010928 Radar and Sounding Operation Status

The radar operated continuously without problems.  Another active day 
across the radar sampling domain with period of heavy showers at the 
ship.  Similar to other days, the activity increased overnight with 
several bands forming along convergence boundaries.  One of these 
convergence boundaries passed over the ship around 15Z and was 
detected by a large change in wind direction.  Following the typical 
pattern, the echo areas eventually merged into a large region of 
stratiform precipitation with embedded convective line features 
forming along outflow boundaries.  The C-130 contacted the ship 
around 18:30Z in the midst of the activity but stayed out of radar 
range to the north.  The activity started to wane in the vicinity of 
the ship late in the day.

Precipitation at launch time inhibited the 00, 16 and 20Z soundings 
from reaching the tropopause.