Blog

Clear sky except for pollution

16:00 - 17:00

16:10   Tower lowered, cleaned krypton, checked bolts,

            cleaned radiometer domes and checked dessicant

16:18   Mast back up

16:30   Took soil sample, Tupperware 3:0-3, 3:3-6

16:35   Pounded in stakes

16:54   adjustment of shadowband

14:15 - 15:15

Clear day, 50% snow cover on ground.

14:23    SHT018 replaced with SHT009

14:28    Mast lowered

14:31    cleaned krypton with water (1.6v to 2.35v), retracted sonic wicks, checkd tower bolts, soil sample taken at main site

14:50    raised mast

14:55    cleaned radiometer domes with water, soil sample at secondary site,  sample depths backwards in tupperware

13:14    pounded tower stakes in

Status, Jan 27, 2011

Status evaluated from 36 hour plots on Jan 27 10:00-11:00 MST
On site: Semmer and Horst, Militzer leaves today

Weather: clear this morning

Summary: TRH at E Slope has been flaky

Vdsm: ok, > 12.3 V
Vmote.rad: ok, > 12.5 V
Vmote.soil: ok, > 12.3 V

P: ok                                                                                           
Tbaro: ok
T: Playa fixed yesterday; E Slope had bad values 1700 - 1735 Jan 26
RH: ditto, RH at E Slope looks bad
Q: ditto
Rainr (3,4,6): ok, no tips
Spd (1,6): ok,                                                                                  
Dir (1,6): ok, currently southerly

csat diag: ok, spikes at 3,5,6
spd: ok
dir: ok
u'u': ok
v'v': ok
w'w': ok                                                                                        
u*: ok
sigma_w/u*: ok

tc: ok
tc'tc': ok
w'tc': ok

kh2oV: ok, all > 1V prior except Playa, which appears to be drying
kh2o: ok
kh2o'kh2o': ok
w'kh2o': ok

Rsw.in: ok
Rsw.out: ok
albedo: ok, E Slope appears to still have some snow
Rsw.dfs (1,7): ok
Rsw.global (1,7): ok

Rlw.in: ok, Playa appears to be drying or fog clearing
Rpile.in: ok
Tcase.in: ok
Tdome.in (1,2,5): ok

Rlw.out: ok
Rpile.out: ok
Tcase.out: ok
Tdome.out (1,2,5): ok

soil.aux at E & W Slope (5,6)
Tsoil: ok, note that linear sensors at 5 & 6 do not agree with soil profiles
Qsoil: ok, up to 38 vol% at Playa
Gsoil: ok
Cvsoil: spikes at ~5 hr intervals at W Valley

Jan 27
There is a plot gap of about 20 minutes last night from all stations except 1 at 5z (10 pm MST). This looks like a Verizon network interruption. If it was an EOL server problem, all stations would have the gap.

hiland3 didn't come back online after the interruption, until 15z, 8am MST this morning. I logged in and saw that the router_check.sh script was not being run from 2 to 14z in crontab, which was the plan when we were turning off the routers and modems overnight. When the script ran at 15z it worked as it should and brought the system back online. I changed hiland3's crontab back to the original settings where router_check.sh is run every hour (and net_check.sh every 15 minutes). Also logged into all other stations to verify their crontabs.

Stn2 Visit-2 26Jan11

26Jan2011 15:05-15:25 local Militzer/Semmer

Conditions: partly cloudy, low q with high humidity, calm, upper 30's

Purpose: clean kh2o

15:10-15:18 Tower Down

15:15 Kh2O cleaned with methanol and distilled.  Voltage went from 0 to 1.8 volts

Rad was cleaned earlier.   No snow now at all

Stn4 Visit 26Jan11

26Jan2011 14:10-14:40 local Militzer/Semmer

Conditions: above freezing, clear here but fog throughout valley, calm

Purpose: cleaning

14:22 Rad: 1 drop of water cleaned off Rsw.in

14:20-14:30 Mast down

14:22 Krypton cleaned.  voltage went up from 0 to 1.4+ volts

Snow Depth: 1" The snow is mostly covering the ground here all around but melting in steadily.

