By using the poleward lowering of the tropopause, we would use the range and altitude capabilities of HIAPER to sample the descending stratospheric air along the entire length of a winter CONUS Pacific cold front.
Mission: Boulder/Fairbanks round trip unfueled (~10 hours). HIAPER receives real time map analysis via satcomm and proceeds north. As the tropopause will be below 45,000 ft., it will identify frontal surface and folded structures with dropsondes and in situ sampling. HIAPER sounds from the surface to the top of the trop every 30 minutes including two frontal cross sections at 5,000 and 15,000 ft about 100 n mi in length.
Payload:
| * Dropsonde and operator | 275 lbs. |
| * Mass Spectrometer and operator | 1000 lbs. |
| * Aerosol Suite and operator | 800 lbs. |
| * Project Leader | 170 lbs. |
| * H20 and 03 Lidar | 600 lbs. |
| * Operator | 170 lbs. |
| Total Science Payload | 3,015 lbs. |
| Mission mileage | 4000 n mi |
| Crew | 7 |