Highlights• Possible Flow Reversal - Precipitation Chances Rise• Twin Otter & G-1 flying today. All up tomorrow.• VOC Intercomparison Study

Inside• Upcoming Events• Restaurant Review - Bay Area Blvd. Gumbo• Thoughts for the day

The Daily Plan-itChinese Proverb - May You Live in Interesting TimesChinese Proverb - May You Live in Interesting Times

Late Breaking News Flash

Telephones at the SWS Hangar!!!Praise be to TNRCC’s money andCathy Burgdorf’s persistence!• DOE G-1 - 281 922-5064• Baylor Twin Otter - 281 922-4678• Fax - 281 922-4723

Weather Wizards

Texas A&M University studentsKarl Schulze, and Stephanie Naumannprovided the weather forecasts today.Evidently, today’s anticipated landbreeze was disappointingly weak tononexistent overnight. The good newsis that precipitation chances remainrelatively low (probabilities in the teensthis late PM) as the air continues to berelatively dry aloft. The light south-southeasterly winds this AM shouldenhance the afternoon bay breeze thisafternoon.

Dick McNider did the ozoneforecast this afternoon - a frighteningconcept in and of itself - whichsuggested that ozone would peakdowntown and the near north side ofthe city. Based on the 3 to 4 PMozone readings, it appears that ozonewas highest (140-150 ppbv) justsoutheast of downtown and over thewestern part of the ship channel. Onehour later (4 to 5 PM), the ozone

appeared to have moved further westwith the downtown ozone beingtitrated by fresh NO.

According to the afternoon metupdate, tomorrow should be much thesame as today with - perhaps - agreater likelihood of the landbreeze/bay breeze one-two punch.

There is an increased probability ofprecipitation this evening and thenagain tomorrow evening.

The macroscale circulation pattern -providing a south-southeast flowabove the boundary layer - is stilldominated by a high-pressure ridgerunning form the Carolinas throughcentral Louisiana.

Electra N308D

Following the day-into-night flightyesterday evening, the NOAA/NCARElectra did not fly today but isplanning for a land to sea breezecharacterization flight tomorrow(Tuesday, August 22) beginning atabout 12 noon and lasting for about 6hours. The preliminary flight plans callfor a series of east-west oriented legsbeginning south of Houston along theGulf and proceeding northward acrossHouston and the ship channel and thento the north of Houston. All flightswill be in the mixed layer at altitudes of2, 3.5, and 5k feet msl. Best news ofall, for many, is that the airconditioning is fixed!

G-1 N701BN

A morning flight is planned for theG-1 on Tuesday, August, 22. Theflight will have a 9:30 AM takeoff withsampling concentrated to the southand west of Ellington including several

The TexAQS 2000Field Study Newsletter

Issue 7August 21, 2000

What a difference a day makes!Downtown Houston from the west

traverses over Galveston Bay and theship channel. The G-1 will also passby the Williams Tower and cross the I-10 corridor. Profiles will be doneover the Bay and over land. Theexpected flight duration is 2:45 hours.

DC-3 N56KS

Following yesterday’s 5.5 hour flightover Houston and to the east -evidently all the way to westernLouisiana - the DC-3 will not flytoday. The maximum reported ozonewas approximately 150 ppbv over theBaytown area. Christoph Senffreported a “very polluted, hazy layerof air” over southeast Texas.Christoph also reported that theirflying time is limited not by the plane -which can fly for 9 to 10 hours at 130knots - but by the laser which can onlyoperate at spec for 5 to 6 hours atmost. This laser efficiency, however,represents, a substantial improvementover last year’s Nashville missionswhich were restricted to 3 to 4 hours.

Highlights from previous day’sflight - On Sunday, August 20th theDC-3 flew a criss-cross pattern overand north of the Houston metro area.The pattern consisted of multiple E-Wflight legs of varying length. Thesouthernmost flight leg was locatedjust a few miles south of EllingtonField, while the northernmost transectwas about 30 nautical miles north ofHouston. The highest ozoneconcentrations of around 150 ppbvwere found approx. 15 nautical milesNE of Baytown in the same generalarea where the G-1 had encounteredvery high ozone values the day before.The mixed layer was up to 2500 mdeep.

Tentative flight plan for Tuesday -For Tuesday, August 22nd a mission tostudy pollution levels near the seabreeze front is planned. We will fly acouple of small box patternsperpendicular to the sea breeze front.Each pattern will be repeated a few

times. As the sea breeze migratesinland we will change the location andorientation of our flight patternsaccordingly. The flight will be at10,500 feet msl. Projected takeoff is11:30 AM and the duration of theflight will be about 4 hours.

Twin Otter N153BU

Tomorrow, conditions willing, theTwin Otter will fly two bay breezecharacterization flights - one in theearly morning to characterize inflowand one in the afternoon tocharacterize flow reversal conditions.

