This evening we switched off the AMS pumps, now the instrument is really dead. Although the other data acquisition card was ok, we were not able to install its driver. We tried for several hours, but the AMS computer refused to cooperate. (For details ask Sören (; )
The positive news are, the rest of our instrument zoo works quite well, even the CPC! Tomorrow we will be back at Mainz, because we changed the route. At the moment we are in France - 750 km away from the MPI. Hopefully, there will be no snow on the roads, MoLa is not equipped with winter tires...
We will see what will happen tomorrow!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
"Crash Course"
At the moment we are near Barcelona and the sad news are: the AMS died today. :| The last two days I had a lot to do with reanimating the AMS behind nearly every pothole in the street. Today we reached the final hole und the data acquisition card (maybe not only this part) crashed. We (including Sören) tried to solve the problem for several hours - unsuccessfully. Tomorrow morning Julia will fly to Barcelona with the card from the other AMS and we all hope that this will save our AMS!
The other instruments are running, even the CPC, because I log its data with a hyperterminal again. The original software crashed almost as often as the AMS and two crashing instruments at the same time are too much even with multitasking. (;
Maybe the next days will bring some good news from Spain/France...
The other instruments are running, even the CPC, because I log its data with a hyperterminal again. The original software crashed almost as often as the AMS and two crashing instruments at the same time are too much even with multitasking. (;
Maybe the next days will bring some good news from Spain/France...
remote support
Yesterday, I spent a lot of my time handling and fixing MoLa and the AMS. No, I'm not in Spain, I'm still in old, gray and cold Germany. Nonetheless, I did "fix" MoLas instrumentation at least three times ....
In the morning, I got a call from Sarah-Lena. She asked me to send here a software for logging the measurements of on of MoLas instruments, the CPC (Condensation Particle Counter), since the software we used on the way to Spain has some serious issues ...
An hour later, I got a call from Frank. They had tried to install the software and only than found out, that the computer port (COM) used by the instrument was not supported by the software. So, I had to tell Frank remotely (without seeing the screen or anything), how he could change it.
Why all the trouble? Cause the Domino campaign is over, and MoLa's on the run again, heading back to Germany. The new MoLa crew left the site and Huelva anytime in the early afternoon. Shortly after they were passing Huelva, I got the next call. Again, they had acquaintance with the bumpy roads of Spain. Which the AMS doesn't like ...
And, guess what? Yes, it was not the last call, and it was not the last bump they hit. Around 5 p.m., the next call. Although I was "misplaced", when that call arrived. ;-)
Fortunately, Sarah-Lena has now all the experience she needs, because she encountered all problems that occurred on the trip to Spain in one day. And even better, since they'll head towards Madrid tomorrow, the streets will be getting better. Hopefully ... ;-)
In the morning, I got a call from Sarah-Lena. She asked me to send here a software for logging the measurements of on of MoLas instruments, the CPC (Condensation Particle Counter), since the software we used on the way to Spain has some serious issues ...
An hour later, I got a call from Frank. They had tried to install the software and only than found out, that the computer port (COM) used by the instrument was not supported by the software. So, I had to tell Frank remotely (without seeing the screen or anything), how he could change it.
Why all the trouble? Cause the Domino campaign is over, and MoLa's on the run again, heading back to Germany. The new MoLa crew left the site and Huelva anytime in the early afternoon. Shortly after they were passing Huelva, I got the next call. Again, they had acquaintance with the bumpy roads of Spain. Which the AMS doesn't like ...
And, guess what? Yes, it was not the last call, and it was not the last bump they hit. Around 5 p.m., the next call. Although I was "misplaced", when that call arrived. ;-)
Fortunately, Sarah-Lena has now all the experience she needs, because she encountered all problems that occurred on the trip to Spain in one day. And even better, since they'll head towards Madrid tomorrow, the streets will be getting better. Hopefully ... ;-)
Monday, December 08, 2008
Donana National Park
We had an uneventful weekend in Spain with lots of rain. "All instruments are running fine" and no instrument needed to be reanimated. The evenings were also quite uneventful, because I bought no beer on Friday. Maybe the food will be enough for this evening and tomorrow morning, but we are extremely running out of food! (; Just about 15 yoghurts are left...
