Footprints in the snow
Everyone has finally left and thousands and thousands of footsteps are the only visual sign left after 4 busy weeks and hundreds of kilometers walking on the ice.
Author: Joachim Reuder
Mission accomplished
After four weeks here at the shore of the Baltic Sea and with the ambiguous feeling that the time passed both very slowly and very fast, it is time for a short resume. I think we can proudly look back on a very successful campaign. Thanks to the passion and commitment of more than 25 scientists and Read More …
It’s cold outside
The last IOP was also the coldest one. The official weather station reported a minimum of nearly -22 C, our own measurements showed short episodes of the surface near temperature (measured at 60 cm above the ice) of below -24 C. Working in shifts of one or two hours out on the ice becomes a challenge for Read More …
The final countdown
Today we are a bit confused! All weather forecasts agree fully (that didn’t happen so often here before during the last weeks) and predict perfect measurement conditions for the coming night. Temperatures below -15 C and relatively weak winds. Thus the best perspectives for IOP7, the last one during the Hailuoto2018 experiment. Unfortunately, our colleagues Read More …
Day break, day off
Another beautiful sunrise marks the end of IOP6 that started at 17 local time late afternoon yesterday. The conditions were a bit different from the forecast, but nevertheless, very interesting to cover. With mid level clouds coming in, the temperatures close to the ground increased from -15 and peaking at -11 C around 3 in the night, before dropping Read More …
The power of words
A wrong word can destroy friendships, or as in our case, force a change of plans for our IOP5. When calling in at 5 this morning to deactivate the Danger Zone “Hailuoto West”, we are flying in, I used the phrase “….we are done for the day…” instead of ” …. we are done for the night….”. Therefore Read More …
Beauty and Beast
Frost, ice and riming transform trees, brushes and grass into beautiful pieces of art. But as soon as it forms on our aircraft and sensors, this beauty rapidly fades away. Keeping the windows of lidar and LICOR, and the inlets of our aspirated temperature sensors ice free is therefore a continuos struggle.
Sunrise
Here an impression from our daily morning walk to replace the battery of the FMI sodar. A beautiful sunrise, even decorated by a sun dog. Our IOP3 was terminated around 5 local time this night, as fog came in and caused considerable icing on the propellers, wings and sensors of our aircraft. A safe and responsible Read More …
Rolling again
The promising weather forecast from yesterday stabilized and with the first SUMO flight right before breakfast this morning, our second IOP is on its way. For the next 18 hours or so, we plan SUMO profiles to 1800 m every three hours and a very dense profiling of the surface layer up to 300 m Read More …
Rewarding night shift
Working days often stretch very long being on a field campaign and today was no exception. Our last instrument, a lidar wind profiler, arrived this afternoon and we decided to bring it to life as soon as possible, meaning an extra shift after supper. Fortunately it defied our efforts to start it up only in Read More …