10 March 2011

Last Day at PEARL

It's unbelievable but the last day of the intensive phase of the campaign has arrived. It always seems to come so quickly! The vortex and the weather both cooperated today and we got in some great measurements while the vortex maintains its circular shape centered over Eureka.

The FTSs measured between 9 am and 4 pm today. PARIS-IR obtained 51 MIR solar spectra while the Bruker 125HR obtained 56 MIR and 25 NIR solar spectra. In addition to this, Joseph completed the ghost tests required for the TCCON measurements.

In the UV-VIS lab, Xiaoyi ran polarization and resolution tests on the PEARL-GBS and then set it up to take MAX-DOAS, direct-sun, and zenith-sky BrO measurements. Additionally, Cristen and Xiaoyi worked on finalizing the documentation and tidying up the lab. The SPS and the Brewers continue to work well. Volodya stayed the course and didn't make any changes to the software on the last day, so hopefully Ashley and Alexei will have no or very few issues to deal with on that front.

Cristen persuaded Paul, Lin, and Volodya to go for walk before lunch and later she made several 5 minutes walks on her own on what she believes was her last day in Eureka ever. The charter plane arrived as scheduled at 20:30 with a single, but important passenger on board. Ashley was welcomed to Eureka by an excited team who couldn't stop talking all night. All in all, it was a very nice, although slightly sad, last working day in Eureka.

It has been yet another successful campaign, and as always it is with some regret that we say goodbye to Eureka. We would like to thank everyone who has made this campaign so good. Thanks to Rai, John, Jane, Matt, James, Naomi, Dean, Bill, Mark, and Robert who do everything in their power to make our field work as smooth as possible. We would especially like to thank CANDAC operator Alexei and ACE operator Paul for their support and hard work throughout the campaign.

We would also like to thank the Canadian Space Agency, Environment Canada and CANDAC for continuing to financially and logistically support the Canadian Arctic ACE Validation Campaign. The opportunities that come with being in Eureka for polar sunrise are unmatched. The phenomenal data we collect in addition to the irreplaceable learning experience for us all is only possible because of the support you have provided. Finally, thank you all for reading the daily updates!



Felicia