The 8th wonder of the world is the Eureka ice-cream fridge. Inside the fridge are shelves and shelves of delicious ice-creams and frozen treats. Just meters away lies the great froze wasteland of the Arctic, today reaching the incredible temperature of -49.7C (and with 10 knots of wind too!). Perfect ice-cream weather…
It was a glorious sunny day. This was completely expected, as Julian day 63 (aka today) has not failed the ACE validation team yet. Us sun-seeking FTS folks and our ever-suffering driver/coach/PEARL-coordinator-extraordinaire Pierre braved the freezing temperatures and resisted the pull of a Sunday morning lie-in to make an early start at the lab. It was well worth it, as we managed to accumulate many hours of fantastic-looking spectra that put the last few days’ hazy attempts to shame! Clive also braved the early start and made great progress with his tracker. Later in the day Annemarie and Ashley joined us, and while Ashley took over running PARIS, Clive and Annemarie were able to test out the durability of the tracker as it made its first ventures into the Arctic cold. With luck and slightly warmer temperatures, they hope to try it out with the UT-GBS tomorrow.
Back at station, those that didn’t head PEARL-ward worked on their data analysis, code improvements and searched out the local fox. Several of them headed out into the cold for a walk on the frozen fiord, seeing some awesome pressure ridges and enjoying the sun until the wind got the better of them. As evening came, we were treated to yet another wonderful ozonesonde launch, the balloon tonight reaching an impressive 6.9 hPa (33km). Should we mention that Tobias somehow lost again?
It was also a great night last night for the LIDAR. A very happy Mike reported that the clouds had stayed away and the 5 hours of measurements were some of the best he’s made this season. The sky isn’t looking so promising for tonight, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed for him.
Before I sign off for the night, I wanted to comment on what a wonderful crew I have here with me. A remote field campaign’s success is always going to depend on a team who can survive the test of 24 hour togetherness… here it has been easy. Everyone contributes in so many ways, whether it’s helping with an instrument, cooking lunch, doing the dishes, teaching Pilates, editing these reports, contributing photos for the website, discussing science or anything else that needs doing - and always with a smile. Thanks guys!
Bec