On Saturday (April 19th) we transited from Fairbanks back to Palmdale. This marked the end of the field portion for first phase of the ARCTAS project. All of the samples that we collected during the last three weeks are being transported from Fairbanks to Palmdale by truck. Once they arrive we will start the analysis portion of this project. The analysis will run 24 hours per day (with Gloria, Brent, and Matt C. working in 8 hour shifts) for approximately three weeks.
The next phase of ARCTAS will start in June.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
last two local flights
On Wednesday and Thursday we flew back-to-back local flights. These were the last two flights before we transit back to Palmdale tomorrow. Today we are packing and changing the last set of snakes.
On Wednesday we left Fairbanks at noon and flew a pentagon shape that took us north of Fairbanks. On this flight we flew several satellite validation legs. We also flew in to the boundary layer off the coast near Prudoe Bay, and saw a weak ozone depletion event as well as some bromine chemistry.
For yesterday's (Thursday's) flight we had another noon departure and flew north to the North Pole. We flew all the way to 90 degrees north, which was pretty exciting. When we got to the pole the navigation became tricky and the longitude got very mixed up...we spent the next few minutes wondering whether we would be flying to Russia or back to Alaska. The image above is our flight route (the red line) as seen on Google Earth. The flight included several good boundary layer runs, and we were able to observe ozone depletion events again. These events were accompanied with low levels BrO, Br2, and some evidence of Cl chemistry (from TOGA hydrocarbon ratios). We should get some exciting data from this flight.
On Wednesday we left Fairbanks at noon and flew a pentagon shape that took us north of Fairbanks. On this flight we flew several satellite validation legs. We also flew in to the boundary layer off the coast near Prudoe Bay, and saw a weak ozone depletion event as well as some bromine chemistry.
For yesterday's (Thursday's) flight we had another noon departure and flew north to the North Pole. We flew all the way to 90 degrees north, which was pretty exciting. When we got to the pole the navigation became tricky and the longitude got very mixed up...we spent the next few minutes wondering whether we would be flying to Russia or back to Alaska. The image above is our flight route (the red line) as seen on Google Earth. The flight included several good boundary layer runs, and we were able to observe ozone depletion events again. These events were accompanied with low levels BrO, Br2, and some evidence of Cl chemistry (from TOGA hydrocarbon ratios). We should get some exciting data from this flight.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Fairbanks Update
Tomorrow we will be doing our second local flight out of Fairbanks. This will be followed by a back-to-back flight on Thursday. Since we will be finishing our local flights early, the plan is that we will transit back to Palmdale, CA, on Saturday.
Students and faculty from UAF touring the NASA DC-8.
Yesterday was media day and it was very busy at the hanger. There were a number of different tours that went through the NASA DC-8, NASA P-3, and NOAA P-3 aircrafts. This morning when the local news paper slid under my door, there was a front page article talking about the ARCTAS project. Follow the link to the local newspaper article to read the story that appeared in todays paper.
Following the media day events, their was a reception hosted by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The reception was held on campus in the Museum of the North facility. Included in the reception was access to all of the museum exhibits, which were quite nice and very interesting. The reception provided a great opportunity to meet with scientists working on the other aircrafts (NASA P-3 and NOAA P-3), as well as faculty and students from UAF.
Students and faculty from UAF touring the NASA DC-8.
Yesterday was media day and it was very busy at the hanger. There were a number of different tours that went through the NASA DC-8, NASA P-3, and NOAA P-3 aircrafts. This morning when the local news paper slid under my door, there was a front page article talking about the ARCTAS project. Follow the link to the local newspaper article to read the story that appeared in todays paper.
Following the media day events, their was a reception hosted by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The reception was held on campus in the Museum of the North facility. Included in the reception was access to all of the museum exhibits, which were quite nice and very interesting. The reception provided a great opportunity to meet with scientists working on the other aircrafts (NASA P-3 and NOAA P-3), as well as faculty and students from UAF.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
1st Fairbanks local flight
On April 9th Nicola arrived in Fairbanks to swap out with Simone. Yesterday Simone flew back to Irvine, and Nicola and I will be flying the remainder of the spring phase of ARCTAS.
Scenery flying over Alaska.
Yesterday Nicola and I flew the first local flight out of Fairbanks. The flight had an 8AM departure and was about 8.5 hours in length. During the flight we were able to collect 7 snakes worth of samples. During the first half of the flight we flew Northwest in search of Asian pollution and were able to sample in a number of different pollution plumes. The flight took us North of Barrow, AK, and we did another missed approach over the Barrow runway (we also did a missed approach over the Barrow runway on the Iqaluit to Fairbanks flight). On the way back to Fairbanks we met up with the NOAA P-3 and flew three intercomparison legs with the P-3. Below is a video that Nicola took on her camera as we were flying with the P-3.
