From April 3 - 6, weather conditions were ideal for solar measurements, with clear skies and low winds. At the Ridge, temperatures averaged about -20C or higher making for comfortable rooftop work.
With the adjustments and reinitialization of the Bruker FTIR’s sun tracker last week, Erik has prioritized solar measurements with Bruker FTIR. Alternating MIR and NIR measurements were recorded by swapping the KBr and CaF2 beam splitters, respectively, every other day.
Erik has been taking advantage of the increasing daylight hours by starting and shutting down measurements remotely from the Eureka Weather Station around 7am and 8pm local time, respectively. Measurements were being recorded continuously during this time, with only brief interruptions to swap the beamsplitters.
Ramina spent a few days this week performing and finalizing the PEARL-GBS tests to assess polarization and stray light effects, dark current & bias, and the resolution of the spectrometer. Results were all generally consistent with previous years, indicating that the spectrometer remains consistent in its spectral quality. Additionally, favourable weather made it possible to replace the round mirror within the PEARL-GBS dome with a new one, as the previous one had begun to degrade. The PEARL-GBS is now operating under optimal conditions and measuring UV spectra in zenith-sky and off-axis modes.
The UT-GBS continues to measure zenith-sky and off-axis spectra in the visible range, and the Pandora is now measuring in the UV window in direct-sun, zenith-sky, and off-axis measurement modes after finalizing the alignment of the instrument.
Pierre spent his evenings at 0PAL where he was able to troubleshoot the CRL and get both its lasers operating. Pierre also installed the Sun photometer.
The team hopes for the clear skies to continue, as they would like to prioritize measurements during the last week of the campaign.
Ramina Alwarda and Erik Lutsch
[On behalf of the 2023 Canadian Arctic ACE/OSIRIS Validation Campaign team]