28 February 2011
Snow Day!
I find it hard to believe myself but we had a snow day in Eureka! We woke
up to -35C with snow and cloudy conditions. Even with the strong winds, we
decided we should try to go up to the Ridge Lab. However, by the time we
reached Upper Paradise, the winds were approximately 40kts and blowing snow,
thus reducing visibility. As conditions appeared to be worsening the
farther we went, we made the decision to turn around and go back to the
weather station. This turned out to be an excellent decision as the snow
kept coming down throughout the day and the winds continued at high speed
until the evening. Up at PEARL (from what we can see through the webcam)
clouds and blowing snow obscured the sun throughout the day.
Staying at the weather station allowed Paul and Volodya to install the
insulating cover for Brewer #192. Now, the internal temperature in the
instrument is +2C. However, this didn't solve the micrometer problems and
further investigation showed that some instrument configuration constants
had not been copied from Toronto to the local PC here. Once this was done,
the instrument was happy and so was Volodya. SPS behaved today and
continued the automatic observation schedule.
The shape of the vortex has not changed significantly since yesterday.
Eureka, along with the whole of Ellesmere Island, is still well within the
vortex. However, the pocket of low ozone air that was located on the
Russian side of the pole has now dissipated corresponding to a 4-5 degree
increase in temperature at 30 mbar in the same region.
The ozonesonde flight tonight was, well, eventful. By the time the
ozonesonde was being prepared for launch, the winds had reduced enough to
allow for a Raven balloon launch. Ravens are notoriously sensitive to high
winds as the material of the balloon is akin to cellophane. John and Matt
launched the balloon at the usual 6:15 local but it only reached 200 m when
the winds picked up again and brought down the balloon. The eventful part
happened when the ozonesonde smashed into the side of the weather station
building! Maybe we'll have some better luck tomorrow!
Much of the team decided to take advantage of the warm air and calmer winds
after dinner and headed out for a round of Frisbee golf (not on the Wii).
After that, we hunkered down to watch a movie Alexei has been boasting about
for a while - The Red Tent. Filmed in 1969, it gave us a glimpse of the
true nature of Arctic exploration.
Felicia