Today was a good day. Our laser is working well - after only a brief heart-stopping moment! A routine alignment went horribly wrong and resulted in an almost total loss of power. But Trev's persistence and expertise means we are back on track and almost set to go. Tomorrow should be interesting trying to get the inlet calibrated and working on the roof. In -21 °C that should be fun!
Anoop and Hilke (DOAS) have the long path DOAS system up and running and almost have their Max-DOAS software issues sorted. Stewart & Jun (UCC, Ireland) are having similar issues. The BAS girls (below) are still waiting for a few key pieces to arrive. Karen and Marvin (GCMS) are awaiting calibration standards and the York & Manchester Boys had great fun digging a 1m x 1m hole in the ice today! By all accounts Ally is glad he will be gone before the next one has to be carved out. And I mean carved out. With a saw. Through 1 m thick ice.
It’s funny how much the temperatures drop with the night. I have put on every base layer and fleece trousers I have and I know I am still going to be cold when I wander out. It's almost enough to put you off walking to the pub! Well, almost :)
British Antarctic Survey
Helen Atkinson and Rachel Obbard work with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Helen is measuring halide ion concentrations (ion chromatography) and brine volume (salinity and temperature) in sea ice and searching (so far unsuccessfully) for diatoms (photosynthetic micro-organisms) by making ice cores. Rachel is measuring the surface area of frost flowers using the BET isotherm method.
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