Yesterday I traveled for ~24 hours from leaving the Ripan cabin to stepping through the threshold of my home in Boulder. The airlines routed me from Kiruna to Lulea to Stockholm to Chicago to Denver. Once home, I stayed up as late as possible and am awake this morning no earlier than 5:00 am local time. It always seems easier to adjust going west.
This will be my final entry for the AMISA weblog, so thank you to those who visited and I hope you have found it interesting.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Day 35: Ice Edge Study
In three hours we will leave for our third science flight. On this flight we will not meet the Oden, but rather overfly a grid along the ice edge as a calibration/validation mission to support the AMSR-E sensor (one of six sensors aboard the NASA Aqua satellite). We expect a nine hour flight.
I'll be leaving Thursday morning at 6:00 am local time to return to Boulder, but the science here will continue for one more week during which there will be two more science flights over the Oden icebreaker.
I'll be leaving Thursday morning at 6:00 am local time to return to Boulder, but the science here will continue for one more week during which there will be two more science flights over the Oden icebreaker.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Day 32: Abisko National Park
Friday we flew our second science flight over the Oden. We saw some unusual geometric formations in the ice and the mission was successful. One instrument did not operate and we will open it today, Sunday, for inspection.
Saturday we had a day off. It was a "hard down" day, which is required every 11 days and means no one is to report to the aircraft. Barbara, and Jim from Leeds (UK) and Dave and I went to Abisko national park, which is about 100 km from Kiruna, where we are staying. It was a beautiful day and we hiked 12.5 km around the park.
From left to right, Barbara, Dave, Jim, and myself.
Saturday we had a day off. It was a "hard down" day, which is required every 11 days and means no one is to report to the aircraft. Barbara, and Jim from Leeds (UK) and Dave and I went to Abisko national park, which is about 100 km from Kiruna, where we are staying. It was a beautiful day and we hiked 12.5 km around the park.
From left to right, Barbara, Dave, Jim, and myself.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 30: The First AMISA Science Flight
... was a success, but we haven't slept much.
I've heard that a person will fully adjust about an hour a day when recovering from jetlag. Good thing that adjustment proved mostly unnecessary since our first science flight was from 11 am until 9 pm ... Colorado time (~7 pm to ~5 am local). We needed to intercept a storm as it passed in the vicinity of the Oden (a Swedish icebreaker participating in AMISA). It was a greatly successful mission over the ice, and we intercepted and overflew the Oden at just a few hundred feet altitude.
On the transit flight we also flew all night. This was around 2 am GMT, but notice the sun in the window... it never sets up there.
The view near the surface was remarkable. It is only dark here because of the overcast. Above the clouds is broad daylight.
This is my view to the front from my seat. All systems are go, and collecting data.
Here Al was looking at the data and watching the view outside as we approached the ice surface.
I also took a video as we passed over the ship. The passage is only a second or two at the end. There are better photos available, but I don't have them on my camera.
I've heard that a person will fully adjust about an hour a day when recovering from jetlag. Good thing that adjustment proved mostly unnecessary since our first science flight was from 11 am until 9 pm ... Colorado time (~7 pm to ~5 am local). We needed to intercept a storm as it passed in the vicinity of the Oden (a Swedish icebreaker participating in AMISA). It was a greatly successful mission over the ice, and we intercepted and overflew the Oden at just a few hundred feet altitude.
On the transit flight we also flew all night. This was around 2 am GMT, but notice the sun in the window... it never sets up there.
The view near the surface was remarkable. It is only dark here because of the overcast. Above the clouds is broad daylight.
This is my view to the front from my seat. All systems are go, and collecting data.
Here Al was looking at the data and watching the view outside as we approached the ice surface.
I also took a video as we passed over the ship. The passage is only a second or two at the end. There are better photos available, but I don't have them on my camera.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Day 28: Mission Science Tuesday
Our first science flight will be tomorrow. We will be intercepting an Arctic storm as it approaches the Oden icebreaker ship. Unfortunately for us, the timing of the interception puts us at a 7:00 pm local departure from Kiruna. The missions are 10 hours so we'll return at 5:00 am. So much for getting over jetlag-- that makes our flight all night long through the wee hours in Kiruna and... 11 am to 9 pm Colorado time.
We're all quite tired, but I have some good photos to upload when I can get a chance-- When we get back at 5:00 am Wednesday morning we have a de-briefing meeting then we can sleep for 6 hours or so until we need to get ready for the next flight planning meeting at 4:00 pm Wednesday night, because we'll need to run a follow-up flight on Thursday for a 9:00 am departure. We'll have Friday off most likely (unless an instrument has broken) and our third flight will be on Saturday which looks like it will also be 9:00 am.
