Abstract:
The NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) campaign is a field
research investigation sponsored by the Science Mission Directorate of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This mission was based in
the Cape Verde Islands, 350 miles off the coast of Senegal in west Africa.
Commencing in August 2006, NASA scientists
... employed surface observation
networks and aircraft to characterize the evolution and structure of African
Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Mesoscale Convective Systems over continental western
Africa, and their associated impacts on regional water and energy budgets. NASA
will also made extensive use of its orbiting satellites (including Aqua, TRMM,
and the recently-launched Cloudsat/CALIPSO) and modeling capabilities to
improve its forecasts and flight plans.
The DC-8 Information Collection and Transmission System (ICATS) processes and
archives avionics and environmental parameters from the Navigational Management
System, GPS, Central Air Data Computer, Embedded GPS/INS, and analog voltage
sources from the aircraft and experimenters. They include measurement of
aircraft parameters such as airspeed, altitude, roll/pitch/yaw angles, ground
speed, flight level wind speed, temperature and many others. These data files
were generated during support of the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary
Analyses (NAMMA) campaign. 