Stn1 Visit 26Jan11

26Jan2011 12:50-13:30 local Militzer/Semmer

Conditions: humid air, patchy fog in valley, mid 30's, snow basically gone, marshy soil

Purpose: check/fix trh, set diffuse radiometer, cleaning

13:00 Rad cleaned Rsw.in that had a couple of water droplets on it

13:06 Rad: adjusted shadow band up to correct elevation angle.   It had been at about 40deg and needed to be 31deg; set it at ~32deg for 'windage'.   This was done by placing a square on the 'ephermous ring' and an inclinometer on that for the peak sun elevation on the date/latitude.   Also adjusted the ring up a bit and leveled the sensor.   Couldn't exactly see it but believe that the previous setting was also being shaded but may have had some exposure at the beginning/end of the day due to incorrect tilt.

13:10 Rad: cleaned shadow band licor with methanol which had some bird poop on the plate and sensor head.   The pile, being white, didn't really show much evidence of that but almost certainly it had some on it as well.

13:05 TRH swapped, #13 for #21.  By the time we got here it was "working" but at ~1.8deg, 98%humidity.  After swap it was at ~2deg (ie same) but down to 78%rh

13:15 Krypton cleaned.   output went up to 1.25volts from zero.

Took a couple pictures of the standing water under the rad stand and soil mote.

Stn2 Visit 26Jan11

26Jan2011 10:00-10:15 local Militzer

Conditions: very foggy, calm

Purpose: Check radiometers, solar panels and measure snow

PV: solar panels have cleared off from the snow yesterday...no problems

Snow Depth: very little left, just a little bit but spotty around rad.   3/4" was deepest patch i could find next to rad.

10:09: Rad Rsw.in had light frost covering cleaned off with methanol.   Other sensors were clear.

Kh2O voltage zero, wet in fog.  no 2nd person to lower tower

Status, Jan 25

Status evaluated from 36 hour plots on Jan 25 09:30-11:45 MST
On site: John and Tom

Weather: snowing this morning

Summary:

Vdsm: ok, ~14.5 V yesterday
Vmote.rad: ok, > 14 V yesterday
Vmote.soil: ok, > 14 V yesterday

P: ok
Tbaro: ok
T: ok
RH: ok, 70-90 %RH
Q: ok, up to 4 g/kg
Rainr (3,4,6): ok,  snow this morning seen at all three sites
Spd (1,6): ok,
Dir (1,6): ok, currently NW

csat diag: ok, spikes at E Slope corresponding to adjustment of wicks
spd: ok
dir: ok
u'u': ok
v'v': ok
w'w': ok
u*: ok
sigma_w/u*: ok, ~1.5

tc: ok
tc'tc': ok
w'tc': ok

kh2oV: ok, all > 1V prior to morning precip
kh2o: ok
kh2o'kh2o': ok
w'kh2o': ok

Rsw.in: ok
Rsw.out: ok
albedo: ok
Rsw.dfs (1,7): ok
Rsw.global (1,7): ok

Rlw.in: ok
Rpile.in: ok
Tcase.in: ok
Tdome.in (1,2,5): ok

Rlw.out: ok
Rpile.out: ok
Tcase.out: ok
Tdome.out (1,2,5): ok

soil.aux at E & W Slope (5,6)
Tsoil: ok, note that linear sensors at 5 & 6 do not agree with soil profiles
Qsoil: ok, up to 38 vol% at Playa
Gsoil: ok
Cvsoil: spikes at 2,3,4; at ~5 hr intervals at W Valley

Status, Jan 24, 2011

Status evaluated from 36 hour plots on Jan 24 09:00- MST
On site: John and Tom

Wx: clear skies, light winds
Summary:

Vdsm: ok,
Vmote.rad: ok
Vmote.soil: ok

P: ok
Tbaro: ok
T: ok
RH: ok, 50-90%
Q: ok, 2.4 - 3.6 g/kg
Rainr (3,4,6): ok, 2*3 mm/hr at Highland morning of 1/23
Spd (1,6): ok, up to 6 m/s
Dir (1,6): ok, currently Sw

csat diag: ok

kh2oV: ok

Rsw.in: ok
Rsw.out: ok
Rsw.dfs (1,7): ok
Rsw.global (1,7): ok

Rlw.in: ok

Rlw.out: ok

soil.aux at E & W Slope (5,6)
Tsoil: Tsoilaux 4.4 cm at Eslope misbehaved 1/23 11:00-15:00
Qsoil: ok
Gsoil: Highland has some spikes
Cvsoil: spikes at ABC, W Valley

24Jan2011 18:00 - 18:10 local Militzer/Horst

Conditions: beginning to cloud up, after sunset

Purpose: Reset Rad Mote ID from 11 to 9

Reprogrammed Rad mote using default id=9.   Was unable to get a reliable command interaction with the motes (10,11,21) at this station.   The base mote was at power level 0 instead of 4.   Gordon reset this from Boulder using the '+++', 'atpl4', 'atwr' sequence, but we were still unable to get a good mote '#11id=9' command through to it, necessitating this change.   I had set the default id incorrectly earlier today when updating the software.

