The day started out mostly clear with light winds, but clouds developed and late afternoon a windy squall came through the site with a short period of driving rain.
The ISS is almost fully operational. The three wind lidars are in their planned scanning modes, although there is still some tuning to do. Every hour a short period of coordinated scans are planned to intercompare the lidars, however the lidars aren't scanning as expected. The windcube scans are taking longer than expected (7-9 minutes instead of the 5 minutes planned) so those will need to be speeded up, and Halo lidars seem to be ignoring the programmed scans but fortunately are doing the desired stare modes.
The Metek Halo lidar on the roof of MISS appears to move slightly off target. This lidar is supposed to be lined up with the ISFS array, however the level indicator in the lidar indicated that it moving around 0.1-0.2 degrees which corresponds to about 5 meters displacement at the range of the ISFS array. In addition the drive mechanism appears to have some hysteresis so that if the lidar head behaves differently depending on the direction the head is turned. I was not able to detect the array in the returns, but can easily detect the REAL trailer so used that and the ground as targets. Currently the best setting seems to be an azimuth of 78 deg and elevation of 0 or 0.1 deg.
The students let off two soundings today (10am and 3pm PDT or 17UT and 22 UT). Unfortunately they didn't attach the 17UT sonde securely and it fell from the ballon soon after launch. Given that the conditions weren't ideal, Chenning decided not to relaunch. The 22UT was successful. About 10 minutes into the flight, the balloon appeared to hit a downdraft and the sonde dropped about 10 mb (around 100 meters). After a few minutes, the flight resumed normally.
MISS: comparisons with the Modular Profiler showed that the northward winds on the 915 MHz profiler are out of phase with Modular Profiler. The eastward winds agree well. This implies that the north and south oblique beams may be swapped so I switched the programing codes and will test again tomorrow.
Gary and I installed a Purpleair aerosol sensor and a Microseven camera on the ISFS array. We got caught in the squall out on the array so will need to revisit tomorrow to tidy up and adjust the pointing angle of the camera, but both appear to be working.
The unusual sight of rain and wet equipment at the M2HATS site
Sunny this morning with light winds this morning, then increasing southerlies and clouds later.
First day of operations although we are still tweaking the systems. Two soundings (at 10:30am and 3pm or 1730 and 2200UT) which doubled as further training for the students.
After changing some settings on the Metek Halo lidar it now looks much more comparable to the UVA Halo. I ran all three lidars (the two Halos and the NCAR Windcube) in similar modes for a few hours to compare performances. During this time the lidars were all pointed vertically most of the time, but with VAD wind scans once every 10 minutes. From approx 1840 - 2040 UT, the two Halos were in the same 30m range gate modes, and the Windcube in 50m mode. From 2040 - 2223 UT the two Halos stayed in 30 m mode, and the windcube was in 25m mode. The Windcube was in the same 6-point VAD scan mode as the Halos for winds. Overall the UVA Halo and the Windcube had similar performance, typically seeing up to about 2.5 km, whereas the Metek Halo saw up to about 2km. The Windcube showed more definition in the backscatter than the Halos.
I did an azimuth calibration on the Windcube using the 30m ISFS telescoping tower which is at about 576 meters range, 199.1 deg azimuth from the MISS.
The lidars were set into their operations modes from about 23UT. These are:
NCAR Windcube: continuous VAD winds scans at 35 deg elevation followed by hourly short vertical stares, N-S and E-W RHIs, and 0 elevation scan over the study area (from east to south).
Metek Halo: continuous stares to the east along th ISFS tower array, followed by hourly VAD winds
UVA Halo: continuous vertical stares, followed by hourly VAD winds
Other issues, the ISS1 Gill winds were 180 deg out, which Gary fixed this afternoon.
The MISS wind profiler still has issues with the north and south oblique beams.
Screenshots from the NCAR Windcube, UVA Halo and Metek Halo lidars
A warm day with variable winds and some scattered clouds in the afternoon. A few dust devils, mostly to the south.
David, Isabel, and Josh (along with mainly of the ISFS crew) left early this morning - many thanks to all for a productive setup. It's now just myself on the ISS side and Steve, Justin and Gary working on the ISFS side (and the RSF crew). Most instruments are operating although there are still some communications issues and I had a somewhat frustrating day trying to get the lidars and cameras online. With Gary's help we got the lidar camera on-line (it's on the MISS LAN and for some reason it kept coming up on the wrong subnet and wouldn't accept a static IP address). This is a Microseveen camera which will allow us to remotely monitor what the lidars are doing (eg, where the heads are pointing). Another Microseven camera on the ISS1 tower pointed to the southeast over the study area did not have the same issue. I hope to install another Microseven camera on the ISFS tower array.
