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SUCCESS

(Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study)

 SUCCESS
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  1. Background.
  2. Examples.
  3. Satellite Data.
    1. GOES imagery.
    2. NOAA imagery.
    3. Cloud Products.
    4. Results.
  4. References.

Background:

The SUCCESS project is a field experiment jointly sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Atmospheric Effects of Aviation (AEAP) Program and FIRE III Program. The SUCCESS field program will be conducted over Oklahoma and Kansas from April 10 to May, 1996 using a variety of aircraft, satellite, and surface-based measurements. Some flights may be coordinated with the DOE ARM/UAV field experiment centered at Blackwell, Oklahoma. The main of objectives of SUCCESS are to investigate the radiative properties of cirrus clouds and contrails, to determine the modes of cirrus and contrail formation, to measure the properties of exhaust from subsonic aircraft, and to develop new instruments for studying clouds, radiation, and atmospheric chemistry. The contrail and chemistry goals of SUCCESS derive from the Subsonic Assessment ( SASS) program which seeks to assess the effects of subsonic aircraft on the environment. The SUCCESS cirrus studies are driven by the FIRE program's continuing examination of the physical properties of cirrus clouds and the processes governing their formation and dissipation. The combination of the two projects in this experiment is necessary because the characteristics of "natural" or nearly pristine cirrus clouds must be known as a control to understand what happens to clouds when aircraft exhaust is injected into the atmosphere.

The SUCCESS research efforts at Langley, headed by Dr.Patrick Minnis, are focused on the use of satellite data for studying contrails. Specifically, the Langley group will be seeking to validate and improve remote sensing of contrails and their impact on cirrus clouds and the radiation budget using satellite data. They will provide satellite support for the SUCCESS mission using the McIDAS system to download, display, and analyze GOES-8, GOES-9, and NOAA AVHRR imagery and other meteorological observations and analyses in near real time for forecasting, mission planning, and experiment evaluation. They will provide hard and electronic copies of visible and infrared imagery for the entire experiment. The imagery will be made available via this homepage each day. High temporal resolution pictures will be placed online as soon as possible during flight days. A single pair of 1800 UTC images will be provided online during other days. A video tape of the imagery will be produced and distributed following the completion of the field phase of the experiment. Multispectral images that highlight the larger contrails will also be provided on line.

The satellite data will be analyzed to produce cloud amount, height, optical depth, phase, and particle size for each GOES or AVHRR pixel during flight days. Contrails will be detected using both subjective and objective techniques applied to the imagery and then compared to surface and aircraft evaluations of the sky conditions. Satellite-derived properties of cirrus and contrails will be compared to those from in situ, lidar/radar, and other aircraft and surface observations. The radiative effects of the contrails and cirrus will be estimated from the satellite radiances.

Datasets and references to contrail analyses will be posted at this site as they become available.

Examples:

Examples of some pre-experiment multispectral images are provided below.

Contrails from AVHRR

Pseudo-color, multispectral AVHRR images taken April 20, 1994 at 1430 UTC, figure1, and 2230 UTC, figure2, from NOAA-12 and NOAA-14, respectively, reveal a considerable number of contrails over Oklahoma, Kansas, and adjacent areas. Most of the contrails observed during the morning, figure1, are short and narrow indicating only minimal growth. During the afternoon, contrails of many different lengths and widths can be seen in the imagery. Some of the contrails probably look more like cirrus as they have grown and diffused. With the aid of the GOES imagery and auxiliary observations during SUCCESS, it will be possile to determine which clouds began as contrails and which most likely began naturally.

Satellite Data:

GOES Imagery:

  1. Figure-Eight Contrail over the Gulf of Mexico in a series of GIF images and as an MPEG movie.
  2. DC-8 Contrail over California.
  3. List showing GOES-8 Satellite Data collected during the Field Experiment.
  4. Overviews: Daily visible and infrared imagery taken near 1845 UT each day during the experiment (shows much of the U.S.)
  5. Experiment Days ; Half hourly visible and infrared images centered on the ARM SGP Central Facility & USA.
  6. Flight Tracks: Satellite imagery with overlayed flight tracks.
  7. Advected Flight Tracks: Satellite imagery with overlayed advected flight tracks from Stefan A. Kinne.

    Cloud Products:

  8. April 1996 IOP via FTP,and revisionhistory.

    NOAA Imagery:

  9. AVHRR data from NOAA-14.

    Results:

  10. Experiment Day results:
    1. 18 Apr 1996
    2. 20 Apr 1996

    References:

    (Select papers available in PDF format. Hardcopies available on request from Pat Minnis.)

    Download PDF Viewer Adobe Logo

    Minnis, P.;Young, D.F.;Garber, D. P.;Nguyen, L.;Smith, W.L.,Jr.; and Palikonda, R.:"Transformation of Contrails into Cirrus during SUCCESS". Geophys. Res. Ltrs., 25, April 15, 1998, pp.1157-1160.
    Minnis, P.;Garber, D. P.;Young, D. F.;Arduini, R. F.;and Takano, Y.:" Parameterization of Reflectance and Effective Emittance for Satellite Remote Sensing of Cloud Properties ". Revision, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, October 1997.
    Minnis, P.;and Smith, W. L., Jr.:" Cloud and Radiative Fields Derived from GOES-8 During SUCCESS and the ARM-UAV Spring 1996 Flight Series ".Geophys. Res. Ltrs., 25, April 15, 1998, pp.1113-1116.
    Young, D.F.;Minnis, P.;Smith, W.L.,Jr.;Palikonda, R.;Nguyen, L.:"Cirrus and Contrail Microphysical Properties Derived From Satellite Data During SUCCESS". Proceeding of the AMS 9th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation, Long Beach, California, February 2-7, 1997, 409-413.
    Young, D. F.;Minnis, P.;Baumgardner, D.;and Gerber, H.:" Comparison of In Situ and Satellite-Derived Cloud Properties During SUCCESS ". Geophys. Res. Ltrs., 25, April 15, 1998, pp.1125-1128.

    Related Web Sites:

  11. Southern Great Plains (SGP) Site Data System (SDS)
  12. SUCCESS Home Page
    This page was last modified on 26 November 2001.