NOTE because the radiation mote id was different than expected in the xml, there will be a data gap in cockpit/web-plots.. but that can be later merged in during post processing.

NOTE: need to checkout the comms at this site a bit more thoroughly because there may be some non-optimal settings in the xbee configurations.

Stn 2 Visit 24 Jan 2011

24Jan2011 16:20-17:15 Militzer/Horst

Conditions: becoming overcast, sun going down, calm

Purpose: Cleaning, Re-Init Router, Mote software update

16:23-16:28 Update mote software.   Finger nail polish coating added to antenna bases.

16:23-16:28 Rad cleaned and downlooking rlw desiccant refreshed

16:40-17:00 Router Configuration refreshed after it had dropped back into factory defaults a couple days ago.  No data loss, but will need to fill those gaps with rsync tonight.

Stn 3 Visit 24 Jan 2011

24Jan2011 14:55-15:55 Militzer/Horst

conditions: calm, upper 30's, high overcast, moisture coming in tonight

Purpose: Cleaning, Update mote software, check ETI

14:59-15:00 Rad. cleaned with methanol and distilled.  Desiccant ok.

14:59-15:03 Mote software updated.    Put fingernail polish on antenna connectors at interface of whitebox.

15:10-15:28 Mast lowered.

15:18 Kh2O cleaned with methanol and distilled.  Went from .92 to 2.0 volts.

Sonic wicks retracted a bit because they were extending a bit too far into the measurement paths.

15:39-15:58 A few adn/aup to try to communicate with ETI, but we were using the wrong approach to try it.  Did not have the correct serial cable to tie-in directly to gauge.   NOTE still need to confirm that the TO/1 temperature compensation is on.

Note: mast bolts ok, stakes pounded in on mast and rad stand

Stn 4 Visit 24 Jan 2011

24Jan2011 13:50-14:30 local Militzer/Horst

conditions: calm, upper 30's+, clear

purpose: Cleaning

13:55-14:23 mast down

14:02 Rad cleaned with methanol.  Desiccant ok.

14:09 Kh2O cleaned with methanol.   Went up from 1.0 to 1.2 volts.  Cleaned a bit later with distilled and went up to 2.0 volts

NOTE: Mast bolts ok.   BUT south leg stakes were loose and the footpad rose up when we lowered the mast.   Ground is moist and appears that the stakes have all loosened.   We re-set one stake and pounded down the others but did not have spare stakes and wire to improve the situation substantially.

24Jan2011, 10:30-12:30 local, Militzer/Horst

Conditions: mostly calm, upper 30's, clear

Purpose: RMY swap, Soil Samples, Update Mote Code

10:40 Rad Cleaned with Methanol, did not notice desiccant condition

10:35-10:45 Mote Software Updated version 2.4

11:00-11:27 Mast Lowered.   11:08 RMY swapped.   Previous sensor seemed ok and did not hear any bearing noise.   Swapped anyway.   Zeroed and 'boom-directioned to zero' on new sensor: consistent with previous unit.   It did seem as though the new sensor's prop was rotating and we didn't noticed a reported velocity.   It did start reporting speed with numbers about .4 so we assumed it is ok.   11:11 adn and aup while setting 'ZN' and 'BD'

11:15 Kh2O cleaned.   Voltage rose from 1.25 to 1.6 volts.

NOTE: Mast bolts on lowest joint were slightly loose; tightened them up.

ETI gauge was 2/3 full so we expect it to drain soon.  

11:30-12:30 Soil Samples taken first at the main and then auxiliary locations.   Container 1,0-3 and 1,3-6 were at main.   Containers 2,0-3 and 2,3-6 were at aux.

Soil Analysis:

Location

Sample:
depth (cm)

Tray

wet wt
net (oz)

dry wt
total (oz)

pan wt
(oz)

dry wt
net (oz)

water
 (oz)

6 - main

1: 0-3

4-0

4.415

3.305

0.135

3.170

1.245

6 - main

1: 3-6

4-6

5.705

4.890

0.125

4.765

0.940

6 - aux

2: 0-3

2-0

3.420

2.715

0.135

2.580

0.840

6 - aux

2: 3-6

2-6

4.775

4.094

0.130

3.964

0.811