A bigger issue was with the Halo lidars. For some reason, the teamviewer app normally used by these lidars isn't working on the ISS network so the only way to control them has been by directly connecting a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Eventually I was able to get Microsoft remote desktops working for both lidars and then by finally being able to compare them side-by-side discovered that the Metek Halo lidar is showing significantly less signal than the UVA Halo and our Windcube. I will investigate further tomorrow, it is not clear yet if the reduced power is due to a different scanning or sampling strategy or if there is a problem with the lidar.
Remote desktops for the Halo lidars, the UVA lidar on the lower left, and the Metek lidar on the upper right.
The Microseven camera installed south of MISS (left) and its field of view (right) which is designed to view (from left) the NCAR windcube, the Meek Halo (on MISS), the UVA Halo, and the Chico State REAEL lidar.
A Microseven camera on the ISS1 met tower looking southeast (left) and its field of view (right) looking out over the main study area south of the ISFS tower array.
Another hot mostly clear day with light variable winds and a few dust devils. Some scattered cloud, especially in the afternoon.
The setup is nearly done. Josh and David did some more work on the clutter screen for the MISS wind profiler, adding a mesh screen on the south side and reinforcing the east and west sides. David got back under the antenna to reinstall the backplane cover that we took off the relay segment of the antenna while diagnosing connections to the beam steering relays. The clutter screen does appear to have helped reduce clutter on the lowest range gates, although there does still seem to be an issue with the wind directions. I installed a Microseven camera and a Purpleair aerosol sensor on the ISS1 tower, which required a little reworking of the power and network connections since the DMS box was too crowded to fit everything, so installed another enclosure on the tower.
We did another sounding, both as training for the students and to test out the balloon inflation enclosure (which we are using to gain experience for a possible switch to hydrogen in the future). Winds were much lighter today and everything went well.
Prof Tong and his students learning how to launch soundings
Group shot of EOL staff, Jielun, and the Clemson group
A hot day with light winds and occasional dust devils (including one that almost went directly. over the site, see below), and light variable winds. Clear during the morning, scattered clouds later. The ground at the site was damp this morning, and some of the heavy storms that hit the town last night did pass over the site, and showed up clearly in both radar wind profiler data.
Examining the MISS profiler data from last night, indicates that the antenna beams of the profiler are mostly okay. During clear-air periods, there does seem to be a lot of ground clutter so we decided to attempt a simple screen made from chicken wire. So far the fence just covers the east and west sides, and does appear to improve the data, although so far we have only had light winds, it will be interesting to see how the data looks with stronger winds.
We also ran a check on the CS125 visibility sensor using a calibrated filter. We didn't have access to Campbell's software for the test, but just put the filter into the CCS125 beam for several hours. Visibility values of 940 to 970 meters were recorded during that period, which agrees well with the filter's calibrated value of TMOR 997 meters. We also set up 100-meter winds and RASS modes for the Modular Profiler, worked on a camera to monitor the lidars, and tested a backup generator.
Buildding a clutter screen for the MISS 915 MHz wind profiler (left) and checking the calibration of the CS125 visibility sensor (right)
A dust devil went directly over the ISS site about 21:20 UTC (2:20 pm local) and may be visible in Modular Profiler and lidar data.
Slightly cooler today with a high of 91F and windy at times, especially during the morning. Winds were mostly northerly, although switched to westerly at times as some storms went along the hills to the west. Variable clouds increasing in the afternoon. During the evening there were some storms with heavy rain and lightning in the town and some of those may have passed over or near the site.
Josh and Isabel launched the first sounding this morning. There were westerly winds around 12 m/s (26 mph) and based on that experience we will likely recommend the students don't launch in winds stronger than 10 m/s (especially if they are northerly as winds might blow the sounding into the power lines on the south side of the site). Given the winds, Josh inflated the balloon inside a seatainer rather than the sounding shelter we had planned to use. Aside from the wind, the sounding went smoothly. The data collection and processing appeared to go well, with two BUFR files generated (for upward and downward legs), although we aren't yet sure if the data were submitted to the WMO GTS.
David and I worked on the MISS profiler. David took the cover off under the antenna and traced the switching cables. He checked connections and verified that the switching signals appear to be making it to the relays in the antenna. Gary and Isabel worked on installing the NIMA analysis package which will help diagnose the issue. On the Modular Profiler, the oversampling mode we set up yesterday appears to be working well. Today we set up a 100 meter RASS mode which seems to be working well.
