Abstract:
The Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment was a NASA Earth science field experiment conducted August 5 to September 30, 2010. The major goal was to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. NASA used the DC-8 aircraft, the WB-57 aircraft and the Global Hawk Unmanned Airborne System (UAS), configured with a suite of in situ and remote
... sensing instruments that were used to observe and characterize the lifecycle of hurricanes. This campaign also capitalized on a number of ground networks and space-based assets, in addition to the instruments deployed on aircraft from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida ( DC-8), Houston, Texas (WB-57), and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, California (Global Hawk).
The MMS provides high-resolution and accurate meteorological parameters (pressure, temperature, turbulence index, and the 3-dimensional wind vector). The MMS hardware consists of 3 major systems: an air-motion sensing system to measure air velocity with respect to the aircraft, an aircraft-motion sensing system to measure the aircraft velocity with respect to the earth, and a data acquisition system to sample, process, and record the measured quantities. In addition to making the in flight measurements, a major and necessary step is the post mission systematic calibration and data processing. The primary data set consists of 1 Hz meteorological data (P, T, 3D winds). The secondary data set at 20 Hz includes the meteorological data and additional parameters such as Potential-Temperature; True-Air-Speed; aircraft GPS position, velocities, attitudes, acceleration and air flow data (angle-of-attack, sideslip). 