Whew... bedtime.
We're all quite tired, but I have some good photos to upload when I can get a chance-- When we get back at 5:00 am Wednesday morning we have a de-briefing meeting then we can sleep for 6 hours or so until we need to get ready for the next flight planning meeting at 4:00 pm Wednesday night, because we'll need to run a follow-up flight on Thursday for a 9:00 am departure. We'll have Friday off most likely (unless an instrument has broken) and our third flight will be on Saturday which looks like it will also be 9:00 am.
Whew... bedtime.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Day 25: Ripan
We were up for 27 hours on Thursday. There was no Friday to speak of. The sun never set during our flight over. Today is Saturday at 12:30 AM local. I have slept just 4 hours now but we saw some remarkable weather on the way over. The hotel is smaller than expected and Internet access is a bit hard to come by at the moment. We have arrived.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Day 22: Test Flight
Today we had our final test flight before transit on Thursday. All instrument repairs yesterday were a success so we are 100% go for the mission.
Here are some photos from our R&R on Monday:
This is an 18-24 GHz 5-channel radiometer. Al's hands are pushing down some tie-down components. The instrument had a broken ferrite switch (the replaced switch is the 3-port part that forms a triangle below in the middle finger of Al's left hand).
Meanwhile Dave and I (Dave shown) worked on fixing this radiometer. It is a dual-channel 21/31 GHz radiometer. It's quite old (1981) and was originally made by Hughes Aircraft (a Howard Hughes company). This radiometer also had a dysfunctional ferrite switch.
Today, both instruments were back on the plane and we expect both to function during our transit flight on Thursday.
The weather forecast appears to show that a storm is headed for the Arctic and might intercept the Oden (the Swedish icebreaker that we are coordinating our efforts with) Friday morning. This would be the same time we would be transiting from Palmdale to Kiruna, so we may try to divert the flight to intercept the Oden and the storm front. Short version: we may have our first good scientific data set by Friday.
I'm still planning to do the video tour of the plane with all our instruments installed, just didn't get time today.
Here are some photos from our R&R on Monday:
This is an 18-24 GHz 5-channel radiometer. Al's hands are pushing down some tie-down components. The instrument had a broken ferrite switch (the replaced switch is the 3-port part that forms a triangle below in the middle finger of Al's left hand).
Meanwhile Dave and I (Dave shown) worked on fixing this radiometer. It is a dual-channel 21/31 GHz radiometer. It's quite old (1981) and was originally made by Hughes Aircraft (a Howard Hughes company). This radiometer also had a dysfunctional ferrite switch.
Today, both instruments were back on the plane and we expect both to function during our transit flight on Thursday.
The weather forecast appears to show that a storm is headed for the Arctic and might intercept the Oden (the Swedish icebreaker that we are coordinating our efforts with) Friday morning. This would be the same time we would be transiting from Palmdale to Kiruna, so we may try to divert the flight to intercept the Oden and the storm front. Short version: we may have our first good scientific data set by Friday.
I'm still planning to do the video tour of the plane with all our instruments installed, just didn't get time today.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Day 20: Long time, no see
Last week we were swamped. I'll be sure to take more pictures this week. The quick news is that two of our instruments had trouble but replacement parts were received yesterday (Saturday) and we'll replace the broken parts. We leave for Sweden on Thursday, but before that we'll have a second check flight on Tuesday.
Overall, things are going very well and we'll be packing up soon. Photos of the instrument R&R tomorrow.
Overall, things are going very well and we'll be packing up soon. Photos of the instrument R&R tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Day 15: Earthquake
This morning there was a mag 5.4 earthquake in SoCal. When it hit we evacuated the building for some time. No one was injured and there were no damages.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Day 13: Sunday!
The upload to the DC-8 is going well and we've been off all weekend. There are still a few components to bolt into place and some cables to be run, but in all we're in good shape. Here are a few photos from last week Thursday and Friday.
Miao is lifting a calibration target full of liquid nitrogen up to the C-band staring radiometer.
Ankita is wiring the dropsone rack and doing some final testing.
I am programming the acquisition software on the main rack (this is where I will be sitting most of the time).
Here's a view from inside the aircraft:
Miao is lifting a calibration target full of liquid nitrogen up to the C-band staring radiometer.
Ankita is wiring the dropsone rack and doing some final testing.
I am programming the acquisition software on the main rack (this is where I will be sitting most of the time).
