70 years of Atmospheric research flying timeline ... - Met Office

1973Canberra detached to Colorado to investigate momentum flux transfer.1974Installation of an ‘on-board data-processing system’ on Snoopy.This was the first airborne computer for scientific purposes in MRF. Prior to this aircraftdata was recorded manually by observers, or on charts, and the subsequent processing was also largely manual. It had been realised for some time that a radical improvement in aircraft data-processing facilities was essential if further scientific progress was to bemade. This was achieved with the installation of a computer, which was able to recorddata from the meteorological sensors on tape to be processed after the flight using a ground-based computer. The computer was installed in the observers cabin (or van) inthe Hercules. The van protected observers in it from aircraft noise, and provided realtime displays to scientists in the van and on the flight deck. It could also be removedfrom the aircraft during period of major servicing.1974MRF participates in the GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlantic TropicalExperiment (GATE) field campaign, one of the largest international meteorologicalcampaigns ever seen.The aim of this field campaign was to study convective clouds and related processes inthe tropical Atlantic. Back in the Cold War period, this was a fine example of theinternational collaborative nature of meteorology, bringing together 72 different nations© Crown copyright 201218