Weather: Mostly cloudy and cool, again breezy. There was a cold frontal passage with rain showers over night (between 2-4 am CDT). Forecast rain showers overnight tonight, continuing through the morning, with colder temps tomorrow.
Tasking:
- The morning data check showed a few issues with IRGA's due to rain/dew, but nothing of concern. However, upon inspection of real-time data in cockpit we noticed that the 10-m TRH at uconvm had failed. It turns out this occurred right around the time we arrived (between 9:07-9:17 am CDT). We unsuccessfully tried cycling the port, rebooting remotely, reconnecting the cable to the DSM, and rebooting locally at the DSM. We may have inadvertently fixed a non-reporting power monitor, but were unable to fix the TRH and it remains down. We could see no obvious reason for failure from our vantage point. We will have to wait for Ned's arrival to replace the TRH.
- Squeegeed 449 radomes around 9:10 am.
- Happy Halloween
Weather: Mostly cloudy and warm, breezy. Forecast to be a cold frontal passage with rain showers over night.
Tasking:
- The morning data check showed no issues.
- Squeegeed 449 radomes.
There was a very short IOP last night, with one sounding launched. The forecast continues to look very unfavorable for IOP's the next few days.
Weather: Sunny and clear all day. Sporadic breezy conditions and cool.
Tasking:
- The morning data check showed the same few issues with EC150s as previous days, all of which seem likely to be due to wetness from rain/dew.
- We picked up 3 batteries from Shaff Impliment this morning. Replaced lowest reading battery at each of lower convergence, upper convergence, and release towers.
- Lastly, we dropped off the CSAT that we replaced on Saturday at the storage unit. This sensor is likely fine, but requires some adjustments through the EC-100 box.
There was discussion of a possible, very short IOP tonight. The forecast looks very unfavorable for the next few days for any IOP's.
Weather: Rain overnight had moved out by morning, strong winds throughout day with clear skies early becoming overcast in the afternoon.
Tasking:
- Squeegeed ISS 449 radomes around 0900
- The morning data check showed a few issues with EC150s all likely due to wet sensors from the rain overnight.
- Measured battery charges at release towers. Relt batteries read 13.02 and 13.0. Relm batteries read 13.07, 13.08, 13.10.
- We retrieved UWisc temperature profile survey results from the internal memory of the theodolite, downloaded to the removable SD card, and copied the files to my laptop. There are three files, UW Temps 1, UW Temps 2, and UW Temps 3.
- Since no instrument issues were noted at this time we called it a day.
There was an IOP last night beginning around 2000 CDT and ending relatively early. Two soundings were logged for this IOP.
Weather: Moist morning, drying out by afternoon with a light wind all day. Altostratus and altocumulus throughout.
Tasking:
- The morning data check showed few issues with EC150s and p4 but they all seemed to be morning dew related
- Squeegeed ISS 449 radomes
- Started sensor clean and guy wire tension check
- Also decided to perform a battery triage to determine which ones would be best to swap out when they finally arrive
- Matt arrived at his hotel in Champaign around noon, went and picked him up
- After lunch, started with a tour of the base trailer and ISS trailer
- Continued tour at the swale while finishing up the sensor clean and guy wire tension check
- When going over the data with cockpit in the sodar trailer, discovered lconv2 a2 1.5m CSAT3A was inop
- It appeared to alternate between good data and empty values, switching every second or so
- Power cycle failed to change this pattern
- Ultimately decided to swap the sonic (2044 > 2045). Stream now looks good
- Went through a sonde launch with Andy and Matt
Today was my last day, Andy and Matt will be the crew on site for the next week. Good luck you two! There is an IOP tonight that was starting as we were heading out around 18:00 local. They are doing an earlier and potentially shorter one to try and beat the weather coming in tomorrow morning.
Weather: Chilly and rainy day, nimbostratus throughout
Tasking:
- The morning data check showed one issue:
- lconv2 3m CSAT appeared to be inop for a spell today (08:57-11:42 local). Currently the stream looks good
- Went to site briefly to dig into this problem and check cockpit. The rain dissuaded us from walking down the swale
- Lou's last day on site so we covered upcoming ISS tasks and PM
- Data entry and email catch up
- Started making a list of ISFS punchlist items for Andy and Matt
We had a short day today due to the weather. If tomorrow is agreeable, we will try and do a sensor clean. There will not be two climbers for the remainder of Ops except for the overlap of Andy and Ned, so this may be the last clean for all the EC150s and NR01s at height.
