GV Aircraft Observations during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) Campaign

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) Campaign was conducted in May and June, 2012. It brought together aircraft (NCAR/NSF Gulfstream V, NASA DC-8, DLR Falcon), ground-based radars, lightning mapping arrays, soundings, satellite observations, and state-of-the-art numerical modeling to quantify the impact of deep convection on the composition of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). Studies focused on three areas with research-grade ground-based facilities: Northeastern Colorado, Central and Western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, and Northern Alabama. Aircraft flights of active storms were coordinated to collect data on the composition of the storm inflow and outflow over several hours. In addition, the aircraft sought the outflow of a few storms the following day in order to quantify the atmospheric impacts of the storm outflow. A couple of MCSs were sampling including one case of a decaying nocturnal MCS whose outflow was measured sequentially by the DC-8 and the GV over a 12-hour period.

The flights of and observations from the GV platform are the focus of this presentation. This is to place these activities in the context of the entire DC3 campaign.