How long can the wind keep blowing this hard...
Michael headed up to the lab after Bernie went out to "punch through" the snow drifts on the road to AStrO/PEARL. He started the lidar measurements at 10:45 PM and continued for about 7 hours. Generally, the conditions were good except for a few hours around the time of the ozonesonde launch. Mike and Andrea launched an ozonesonde for us at 2 AM. Just in time for the launch, the winds increased to 15 knots. Once again, there was lots of running involved. The sonde got to a height of 6.5 mbar and Jennifer was the winner with a guess of 6.3 mbar.
Bernie took the snow plow out again at 6:15 AM to clear the road so that Michael could get down to the station and then we could get up to the lab. We got new supplies from Debbie (the cook) to fill the larder at AStrO/PEARL. With Keeyoon and Richard M. spending most of their time up there, we need to remember to keep the cupboards stocked.
When we got to the lab, the winds were lower than yesterday but still quite high. The first order of the day was to get SAOZ mounted under its dome. This went fairly smoothly. Keith and Paul took the hatch cover off and Annemarie and I lowered SAOZ on to its platform. There was some panic when there was not enough hardware on the hatch to tie down the dome cover. Eventually, enough screw eyes were scavengened from the one hatch that is not in use, and we were able to safely fasten down the dome. The instrument started up well and the GPS receiver soon reported that it was in Eureka. Everything seemed good and then frost started to form on the SAOZ window. The rest of the day was spent trying to heat up and circulate the air in the dome to remove the frost. We tried the ventilation system, an additional fan, and moving the fan to a different position. We will see if it improves overnight and, if not, we may have to put a double layer of plexiglas on the window.
Today, there was a good three hours of sunlight (without much cloud, haze or blowing snow) so the FTS crew took advantage of this opportunity to do the solar alignment checks. The main DA8 suntracker mirror needed a bit more realignment than usual but it worked. Keeyoon and Richard took measurements (alternating use of the suntracker between the DA8 and PARIS) for about 1 hour. Then the wind picked up and snow started blowing against the mirror so hard that you could hear it. I waited for information from Bomem on how to track down the source of our high resolution scanning problems.
Clive, Jennifer and Tom put the tracker for SPS and MAESTRO outside on the roof this morning (taking advantage of the slightly lower winds). They had some problems with the cabling which were relatively easy to solve. However, the tracker still didn't work. It was thought that the tracker might be too cold so Clive bundled it up with foam and blankets from the bedrooms. It still didn't work so they put this task on hold and started to take measurements with the SPS. Jennifer took zenith sky measurements for several hours this afternoon using manual (human-powered) tracking.
Despite the high winds, Tom and Clive got the Brewer leveled and checked out this afternoon. They report that it is now operational and will be "sighted" tomorrow and then will be able start measurements.
The weather is bad not only in Eureka but also in Resolute and Iqaluit. Because of this, the First Air jet did not make it to Resolute Bay. So Richard B. will be spending longer than he expected at the South Camp Inn.
Best regards,
Kaley.