On Sunday morning 14 scientists went to Donana National Park to visit some rare animals. I could join the trip and was looking forward to see many animals and an interesting landscape. When we arrived at the national park our "bus" (a small green thing) was already there. Everybody had to pay 25€ for a tour of about 3 hours through the northern part of the park. The trip with this vehicle was as comfortable as flying with Ryanair and it was jumping through the sand like a rabbit... I nearly got seasick.
Our tour gide was not able to speak English, so the tour had to be in Spanish. That didn´t matter much, because there were only broccoli trees and sand and broccoli trees. Sometimes, we could the some birds or horses, but the rare animals were so rare, that we could not see one of them.
After the tour we stayed in the "international city of horses" for one hour, where children learn to ride horses instead of bicycles. Every house has its stable and the village is crowded with horses. A typical spanish church is also located in this village and so (it was Sunday and an official holiday...) it was crowded by many visitors and churchgoers. The most interesting thing was a one thousand years old olive tree, which was really impressive. (The photo was taken from inside the bus...)
This morning Jovana went back to Germany and Thomas arrived in Spain. During the morning MoLa moved from the measurement site to the INTA for an intercomparison of the spanish aerosol measurements and our results.
After the relocation I showed Thomas the wonderful beach near the campsite while Frank was in a very interesting data meeting. Now our crew for the trip back to Mainz is completed and we are going to start tomorrow afternoon! Our plan for tomorrow is to reach the Ravioli Hotel, where Thomas had this gorgeous ravioli last time.
At the moment Thomas and Frank are doing an operation at the open heart of the AMS to install the new blower. I was not allowed to monitor the procedure, but I hope the AMS will be still alive afterwards...
This evening we will have another BBQ to kill some part of our food reservoir. Otherwise MoLa will be loaded with tons of food. (; Or I will leave the food for Bambi, who is always hungry...
On Sunday morning 14 scientists went to Donana National Park to visit some rare animals. I could join the trip and was looking forward to see many animals and an interesting landscape. When we arrived at the national park our "bus" (a small green thing) was already there. Everybody had to pay 25€ for a tour of about 3 hours through the northern part of the park. The trip with this vehicle was as comfortable as flying with Ryanair and it was jumping through the sand like a rabbit... I nearly got seasick.
Our tour gide was not able to speak English, so the tour had to be in Spanish. That didn´t matter much, because there were only broccoli trees and sand and broccoli trees. Sometimes, we could the some birds or horses, but the rare animals were so rare, that we could not see one of them.
After the tour we stayed in the "international city of horses" for one hour, where children learn to ride horses instead of bicycles. Every house has its stable and the village is crowded with horses. A typical spanish church is also located in this village and so (it was Sunday and an official holiday...) it was crowded by many visitors and churchgoers. The most interesting thing was a one thousand years old olive tree, which was really impressive. (The photo was taken from inside the bus...)
This morning Jovana went back to Germany and Thomas arrived in Spain. During the morning MoLa moved from the measurement site to the INTA for an intercomparison of the spanish aerosol measurements and our results.
After the relocation I showed Thomas the wonderful beach near the campsite while Frank was in a very interesting data meeting. Now our crew for the trip back to Mainz is completed and we are going to start tomorrow afternoon! Our plan for tomorrow is to reach the Ravioli Hotel, where Thomas had this gorgeous ravioli last time.
At the moment Thomas and Frank are doing an operation at the open heart of the AMS to install the new blower. I was not allowed to monitor the procedure, but I hope the AMS will be still alive afterwards...
This evening we will have another BBQ to kill some part of our food reservoir. Otherwise MoLa will be loaded with tons of food. (; Or I will leave the food for Bambi, who is always hungry...
Friday, December 05, 2008
Saving the AMS
Yesterday nothing worth mentioning happened: No power supply interrupt killing pumps, no fire, no explosions. All of our instruments were running fine and I spent my day at the INTA to have a closer look on my data from the trip to Spain. In the evening another BBQ with a lot of beer took place and after midnight 2/3 of our crew decided to change the location to an emptier place to drink most of our beer alone. Today you can really see how much alcohol they consumed...
