TOGA COARE AIRCRAFT MISSION SUMMARY IMAGES - AN ELECTRONIC ATLAS

An electronic atlas of research aircraft missions in TOGA COARE (Tropi cal Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experime nt) has been prepared and is available on the Internet via World Wide Web browsers such as Mosaic. These maps are in the form of time sequen ces of color imagery assembled using the NCAR Zebra software. Initial versions of these maps were prepared in the field at the TOGA COARE Ho niara Operations Center to aid in the evaluation of each aircraft miss ion immediately after it was flown. The maps prepared in the field hav e been updated, corrected, and remapped at standard scales and with co mmon color schemes. They show the meteorological setting of sampling b y all seven aircraft participating in TOGA COARE-the two NOAA WP-3D ai rcraft, the NCAR Electra, the FIAMS C-340, the UK C-130, and the NASA DC-8 and ER-2-by overlaying flight tracks, GMS satellite infrared data , and NOAA WP-SD airborne radar images. The map sequences are combined with text of scientists' notes and other background information on th e research flights to form a summary of each aircraft mission. The res ulting aircraft mission summaries are intended as a road map to the CO ARE aircraft dataset. They indicate where and when data were collected and the meteorological context for those data. As an electronic docum ent, the atlas of aircraft mission summaries is available on demand, a nd it is dynamic: as further information becomes available, the missio n summaries will continue to be added to and updated as appropriate, a nd new releases will be issued periodically.