INDOEX C-130:  FLIGHT 1, 16 February 1999

Summary

This flight was a combined clear-air radiative-closure and cloud study.  As
a first flight it was designed to be both a shakedown test, science mission
and cloud-exploratory study.  Take-off was 7:03 GMT and operations were
planned for the region near 10N and 70E where both clear air and some low
Cu cloud fields were evident in the satellite imagery.  A KCO low-level
intercomparison flight was made at the beginning of the mission and a
Hulule lidar descent was made at the end of the flight.

Between 9:06 and 10:35 a reduced (only one boundary layer leg) direct closure
flight was flown with 25min legs in polluted air.  Small Cu were evident
at the end of the leg but the ocean was calm with no white caps.  Pollution
aerosol was primarily in the submicron mode, was highly absorbing and had
a large refractory mass fraction.

We then headed to 7N, 70E to look for clouds and found small Cu but with
convection to 12,000ft at times.  Some puffs of S02 and concurrent ultrafine
nuclei were seen near 11:23.

Between 11:04 and 13:20 we do passes above, in and below clouds with short
legs to save time.  Clouds tend to decrease in size and number during this
time so that few cloud penetrations are seen on the cloud leg.  More extensive
cloud coverage will be needed  for this type of study and there appears a
diurnal decres in small Cu may be present such that these cloud fights my
be better done earlier in the day.  Legs at 12,000ft, 6,000ft and 3,000ft
are selected for descent back into Male for lidar comparison.