The team had an eventful start to the day. While travelling from Eureka to PEARL, the truck encountered a large quantity of snow blown across the road. Pierre attempted to drive through it, but we ended up very stuck! We attempted to shovel ourselves free, but at first were unsuccessful. The truck had become raised off the road, supported by dense snow beneath it. We radioed to the Eureka Weather Station for assistance. While we waited, Pierre and Volodya valiantly returned to shoveling while the rest of the team warmed up inside the truck. Pierre and Volodya's efforts freed the truck from its snowy resting place, and we were soon on our way back to solid ground. We stopped at the Canadian Forces signal relay station, Upper Paradise, to await the snow-clearing trucks from the station. While there, we took the opportunity to take some photos next to its large receiving dish (see our photo album). While we were outside at Upper Paradise, the wind began to blow quite a bit, and it felt very cold! It was likely close to -50 °C on the open road, since the temperature was -42 °C in Eureka with a wind chill of -47 °C and -30 °C at PEARL.
We returned to Eureka for lunch while the station personnel cleared the road to PEARL. When the team finally reached PEARL in the early afternoon, Joseph, Dan and Debora didn't have sufficient light to make measurements with the Bruker or PARIS. There were clouds on the horizon blocking the brief time there was sunlight. While this was an impediment to science, it created a colourful sky! They used the time available with the Sun (and a flashlight thereafter) to double-check the alignment of the PARIS pick-off mirror. Given the morning's events, Dan took the afternoon off from shoveling snow on the roof and worked on the campaign website and reports.
Xiaoyi had an intense day of work. UT-GBS continues to work normally, and the PEARL-GBS is still being calibrated and tested. Xiaoyi's efforts were concentrated on the SAOZ instrument, which had stopped functioning last September. Yesterday, he had tried replacing the cable (the previous one had broken), but there continued to be a problem. With assistance from Pierre and Volodya, Xiaoyi opened SAOZ and checked all the circuits. Everything was working normally, which gave him confidence that he could fix it. Next, he tried using a new computer sent to him from France. Unfortunately, our team does not include any fluent French speakers, so translating took some time (and help from French scientists). The translated diagnostics results indicated that the instrument was fine. Some trial and error testing resulted in a solution: the GPS function was turned off, and SAOZ was back in action! Xiaoyi will work on reconnecting SAOZ GPS functionality next week, but is very happy that SAOZ is working.
Over at 0PAL, Emily ran two calibration measurements with the CRL lidar. This involved using the white light calibration system over all channels. She plans to look over that data tonight. So far, they have collected 11 hours of measurements, from 03 UTC to 14 UTC, in 7 detection channels. Chris, working remotely from Dalhousie University, has been analyzing last night's lidar data (backscatter coefficient and water vapour mixing ratio) and has reported back to us that it looks good. Emily and Chris started the lidar back up after dinner and will be measuring all night.
Today, Volodya installed the tracker, the SPS and MAESTRO on the roof. This involved making all of the cable connections. He didn't quite have time to start everything, but hopes to start full operation tomorrow. Brewers #069 and #021 continue to work fine. Because both of the existing Brewers are now operational, Volodya now anticipates Brewer #192 will be installed at the Eureka Weather Station rather than at the PEARL.
As mentioned in previous reports, ACE ozonesonde flights will begin February 28.
The Polar Vortex has shifted slightly closer to Eureka, but continues to be distant. It is located over Svalbard, north of Scandinavia.
Everyone is anxiously awaiting our first opportunity to begin measurements check back tomorrow to find out if we have been able to start!