On Sunday, March 26, clear skies and calm conditions provided the ideal opportunity for solar measurements at the Ridge Lab, with temperatures of about -20C and winds of less than 18 kts. Erik recorded an afternoon of near-infrared solar spectra with the Bruker FTIR.
The following day, temperatures were less favourable. Although the skies remained clear, increasing winds throughout the day prevented any work on the rooftop instruments or opening the hatch for the Bruker FTIR’s sun-tracker. By the time the team left the Ridge Lab that evening, wind speeds had reached over 20 kts. The team returned to the Eureka Weather Station, and found the conditions were much calmer.
In the UV-vis lab, Ramina spent some time on Sunday and Monday trying to optimize the UT-GBS straylight test setup as well as troubleshooting the Pandora alignments in order to start measurements. Although interrupted by the less favourable weather that followed, both will resume once the weather is favourable.
On Tuesday March 28, the high winds had arrived at the Eureka Weather Station, while windy conditions persisted at the Ridge Lab, before clearing on the afternoon of Wednesday March 29. During this time, the team remained at the Eureka Weather Station and spent their time at 0PAL. There, they spent some time reorganizing and cleaning the labs, installing the Purple Air particulate matter sensors and began the installation of the Starlink.
The team plans to return to the Ridge Lab tomorrow.
Ramina Alwarda and Erik Lutsch
[On behalf of the 2023 Canadian Arctic ACE/OSIRIS Validation Campaign team]