We leveled and tied down the NCAR windcube and Metek Halo lidars, and added a safety chain to the lidar platform on top of MISS. Josh added a ground rod to the ISS1 tower (just in time for the lightning this evening). Isabel got the data transfer back to Boulder working although there is further work to do before web plots will be available.
Inflating and launching the radiosonde sounding
One on the lidar platform on MISS (left) and diagnosing the MISS wind profiler (right)
Another warm day with a high of 96F with winds mostly southerly, turning to northerly late in the day with increasing clouds. A brief rain storm in town late afternoon and lightning nearby, but only a trace reached the site.
Today was John's last day and he continued to help us with the wind profilers. This morning we erected a clutter fence for the Modular Profiler. The profiler is already in a chainlink fence compound which does provide some screening (and protection for anyone nearby), but we have found that installing sloped chainlink fence panels along the sides of the profiler (parallel to the polarization) does provide an effective clutter screen so we added that to the profiler here. We also installed acoustic surrounds for the RASS speakers. There was some improvement in the lowest range gates, and we are now getting wind measurements down to about 400m, compared to about 600 before. There is also a few dB reduction in interference to the sounding system. David set up a series of operating modes such as RIM and oversampling modes which we will test over the coming days, and John wired the RASS distribution. We also setup a shade cloth over the amplifier enclosure to keep it cooler.
On the MISS 915 MHz wind profiler, there appeared to be a problem with the antenna steering. Doppler spectra from opposing oblique beams appeared not to be the mirror images expected, suggesting that the antenna beam was not being steered correctly. The winds also appear to be rotated compared to the lidar and 449 MHz profiler. John checked the switching signals on the antenna cable with a multimeter and the beam steering codes seem to be correct. Reseating the cable appeared to help although we only had a short time to check it so we will do some more tests tomorrow.
Other tasks included tidying up cables, straightening the 10-meter met tower (it had been leaning a couple of degrees to the south) and tying things down in case of gusty winds (the nearby airport AWS reported gusts over 40 mph). Isabel got the VAD wind algorithm working for the windcube lidar, and she and Josh also worked on configuring the sounding system. We also paid a visit to the ISFS array of 50 towers, very impressive!
John departed and will soon will be heading to a new role in RSF, thanks very much for your help John!
Chainlink clutter fence panels on the 449 MHz Modular Profiler. Three panels were installed parallel to the polarization vector of the antenna.
Installing the RASS surrounds (left), diagnosing the MISS wind profiler (center), and visiting the ISFS tower array (right).
Slightly cooler today with a high of 98F. Early morning there was a light northerly with smoke from an industrial plant drifting down the valley, then the wind switched to southerly with a gust front mid-afternoon kicking up dust. Cloud gradually thickened during the day which provided a welcome respite from the intense sun.
John continued his visit checking on our radar wind profilers. On the 915 MHz wind profiler on MISS, he checked the power output of the amplifier and found that it was a little higher than expected at around 460 W peak instead of the 400 W expected. Out of concern that we might be overdriving the amplifier (which might damage it), he added attenuation to the input. It is now generating about 390W peak power or 56 dBm with 24 dB attenuation on the input.
On the 449 MH Modular Profiler, he and David discovered that the amplifier box required some minor repairs. One of the three amplifiers was disconnected (perhaps having shaken loose in transport) and other similar issues. This meant that the transmit beam was uneven, likely contributing to the low cross-correlations noted yesterday. After repairs, the profiler worked much better. We also checked out radio interference from the profiler on the sounding system and on the 5G wireless network in the REAL trailer. Tests showed that both profilers were not affecting the REAL 5G service. The 449 MHz profiler is affecting the sounding (as expected) so we may need to move the sounding antenna across the access road, although the clutter fence (which we plan to install tomorrow) will likely reduce the interference.
We installed the 3-meter tower just south of MISS with a Lufft WS800-UMB weather sensor and a Campbell CS-125 visibility and present weather sensor.
Checking the power level from the MISS 915 MHz wind profiler (left) and making repairs on the 449 MHz amplifier (right)
Installing a CS-125 visibility sensor (left) and checking interference on the sounding system (right)
A gust front is pictured approaching the site from the south around 2:30pm PDT. We adjusted the windcube lidar scanning strategy to observe the front and saw gusts around 12 - 15 m/s - 27 - 33 mph)
A very hot day with a high at the nearby airport AWS of 104F. There was some high level cirrus and variable SW to W winds and a few dust devils (one of which damaged our shade canopy).
