The fourth Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX-4) was a field experiment conducted from 16 August to 24 September 2001 based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida. CAMEX-4 was a collaboration between NASA, NOAA Hurricane Research Division, and the United States Weather Research Program, and was the fourth in a series of similar field experiments. CAMEX-4 studied the development, tracking, intensification, and landfalling impacts of tropical cyclones (hurricanes). NASA-funded aircraft flew over, through, and around several different hurricanes in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the east coast of the United States. CAMEX-4 yielded high amounts of spatial and temporal information about hurricane structure, dynamics, and motion.

The primary objective of CAMEX-4 was to improve hurricane predictions and remote sensing of hurricanes. The results from this objective refined the size of necessary coastal evacuation areas and created additional warning time for evacuation in those areas. The secondary objective of CAMEX-4 was to investigate thunderstorm structure, precipitation systems, and atmospheric water vapor profiles. This second objective led to the establishment of a project that addressed these areas of interest within the CAMEX-4 mission called the Keys Area Microphysics Project (KAMP).

The primary aircraft platforms used during CAMEX-4 were the NASA Douglas DC-8 and the NASA Lockheed ER-2. The DC-8 was equipped with both in-situ and remote sensing instruments to measure values such as cloud and aerosol particle size and shape, water vapor volume and mixing ratio, and atmospheric temperature. The ER-2 obtained in-situ and remotely sensed measurements of values such as precipitation and in-situ ozone. In addition to the DC-8 and ER-2, CAMEX-4 utilized a series of several uninhabited aerial vehicles called the AEROSONDE to measure in-situ atmospheric temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and winds. A series of rawinsondes and radiosondes, called the Andros Island Sondes, measured vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. Satellite observations from the QuikSCAT, Terra, and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellites were used in airborne data validation and comparison.

The ASDC houses CAMEX-4 data from the enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) onboard the ER-2.

CAMEX-4 Project Page