27 February 2011
The OSCARS
Temperatures at the weather station began warming overnight to -35C by 9 am
and stayed warm throughout the day. With that, came low cloud and snow! Up
at PEARL, overcast conditions prevented any solar measurements today.
Today, the vortex appears to be intensifying at the 475 K theta level,
developing a similar structure to the 550 K theta level. The temperature
and ozone minimum in the vortex remains centered over the Russian side of
the pole.
Since the sun was behind thick clouds and haze, the Bruker 125HR and
PARIS-IR teams could not acquire any measurements today. The Bruker 125HR
team prepared for automated measurements in anticipation of the next sunny
day with settings based on those used the day before.
Today Cristen set up an ftp transfer for the SAOZ data. Xiaoyi worked on
UT-GBS refocusing. In the process, he found a possible issue with the UT-GBS
slit and plans to investigate this further tomorrow. The good news of the
day is the new fibre bundle has increased the resolution of UT-GBS.
Volodya stayed at the weather station and, with some help from other team
members, installed Brewer #192 outside. The Brewer started working fine
initially, but by the end of the day it was reporting some micrometer
problems. This may be the result of no insulation on the Brewer and
temperatures around -10C inside the instrument. Hopefully, all this will go
away once the insulating cover is installed. The SPS continues operating
well, but its computer seems tends freeze overnight. Investigation is
underway to resolve this issue.
Down at 0PAL, the CRL measured 21 hours (17:20UTC 27 Feb to 14:00UTC 28 Feb)
with the visible laser only. The UV laser is temporarily not operational.
Alexei will be working to fix the UV laser tomorrow.
Tonight was our first ACE ozonesonde flight. John and Matt launched a Raven
Balloon in light winds. It made it all the way to 30 km!
Much of the team settled in to watch the Oscars after a heated game of
Frisbee golf on the Wii. As the night wore on, the Oscars seemed to have no
end and many of us gave up and went to bed. Only Cristen, Volodya and
Joseph made it to the end and informed us all in the morning of the results.
Thanks guys!
Felicia