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Key on the Tropical Troposphere  Many facets of the chemical, dynamic, and physical processes occurring in the tropical upper troposphere and tropopause transitional layer are not well understood. Identifying the key processes in this region is essential for progress on issues involving global climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global tropospheric chemistry. |
TC-4 DETAILS
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SPONSORS
TC4 is sponsored by the NASA Headquarters Atmospheric Composition Focus Area including:
TC4 is planned for July 2007 in San Jose, Costa Rica. |
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Tropical Composition Cloud & Climate Coupling 2007 (TC-4)
The NASA TC4 (Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling) mission will investigate the structure, properties and processes in the tropical Eastern Pacific. A-train satellite observations provide crucial information on the spatial and temporal variations of this region, however, carefully planned TC-4 aircraft observations are required, both to validate satellite data and to provide critical observations not available from the satellites. High altitude aircraft will collect tropopause data while the medium altitude aircraft will provide profiles and structure measurements of the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. |
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
| NAME | EXPERIMENT | |
|---|---|---|
| Andy Heymsfield | NCAR RICE, PIP, CAPS | |
| Cindy Twohy | OSU CVI | |
| Rick Shetter | NCAR CAFS | |
| Anthony Bucholtz | NRL IR radiometers zenith and nadir | |
| Paul Lawson | SPEC Inc 2DS and CRI | |
| Paul Wennberg | CalTech CIMS | |
| Peter Pilewskie | U Colo SSFR zenith and nadir | |
| Ron Cohen | UC Berkeley TD-LIF and NO | |
| Don Blake | UC Irvine WAS | |
| Paul Bui | NASA Ames MMS | |
| Ed Browell | NASA LaRC LASE / NASA LaRC DIAL | |
| Erroll Korn | NCAR Dropsondes | |
| Bruce Anderson | NASA LaRC LARGE | |
| Glenn Diskin | NASA LaRC DACOM / NASA LaRC DLH | |
| Jack Dibb | UNH SAGA | |
| Eric Smith | NASA Goddard APR-2 | |
| H Jost | IRIS | |
| Melody Avery | NASA LaRC FASTOZ | |
| Stephanie Vay | NASA LaRC AVOCET | |
| Dan Murphy | NOAA PALMS |
MISSION PAYLOAD
TC-4 DC-8 FLIGHT REPORTS
| Dates | Flight Plans | Flight Reports |
|---|---|---|
| 6/28/2007 |  Test Flight #1 |
Test Flight #1 |
| 6/30/2007 | Test flight #2 |
Test flight #2 |
| 7/02/2007 | Test flight #3 |
Test flight #3 |
| 7/13/2007 | FP | Transit to Costa Rica |
| 7/17/2007 | Science Flight #1 |
Science Flight #1 |
| 7/19/2007 | Science Flight #2 |
FR |
| 7/21/2007 | Science Flight #3 |
Science Flight #3 |
| 7/22/2007 | Science Flight #4 |
Science Flight #4 |
| 7/24/2007 | FP | Science Flight #5 |
| 7/28/2007 | Science Flight #6 |
Science Flight #6 |
| 7/29/2007 | Science Flight #7 |
FR |
| 7/31/2007 | FP | Science Flight #8 |
| 8/05/2007 | Science Flight #9 |
FR |
| 8/08/2007 | Science Flight #10 |
FR |