Cook Plant preoperational studies, 1969 / John C. Ayers ... [et al.].

WILLOW RUN OVERFLIGHT

Ground Truth Conditions for Willow Run Overflight
On 11 August 1969 an aircraft from the University's Willow Run Laboratories
made a multi-spectral remote sensing overflight of part of the eastern shore of
Lake Michigan from Michigan City, Indiana, to a point north of the Cook plant.
The flight plan for this overflight called for a flight traverse along the
shore from Michigan City northward to a point beyond the Cook plant, and a second
flight traverse crossing the Cook plant perpendicular to the shore on a lakeward
heading. At the time of this flight we occupied a series of six stations in
depths from 4 feet to 69 feet and at distances of 200 feet to 2.25 miles off the
shore. At three of these stations, CP-1, CP-2, and CP-3 water temperature, depth,
water color, and water transparency were measured and phytoplankton collections
were made. At Stations CP-1 and CP-2 drogues numbers 3 and 0 were drifted to
obtain surface currents. Depth, water color, and water temperature were also
obtained at Stations CP-4 through CP-6. The major part of the results from
these stations is presented in Figure 28.
Depths between Stations CP-1 and CP-3 are shown along the boat's path;
also shown are the direction of movement of drogues #/ and #3. Though the
velocity of these drogues are not shown in the figure, they are discussed below.
August 11th was a day of northwest breeze after a substantial northwest
blow and as a result the boat experienced a southward set from current. The
southeastward current responsible for the set is shown by the 0.36 mph movement
of drogue #0 from Station CP-2. Drogue #/3, set at Station CP-1, first moved to
the southeast then apparently was caught in a narrow alongshore current and
carried northward to Station CP-6 where it was recovered aground in 4 feet of
water. Not knowing how long it had been aground, no velocity for drogue #3 was
crmputed. Once the current set was realized from the movement of drogue #0,
t c beat returned to the front of the plant site at CP-4 and ran a corrected
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