (7am) tomorrow morning.
But, was changed to be from about 18Z to 02Z (10am-6pm) as short wave came
sooner than expected.

Two sondes were launched from MISS site (none from MAPR today).

Sunny and warm. See MAPR entry for downtime, unknown cause. Most activity
today at MISS (East Valley site chosen, and MISS moved there). See MISS daily
entry for details.

Another sunny, warm day. High T about 27C. Good boundary layer development
and thermals seen in vertical wind.

Surface winds light, less than 5 m/s from the North (NNW)

MAPR ran all day after Mike's changes yesterday afternoon. Winds have been
good above 600 m. Sometimes light and variable which looks random directions.
I notice the character of MAPR moments/winds below 600 m changed at 22:30Z.
Not sure why. The surface wind speed decreased so there should be less clutter.
Before this time the winds below 600 m were wildly high and the SNR looked
reasonable. After this time the winds were zero and the SNR was high.

The air conditioner is also repaired and in place.

MAPR ran without interruption overnight. Very little signal, but many birds.
This morning winds look good 600m to 1km generally 5-8 m/s from the NW

Another sunny day developing. Surface winds are picking up this morning,
and are from the NW (4-8m/s so far)

System up and down from noon till now. 2000 06 mar 04 to 0245 7 mar 04 data is sparatic. 

May have found an oscillating yellow amplifier. They are AR amplifiers and they can be problems.

....

Mike fed a signal into the White/Gold box in place of the 60 MHz IF from
the black box. Looking at the signal out (signal would normally go into
PIRAQ) with the spectrum analyzer, the level of the signal from Rx#1/Yellow
changed by a few dB. The other channels did not do this. Rx#1 is the
channel which tested 5dB less gain than the others. It also had the
strongest "clutter" signature during the onset of MAPR failure (from Bill's
plots). Signals in the White box go through an amplifier, filter, and
pad. Mike's most likely target is the amplifier.

This may or may not be the cause of the MAPR failure but it is good progress.

IOP#1 today from 16Z to 21Z with a sonde launch at 18Z. A possible wave
event was expected generated by easterly flow over the Inyo range.

Surface winds becreased from 6 m/s at 16Z to 9 m/s by 18Z and then decreased
again to 3 m/s by 21Z. Wind direction was about 345. T steadily rose through
the morning; T_dew fairly constant; P was falling slowly;

Incoming solar looks like no clouds at all. A fine clear day.

MAPR winds....

POSTSCRIPT: PI says the event actually occurred earlier than forecast. During
this IOP the mountaintop winds were from the north, so there was no large
flow component over the mountains. BUT...

NOTE: Looking at the MAPR/ISS data from last night...
MAPR vertical velocity shows an area aloft with higher SNR and downward
velocity of 2-3 m/s. This occurs between about 0600Z and 0930Z (which is
10pm-1:30am) At first look, this could be snow. Spectral widths
are 0.4-1.0 m/s (mostly 0.6-0.8 m/s). But could this be a mountain wave
generating a downward velocity over MAPR and associated turbulence giving
the higher reflectivity? One other clue is the Netrad: Fron 6-9:30Z netrad
is small. After 9:30Z it becomes more negative. This is consistant with
overcast skies during the event. So most likely MAPR was seeing snow
aloft, and not a mountain wave.