For
the first time since we arrived, we awoke to less-than-crystal-clear
skies. While not horrendous, the clouds were mostly located about the
southern horizon (i.e. not so good for us direct-sun people - but not
so bad for the straight-up folks). It had been another successful night
of DIAL measurements, and an additional ozonesonde, for comparison with
their data, was launched with the 11:15 UT balloon. The Totex balloon
went to 5.6 hPa (34345 m).
The caribou were still near the road on our way up, so we stopped for a brief photo opportunity before heading for the lab.
In the UV-Vis lab, Cristen got straight back into sorting out the
PEARL-GBS. After confirming that the problem was indeed out-of-focus
optics, she was able to refocus the instrument and get it running
again. SAOZ, MAESTRO and the SPS continue to work well.
In the FTS lab, we took the cloudy skies as an opportunity to get some
cell spectra recorded. PARIS got several sets of cell and background
measurements with the globar, while the DA8 only made it through one 20
scan background measurement by the time the sun was sufficiently out of
the clouds to start solar observations. As the Bruker was half way
through its cell measurement when the sun came out, Rodica completed
that before joining the solar observations. She also processed the cell
results and it was good to see that the Bruker continues to have a
near-perfect line shape. The solar observations were not quite as
good as in previous days, due to the still very present thin
cloud/thick haze, but we were able to accumulate 7 DA8, 4 Bruker and 6
PARIS measurements before the sun again disappeared into the
clouds.
The evening ozonesonde was another success with the Raven, launched by Bonnie and Mike, making it to 6.1 hPa (33583m).
The station also received a huge influx of visitors today, including
the advance reconnaissance team for the Rangers - an annual sovereignty
mission whereby a group of local military-types traverse the Arctic on
snow-mobiles. It is certainly strange to see so many new faces around
the station!