This morning I decided to sleep a little bit longer than usually and to have a nice breakfast. But my plans got destroyed by a phone call from MoLa: "The AMS is dying, the pumps are going crazy and all values are red!" I left my breakfast alone in our hut (maybe the cockroaches ate it) and rushed to the measurement site to save the AMS. (I had no idea what was broken and how to fix it.(; ) Reanimating the AMS by cleaning the pinhole seems to be successful until now...
Tomorrow and on Monday the Spains celebrate (the saint of the aircrafts or something like this) and all shops are closed, so I had another trip to Huelva to buy some food and wine. Now we are prepared for the next famine. (;
This evening we will have a BBQ at the beach, because the weather is very nice at the moment. I don´t know if the rest of our crew is strong enough for another long evening, we will see.
This morning I decided to sleep a little bit longer than usually and to have a nice breakfast. But my plans got destroyed by a phone call from MoLa: "The AMS is dying, the pumps are going crazy and all values are red!" I left my breakfast alone in our hut (maybe the cockroaches ate it) and rushed to the measurement site to save the AMS. (I had no idea what was broken and how to fix it.(; ) Reanimating the AMS by cleaning the pinhole seems to be successful until now...
Tomorrow and on Monday the Spains celebrate (the saint of the aircrafts or something like this) and all shops are closed, so I had another trip to Huelva to buy some food and wine. Now we are prepared for the next famine. (;
This evening we will have a BBQ at the beach, because the weather is very nice at the moment. I don´t know if the rest of our crew is strong enough for another long evening, we will see.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
As I promised Sören, from now on I will continue to fill this blog with interesting news from Spain!
On Monday we had another change of our crew, when I brought Sören to the airport in Faro and picked up Frank. During these hours Jovana tried to look after MoLa, but (as usual) there were many trees on all roads around the INTA, so that nobody could enter the measurement site for hours....
MoLa was and is running fine (as usual as well), except for the ELPI and the CPC. Yesterday the ELPI software crashed and we had to stop most of our measurements to reanimate it. In the evening was a cocktail party without cocktails and with fingerfood. Some people had to leave the party being still hungry....
Today the CPC had some problems with its water, but this does not affect the other instruments. Due to the CPC problems Frank and Jovana came really late to the data meeting and missed my presentation. Again, the meeting was during lunch time and one part of our crew left the measurement site in a very bad mood. (;
Since Sören left, our food and wine reservoir decreased rapidly and was not filled again until now, so I have to stop at this point and try to get something to eat (and of course something to drink (comment from Jovana))!
On Monday we had another change of our crew, when I brought Sören to the airport in Faro and picked up Frank. During these hours Jovana tried to look after MoLa, but (as usual) there were many trees on all roads around the INTA, so that nobody could enter the measurement site for hours....
MoLa was and is running fine (as usual as well), except for the ELPI and the CPC. Yesterday the ELPI software crashed and we had to stop most of our measurements to reanimate it. In the evening was a cocktail party without cocktails and with fingerfood. Some people had to leave the party being still hungry....
Today the CPC had some problems with its water, but this does not affect the other instruments. Due to the CPC problems Frank and Jovana came really late to the data meeting and missed my presentation. Again, the meeting was during lunch time and one part of our crew left the measurement site in a very bad mood. (;
Since Sören left, our food and wine reservoir decreased rapidly and was not filled again until now, so I have to stop at this point and try to get something to eat (and of course something to drink (comment from Jovana))!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Seville
Yesterday, I took a day off. And not only I. Sarah-Lena, Zeinab and I went to Seville, after working nearly every day for the last week.
We left in the morning around 10, after I had an "early morning" look at MoLa. Seville is around 100 kilometers east of Huelva, a little bit more distant to the ocean.
It took us around one and a half hour to get there. Although the forecast for that day was predicting clouds and rain, when we arrived in Seville the sky was blue and the sun was shining.
While the girls went shopping, I seated myself in a nice Coffee, had a croissant and a cappuccino as a breakfast and wrote some postcards.
