Sun/cloud or cloud/Sun...
After the luck we had yesterday, we tried to think positively that the cloud would clear. Failing that, I hoped that the Sun would rise out of the haze so we could have a partial day of measurements. This basically worked and Dejian, Oleg and I were able to measure between 11:30 AM and 2:30 PM. Unfortunately, there was omnipresent haze and cirrus cloud that thickened over the duration of the measurements. We'll have to see what can be obtained in the analyses.
Tobias spent part of the day training Oleg on the MAESTRO, SPS and tracker operations. He also collated, organized and backed up the MAESTRO (UV and VIS spectrometer) and SPS data so that the raw data archive can be dumped to DVD before we leave tomorrow.
The system purge of the N2 liquefier went well. It was started up again and left overnight to see what would be produced. There seemed to be about 1/8 (of a 36 litre) dewar by after supper. We will not need to bring any more liquid nitrogen up from Yellowknife. This is a good thing because there was essentially no LN2 available and the shipment was due from Edmonton the day after our charter left.
The ozonesonde launch this evening was moved to better coincide with the nearby ACE occultation. The latitude of the ACE occultations is now decreasing after reaching a maximum on 3 March. Luc and Kelly launched the Raven balloon at 19:50 UTC (about 2 hours before the occultation measurement). We had to make sure that the flight ended before the regular radiosonde launch at 23:15 UTC. Everything went according to plan and the balloon reached an altitude of 7.9 mbar (30.8 km). It is too bad that the team was expecting the 5-6 mbar results that have been achieved most recently. All of the guesses were too high in altitude, so there is no winner tonight. However, Oleg wants it to be known that he came closest with his standard guess of 7.7 mbar.
Best regards,
Kaley.