Tomorrow is "media day", so there will be a lot of media activity and school groups touring the airplanes. At this point it seems that the next fly day will be either April 15th or 16th.
Scenery flying over Alaska.
Yesterday Nicola and I flew the first local flight out of Fairbanks. The flight had an 8AM departure and was about 8.5 hours in length. During the flight we were able to collect 7 snakes worth of samples. During the first half of the flight we flew Northwest in search of Asian pollution and were able to sample in a number of different pollution plumes. The flight took us North of Barrow, AK, and we did another missed approach over the Barrow runway (we also did a missed approach over the Barrow runway on the Iqaluit to Fairbanks flight). On the way back to Fairbanks we met up with the NOAA P-3 and flew three intercomparison legs with the P-3. Below is a video that Nicola took on her camera as we were flying with the P-3.
Tomorrow is "media day", so there will be a lot of media activity and school groups touring the airplanes. At this point it seems that the next fly day will be either April 15th or 16th.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
second suitcase flight
On Tuesday morning we departed on the second suitcase flight headed for Thule, Greenland. The flight was scheduled to be an 8 hour flight from Fairbanks to Thule on Tuesday, followed by another 10.5 hour flight back to Fairbanks on Wednesday. Unfortunately, things did not go quite according to plan and after flying to Thule, the DC-8 was not able to land (due to wind conditions) and was routed to an alternate airport in in Iqaluit, Canada. But, first let me talk about some of the interesting science during the flights...
View of arctic scenery from the DC-8.
On Tuesday (April 8th) we left Fairbanks and headed towards Thule. Our route took us over Prudoe Bay, where we did a low level boundary layer run. We then continued east and were able to meet up with the P-3 aircraft and flew wing-tip-to-wing-tip for about 15 minutes of inter comparison. After breaking away from the P-3 we did a spiral over Eureka, Canada (in the Nunavet Territory). We then continued on and did another boundary layer leg near Alert, Canada. This leg had some very exciting science. When we got close to the surface an ozone depletion was observed and there were observations of bromine chemistry. It will be very interesting to look at our data during this leg of the flight.
Flying next to the P-3.
The flight planning for Tuesday took a dramatic turn when we arrived at Thule and the wind conditions were too bad to land. At that point the aircraft was routed south so that we could land in Iqaluit, Nunavat Territory, Canada, which was about 2 more hours from Thule. We were able to land in Iqaluit and spent the night there. Iqaluit is a small village and the accommodations were at the Iqaluit College dorms (which were old military barracks). The highlight of our stay in Iqaluit were the northern lights, which were quite bright.
The village of Iqaluit, Canada.
The airport terminal in Iqaluit, Canada.
On Wednesday morning we started our flight back to Thule. This included a couple more low level boundary layer runs, during which we hoped to see more evidence of bromine chemistry and ozone depletion. Though we did see a few instances of depleted ozone, it was not as clear as the depletion events that we saw on Tuesday. Other interesting features from Wednesdays flight included a missed approach at Barrow, AK, and a satellite validation spiral for CALIPSO.
We are now back in Fairbanks. Today was a down day with no airplane access. Tomorrow we will have access to the airplane and it looks like we will probably be doing a local flight out of Fairbanks on Saturday.
View of arctic scenery from the DC-8.
On Tuesday (April 8th) we left Fairbanks and headed towards Thule. Our route took us over Prudoe Bay, where we did a low level boundary layer run. We then continued east and were able to meet up with the P-3 aircraft and flew wing-tip-to-wing-tip for about 15 minutes of inter comparison. After breaking away from the P-3 we did a spiral over Eureka, Canada (in the Nunavet Territory). We then continued on and did another boundary layer leg near Alert, Canada. This leg had some very exciting science. When we got close to the surface an ozone depletion was observed and there were observations of bromine chemistry. It will be very interesting to look at our data during this leg of the flight.
Flying next to the P-3.
The flight planning for Tuesday took a dramatic turn when we arrived at Thule and the wind conditions were too bad to land. At that point the aircraft was routed south so that we could land in Iqaluit, Nunavat Territory, Canada, which was about 2 more hours from Thule. We were able to land in Iqaluit and spent the night there. Iqaluit is a small village and the accommodations were at the Iqaluit College dorms (which were old military barracks). The highlight of our stay in Iqaluit were the northern lights, which were quite bright.
