The Turbulence Characterization and Detection (TCAD) Program

The TCAD field program was conducted near Greeley, Colorado during June 1999. Participating agencies included the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the AlliedSignal Corporation, the Rockwell-Collins Corporation, the Colorado State University (CSU) and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SOM). Three aircraft participated: the Rockwell-Collins Sabreliner, the South Dakota T-28, and the AlliedSignal Convair 580. The CSU CHILL and Pawnee Doppler radars provided ground-based radar support. The NCAR Mobile CLASS van took daily soundings.

The links below are to the Operations Summary and to the data sets collected for each flight. Plots and data files of the Colorado Profilers, the CLASS and the Denver soundings are included as are regional plots of the metar data.


WWW address: http://www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/nasa_turb/turb.html



Operations Summary for the TCAD Field Program

A summary of the operations is provided in the PDF format documents below. The size of each file is indicated in parentheses.

Introduction, part 1 (0.2 MBytes)
Introduction, part 2 (0.2 MBytes)
June 2-7 (1.4 MBytes)
June 8-12 (1.3 MBytes)
June 13-17 (1.1 MBytes)
June 18-21 (1.1 MBytes)
June 22-25 (1.0 MBytes)

Click here for a map of the TCAD operations region. The map is also in the Introduction of the Operations Summary.


TCAD Data Sets

The priority of each case is shown below. These pages are in constant revision (until further notice). Check them frequently.

***Recommended reading: Important information about TCAD data sets

04 June 1999 (Flight 2): priority = none
05 June 1999 (Flight 3): priority = 6 for Run 4
09 June 1999 (Flight 4): priority = 5 for Run 4
11 June 1999 (Flight 6): priority = 7 for all Runs
11 June 1999 (Flight 7): priority = 1 for Run 2
12 June 1999 (Flight 8): priority = 9
14 June 1999 (Flight 9): priority = 2 for Run 6
14 June 1999 (Flight 10): priority =
17 June 1999 (Flight 11): priority = 3 for Run 4
17 June 1999 (Flight 12): priority =
18 June 1999 (Flight 13): priority = none
19 June 1999 (Flight 14): priority = none
20 June 1999 (Flight 15): priority = 4
20 June 1999 (Flight 16): priority = 4
21 June 1999 (Flight 17): priority = none
21 June 1999 (Flight 18): priority = none
22 June 1999 (Flight 19): priority = 8
22 June 1999 (Flight 20): priority = 8
25 June 1999 (Flight 21): priority = none

Dual-Doppler Analysis Data Sets

14 June 1999
17 June 1999



Link to the South Dakota School of Mines TCAD Project Report (PDF format)

T-28 Web page


Cheyenne NEXRAD Movies for TCAD

Reflectivity and radial velocity movies are shown from the Cheyenne NEXRAD, when available, for those days with flights.

04 June 1999, Reflectivity
04 June 1999, Radial velocity
05 June 1999, Reflectivity
05 June 1999, Radial velocity
09 June 1999, Reflectivity
09 June 1999, Radial velocity
10 June 1999, Reflectivity
10 June 1999, Radial velocity
11 June 1999, Reflectivity
11 June 1999, Radial velocity
14 June 1999, Reflectivity
14 June 1999, Radial velocity



Example of Aircraft Tracks

Aircraft tracks are superimposed over composite reflectivity images. These images illustrate the effect of weather on aviation routes (This is not related to TCAD).

0200 UTC on 30 June 1998
0300 UTC on 30 June 1998
0400 UTC on 30 June 1998
0500 UTC on 30 June 1998

Other Links of Interest

NCAR/RAP Real-Time Weather Page
NEXRAD movie loops
Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)
NCAR/MMM Real-Time MM5
National Convective Weather Forecast - 1999
CSU-CHILL: 1999 Turbulence Project Home P age


Latest Denver Sounding (click on image to enlarge)
Latest Denver Sounding




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Web Page Author: Cathy Kessinger