The pre-campaign team, including Zahra and Emily, arrived in Eureka on Saturday 20 February.
Zahra set up the SPS and MAESTRO instrument with their new tracker in the UV/VIS lab for testing before putting it on the roof. Tests showed that the new tracker was not wired correctly in the elevation direction. With the help of Alexey Tikhomirov (Dalhousie University) and Peter McGovern (CANDAC operator), the tracker was rewired. SPS and MAESTRO were installed on the roof and on 26 February, with clear skies, sighting of the instruments was done to correct for tracker offset. The new tracker tracks the sun very well but when in zenith mode it has a 10 degrees offset. Unfortunately, Zahra ran out of time and could not fix the zenith problem. This 10 degree offset affected the zenith data but both instruments produced direct sun and MAX DOAS data at this point already, so this wasn't affected by the tracker zenith issue. MAESTRO worked in normal operation from the start. Zahra returned to Toronto after the intensive phase campaign team arrived. Pierre Fogal took over in Zahra's absence.
Emily was successful during the pre-campaign, getting the CRL back up and running with its green laser on the first day of work. The lidar was found in good condition, and the pump chamber had not deteriorated since the last time the laser was run. Measurements were properly begun on the 22 February, and continued with increasing continuity throughout the week as the optimal settings were determined for running the system. The measurements from the 24th and 25th were particularly intriguing as numerous cloud types passed over the lidar with periods of clear skies in between. This was convenient, as the E-AERI and the new FIRR instrument (with graduate student Ludovick Pelletier from UQAM) were also measuring during this period, and the Starphotometer joined in on the 25th as well. Once the clouds drifted away, there was a good opportunity to tweak the lidar alignment on 26 February, but it appears that the initial "by eye" alignment was pretty good to begin with. Approximately 80 hours of CRL lidar measurements were made during the pre-campaign phase. The CRL continues to run well.
The pre-campaign team used the week of overlap with Alexey to be trained on the recently-improved DIAL lidar system at PEARL. Peter and Emily documented the instructional tour given by Alexey. These videos and notes were used to update the manual he has been preparing. The manual was used for a test run the next day, and augmented/clarified where required. It is being used for daily operations during the intensive phase of the campaign. Emily also worked to get the remote desktop software on her laptop at 0PAL to work with the DIAL's computer at the Ridge Lab. There are still lidar procedures which must be done by hand on site, particularly when starting up for the night. Alexey's work toward making the lidar remotely operable has so far been successful, and there is now much which can be carried out from elsewhere. The parts of the lidar which are ready for remote operations are handling it well. By the end of the pre-campaign, the DIAL was ready to be run by intensive phase campaign graduate student Ghazal.
Peter was able to achieve the first mid-infrared measurements with the Bruker 125HR of the 2016 season. On 25 February, clear sky conditions allowed him to take 27 measurements within approximately 4 hrs of daylight. These measurements were highly beneficial to Sébastien and Erik as the Bruker 125HR was in nominal operating conditions. Sébastien and Erik continued with measurements during the intensive phase of the campaign.
The intensive campaign phase team started their journey from Toronto with a flight leaving from at 7 am on 25 February to Calgary. From Calgary, they flew to Yellowknife, arriving at approximately 1:30 pm local time. The team spent the night in Yellowknife, where they were able to get some rest after a long day of travel, while Kristof was fortunate to get a glimpse of the aurora there. On the morning of 26 February, the team left their hotel at 7 am and headed to the airport to continue their journey to Eureka. They boarded an 8 passenger Dornier 228 and flew to their first stop, a 3.5 hr flight, to Gjoa Haven for refuelling. A second stop to refuel was made in Arctic Bay, another 2.5 hr flight, before arriving in Eureka at about 9 pm local time.
The 2016 ACE/OSIRIS Validation Campaign Team has several new members making their first trip to Eureka:
Ghazal, Erik, Kristof and Ellen. They are joined by Emily, who has been a part of several campaigns - her first campaign took place in 2009 - and Sébastien, who made his first campaign in 2015. The new members of the team are eager to continue the duties of the past campaign members.
The ACE/OSIRIS Validation Campaign Team is looking forward to sharing their experience in Eureka and the PEARL Ridge Lab.