Later on, we went to the Cathedral of Seville and visited the Palace de Alcázar, the Torro del Oro and the Plaza de España.
After so much sightseeing and before going home, we decided to go shopping in a Carrefour, a big supermarket. Actually, one of us didn't join the sightseeing and an extensive shopping all day. ;-)
But before we could enter the Carrefour, it took us something like 30 minutes to find a parking lot. It seemed, as if nearly everyone living in Seville was heading for the supermarket. But finally, with a lot of luck, we managed and bought lots of stuff to eat and drink before heading "home" to Huelva and the site again.
Since I will leave Spain tomorrow and fly back to good old (and cold) Germany, I have handed over the reponsibility for this blog to Sarah-Lena, who will hopefully continue to tell you what's going on at the site and how MoLas first trip will finish!!!
We left in the morning around 10, after I had an "early morning" look at MoLa. Seville is around 100 kilometers east of Huelva, a little bit more distant to the ocean.
It took us around one and a half hour to get there. Although the forecast for that day was predicting clouds and rain, when we arrived in Seville the sky was blue and the sun was shining.
While the girls went shopping, I seated myself in a nice Coffee, had a croissant and a cappuccino as a breakfast and wrote some postcards.
Later on, we went to the Cathedral of Seville and visited the Palace de Alcázar, the Torro del Oro and the Plaza de España.
After so much sightseeing and before going home, we decided to go shopping in a Carrefour, a big supermarket. Actually, one of us didn't join the sightseeing and an extensive shopping all day. ;-)
But before we could enter the Carrefour, it took us something like 30 minutes to find a parking lot. It seemed, as if nearly everyone living in Seville was heading for the supermarket. But finally, with a lot of luck, we managed and bought lots of stuff to eat and drink before heading "home" to Huelva and the site again.
Since I will leave Spain tomorrow and fly back to good old (and cold) Germany, I have handed over the reponsibility for this blog to Sarah-Lena, who will hopefully continue to tell you what's going on at the site and how MoLas first trip will finish!!!
Friday, November 28, 2008
The nearly "Feuerzangenbowle"
Since December is coming close, and Sunday will be the first of Advent, we decided to bring german traditions to Spain and to celebrate this evening with a "Feuerzangenbowle".
For those of you not familiar with this thing, Wikipedia (as nearly always) is a pool of wisdom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feuerzangenbowle
Below, you can see what it should look like:
Unfortunately, we were unable to get all the ingredients. At first, you need a "zuckerhut", a sugarloaf. But this one can be easily replaced by sugar cubes. Ok, it's not as original as it would be with a real sugarloaf, but it works. What's not gonna work is if you're not able to find some rum with at least 50% alcohol content. Because, it's not burning, unless you do some nasty tricks, like heating it up before. And we didn't succeed, although we went to three different grocery stores.
So, in the end we did just the cheap version: a simple Glühwein. Which was also quite nice, and enough to get some of us really drunk. ;-)
For those of you not familiar with this thing, Wikipedia (as nearly always) is a pool of wisdom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feuerzangenbowle
Below, you can see what it should look like:
Unfortunately, we were unable to get all the ingredients. At first, you need a "zuckerhut", a sugarloaf. But this one can be easily replaced by sugar cubes. Ok, it's not as original as it would be with a real sugarloaf, but it works. What's not gonna work is if you're not able to find some rum with at least 50% alcohol content. Because, it's not burning, unless you do some nasty tricks, like heating it up before. And we didn't succeed, although we went to three different grocery stores.
So, in the end we did just the cheap version: a simple Glühwein. Which was also quite nice, and enough to get some of us really drunk. ;-)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
It's getting cold
When I woke up this morning, I shivered - it was really cold. This night, temperature dropped below 5°C.
But while in the morning sky was still a little bit cloudy, by early noon it had cleared up, and when we got our official tour through the base and institution.
Most of the stuff they're doing here is SOOOO secret I can't tell you about it. ;-)
But part of it has to do with testing unmanned miniature aircrafts and other self guided flying objects.
