Secondly, I've been working on program code for a couple days now with no real progress. So I asked Terry for help and we spent an hour and a half trying to get 5 lines of code working this morning. I'm happy to report that it now works, is totally cool and I am able to make some kick ass graphs. Woo, nerd alert! but I don't care, it works.
Then I thought I would show you the lab I work in. First though, here is my little office where I spend most of my time, including the occasional nap on the floor.
Super interesting huh... Ok, moving on. Here is the lab where we prep all the instruments we launch, get everything ready and one of the places we record the incoming data. The other place is Building 70 (The Love Shack) that I showed you before.
I mostly prep ozonesondes and help with the data. Here is the equipment needed to get a sonde ready for flight. The box instrument is an ozone generator and with it, we can make sure the sonde is measuring different levels of ozone and test the sonde in general.
Next is the much talked about ozonesonde. It is a small instrument that sucks in the air around it and measures the ozone. The incoming ozone goes into a cell, has a chemical reaction and gives off electrons. The electrons are then measured as an electrical charge and we get back a voltage that can be converted to an amount of ozone.
We then stick that little guy into a styrofoam box, add a battery and little heater.
We add a radiosonde to the outside of the box, tape it up real good (we use lots of tape) and tie a dropper to the top and its ready to fly! The radiosonde sends the data to us as it flies and the dropper makes sure the instrument is far enough from the actual balloon.
After we launch the balloon and it is rising in the atmosphere, we record the incoming data on this setup. An antenna picks up the signal and sends it to the computer where a program converts the data to something we can read and record. Building 70 has a similar set-up.
So thats the lab. We spend a good amount of time here getting things ready for flights.
We also want to launch some bigger instruments that measure the size of particals in the atmosphere. These are quite a bit bigger and more complicated. I'm not going to explain them because I don't know exactly what they do, I just make sure they get in the air. This one is called Jupiter and we also have some CN counters and OPCs.
These also get there own special box and set up, looks something like this when its done. The spikes are for when it falls and hits the ice, it will get stuck and hopefully stay there until we can recover it.
We also attach a "mast" and load line to this instrument with tracking instruments, chute cut-offs, timers, dropper and parachute so it will float gently back to Earth and not plummet from the sky. Makes it easier to use the instrument again without too much reconstruction. Here is a mast Leslie and I made. They are a pain in the butt and we were happy to be finished with a one.
So there is a bunch of science for you to think about. Before I leave, we have a lab mascot.
Lou stuck him in my boot when we shipped a bunch of our stuff down here. It was a lovely surprise to find when I stuck my hand in there to pull out some socks. We all know how much I love spiders. :/ Now he sits in the lab and watches us work.Oh, I almost forgot my weather update for Lindsey. The temp is currently over zero (second time that has happened since I've gotten here and in the last week) at 5F and the winds are starting to pick up again. Wind chill of -11F. Clear skies and some thin, little, happy clouds.
Enjoy!
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