25 February 2011

The Clouds! They are mighty!

This morning we woke up to temperatures of -48C at the weather station! When you factor in the winds, it felt more like -61C. It’s the type of cold that makes it hurt to breathe. Temperatures of -40C at PEARL were not much better and the pressure and temperature continued to drop throughout the day. In addition to the extreme cold today, we had overcast conditions. The clouds had control all day so we saw none of the 4.5 hours of sunlight expected today.

At the 550K theta level, the vortex is developing an oval shape with the one node centered over Russia and the other centered over much of the Canadian Arctic. This behaviour is consistent, although less defined, at the 475K theta level. An extended range of the vortex edge filaments can be seen as far south as 60N over Hudson’s Bay.

Since the clouds would not budge today, we could not do any direct sun FTS measurements. Joseph and Rodica analyzed the HBr cell measurements in addition to catching up on coursework and research. Lin and I backed up the data recorded so far and discovered our snazzy new processing computer requires only 9 seconds to transfer data from PARIS (it took the old computer 1.25 minutes!). We’re all hoping for a sunny day tomorrow!

In the UV-VIS lab, SAOZ took measurements all day. Xiaoyi and Cristen spent the day working on the sun-tracker data acquisition software and focusing the UT-GBS using mercury lamps. Paul helped Volodya adjusting the positioning of the SPS tracker on the tripod to allow for a larger azimuth range available for observations. With the sun being low on the horizon even when it isn't hiding behind the clouds, it is mostly zenith sky observations for SPS.

Brewer #192 has returned from an extended vacation in Toronto was moved to the warehouse and Volodya plans to test it inside tomorrow. One of the Brewer UPS's is not working properly and Volodya has replaced it with a spare one. Brewers #007, #069, and #021 are working normally.

There were no ozonesonde flights tonight but we’re looking forward to the ACE flights to start on Sunday. There has been an exciting addition to the entertainment suite here at Eureka and it being Friday night, we decided it was time to break it in! This addition is.... a Wii!! While Cristen, Jane, and I watched ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, the guys played Wii Resort. When Paul and Joseph’s egos got bruised by Volodya, they tried Frisbee golf on the Wii, thinking they could beat him at that. Oh how wrong they were! So, Volodya is the Wii champion, for now at least!

Felicia