John Sobtzak joined us for a couple of days and worked with David and I on the 449 MHz Modular Profiler. He and David did a number of checks and adjustments, such as checking the range calibration, tuning parameters, We found that the 451.4 MHz signal that I had detected previously was made up of a number of narrow band components. On the Aritsu portable VNA in spectral analysis mode, connected to the channel 0 antenna just at the LNA reported a signal level of about -78 dBm. We tried rotating the array array about 20 deg to line up better with the orientation towards the antennas on Mount Butler, only made a small difference, perhaps reducing the RFI signal 2 or 3 dB. The profiler is getting good signal (up to around 5 km AGL, probably thanks to the moisture inn the clouds aloft). The wind analysis indicated low cross-correlations involving antenna channel 0 (perhaps suggesting a problem with that antenna), however when David switched toughs it appeared to improve so it may have been a connection issue rather than a problem with the antenna itself. We will do further checks tomorrow. John also cabled up the MISS wind profiler and we plan to turn that on tomorrow.
We also started up the Metek Halo lidar on top of the MISS container (starting in a default VAD winds mode), rearranged the contents of the lidar container, and moved the Helium into place. Isabel worked on the network further, getting the broadband connection running in both trailers. Josh set up the sounding system antennas, with the coms antennas on a temporary portable mount while we investigate radio interference from the Modular Profiler.
BTW, yesterday (July 15) was a down day for the ISS crew, David and Josh went skiing/boarding (! ) while Isabel & I checked out a local museum.
John and David working on the Modular Profiler
Josh and Bill working on the Helium and the Metek Halo lidar
Hot, clear with light variable winds, mostly from the west.
The main events today involved lidars, networking and Helium (and lots of forklift work). We unpacked and installed our own wind lidar (the Windcube 200S) on a small platform about 20 meters SSW of MISS (and west of the UVA Halo and CL61 ceilometer). This lidar will be mainly doing PPI scans for VAD wind profiles. We then installed the Metek Halo lidar on an elevated platform on top of the MISS container. It will be mainly staring along the ISFS array to the east. After some more network work, we started up the Windcube and CL61, both appeared to be working well and see up to about 2km altitude. We haven't started up the Metek Halo yet. Isabel also got the plotting working in the ISS1 data manager so we can view plots from the Modular Profiler, surface met, windcube and CL61.
We are currently using a cell modem to connect to the outside world. A technician from Tonopah worked on getting us a broadband connection via a wireless link to the airport, although there is still some configuration work to do so we are not connected yet. We shutdown the Modular Profiler for a few hours this afternoon while running network cables through the compound.
A pallet of 12 Helium cylinders were delivered along with two small cylinders of gases for the REAL system. The cylinders were shipped from Airgas in Chico, having been stored there since January (we had ordered them early through Chico State University because of the worldwide shortage of Helium) but with the move of the campaign to Nevada, had to get them shipped to our new site in Tonopah.
Will, Chris, and I met with Chenning and his students this morning, gave a safety briefing, and discussed their work setting up poles for a fiber optic line to measure temperature.
Installing NCAR's Vaisala/Leosphere Windcube scanning lidar (left) and the Halo-Photonics Streamline lidar (leased from Metek) on the right.
Josh unloading a pallet of Helium cylinders.
Another hot clear day with light winds.
We started off the day with a safety briefing led by Will, followed by some tidying up and setup of the UVA Halo lidar and the CL61 ceilometer. The UVA Halo is on a pallet on the ground about 15 meters south of the MISS trailer, and the ceilometer is about 3 meters northwest from that. The UVA Halo will be mainly looking vertically during the campaign, although we do plan regular coordinated scans with the other lidars for intercomparison and calibration purposes. We got this lidar running this afternoon and for now (during testing) it is running the same scan strategy used during the 3-week test period at the FBO in May and is directly connected to a cell modem for monitoring. Isabel setup a Ubiquiti network link to the ISS1 trailer and we will transition the UVA Halo to that network. The CL61 hasn't yet been powered up, pending connection to the ISS1 network. Isabel also debugged a compilation issue with the LROSE analysis package, and tested it with some windcube lidar data we had collected in Boulder.
The Modular Profiler successfully ran overnight and we mostly left it in winds mode, although David did work on the RASS sound card (a USB dongle), amplifier, and speakers (they worked well but we haven't tested the data system in RASS mode yet).
