Leveling out the aerosol layers

In the forecast for today no clouds were predicted and so we - the aerosol guys - were in charge of the flight pattern. At 11am sharp D-HARO took off to pick up SMART-HELIOS and 140 m of rope later ACTOS. 
 
ACTOS waiting to be picked up
First we flew a profile up to 7000 ft and saw a sharp inversion level at about 2500 ft and another weaker one between 5500 and 6500 ft. At the first inversion shallow Cumulus humilis started to form. At highest altitude we flew a radiation square or better a triangle as the wind pushed us towards the island. The view today was great. Pico was visible again, but this time also the other islands São Jorge and Terceira showed up. 
 
Graciosa with São Jorge and Pico Island in the background (Picture by Birgit)



Coming from 7000 ft we dipped into the upper inversion layer and climbed afterwards to 6500 ft again. This was followed by level flights in three different heights and a dolphin flight into the stronger lower inversion layer. The pilots seemed to lack a bit the entertainment they got the last days during the cloud flights, but at the end of our flight we spotted a group of whales. Not comparable to the dynamics of clouds, but nevertheless a cool thing to happen. We hope to find out which kind we saw from the GoPro pictures! Great flight again followed by a soft touch down of the instruments.

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