Blog from August, 2023

Status Aug 10

Weather:  Calm and sunny in the AM with clouds rolling in from the south and east. Comfortable, cooler temperatures (< 30C). We saw a rainbow in the early evening. 

Staff: Jacquie, Mack

Data check (AM/PM): Stable

Notes:

  • Shane and Chenning got a refresher when launching the AM radiosonde. 
  • Jacquie cleaned the counters in the ISFS trailers and removed all traces of the bubonic plague. Two garbage bags worth of trash were removed. Also aired the trailer of yesterday’s sewage smell. Good times.
    • Went to the Family Dollar and bought disinfectant spray, a broom to replace the broken one, and a soft cloth broom to clean the solar panels.   


Photos of the day

(Left) Chenning working on the mouse-turd-free table. 

(Right) Jacquie triumphant with her cleaning supply bounty. Check out the clouds!


Status Aug 9

Weather:  Sunny, hot, dry. But persistent southerly surface winds today since early morning. Huzzah!

Staff: Jacquie, Mack

Data check (AM/PM): Stable

Notes:

  • Sorted the lost GPS signal at ttb
  • Had nice morning discussions with Chenning and Shane
  • Mack took photos of birds perching on sonics. 
  • Looked at data


Photo of the day


co2 offsets

co2 measurements at 4 sites are separate from the 'pack' since operations:

In particular, co2.1m.t0 (black, lowest values) 

In the middle: co2.4m.t0 (purple), co2.4m.t20 (teal), co2.4m.t47 (red)



Lost GPSnsat.ttb

Lost GPSnsat.ttb signal last night (8 Aug) ~22:30


1 Comment  · 
Status Aug 8

Weather:  Similar to yesterday.

Staff: Jacquie, Mack

Data check (AM/PM): stable

Notes:

  • Cleaned the ISS and ISFS radiometers
  • Mack double checked the battery voltage of the solar panels that he took cables from to sort out Chenning’s battery needs
  • Brushed the solar panels on t0 and tt - just dusty
  • Watched the military plane fly by ~10:45a and 11:30a


Photo of the day

Mack cleaning the radiometer at t49


Status Aug 7

Weather:  Sunny with calm to light winds. A bit of haze but generally clear. 

Staff: Jacquie, Mack

Data check (AM/PM): stable

Notes:

  • Noticed the OTT (near tt) data are missing from NCharts and QCTables - but they are defined in the netcdf files. 
  • Stephan De Wekker arrived just for the afternoon and we gave him a tour. He will be returning with students and drones. FAA approval to fly 4000ft was received today!
  • Watched the ISS Windcube lidar go through its set of scan modes on the hour (Bill changed a few things yesterday).
  • Took lots of photos of ISFS and ISS sensors for the data report. 
  • Jacquie learned how to run Steve's command to check the hotfilm raw data stream on ustar:


Photos of the Day

(left) Stephan and Mack in front of the UVA Halo Lidar. (right) Group behind t48-t49 discussing drone strategies wrt the ISFS array. 


Status Aug 6

Weather: Dry, slight haze, clear sky our site, breeze generally from the N to West quadrant when we were out there.  

Staff: Jacquie, Mack, Matt

Data check (AM/PM): stable

Notes:

Took advantage of Matt's last day and did a tour of ISFS (and ISS).

  • Matt did his due diligence and gave me the safety briefing.
  • We collected soil samples from t23 and t29 using a Steve's technique that adapts to sandy soil.
  • Mack took cables from t17 and t26 solar panels to reconfigure solar panels for Chenning's chain of temperature sensors in parallel (Mack can comment more on this but it seems to have been successful).
  • Met with Shane, Chenning, and Bruce Morley (who arrived today). Since learning they have UCAR accounts, they have been added to our project wiki's. You will have noticed many posts from them backfilled with notes and photos since set-up. 
  • Looked at the SHINE hotfilms on t0 and reviewed connecting to the DSM. 
  • Watched the 10a and 3p sounding

Safe travels Matt and thanks for the tour, tips, and info! 


Photos

10a radiosonde launch

Mack re-cabling the solar panels that go with Chenning's sensor system. 



