Convective Turbulence Data Collection Program (TCAD 1999)
Overview
The armored T-28 deployed to Ft. Collins-Loveland Airport (FNL), for 4
weeks in June, 1999, to join two other aircraft and the two S-band radars
operated by the CSU-CHILL Radar Facility for coordinated thunderstorm penetrations.
The other two aircraft, a Convair 580 operated by Allied Signal/Honeywell,
and a Rockwell Sabreliner operated by Rockwell-Collins, carried prototype
Doppler airborne weather avoidance radars. In a typical mission, the T-28
would lead a flight of 3, with the other two aircraft in-trail, on penetrations
of convective clouds. The radars from the trailing aircraft scanned
the region in which the T-28 was flying. Accelerometer and other
performance data from the T-28 is used to estimate the severity of turbulence,
and forms the basis for improving the algorithms for estimation of
turbulence intensity from the returns received by the airborne radars.
In addition, these data will be used for comparison with turbulence
diagnosed from model simulation of these convective clouds, in order to
improve the capabilities of these models to give reliable indications of
location and intensity of turbulence associated with convective storms.
The project was very successful, with operations by one or more aircraft
on 16 of 24 possible days, including multiple operations involving all
3 aircraft on one day. The CSU-CHILL and Pawnee S-band Doppler radars,
both operated by the CSU-CHILL radar facility, were used to provide guidance
for the aircraft missions, as well as to record dual-Doppler and multiparameter
radar data for later use in guiding the model simulations. The Research
Applications Program of the National Center for Atmospheric Research provided
forecasting and nowcasting, a daily radiosonde profile, and subsequently
will carry out analysis of the T-28 data and will perform the model simulations.
Research Flights
Flight
Number | Date | Time (UTC) | Flight Track | Pilot
Report |
| 724 | 6/02/99 | | | (not included in archive; not a research flight) |
| 725 | 6/05/99 | 19:56-21:27 | X | X |
| 726 | 6/09/99 | 23:28-01:08 | X | X |
| 727 | 6/10/99 | 22:34-23:05 | X | X |
| 728 | 6/11/99 | 20:19-21:45 | X | X |
| 729 | 6/11/99 | 23:17-01:01 | X | X |
| 730 | 6/12/99 | 20:19-21:43 | X | X |
| 731 | 6/14/99 | 20:23-22:05 | X | X |
| 732 | 6/17/99 | 22:18-00:05 | X | X |
| 733 | 6/18/99 | 20:44-22:18 | X | X |
| 734 | 6/19/99 | 20:42-22:25 | X | X |
| 735 | 6/20/99 | 22:10-23:54 | X | X |
| 736 | 6/21/99 | 21:57-23:28 | X | X |
| 737 | 6/22/99 | 20:55-22:18 | X | X |
Reports
Environmental News Network Daily News, 1999: Scientists seek ways to avoid turbulence. 3pp.
Kessinger, Cathy, R. Sharman, L. Cornman, C. Wade, I. Clark, W. Bresley, R. Robertson, A. and Detwiler, P. Kennedy, 1999: Experimental Objectives for the Characterization and Detection of Convective Turbulence. 12 pp.
Participation by the SDSM&T Armored T-28 Storm-Penetrating Aircraft in the Turbulence Characterization and Detection Program(IAS Report R-99-04)
Sharman, R., L. Cornman, J. Williams, S. Koch, and W. Moninger, 2006: The FAA AWRP Turbulence PDT. 22 pp.
Data Access
TCAD 1999 Data Access
Other Project Web Pages
NCAR/RAP
Operations Summary
CHILL Radar
