TCSP CTC Page

Last Update: July 27, 2005

This page provides a calendar of color-coded temperature curtains (CTCs) for the TCSP ER-2 flights. Click on the thumbnail images in the calendar frames below to examine an enlarged (800x600) PNG image of the thumbnail; click the flight number to see a plot of the flight track. The enlarged PNG images range in size from 30-50 kB. Although CTCs for an entire flight are very useful for understanding what happening on a synoptic scale, they do not use the MTP data at full resolution, and therefore do not adequately illustrate the mesoscale structure of the atmosphere. For comparison of MTP measurements to in situ and remote tracer measurements, full resolution MTP data should be used. This is available from the archive in the MP files.

The CTC plots presented here are based on data submitted to the archive on TBD 2005. The CTC plots all have the same temperature
range (180 K - 240 K). The flight altitude is indicated by the upper solid black trace, and the tropopause altitude, by the white trace. The black trace near the bottom of the plot is a metric which indicates the quality of the retrieval and ranges from 0 (excellent) to 2 (poor) on the left hand (km) pressure altitude scale (it uses the lowest two tic intervals). In the COMMENTS field I have provided an assessment of the quality of the retrieval. Click on the flight date to obtain a PNG image of the flight track. Following the CTC plots are some comments on the calibration issues that were encountered because of an instrument swap and the complete lack of any radiosondes from Central America during this campaign.

These images are presented here only as an aid for other scientists to understand their TCSP data. It may not be used for any other purpose, or referred to, without written permission from MJ Mahoney of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, go here.

CTC Thumbnail	Date	Comments
	20050618	Test Flight Good Flight
		Calibration Flight - MTP failed 1/2 hour into flight due to a wire-wrap pin shorting out
	20050629	Transit Flight from Dryden FRC to San Jose, Costa Rica Excellent Flight
	20050702	1st Science Flight - Flight to convection off Honduras-Nicaragua border Excellent Flight
	20050705	2nd Science Flight - 8 hour west to Tropical Storm Dennis Excellent Flight
	20050706	3rd Science Flight - 8 hour west to Tropical Storm Dennis Excellent Flight
	20050709	4th Science Flight - 7 hour flight to Hurricane Dennis Excellent Flight
	20050715	5th Science Flight - Cyclogenisis in the Eastern Pacific with P3 Excellent Flight
	20050716	6th Science Flight - Cyclogenisus in the Eastern Pacific with P3 Excellent Flight
	20050717	7th Science Flight - Hurricane Emily Excellent Flight
	20050720	8th Science Flight - Aqua underpass and ITCZ convection Excellent Flight
	20050723	9th Science Flight - Convection over Yucatan Pennisula Excellent Flight
	20050724	10th Science Flight - Convection in Bay of Campeche Excellent Flight
	20050725	11th Science Flight - Tropical Storm Gert Landfall and Satellite Underpasses Excellent Flight
	20050727	12th Science Flight - ITCZ Convection and Satellite Underpasses Excellent Flight
	20050728	Transit Flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Dryden Flight Research Center Excellent Flight