DABEX wash-up meeting Exeter, March 30th, 2006

Hotel accommodation: Good accommodation for personnel: The Grand Hotel: Comfortable and clean. Secure Some less pleasant rooms (bungalows) were swapped at the beginning of operations. The terrace served as the main socialising area/meeting area for informal meetings during the day and in the evening. Only a few personnel reported sick with stomach bugs/flu. © Crown copyright 2004

The hotel is centrally located © Crown copyright 2004

Terrace: © Crown copyright 2004

Hotel and pool: © Crown copyright 2004

Good accommodation for:- Flight planning. Hotel accommodation: Good accommodation for:- Flight planning. The second largest meeting room provided an excellent room for flight planning/briefing/ debriefing. The cost was around £180/day, but is well worth it for the convenience and practicality. © Crown copyright 2004

Operations centre: Air conditioning x2 Notice board Floods Flip-charts © Crown copyright 2004

Weather boards on the walls: © Crown copyright 2004

A massive room is also available (but expensive): © Crown copyright 2004

The communications were a problem: RBGAN system was a godsend VSAT did not work 1st WiFi link only worked for a few days 2nd WiFi link was excellent and relatively inexpensive (~£500 for three weeks, 256kb/sec) IRD office provided us with access (keys can be cut for £2/key) as the ultimate back-up. © Crown copyright 2004

Microwave WiFi antenna looked as though it might fall down, but never did (maybe more problem in SOP2/3) © Crown copyright 2004

Vsat Vsat satellite dish was too small to get a reasonable signal. © Crown copyright 2004

FAAM have purchased an RBGAN system. It is slow (128kb/sec contested ~ 50kb/sec), and expensive (~$5/Mb), but essential if all else fails. © Crown copyright 2004

Down sides Be prepared for:- Power outages that can occur at anytime – sometimes the WiFi links will need resetting. Make sure that you know how to do this. Fuse box is in the room next to the meeting room and sometimes needed resetting. Make sure that you download and know how to use the RBGAN system. It will work outside or with an aerial (DFL) it will work inside. Mosquitos! They were a constant nuisance – ensure that the room has the electrical fumigators. Keys! There is only a single key for the room, which cannot be copied (security type key). Ensure that the last person out drops it with reception. © Crown copyright 2004

Operations at the airport: Only limited use of the airport was made:- Morning pre-flight briefing was either at the foot of the old control tower or in the ASECNA classroom. Engineers room. Toilet. The rooms on the first floor were in the process of being refurbished, but were not necessary for SOP-0. Flight plan filing, though the DFL flight planning was done at the hotel. © Crown copyright 2004

Engineer’s room © Crown copyright 2004

Met Building Toilet Refurbished rooms Engineer’s room Met classroom © Crown copyright 2004

The DFL room at the airport (telephone lines were a problem) © Crown copyright 2004

The ARM site. Mike has a full set of spares – also a small room which could be used for instrument rectification. Could be very useful. © Crown copyright 2004

Problem areas/tips: airport The president travels a lot and has other presidents round for tea – the AIRPORT CAN CLOSE. There is nothing that you can do about this. Relations – Mr Boukari and Mr Moumouni can smooth things over for you. We flew both of them, but they may want another flight in summer if possible. Very few flights in and out of the airfield. The best airport that I’ve ever worked at in terms of access and ease of operations. © Crown copyright 2004

Transport: Big hotel bus – the hotel buses were unreliable © Crown copyright 2004

Hotel flat bed © Crown copyright 2004

Abou (Mr Corpse!) and his dedicated bus …. © Crown copyright 2004

Use a dedicated mini-bus driver Transport tips Use a dedicated mini-bus driver Some taxi drivers are very good and inexpensive – e.g. Amadou The taxi drivers from the hotel are OK to use (more expensive, but reliable and will wait for you for a very modest fee) © Crown copyright 2004

Mobile phones We issued everyone with a mobile phone. Some were on the ASECNA network which means that calls to other phones on the network are free. They save a lot of time and effort. You’ve got a lot of swapping of staff. Suggest that you periodically clone the SIM and update all of the phones. © Crown copyright 2004

MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THIS MEETING! Flight plan details Time (UTC) Action Location 0500 Aircraft scientists start final planning (hotel – WiFi) Hotel 0600 Breakfast and to airport (transport – hotel bus?) 0700 Briefing to the instrument scientists and air-crew Airport 0900 Bae146 aircraft take off (F20 a little later) 1030 F20 aircraft take off *TERRA 1030 1400 BAe146 Landing/F20 landing *AQUA 1330 1430 Debrief 1730 Briefing at hotel for the forthcoming flight. MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THIS MEETING! Niamey Tmax=36C, Tmin=18C. © Crown copyright 2004

Flight planning Involved: Cloud (ECMWF forecasts, satellite nowcasts) Aerosol fields CAMM mineral dust NAME biomass burning & mineral dust & specials AERONET (nowcast) ECMWF dust product (nowcast in forecast mode) CHIMERE and LMD-Z model Satellite overpasses (MODIS, MISR, MOPPITT) Instrument serviceability © Crown copyright 2004

A perfect day for us ……

Example of ECMWF forecasts © Crown copyright 2004

Aircraft Flight patterns: Satellites Replaced by ULA F20 Free troposphere BAe146 Overlying dust ATR-42 Underlying biomass burning aerosol Surface sites AMF CIMELS

Radiative closure flights © Crown copyright 2004

DABEX: satellite overpasses

DABEX flight summary

B168 aged biomass B161 dust and biomass B166 Nigeria B166 Nigeria

Problem areas/tips: aircraft operations Air conditioning was extremely effective! Temperature was down to 5-10C on the ground. The aircraft temperature was a problem continually during the flying – the cabin and front of the aircraft get extremely warm (35C), which is uncomfortable. The ATC are helpful, but have a limited command of English and a limited radio contact range (HF, VHF) – increases the pilot workload. Clearances – we failed to get clearance for Burkina, but got clearances for all other airspace. However the ATC in other countries (e.g. Nigeria) are frequently bemused by our operations. Down days: there’s sensible interpretation of down days and “other’s” interpretation. Make sure that it’s plainly understood that attendance at the evening brief is expected – it’s by far the best way to disseminate information. © Crown copyright 2004