The village of Iqaluit, Canada.
The airport terminal in Iqaluit, Canada.
On Wednesday morning we started our flight back to Thule. This included a couple more low level boundary layer runs, during which we hoped to see more evidence of bromine chemistry and ozone depletion. Though we did see a few instances of depleted ozone, it was not as clear as the depletion events that we saw on Tuesday. Other interesting features from Wednesdays flight included a missed approach at Barrow, AK, and a satellite validation spiral for CALIPSO.
We are now back in Fairbanks. Today was a down day with no airplane access. Tomorrow we will have access to the airplane and it looks like we will probably be doing a local flight out of Fairbanks on Saturday.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
first Thule flight
On Friday and Saturday we flew back and forth to Thule, Greenland. Both of the flights were very good and we were able to fill seven snakes worth of canisters on each flight. This was the first of two sets of Thule flights that we will be making the during the first phase of the ARCTAS project.
Downtown Thule, Greenland.
DC-8 parked outside the hanger in Thule.
On Friday the flight from Fairbanks to Thule was relatively short. We had a 4:30am departure out of Fairbanks, flew for six hours, and due to the time difference (5 hours) arrived in Thule before 4pm. This flight was pretty much a straight shot from Fairbanks to Thule, and we spent a lot of time flying over frozen tundra and ice.
View outside the window on the flight from Fairbanks to Thule.
The return flight from Thule to Fairbanks was much longer, and included several interesting features that should yield some exciting data in the months to come. On the return flight we had a 10am departure out of Thule. Upon departure we flew east of the Greenland ice sheet until we got to Summit camp. When we got to Summit camp we did a spiral down to about 500 feet over the camp. It will be interesting to compare the data from the spiral to some of our ground based measurements that have been made at Summit camp over the last 10 years. After making a spiral over Summit camp, we began to make our way back to the west. We flew west and over the Hudson Bay we were able to do a low level boundary layer leg that took us as low as 350 feet. We were able to stay in the boundary layer for a little over an hour, during which time we were hoping to see ozone depletion and evidence of elevated halogen species. Towards the end of the leg the ozone levels got as low as 15ppt, but there was not strong evidence of BrO, which we were hoping to see.
Summit camp as seen from the DC-8 during the spiral (picture taken by Eric Scheuer).
Currently, the plan is that we will be flying back to Thule again on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more updates!
Downtown Thule, Greenland.
DC-8 parked outside the hanger in Thule.
On Friday the flight from Fairbanks to Thule was relatively short. We had a 4:30am departure out of Fairbanks, flew for six hours, and due to the time difference (5 hours) arrived in Thule before 4pm. This flight was pretty much a straight shot from Fairbanks to Thule, and we spent a lot of time flying over frozen tundra and ice.
View outside the window on the flight from Fairbanks to Thule.
The return flight from Thule to Fairbanks was much longer, and included several interesting features that should yield some exciting data in the months to come. On the return flight we had a 10am departure out of Thule. Upon departure we flew east of the Greenland ice sheet until we got to Summit camp. When we got to Summit camp we did a spiral down to about 500 feet over the camp. It will be interesting to compare the data from the spiral to some of our ground based measurements that have been made at Summit camp over the last 10 years. After making a spiral over Summit camp, we began to make our way back to the west. We flew west and over the Hudson Bay we were able to do a low level boundary layer leg that took us as low as 350 feet. We were able to stay in the boundary layer for a little over an hour, during which time we were hoping to see ozone depletion and evidence of elevated halogen species. Towards the end of the leg the ozone levels got as low as 15ppt, but there was not strong evidence of BrO, which we were hoping to see.
Summit camp as seen from the DC-8 during the spiral (picture taken by Eric Scheuer).
Currently, the plan is that we will be flying back to Thule again on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more updates!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
preparing for the first Thule suitcase flight
Tomorrow morning we will be making our first of two suitcase flights to Thule, Greenland. The departure out of Fairbanks is set for 4:30am (local time) tomorrow morning, so we will be at the airport at 3am for the pre-flight brief. At todays 5pm meeting the flight plan for tomorrow was discussed. The plan is for a 6 hour flight with potentially interesting features including a spiral followed by a marine boundary layer run during the second half of the flight. We should be arriving in Thule at about 3pm (local time) tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping to be able to post details of the flight as well as pictures tomorrow from Thule, but this will be dependent on the quality of internet access (as well as how sleep deprived I am feeling after we arrive, change snakes, and attend the post flight brief!).
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