VOC Intercomparison

A number of investigators areattempting to characterize the complexmix of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) that are present in theHouston air. Several groups will becollecting canister samples for analysisby either GC/FID or GC/MS:

• Bill Lonneman, EPA -Baylor/TNRCC Twin Otter, ambientand source samples

• Paul Doskey, Argonne NationalLab - Willliams Tower

• Jochen Rudolph, York University -DOE G-1

• Elliot Atlas, NCAR/NOAAElectra

• TNRCC/Austin - PAMS sites• University of Texas - SuperSites,• STL (Sevren Trent Labs) - HRM

sites.• In addition there are several groups

conducting in-situ VOC analyses using avariety of techniques:

• Paul Golden, NCAR/NOAAElectra

• Armin Hansel, University ofInnsbruck & NCAR/NOAA Electra

• Bill Kuster, NOAA - La Porte• Tom Jobson, NOAA - LaPorte• Thomas Karl, University of

Innsbruck - La Porte• TNRCC PAMS sites

• Dan Reimer, University of Miami- La Porte

A series of parallel analyses areplanned for the TexAQS to evaluatethe comparability of the data analyzedby the various techniques beingemployed. Eric Apel of NCAR andDan Reimer of the University ofMiami have circulated a series ofstandards and whole-air samplesamong this group prior to thebeginning of the study. In addition,canister samples will be collected at LaPorte every second day during thestudy, beginning this Wednesday, andcirculated for analysis among thevarious groups listed above. A total often such comparisons are planned.

This group will be meeting weeklyat the study headquarters at Ellingtonto discuss early results. The nextmeeting is scheduled for next Tuesday,August 29 at 3:00 PM. The VOCcomparison is being coordinated byEric Apel of NCAR, Dan Reimer ofthe University of Miami, and JimMeagher of NOAA.

Upcoming Events

Aerosol Group Meeting - EveryTuesday at 2:00 PM (Ellington,CapRock Building)

LaPorte Team Meeting - EveryTuesday at 3:00 PM (Ellington,CapRock Building)

Science Overview Meeting -Tuesday, August 22nd - 8:00 PM(Ellington, CapRock Building)

Media Day - Thursday, August 24th -2:00 PM (Ellington, SouthwestServices)

VIP Day - Wednesday, August 30th

(Ellington, Southwest Services)

The Garrulous Gourmet - BayArea Gumbo

Numerous local recommendationsby Ken Rozacky’s cousin, Dianne

Heitmann. Here is a compendium, averitable plethora, of diningpossibilities in the SoutheastHouston/Clear Lake area.

Perry’s Grill (487 Bay AreaBoulevard). Great for steak and aworld famous “mile high” pork chop- the pork chop from hell.

Tommy’s Patio Café (2555 BayArea Boulevard). Seafood just likeNew Orleans. Known for best crabcakes in town and a “to-die-for”bread pudding. There’s even Cajunmusic on Wednesday and Saturdayevenings.

La Familia (NASA One).Wonderful Tex-Mex & goodmargarita’s. All entrees under $10.

Italian Café (4622 NASA One -Next to Arlan’s). Bring your ownbeverage (he has the corkscrew andglasses) and let Frank prepare agourmet meal. Chicken Picatta &Eggplant Parmigan are great.

Franco’s (1101 E. NASA One).Great pizza and a wonderful buffetsalad bar.

Laura’s Tea Room (2339 BayArea Blvd. next to the TLC Shop).For the more refined amongst us, haswonderful salads, quick lunches &desserts.

T-Bone Tom’s Meat MarketSteakhouse Restaurant (707Highway 146). Good bar-be-que andhas awesome chicken fried steak - youcan almost feel your arteries closing offas you eat!

Miller’s Café (2403 Bay Area Blvd.Near Kroger). Has the worlds best &greasiest hamburgers, fries, and onionrings. They will make you sweat.

Ashley’s Donuts (2160 Bay AreaBlvd.) Best donuts in town and theyeven have beignets.

And finally, the piece de resistance (tobe spoken with a snooty Frenchaccent)… Mother’s Laundry Room

(3146 E. NASA One). It’s unique.Wash & dry to classical music, sip yourwine (that you bought next door atSpec’s) and watch the news or playpool & video games. The proprietor(Larry) will also do your wash andhave your dry cleaning done.

Thoughts for the Day

For Dick McNider

“I’ve got a Caribbean soul I can barelycontrol and some Texas hidden here inmy heart…”

–Jimmy Buffett

“For a moment, nothing happened.Then, after a second or so, nothingcontinued to happen.”

“(His) study was a total mess, like theresults of an explosion in a publiclibrary.”

–Douglas Adams