Weather: Chilly morning turning into a balmy afternoon. Stratus until about 1300 local, followed by cumulostratus through the rest of the afternoon
Tasking:
- Met with Lou to catch up on ISS and cover their needs for the remainder of the project:
- switching out secondary storage drive as they approach full
- make sure water does not pool on 449
- make sure corn and debris does not build up around 449 electronics
- do a complete sounding with Matt and Andy with the new rs41 system
- Data check, everything is looking acceptable
- Did some housekeeping on the tablet and removed all the Perdigao and GRAINEX paired devices
- Truck clean
- Contacted Shaff Implements to try and expedite the shipping of the batteries. Still have not received word so chances aren't great
- Spent a few hours cleaning the swale of rubbish and straightening equipment due to the impending rain
- Showed Andy access to the remaining pressures sites we have not visited
Tomorrow morning Lou asked for some quick help with a couple of tasks. We pivoted from data entry this afternoon to a swale clean due to the nice weather, so that will be part of the rainy day activity tomorrow. The soil samples are cooling down after baking for 24hrs so we will weigh those as well. Matt will be landing in Chicago tomorrow and plans to catch a ride down to Champaign Saturday morning.
Weather: Cool and breezy. Clear with cirrostratus throughout the day.
Tasking:
- Attempted to pick up the replacement station batteries from Shaff Implements, however they accidentally delivered absorbed glass mat instead of gel. The correct set are not slated to arrive until next Monday unfortunately, perhaps this can be expedited.
- Morning data check looked good.
- Finished theodolite survey of the UW temperature profiles.
- Took soil samples from the corn, swale and bean sites, they are currently drying in the oven.
- We bumped into April this afternoon, she said the IOP last night was the best yet! The smoke is finding the low points of the swale even better then they imagined. Tonight it will be too windy for another IOP, but the hope is that there will be a couple of good evenings by the end of this weekend.
- Afternoon data check also looked good.
Tomorrow we will catch up on data entry and figure out which batteries we will swap out when the new ones finally arrive. Also, Lou is suppose to be on site to assess ISS's equipment.
Weather: Cool and breezy. Slightly hazy with occasional wispy cumulus throughout the day
Tasking:
- Started the day with data check showing one issue:
- uconv 0.2m Gill sonic was inop, showing 999,999.99 for both component fields but otherwise streaming as expected. Upon inspection we found heavy corrosion between the connector pins due to moisture ingress. To be safe we replaced both the sonic and cable, leaving the old cable waterproofed and zip tied to the tower. Do we have a s/n table anywhere set up yet? (Just so I don't lose it, Gill 1536012 is now inop and replaced with 1335016)
- We did a quick visual check of the power monitor board at relm and the fuse did not seem to be seated due to being angled. I removed and reseated it. After doing a double check of the data this appeared to have killed all streams from the serial board at relm. Returned to the tower and found the serial board fuse had blown. Replaced it and data streams returned to nominal with a loss of less than 15 minutes.
- Decided to attempt to waterproof all Gill connectors a bit more with ziplock baggies and some electrical tape. Hopefully this will stop pooling of water in the boom mount which ultimately may be the culprit of the last two dead gills.
- Continued theodolite survey of the UW temperature profiles. This is now mostly complete, one more survey position should be sufficient. I will create or add to an existing page explaining our methods and nomenclature for shooting them.
- Spent the lion's share of the afternoon assisting April with the alignment of her LIDAR (lasers woot!). The manufacturer sent her an incomplete assembly so we helped with a makeshift temporary fix and got to learn about aligning the device.
- Ended the day with another data check due to an IOP this evening, looking good.
Forgot about picking up the batteries until we were almost at site this morning, so that will be first thing tomorrow. Also it has been quite dry and rain is in the forecast for Thursday, so we plan on taking soil samples tomorrow. Good luck to all of the IOPers tonight!
Weather: Warm and breezy. Clear with occasional cumulus throughout the day.
Tasking:
- Started the day with data check, everything looking good!
- Secured Aprils solar panels at uconv and lconv with stakes and straps
- Cleaned all EC150 and NR01 lenses
- Checked guy tensions at four tall towers
- Started theodolite survey of UW PVC temperature profiles
- Helped April move her LIDAR assembly from Release Tower platform to trailer where it will remain for the rest of the project. They plan on disassembling the platform/LIDAR enclosure and leaving the trailer about 15m north of the original platform location
Received word from Shaff Implements that our batteries arrived this afternoon, we will pick them up tomorrow morning.
Weather: Cool and calm. Clear with occasional cumulus throughout the day.
Tasking:
- At least one power outage last night, most likely due to high winds. Ken said power was lost from about 4am until 9am local this morning. He has a standby generator that powers the circuit the ISS trailer is on however the ISFS trailer is on a circuit without backup power. That generator kicked on almost immediately but there most likely was a momentary loss of power for the ISS profiler system. After checking it out this morning the profiler plots seem nominal, however Bill said there is a problem with his webplots as of 10:15pm local. This may be due to an earlier power surge or loss.