David and Josh working on the UVA Halo lidar (left), Isabel and Bill working on the Ubiquiti data link (right)
Screenshots of measurements from the Modular Wind Profiler (left) and the UVA Halo lidar (right)
Another hot clear day, the breeze was lighter today although there did seem to be more dust devils.
David continued work on the Modular Profiler and was able to clean up some of the artifact signals that he saw yesterday, and get some wind measurements from the system. We are running the profiler at low power (only a 3% duty cycle), but it is still producing wind measurements up to the 2 km altitude level. We set up a M2HATS configuration and got the wind processing running, then left the profiler running overnight.
We also instrumented and raised the ISS1 surface met tower. The DSM is recording data, although so far it is not transmitting that data to the data manager computer. Josh and I retrieved the University of Virginia HALO lidar from the airport FBO hanger, which is where we had stored it after running some sampling tests back in May.
We were supposed to get a delivery of Helium, however the Airgas agent said that the shipment has been delayed and should be delivered on Friday.
Working on the ISS1 surface met instruments at left, and the completed tower at right.
Another hot clear day with a light southerly wind and occasional dust devils nearby.
After a slow start due to various delays, there was lots of progress in many areas today. The forklift was delivered, more trucks arrived (the ISFS base trailer and the Penske truck carrying the MPDs and the Metek Halo lidar, thanks Ben and Dexter), and the electrician hooked up power. Josh used the forklift to get the Modular Profiler amplifier enclosure into position, then David got it all connected, and once the power came on, he quickly got the profiler running. There is still a lot to do with the profiler such as orientating the antenna to reduce radio interference and get all the various components tuned, but it was great to see a test run of the system and that his new FGPA data system was working.
In other progress, the RASS was cabled up, MISS was repositioned to line up properly with the ISFS tower array; Josh, David and Will installed the safety railing on the lidar platform on top of MISS, and Isabel and I assembled the ISS1 met tower.
Installing the 449 MHz Modular Profiler amplifier enclosure
David and a monitor showing the initial test data from the Modular Profiler
Installing the safety railing for the lidar platform on MISS
Another hot sunny day. Winds were a little lighter today, but still mostly southerly.
Today we did some more tidying and sorting equipment around the site. We still don't have power (apparently the electrician should come tomorrow) so Isabel and David mostly helped ISFS assemble towers. Josh helped Chenning and his students get a truckload of pipes from Hawthorne for the fiber optic temperature sensor line and also brought supplies for ISS. The REAL lidar trailer arrived this afternoon and we helped position that. The position is carefully coordinated with the ISFS tower array and the lidars that we will be deploying.
I also spent some time tracking down a potential radio interference signal for the Modular Profiler. There is a constant narrow-band signal at about 451.4 MHz with a bandwidth of around 10 kHz. Using a directional antenna at multiple sites around the valley and town indicated that it comes from a cluster of radio towers on a hill next to Mount Butler just south of Tonopah. The location is approximately 38° 3' 7" N, 117° 13' 36" W. This location is about 12 km from ISS with a bearing of 276 deg. It should be possible to avoid this interference by carefully orientating the Modular Profiler antenna to point a null in the radiation pattern in that direction and by careful setup of the clutter screen.
Using a directional antenna and handheld spectrum analyzer to determine the location of a 451 MHz radio signal, which appears to be a cluster of antennas on a hill just south of Tonopah.
Bruce, Shane, and Isabel setting the Chico State University REAL lidar trailer adjacent to the ISS site.
Another hot sunny day, although today had a more consistent southerly breeze, gusty at times.
Today we moved the ISS1 trailer into its final position next to the pump compound, putting it a little further south than we initially intended, mostly to give the trucks delivering the ISFS base trailer and the REAL trailers more room to maneuver, but it also gives us a shorter power cable run. We laid out the main power cable, although the electrician hasn't set up the power panel yet so we have nothing to connect to yet.
On the Modular Profiler, we finished assembling the RASS dishes and mounted the speakers, continued unpacking the ISS1 trailer, then began assembling the 449 MHz antenna frame, unloaded and mounted the antennas (with help from the ISFS group, thanks!). David mounted the front-end electronics troughs and cabled those to the antenna, while Josh positioned the rack and setup monitors etc.
Isabel worked with the ISFS crew today (Chris, Tony and Will) getting their towers laid out. Steve headed back to Boulder, thanks Steve for getting things laid out and started, and especially for getting the county approval process completed - just in time!
Getting the ISS1 trailer into position
Assembling the 449 MHz profiler frame and mounting the front-end electronics troughs
The ISFS crew loading up their pick-up with tower sections