Status Aug. 5

Clear skies and another day with lots of sun. Noticeable increase in smoke/haze, although the impact on visibility/incoming solar was pretty minor.

Onsite: Matt and Mack

Today:

  • Data check identified no obvious issues.
  • It looks like Rsw.in.t2 is being cut off at 1028 W/^2, but I wasn’t able to identify any reason why. Also, a morning shadow is also evident as a dip in SW around 7am on days with clear skies.
  • Jacquie arrived this evening in time for dinner.
Status Aug. 4

Clear skies and lots of sun again. 

Onsite: Matt and Mack

Today:

  • Matt took the day off, but Mack visited to check on things
  • Data check identified no issues
Status 3 Aug.

Clear skies and lots of sun. 

Onsite: Matt, Mack, Steve (Matt and Steve left for Las Vegas around 1pm)

Today:

  • Steve showed Matt the particulars of the hot-film's, labeled the cables, and rotated them by 90 degrees. Now films are oriented horizontally. 
  • We angled the 4 solar panels that were on racks for the DTS and moved batteries/Victron's into the ventilation shelter.
  • Steve left after 1pm - bye Steve and thanks! 
Steve left

So long, everyone, and thanks for all the support and socializing.

Status 2 Aug

Scattered Cu most of the day

Onsite: Matt, Mack, Steve

Today:

  • Brought in the Leica tripod from the field and worked on scans around the compound
  • Cleaned radiometers and solar panels
  • Took last gravimetric sample
  • Added a better fuse on the DTS power
  • Replaced t38 DSM with a spare (since it has had low voltage/reset issues)
  • Retensioned/leveled t0, now with twisted guy straps
  • Tried really hard, but failed to make sense of the velocity profiles
  • Started making the serial number list

Just produced this plot from an hour of the four hot-films' and CSATs' data at 15:00 today, using 5-minute averages. This seems like a reasonable start.

Status 1 Aug

rabbit, rabbit, rabbit

High overcast with wind in the morning, just a few sprinkles

Onsite: Matt, Mack, Steve

(This being written at noon, while the morning's activities are fresh):

  • Replaced t0 batteries, but found that the Victron wasn't pulling any power from the solar panels (despite measuring 40V open circuit).  Solved by replacing the Victron.  Strange!
  • Went down the entire line, setting Victron battery type to LiFePO4.  Also did firmware upgrades, so all are now at 2.44/1.61.  Halfway through, started checking load setting, which should be "Battery Life".  Found one at "Always On", that I changed.
  • Mack and Chenning worked on the DTS power.  Found that one solar panel connector only had 2 pins (not 4), hence strange solar inputs in the past.  This connector is now not being used.  Mack is now using 2 Victrons in parallel to charge the batteries, with each Victron powered by 3 panels in parallel (none in series anymore).  One test found that the DTS startup current is 66A (Mack has a digital clamp-on meter).  They are going to try a total rewire using thicker gauge cable.
  • Matt spent the morning rescanning tt, now that we extended the 7m boom (and moved the TRH up by 5.2cm).
  • I added the 4th hotfilm, so all should be running now.  Now that I think about it, not having power at t0 (and thus the LabJack), probably explains why ustar was restarting hotfilm data collection last night.

Later:

  • Matt continued scans, after moving the Leica to the west end of the array
  • Hotfilms: 2m was a short, 4m was open circuit, so no data from either.  2m short was in the probe support (again – the other probe support fixed itself in the base).  This is quite strange, since it was working last night until the power died.  Swapping in the (only) spare support fixed it.  4m was harder.  The SF4 probe is dead.  It was good in Boulder.  Now 2 spares for the project.  Still had an open circuit after swapping in SF5.  Turned out to be the 32IN BNC cable.  Now CTA 32 is being supplied by the 33IN cable (but still uses the 32OUT cable to the LabJack).  To appease those that come later, I think it is time to relabel things 0.5m, 1m, 2m, 4m.  I'll try to get to this tomorrow.
  • Mack and Chenning now have the (AC) UPS on the DTS system, which seems to eliminate the large surges.  I think this means that it is running again and actually getting charged well.  Mack may want to write more on this.