It was a
great day for the team here in Eureka today. The sky was a gorgeous
color, with intriguing patterns from blowing snow early in the day,
clearing to just thin clouds by early afternoon. In the FTS lab, Rodica
and Felicia got their first direct-sun measurements, though these were
somewhat affected by the changing conditions. In the UV/Vis lab,
Cristen returned the PEARL-GBS to its own newly restored laptop - so
far so good - and went back to work on the pre-installation tests of
the PEARL-GBS. The UT-GBS and SAOZ both continue to work well. Volodya
was able to use the sunlight to sight Brewer #069, so that is now fully
operational. He and Tom also continued work with the MAESTRO/SPS, but
have been having some fun with the tracker. Up at the Penthouse, Pierre
and Matt completed the re-installation of the GBS dome, so the new home
for the PEARL-GBS is now ready to go.
After the sunset (the sun was up today from 11:07 to 14:54) and some
final work at the lab, we came back to the station for dinner.
Afterwards, we headed outside for a game of "sublimation baseball". For
those of you not familiar with this sub -40's sport, a balloon filled
with hot water is pitched at the batter. On impact with the bat, the
balloon bursts and the water sublimates without ever hitting the
ground. Unfortunately today's efforts were hampered by the use of
high-quality balloons. They just wouldn't break! We plan to have a
repeat game with dollar store balloons in the coming days.
Up in the LIDAR lab, Bernard and Emily were delighted when met-tech
Mike and I were able to recover the ozonesonde profile thought to be
lost from the evening before, and proceeded to get a wonderful night of
measurements in ideal sky conditions.