Getting ready for the measurements

Now that we have spent the last few days around camp getting equipment moved around and getting into the swing of things, we are now making atmospheric measurements! Below is the water transfer to the Big House from where the snow is melted. This process occurs daily and includes all the water for cooking, drinking and washing.








There are lots of ice crystals in the air. It looks as if the air is sparkeling. Here is an example of a sundog which is a halo caused by the refraction of sunlight through the ice crystals. This seems to be a daily event so far.



Here is Ethan with his electric snowmobile from the U. of Wisconsin. This is used to transfer loads out in the "clean-air" sector which cannot be contaminated with emissions from regular combustion engines.


Here is the snowmobile in use. Barry and Craig Beals loading a helium cylinder.

Here is a picture of Satellite Camp which is located south of the main camp towards the south and at the edge of the clean air sector.



Here is the new flux facility that is aimed at measuring the fluxes of gases out of the snow pack. Additionally, is the "Bally" container which houses a number of gas analyzers from Georgia Tech, U. of Houston (cloud camera on the roof), NOAA, and University of California, Irvine.




Here is Barry Lefer (U.of Houston) and Craig Beals (PolarTrec science teacher working with Dr. Lefer) working with Dr. Lefer's "snowbird" spectroradiometer that measures UV radiation within the snowpack.