The
realization that the plane that marks the end of the intensive phase of
the campaign would be arriving tomorrow hit everyone today. While the
plane is expected to arrive Tuesday night, taking the rest of the team
home on Wednesday, it has frequently turned right around lately, so
everyone was getting prepared for that eventuality.
The day was pretty nice weather-wise, with clear skies everywhere
except for one (reasonably large) cloud. Of course that one cloud hung
out right in front of the sun for most of the morning... so the FTS
measurements were a bit variable. Fortunately by early afternoon, the
sun finally escaped its clutches, and nice measurements were made for
the last few hours. A total of 17 Bruker, 15 DA8 and 44 PARIS
measurements were made.
In the UV-Vis lab, both Cristen and Mareile spent some time working on
manuals and documentation for their instruments. I'll be keeping
everything ticking over after they leave (until early April), so that
documentation will be much appreciated! The new solar tracker will also
stay on with the permanently-installed PEARL-GBS beyond the campaign,
so Cristen gave Matt and Oleg (the CANDAC operators) a tour of that as
well.
The evening was fairly quiet. After a completely wind-free balloon
launch by Kelly and Jane (the sonde rose to 7.7 hpa, 32425m), most of
the group set up at the dining-room table work station for a few more
hours.
It's amazing how quickly this campaign seems to have slipped by. And as
the day dawns today with more clear skies, I am thankful for both the
amazing weather that we have had for the last three weeks, and for my
wonderful team!