After a great night on the town in Eureka, this morning dawned gorgeous and clear. Although there was a Sunday sleep-in for some of the team, the FTS folks (Richard, Rodica, Ashley and Bec), together with Clive and Pierre, headed up the hill to PEARL in plenty of time for the sunrise. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to start our measurement campaign. As soon as the sun peeked above the horizon we started measuring – a small piece of the beam diverted to PARIS so that it could run continuously, and the main beam being shared alternately between the DA8 and the Bruker. The sun was up for about 4 ½ hours, during which time the Bruker and DA8 each collected 10 spectra, and Paris collected 28. Swaps between the instruments went very smoothly and everyone was very pleased with the data collected. We’re hopeful the good weather will hold into the evening for Mike and the LIDAR.
Back in town, those who were left caught up on paperwork and took the opportunity to see Eureka by daylight. To quote Annemarie: “we saw a bunny and got hunted by a fox”. Apparently the fox went hungry, because everyone was in one piece when we returned! A cake and ice-cream were a nice treat for Richard’s birthday, before ozonesonde #2 was successfully launched (it reached 9.1 hPa or 32 km), the sun was toasted, and the Oscars were enjoyed.
Bec