Here's a view from inside the aircraft:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Day 9: Instrument Installation
Boy, have we been busy. These last days we have been calibrating our instruments and installing them on the aircraft. Below, Al is putting the last fasteners into the PSR/A (a scanning polarimetric radiometer, more info on our group website: http://cet.colorado.edu).
Next week Monday, the plane will be checked for weight balance and Wednesday the NASA crew will fly a "shakedown" flight (where a minimal crew takes the plane up to see if anything falls out, vibrates apart, or exhibits other undesirable behaviors). Next week Thursday will be our first science test flight out over Catalina Island.
These seats are ready for installation:
Before the end of the week, I'll take a short video tour inside the aircraft and showcase our suite of instruments.
Next week Monday, the plane will be checked for weight balance and Wednesday the NASA crew will fly a "shakedown" flight (where a minimal crew takes the plane up to see if anything falls out, vibrates apart, or exhibits other undesirable behaviors). Next week Thursday will be our first science test flight out over Catalina Island.
These seats are ready for installation:
Before the end of the week, I'll take a short video tour inside the aircraft and showcase our suite of instruments.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Day 6: Off
Saturday we worked a full day and today, Sunday, we have off. I slept in late (08.00) and spent some time at the hotel pool. This evening I'll take over some laundry. No interesting stories or news. Al is flying back tonight with the 55 GHz unit and a number of other supplies and we'll get back to work at 06.15 tomorrow.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Day 4: Instrument Assembly and Test
Everyone was very busy today.
We have all of the instruments we brought with us assembled and have begun testing. A few instruments need to be calibrated using liquid nitrogen tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 06:45. On four particular identical instruments there was an issue with material being too thick to get a milspec connector to lock down all the way, so the plates to which they are mounted will need to be modified next week.
This afternoon Dave, Adam, and Al inspected the 21/31 GHz Hughes radiometer (photo below, L to R). They were discussing calibration techniques and decided we will install this particular unit on the plane and calibrate it in place since some of the lens mounting needs to be done by spot-drilling holes.
Miao is carefully installing a few thermistors on the L-Band feedhorn here. It also appears that he is reading the newspaper at the same time. Don't be fooled, thermistor installation while catching up with the sports section is no simple matter of walking and chewing gum.
We've also been having some very hot weather outside. Today was the coolest, topping off at 101 F. In those kind of temperatures I hear you need to be cautious of heat exhaustion, so I didn't forget to take a little down time for number one.
In other news, Al is flying back tomorrow night to get the instrument we decided to add at the last minute. It's a 55 GHz unit that we'll use for temperature sounding in conjunction with data from the dropsondes (more on that tomorrow). It's pretty late to be adding another instrument to the manifest but it will significantly contribute to the scientific goals of the mission.
We have all of the instruments we brought with us assembled and have begun testing. A few instruments need to be calibrated using liquid nitrogen tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 06:45. On four particular identical instruments there was an issue with material being too thick to get a milspec connector to lock down all the way, so the plates to which they are mounted will need to be modified next week.
This afternoon Dave, Adam, and Al inspected the 21/31 GHz Hughes radiometer (photo below, L to R). They were discussing calibration techniques and decided we will install this particular unit on the plane and calibrate it in place since some of the lens mounting needs to be done by spot-drilling holes.
Miao is carefully installing a few thermistors on the L-Band feedhorn here. It also appears that he is reading the newspaper at the same time. Don't be fooled, thermistor installation while catching up with the sports section is no simple matter of walking and chewing gum.
We've also been having some very hot weather outside. Today was the coolest, topping off at 101 F. In those kind of temperatures I hear you need to be cautious of heat exhaustion, so I didn't forget to take a little down time for number one.
In other news, Al is flying back tomorrow night to get the instrument we decided to add at the last minute. It's a 55 GHz unit that we'll use for temperature sounding in conjunction with data from the dropsondes (more on that tomorrow). It's pretty late to be adding another instrument to the manifest but it will significantly contribute to the scientific goals of the mission.
