March 9
    The ACE science team leaves Eureka. I was sad to see everybody go. All the activity at the lab was fun, the foxes not as good company and the polar bears are distinctly unfriendly.
    I am now left alone at the lab to run the DA8 spectrometer and monitor the U of T spectrometer. There are still eight staff of the weather station, 15 km away at the bottom of the mountain.

March 10-13
    The sun is getting higher each day. Where are all my friends?

March 14
    I got brave and decided to investigate the air circulation system in the lab to see if I could cool off the lab containing the U of T spectrometer. It turns out to be far more complicated than I first thought; Involving 5 thermostats of 3 different types in 2 different rooms, 3 master breakers, and 4 different circulation fans. I eventually figured it all out so I could control the temperature in the “U of T lab”. Unfortunately the fruits of my efforts were to be mostly wasted...

March 15
    Today I first noticed problems with the U of T spectrometer. There was almost no useful data from now until March 29.

March 16-19
    I am now running the DA8 and getting used to being here alone. I am also trying various experiments trying to get the U of T spectrometer running again and seriously contemplating the merits of just tossing the thing off the roof. Sorry Annemarie.

March 20
    After much back and forth between Annemarie and me, we decided to take the spectrometer off the roof and investigate. It takes two people to get the spectrometer down, so I recruited the help of Paul Loewen, an engineer from the University of Saskatchewan. We had what were probably the worst conditions in weeks to work outdoors. The temperature was below -40 C and the wind was very brisk. The “dome” was sealed remarkably well and required all the strength of both of us to pry off. When we got the spectrometer down and taken apart, the shutter was very obviously broken. Consequently we put the spare (that is old) shutter in, hoping it would work better. Tests in the lab were positive. We decided that it was too cold and windy to put the spectrometer back on the roof

March 21
    An honest to goodness full day off, ahh…

March 22
    Today we put the spectrometer back on the roof. It was a much more pleasant day for working outside since the frostbite time was greater than 30 seconds.
    Today was too cloudy for DA8 measurements again so I worked around the lab and monitored the U of T spectrometer. There have been some problems with the toilets flushing slowly or having to be plunged in order to flush. I did my best to solve this, but without much success.

March 23
    Ken Kehler, who is a weather station inspector, came up to visit the lab today and see if he could calibrate our anemometer. He discovered that the wind speed measurements were completely disconnected so he could not get them working in the short time he had.
    Today the sewer pipes in the building completely froze. The showers and toilets would not drain. There were also intermittent power outages in the morning.

March 24
    The replacement shutter for the U of T spectrometer seems to have jammed open. This initiated a desperate scramble to get a new shutter up to Eureka for the March 28 produce flight.
    Two of the weather station staff came up to the lab to try to unfreeze the sewer pipes.
    I came up to the lab after diner to take some observations with the DA8 concurrent with the ozone sonde launch.

March 25
    The guys from the weather station finally got the sewage pipes to drain again after dismantling most of the sewer system and using up almost all of my water reserves running hot water through the pipes.

March 26 - 27
    Running the DA8 and waiting for the new shutter to arrive

March 28
    The regular produce flight which was supposed to arrive today was delayed because the food did not arrive in Resolute on time. This is fairly common in the arctic where all schedules necessarily have a degree of flexibility to them. I also took the day off.

March 29
    The produce flight arrived today with the new shutter for the U of T spectrometer. There was a bit of last minute confusion at the station and I was initially told there was nothing for me on the plane. A closer inspection of the food parcels revealed that one of them was the shutter I had been waiting for.

March 30 – April 4
    We are all preparing for the arrival of the Canadian Rangers sovereignty patrol. There are twenty people coming from Resolute Bay on snowmobiles. The trip will take them four days. Eight of them will then continue on to CFS Alert.

April 5
    A plane load of media arrived this morning to meet the rangers. The Rangers pulled in to Eureka around dinner time. It was quite a show with twenty loud snowmobiles zooming around. With the rangers, their support team and the media here there are 50 extra people at the station. That’s more than they have ever had here in the 50 year history of the station. I was banished to sleep at the lab while everybody is here, but I still come down to the station for diner. It seems like a foreign place. Every nook and cranny of the station is full of people.

April 6
    I gave a tour of the lab to about 15 interested media people including an on camera interview for a few of them. The tour went well and I think it will be a good thing to increase AStrO/PEARL’s profile in the public consciousness.

April 7-8
    Things are wrapping up with the media and I am finally allowed to move back in at the weather station

April 9-13
    Things are back to normal operations again. Now it is time to start thinking of packing up and shutting down the lab for the season again. It is getting much brighter these days so I am getting out hiking and Rose Rock hunting much more.

April 14
    In the last few days the U of T spectrometer shutter is again having intermittent problems. It seems to be getting stuck open.
    I took observations with the DA8 late into the evening to compare with the ozonesonde.

April 15
    The last day of observations for both the U of T spectrometer and the DA8

April 16-17
    These are the last two full days for me in Eureka. I am now packing up the instruments and shutting down the lab for the season

April 18
    The scheduled Charter from Resolute was delayed by a day

April 19
    Flight from Eureka to Resolute Bay

April 20
    I visited the school in Resolute bay and gave them an old scanner from AStrO.

April 21
    Flight from Resolute Bay to Ottawa

April 22
    Flight from Ottawa to Toronto.
    I arrive home at last. It’s been a good trip