Mission #10: DOW 6 is Sick and Mission #11: 4th of July Fireworks

Mission #10 of the DREAMS Project at Stony Brook University was originally scheduled to take place on Tuesday, July 2nd but was cancelled because of a lack of activity. The atmospheric pattern was generally stable which inhibits convection so any precipitation in the area was falling pretty lightly which would have made for a boring mission! Mission #10 was then rescheduled for Wednesday, July 3rd. The target was very weak convection (hey, at least it's something!) that was forming in the most atmospherically unstable regions of New Jersey (relative to the region) and moving northeast with the wind around the largely weather-preventing Bermuda High that had taken up shop just off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic.

What's the deal with the Bermuda High? As you probably know, high pressure is known for clear skies and nice weather. This is because with a high pressure at the surface there is actually sinking motion throughout the atmosphere in the vertical direction. The sinking motion causes air to warm and clouds are mostly inhibited because the air dries as it warms and most clouds form from the rising motion of water vapor condensing. While beach-goers were probably happy with the weather, members of the DREAMS Project weren't as happy. Another interesting fact about high pressure is that the air around it moves in a general clockwise, or anticyclonic in the Northern Hemisphere, pattern. Because Long Island was near the western edge of the Bermuda High, the wind was generally from the south-southwest. Any storms that fired up over the southern portions of New Jersey would then tend to move north towards Yonkers and into Connecticut. Therefore, for Mission #10 any chance of catching something would be by pointing the DOW south and hoping a cell or two moved out over the water into our sight. The site chosen for the mission was Jones Beach.

Besides the uncooperative weather, an interesting note about field campaigns like the DREAMS Project is that the success depends solely on the instrument being used. In this case, without the DOW there would be no project. En route to Jones Beach the A/C stopped working in the cab of the DOW and the engine overheated. From a mess of engine coolant, the driver and technician (and saint!) Rachel discerned that this was a big problem. She jumped into action and called her colleagues back at the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, CO and the decision was made that the DOW had to get towed. Thus, Mission #10 was cancelled again, this time due to bad luck!

The DOW being towed away for repair on July 3rd on Montauk Highway.

The DREAMS Project was likely going to see an early end, but thankfully the DOW returned from the great shop in Brooklyn that worked on the 4th of July so that we would have it by our next mission, Mission #11 on Saturday, July 6th. It was decided to scrap the name of "Mission #10" even though there technically wasn't one because it just seemed unlucky after two failed attempts!

Mission #11 was based on an interesting idea from Mission #7's late night at Cedar Beach. During that mission, there happened to be some fireworks going off in CT that students claimed to have seen evident on the reflectivity data from the DOW. The idea to use the DOW to scan a fireworks display had been floating around for some time, so thanks to the students' involvement and the DOW's recovery, a fireworks display was selected and a site determined and Mission #11 was a go! The Peconic Bay Medical Center Family Fun Festival in Wading River was chosen due to its proximity to Calverton Airport (EPCAL), a site we were already pre-approved to use. The DOW set up at 8:30 PM and although after 9:00 PM there were some scattered or more distant fireworks displays, they were not showing up clearly in the reflectivity or velocity data. We kept up hope, though, and at 10:15 our target fireworks display occurred and the smoke from the festive explosions were reportedly visible on the reflectivity data. We weren't show going into that mission whether or not it would work, but we got to enjoy a great show and gather some data for science!

The DOW waiting for the sun to set to scan fireworks in Calverton on July 6th.

After Mission #11 ended at 11:00 PM, that meant there was only one more mission left with the DOW before it left Stony Brook and traveled back to Colorado. It might have been more appropriate to conclude the DREAMS Project with Mission #11 just to go out with a "bang" but we had something more exciting in store (to us at least)-- a sea breeze!

- For more information on the Bermuda/Azores High, please visit this site: http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/3926.html