Interesting Hangar Story
I just heard an interesting story from Ron Wilcox (NASA) about the hangar. Turns out that in this very hangar (that you see in yesterday's photo) both Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 as well as the movie Terminal were shot in nearly their entirety. For the Pirates movie apparently they created a river/lake inside the hangar. I suppose there just isn't such a gigantic indoor area anywhere LA. When NASA moved from Edwards AFB to this location they took out a 20 year lease (this happened last year), so movies that want to film here will have to use the hangar next door, which is slightly smaller but could still hold a handful of 747s. There was a movie being filmed here yesterday. We saw about 12 big-rigs and/or trailers, 50 cars, and half a dozen police vehicles in the parking lot. I figured I would go over today and see them, but they packed up the entire operation last night. Strange part is, I never saw more than a dozen people the entire time. Side note, this hangar was where the B1 bomber development took place decades ago.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day 3: Unpacking
Sorry nothing from Day 2. We were all exhausted and spent most of the day in bed/poolside. Last night Dave arrived with the truck and Al arrived by plane. We left the hotel at 06:30 for the hangar and unloaded our cargo. We have staged all the equipment in the lab area and everything seems to still be functional. Tomorrow we start uploading equipment to the plane and calibrating a few instruments outdoors. It looks like we'll be working Saturday, and we are also considering adding another instrument, which means Al would have to fly back and get it from the lab this weekend. We returned to the hotel from the hangar at 19:00 and we'll be meeting for sushi soon. I'm not much of a sushi connoisseur, so I hope Miao and Al have good suggestions.
Here is the hangar; the DC-8 (our plane) is the one in front. Behind it is a 747 named Sophia (not part of this project, but sharing the hangar). Sorry for the blurry photos, we are not allowed to use flashes because they will set off the infrared fire alarms.
Here's one photo from yesterday of Miao, myself, and Ankita (L to R) inside the cargo bay of the DC-8. I'll post more photos tomorrow. I haven't downloaded today's pictures yet.
Here is the hangar; the DC-8 (our plane) is the one in front. Behind it is a 747 named Sophia (not part of this project, but sharing the hangar). Sorry for the blurry photos, we are not allowed to use flashes because they will set off the infrared fire alarms.
Here's one photo from yesterday of Miao, myself, and Ankita (L to R) inside the cargo bay of the DC-8. I'll post more photos tomorrow. I haven't downloaded today's pictures yet.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Day 1: SFO Airport
We are off to an interesting start.
A little background of the events leading up to today--
Myself and my colleague Ambarish returned from our technical conference in Boston on Saturday. Our lab director Prof. Al Gasiewski returned from the same conference Sunday afternoon in time for our final scheduled lab test of equipment. We met a few others in our lab Sunday night (David Kraft, our expert mechanical engineer, and graduate students Miao Tian and Ankita Chaturvedi), for equipment testing, which was successful but lasted long into the evening ~10.30.
Monday was dedicated to packing what turned out to be more than 3,800 lbs of equipment for AMISA, the Arctic Mechanisms of Interaction between the Surface and Atmosphere campaign. Packing all that equipment took from 8 AM Monday until 1:30 AM Tuesday (yes, AM in both cases), but Al bought us all dinner which made the evening hours somewhat shorter.
A small amount of the equipment packed up and ready to leave:
Tuesday, today, the equipment is on its way by truck and I am traveling from Denver to Palmdale where we will upload the equipment to the NASA DC-8 aircraft for the mission. I am traveling with Miao and Ankita and we are presently delayed one hour in the San Fransisco airport. On the first leg of the flight (DEN to SFO) I met Julie; who, on hearing of the accommodations we expect in Sweden, insisted I bring a large jar of peanut butter to avoid certain starvation. More on "Camp Ripan" to come!
Graduate Students Miao Tian, and Ankita Chaturvedi:
A little background of the events leading up to today--
Myself and my colleague Ambarish returned from our technical conference in Boston on Saturday. Our lab director Prof. Al Gasiewski returned from the same conference Sunday afternoon in time for our final scheduled lab test of equipment. We met a few others in our lab Sunday night (David Kraft, our expert mechanical engineer, and graduate students Miao Tian and Ankita Chaturvedi), for equipment testing, which was successful but lasted long into the evening ~10.30.
Monday was dedicated to packing what turned out to be more than 3,800 lbs of equipment for AMISA, the Arctic Mechanisms of Interaction between the Surface and Atmosphere campaign. Packing all that equipment took from 8 AM Monday until 1:30 AM Tuesday (yes, AM in both cases), but Al bought us all dinner which made the evening hours somewhat shorter.
A small amount of the equipment packed up and ready to leave:
Tuesday, today, the equipment is on its way by truck and I am traveling from Denver to Palmdale where we will upload the equipment to the NASA DC-8 aircraft for the mission. I am traveling with Miao and Ankita and we are presently delayed one hour in the San Fransisco airport. On the first leg of the flight (DEN to SFO) I met Julie; who, on hearing of the accommodations we expect in Sweden, insisted I bring a large jar of peanut butter to avoid certain starvation. More on "Camp Ripan" to come!
Graduate Students Miao Tian, and Ankita Chaturvedi:
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