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. Plots and data files of the CLASS and the Denver soundings are included as are plots of the metar stations in the region.

Click on images to enlarge.


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

11 June 1999, Flight 6

Radar and Aircraft Plots

Run 1 (20:36 UTC)
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR, Vertical accelerometers

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR T28 Vertical Acc + INS Vertical Acc T28 Humphrey VertAcc + INS Vertical A cc

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Run 2 (20:50 UTC)
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR, Vertical accelerometers

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR T28 Vertical Acc + INS Vertical Acc T28 Humphrey VertAcc + INS Vertical A cc

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width
Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Run 3 (21:11 UTC)
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR, Vertical accelerometers

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR T28 Vertical Acc + INS Vertical Acc T28 Humphrey VertAcc + INS Vertical A cc

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Run 4 (21:25 UTC)
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR, Vertical accelerometers

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR T28 Vertical Acc + INS Vertical Acc T28 Humphrey VertAcc + INS Vertical A cc

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (5.4 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Run 5 (21:45 UTC)
Reflectivity (6.2 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (6.2 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Run 6 (21:52 UTC)
Reflectivity (6.2 km MSL), Radial Velocity, Spectr um Width, Aircraft Time

Reflectivity + Aircraft Time Radial Velocity + Aircraft Time Spectrum Width + Aircraft Time

Aircraft Altitude, EDR

Aircraft Altitude T28 EDR

Vertical Cross Section
Reflectivity (6.2 km MSL), Vertical: Reflectivity, Radial Velocity, Spectrum Width

Horizontal Reflectivity + Aircraft Ti me XS Reflectivity XS Radial Velocity XS Spectrum Width

Dual-Doppler Plots:

Not available since Pawnee radar was down.

Sounding Plots

Denver 12Z Sounding CLASS 17Z Sounding CLASS 21Z Sounding Denver 00Z Sounding
Data file for 1200 UTC Denver
Data file for 1712 UTC CLASS
Data file for 2141 UTC CLASS
Data file for 0000 UTC Denver

Profiler Data

Data file for Colorado Profiler Data: June 11, 1999
Data file for Colorado Profiler Data: June 12, 1999

Metar Plots

17Z Metar Plot 18Z Metar Plot 19Z Metar Plot 20Z Metar Plot 21Z Metar Plot 22Z Metar Plot 23Z Metar Plot 00Z Metar Plot 01Z Metar Plot 02Z Metar Plot 03Z Metar Plot
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