- lconv a2 1.5m CSAT3A started reporting again yesterday afternoon and data looks acceptable
- Had a chance to speak with Ken about what to do with the corn collected on our tarps. He requested we dump it on his treeline due to mold and decay that most of it had succumb to.
- The instruments are all looking good today, surprising after winds reached almost 45mph at the 20m sonics
- Moved the tarp corn to a couple of dump spots on Ken's treeline.
- Replaced thinner gauge wire I used for grounding with recently found ground strap at all four towers
- April's solar panels at uconv had been blown over and partially sagged at init. Secured init panels. Uconv will need a stake and ratchet strap to secure them in case of another high wind event
- Zip tied cables with excess play to tall towers to limit abrasion in case of another high wind event
Tomorrow hopefully our replacement batteries will arrive!
Weather: Cool, high winds (25-35 mph constant!) from mid morning through sunset. Clear with occasional cumulus.
Tasking:
- Andy's first day. Started with an overview of duties & tour of the base trailer
- Proceeded to cover methods of checking data with a focus on qctables, ncharts and cockpit
- Continued tour at the swale. Went over all NCAR and user sensors and their locations
- Upon cockpit data check at SODAR trailer, found two issues
- initb 0.2m 2D Gill was not reporting. Attempted PIO power cycle to no avail. Sensor came back after DSM power cycle and is still reporting
- lconv a2 1.5m CSAT3A stopped reporting at 08:22 this morning. Power cycle failed to bring it back. We intended to return with a DMM further troubleshooting this afternoon but excessive winds were disconcerting enough to table this until tomorrow
- The soybean field to the north of lconv was harvested last night and this morning. It was then safe to rerun the serial cable from the beans tripod mote to its DSM. No issues with those streams
The wind already made a bit of a mess blowing packaging and other materials around. I suspect tomorrow will be a bit of a cleanup day. We will also knock down the remaining standing crop the harvester missed for consistency, particularly around the corn and beans NR01/Soil Sensor combos. Hopefully we will run into Ken to find out what he wants with the corn collected on our tarps.
Originally posted by Dan, reposted as a blog.
Weather: Cool, low stratus throughout the day with scattered showers around noon
Tasking:
- Hendrik continued his remote support for the local Argentina crew
- Replaced 65W panels for 145W panels at lconv & uconv. We will hold off on doing the same at rel but will keep a close eye on it
- Data seems nominal
- Andy arrived this afternoon
- Hendrik's last day was today. Big thanks for all his hard work out here!
- April, Hendrik and I had dinner and checked in
- IOPs are going well. The smoke has been pooling as desired for recent IOPs
- They currently have had four successful ones with the goal of 10 by project end
- UW may return before project end to do another IOP flight with their UAV
- Critters chewing through the ctemps fiber continues to be an issue. They just received a new shipment of splices and will start fixing breaks downstream of the rel tower
Tomorrow I will be giving Andy a tour of the sites and overview of duties.
Weather was warm and sunny.
Last night there was an IOP. We have not heard any word on how it went. All our towers and sensors appear to have been functioning well though some sensors have slightly strange waveforms.
- The night frost and/or due seems to throw off the EC150 CO2 and H2O data. I don't see a short term solution this. Long-term, we may want to use the built-in heaters, though the power budget implications are not trivial..
- The Release tower Tsoil channel 2 (1.9cm) is noisy and showing signs of failing.
Dan cleaned out the truck of all unnecessary items. The generator is now being stored underneath the base trailer.
Hendrik spent time on the phone with Univ Cordoba students who have been doing an ops trip.
We received 6 solar panels from Boulder today, shipped air. We began the process of swapping P6's 65W panel for a 145W panel. Then, Dan had a better idea of doing this swap at Release.m, UConv.m, and LConv.m, where we're actually negative in the power budget. Gary's ubiquity-power-cycle fix eliminated the need for additional charging at the pressure stations. However, we still need more charging at the sites mentioned above. We will begin this swap tomorrow.
Agenda for tomorrow
- Swap in 145W panels at Release.m, UConv.m, and LConv.m
- Give April 5-min avg geo/tilt-cor data from 10/12 - 10/17 (for her and U of W students. Covers 2 IOPs)
- Finish EC5 soil experiment.
- Meet with Andy, who arrives in Champaign at 5PM
- Hendrik's last day in Champaign.
Weather: Cold and windy, scattered cumulus throughout the day
Tasking:
- Hendrik periodically provided remote support for the local Argentina crew as they began their maintenance visits
- Troubleshooting and repair of ISS DSM at 449 site
- Replacement of 15m TRH at Release Tower due to failing fan bearings. Data still looked acceptable but it was getting quite
- Paid for the remaining two months at the storage unit
- Picked up squeegee for ISS 449 antenna radomes