��ƷSM����ӰƬ

 IRISS flight crews were busy during the entire month of July for the MITTEN-CI field campaign. The Maritime to Inland Transitions Toward Environments for Convective Initiation (MITTEN-CI) is an NSF-funded research project led by Principal Investigator from Central Michigan University (CMU), with collaborators from ��ƷSM����ӰƬ, University of Illinois, Texas Tech University (TTU), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

Dr. Keeler's goal for the MITTEN-CI campaign is "to develop the most thorough understanding to date of transitions in near-surface thermodynamic and wind profile structure due to inland movement of marine air in the Great Lakes coastal environment, and resultant impacts on thunderstorm development. Understanding such transitions and their implications for thunderstorms has substantial broader impacts, given the significant portion of the human population that lives in coastal areas. Hypotheses are developed to target novel aspects of near-shore thunderstorm development and evolution of near-surface profiles of temperature, humidity, and wind that have received relatively little attention and enable operations under a wide range of background weather patterns, resulting in a high probability of success in the campaign’s goals.” 

The campaign is focused in southwestern Michigan, from the shore near Holland and running about 75 mi (120 km) east to near Lansing. The original plan was for the IRISS RAAVEN to fly profiles to sample the lake breeze over the waters of Lake Michigan before the air moves inland. Finding beach access for RAAVEN operations proved impossible, so IRISS Associate Director and MITTEN-CI co-PI, Dr. Gijs de Boer, developed a plan to deploy the InterMet CopterSonde 3 (CS3) as a profiling substitute for the RAAVEN. A few weeks before the campaign kickoff, Dr. de Boer negotiated with the city of Wyoming, MI to obtain shore access at the city’s water intake and treatment facility. In the video below, IRISS Pilot and recent Smead Graduate Ryan Downey is shown sending the CS3 on its mission to fly 300 m offshore, then climb to 610 m before returning to land at the takeoff location. 

 

With his CS3 purchase, de Boer became “CS3 Customer #1.” de Boer said “While the RAAVEN provides us with a different and somewhat larger set of measurements, it requires a significantly larger operations area than CS3. We have watched the University of Oklahoma-led development of the CS3 over the past several years and the company is eager for us to share our operational notes at the conclusion of the campaign.” IRISS Engineering Manager and Chief Pilot Michael Rhodes added “The MITTEN-CI campaign has been an all-hands-on-deck effort involving several combinations of IRISS staff and RECUV students to maintain CS3 operations for the entire month of July – we will tally over 300 CS3 flights.” 

The MITTEN-CI campaign concluded on 31 July.