Flight Log for EPIC2001 P-3 Mission #2 Flight Scientist: David J. Raymond Date: 5 Sept 2001 1359 - C130 launches. 1405 - P3 launches. 1409 - We will catch C130 and it will be on our left. 1410 - Murky day with layered clouds just above. We are at 2100 ft. 1413 - Some very shallow cu. 1421 - Still chasing C130 at 2000 ft. It is very murky still. 1422 - Dropping to 1000 ft to get out of clouds. 1424 - Going to first altitude for intercomp at 600 ft. Still catching up -- C130 in sight. 1432 - Level with C130 at 600 ft. Clear region. 143415 - End 600 ft run, climb to 6000 ft. Still clear. Cu ahead. 143950 - Level 6000 ft, entering region fo trade cu, some above, avoiding. Catching up with C130. 144250 - Start 6000 ft intercomp. 144454 - A bit of light rain. 144754 - Finish 6000 ft go to 12000 ft. 1450 - Region of trade cu -- murky marine layer -- clear at about 9000 ft. 1451 - Fair bit of layered cloud, some old cirrus. Getting some towering cu. 1455 - Confirm radar going. Still trade cu towering to about our altitude of 12000 ft. 145658 - Start 12000 ft run. Some stratiform slightly above us ahead. 150210 - Done, right 270 to head to initial point. Will descend to 6000 ft immediately. 1507 - 6000 ft heading for 93 W, 12 N. Some Cbs to NNE. 1510 - Still trade cu reaching near our altitude. 1511 - 1516 - Balancing dewpointers. Deep convective region to N. 1518 - Sea state shows some whitecaps, waves out of E, suggests about 10 m/s at surface. 1527 - Region of trade cu. Anvil far to E covers much of horizon. 1536 - 93 W, 12 N. Widely scattered trade cu in the form of lines. Wind speed at 6000 ft gone to zero. Surface wind speed is now weak as well. No whitecaps. Large clear area to W. 1546 - Over large clear area. Rainshowers ahead. Wind light SW. Surface 5 m/s SW. 1554 - Approaching region of rainshowers. 155837 - Clear below except for some layered clouds, weak rainshowers around. 155949 - In and out of cloud. FSSP is working. 1602 - Radar tops to 8-10 km. 160230 - Rain light. Bigger rain shower ahead. 160439 - Clear air region N of shower ahead. 160540 - In cloud and rain. Tops still 8-10 km. 160839 - Lots of showers around here. Winds SSW at 5 m/s. 161148 - Getting into region of smaller convection, but lots of clouds in marine layer. 1613 - Some whitecaps, waves from S. 162119 - Into cloud and a bit of rain. 162301 - In cloud again. 162430 - In and out of weak rainshowers. Tops 4 km. Lots of layered clouds near and bleow our level. 162934 - Into region of broken trade cu. Weak westerlies at surface and 6000 ft. 1635 - 93 W, 8 N, turning west. 1637 - Still layered cloud with embedded cu up to our altitude and slightly above. 164400 - Flying in layered cloud. Approaching region of rainshowers. 164903 - Tops about 3-4 km on radar. 1656 - 94.3 W, 8 N, turn north. 1702 - Out of layered cloud -- some slightly deeper rainshowers ahead. 1704 - Whitecaps below. Still layered clouds in vicinity. 1708 - Over very small cu. Convective recovery zone. Deep conv. system about 130 km NE. 171417 - Heading for cloud, tops 3-4 km. Theta-e increases up to 10 s before cloud entry. Pretty good bumps. 171605 - In light rain. 1718 - Tops of scattered patches of trade cu near and slightly above us in 9 m/s S winds. There are isolated Cbs to the very distant W and NW. 1723 - No more whitecaps. 1725 - Region of trade showers. 1746 - Wind is back to easterly. Still trade cu, but some are getting deeper. Isolated Cbs to W, none to E. 1752 - 94.3 W, 12 N, turning west. 175808 - Going thru tops of trade cu patch. 1801 - Deeper growing cell 30 km NW. Big clear patch to SW. Extensive deep convection WSW and W, distant. There is also isolated deep convection to N and NW. 1809 - Radaar shows deep conv. to 10 km, 25 km NNW. 1810 - 95.7 W, 12 N, turning south. We have a few whitecaps. 1820 - Leaving clear, suppressed region, back to trade cu. We have some deep convection far to SE. 182229 - Theta-e dropped 5 K going over cloud tops. 182435 - Over another clear region. Suppressed trade cu ahead. Scattered layer cloud just above us. No whitecaps. 1829 - Lots of layered cloudiness around our level. 1837 - Still trade regime, max tops near our altitude, deep convection developing far to E, cells also far to SSE. Deep convection (mature) far to W (200-300 km on radar). Back into S flow. No whitecaps. 1855 - Developing showers SE 30 km and greater. This puts them at S end of C130 leg. C130 is now heading N at 2.5 km. Distant deep convection to S. 1901 - Deep cell 150 km ESE. Tops of trade cu are making layered clouds just above us here. No whitecaps. 190710 - Layer of cloud just above us. 1910 - 95.7 W, 8 N. Tops are going above us here and shearing to W. Turn west. Lots of suppressed clouds below us. 1920 - Suppressed to N, lots of rainshowers to S. Heading into a region of aggregated trade cu/rainshowers. Looks like a developing situation. 192751 - Going thru rainshower. Tops to about 3 km on radar. 1930 - Turning north, 97 W, 8 N. Lots of layered cloud near our level, small cu below. Growing shower activity 250 km W, NW. 1938 - Suppressed region. 1948 - Over very suppressed region. 1956 - Flying through layer cloud. Deep convection 200 km - 350 km NW and WSW. Region 100 km and greater to E starting to develop echoes. 2012 - Area of shallow but vigorous convection -- approaching this EW line. Depth about 5 km on radar. Max 45 dBZ. The wind shifted to E and increased as we crossed the line. 2020 - We now have whitecaps. Heading for another line of echoes about 40 km ahead. 2028 - Big zone of deep convection ahead. 2030 - 97 W, 12 N, heading for Huatulco. 203132 - Deviating to L around cell. 203206 - Lots of bumps. 2033 - Tops of some cells to 15 km. 203619 - Heading for growing hard cell. 203733 - Some tops greater than 15 km. 203752 - Penetrate growing cell. Only moderate bumps. 2045 - Penetrating lots of turbulent convection -- tops to 12 km. 2049 - Thru convection and into suppressed region. 2055 - Still suppressed, though deep system to N. Marine layer very murky. 2129 - Over land on approach to Huatulco. 2139 - Recovery.