Friday, 9 June

T-28 Flight 753

Project Flight 8

Take Off ~ 21:12 GMT

Return to Base: 22:29 GMT

Pilot: Tom Root

 

The target this day was a line of weak cells east and southeast of GLD about 40 mi.  Six passes were made along the southwest-northeast axis along which the complex was organized, stepping upward from -8 °C to -12 °C to -15 °C. There was good coordination with mobile mesonet and electrical ballooning efforts on this storm. Two electrical soundings were launched on the west side of the line of cells near the end of the aircraft mission. The pilot noted lightning up to several times per minute. Electrically, observations suggest this storm was a “normal” polarity predominantly -CG storm. No hail was observed at the ground in the cells through which the T-28 flew. Some 30 m s^-1 outflows were noted.

 

The T-28 flew at about 6 km altitude. The E_z field component was broadly negative, meaning positive charge above or negative charge below the airplane.  LMA observations suggest that the storm charge structure in some cells was inverted, with negative charge concentrated in the 9-10 km altitude level, and positive charge concentrated at about 6 km altitude.  The recorded E_z magnitude is as strong as 30 kV/m at T-28's altitude. There are many lightning flashes that can be identified as sudden field changes.

 

The HVPS recorded many particles. Some particles carried charge up to 500 pC. Most of them carried charge less than 300 pC. The sign and magnitude of particle charge show no correlation with the sign and magnitude of the electric field. 

 

Data were of excellent quality with HVPS image data obtained throughout the flight. Precipitation particles were predominantly aggregates and graupel.