Another typ of measurements our spanish hosts do (or did) is sending rockets with scientific instrumentation up into the atmosphere to measure as high as 40 km. Unfortunately, they had to stop because of funding problems.
Besides, they have a station performing aerosol measurements all over the year - that's the type of stuff I'm dealing with - small particles, floating around and beeing inhaled by us all the time.
After all this scientific stuff, we were so hungry that we tried to by stuff in a supermercado. What we didn't know - they do a siesta here from 2 pm to 5 pm. We had to go home and to come back later in the evening ... even more hungry!
But while in the morning sky was still a little bit cloudy, by early noon it had cleared up, and when we got our official tour through the base and institution.
Most of the stuff they're doing here is SOOOO secret I can't tell you about it. ;-)
But part of it has to do with testing unmanned miniature aircrafts and other self guided flying objects.
Another typ of measurements our spanish hosts do (or did) is sending rockets with scientific instrumentation up into the atmosphere to measure as high as 40 km. Unfortunately, they had to stop because of funding problems.
Besides, they have a station performing aerosol measurements all over the year - that's the type of stuff I'm dealing with - small particles, floating around and beeing inhaled by us all the time.
After all this scientific stuff, we were so hungry that we tried to by stuff in a supermercado. What we didn't know - they do a siesta here from 2 pm to 5 pm. We had to go home and to come back later in the evening ... even more hungry!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Internet gone...
Today, there was a maneuver at the base, so we had to shutdown all equipment which could produce electromagnetic interference. Therefore, we lost contact to the world in the morning, because there was no internet!! ;-) Man, the mood at the site dropped drastically. Fortunately, the maneuver was over by 11:00h, so our network guys did their best to restore it.
Later that day, we had our first "serious" data meeting. We have a very short and informal one every day around 4 pm outside in front of the measurement containers. This one, everybody had to prepare a presentation for, and it took nearly the whole afternoon.
Although we didn't see any scientific breakthrough, people showed some nice results, which is really impressive after less than a week of official measurements. If you're really interested in how scientific data looks like, check out the pictures below.
On the picture above you see a daily temperature profile, just to give you an idea... ;-)
Later that day, we had our first "serious" data meeting. We have a very short and informal one every day around 4 pm outside in front of the measurement containers. This one, everybody had to prepare a presentation for, and it took nearly the whole afternoon.
Although we didn't see any scientific breakthrough, people showed some nice results, which is really impressive after less than a week of official measurements. If you're really interested in how scientific data looks like, check out the pictures below.
On the picture above you see a daily temperature profile, just to give you an idea... ;-)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The measurement site
Today, I want to tell you a little bit about the place we're measuring. And where we live right now.
Größere Kartenansicht
Our measurement site is located at the southern coast of Spain, close to a town called Huelva, and approximately 90 kilometers west from Seville. We're located on some kind of military base in a little forrest of what we call "broccoli trees". Infact, I think they are some kind of pine trees, but if you see them from above, they really look like broccolli.
The measurement site is directly besides a camping ground where we have rented some barracks. Some of them are quite big, but mine doesn't even have a kitchen, so I don't get my morning tea!!!
Close to the camping ground, there's the ocean and a big sandy beach. And just in the middle of it, you can see the remains of an old watch tower. Unfortunately, it's much too cold, else I would try to go swimming there, at least once.
Actually, I just found out I'm not living alone at my booth, although it's just a single room. I saw a cockroach today, and you know, if you've seen one, you can be sure there are hundred more around. So I'll stop writing and start a little hunting session ....
Größere Kartenansicht
Our measurement site is located at the southern coast of Spain, close to a town called Huelva, and approximately 90 kilometers west from Seville. We're located on some kind of military base in a little forrest of what we call "broccoli trees". Infact, I think they are some kind of pine trees, but if you see them from above, they really look like broccolli.
The measurement site is directly besides a camping ground where we have rented some barracks. Some of them are quite big, but mine doesn't even have a kitchen, so I don't get my morning tea!!!
Close to the camping ground, there's the ocean and a big sandy beach. And just in the middle of it, you can see the remains of an old watch tower. Unfortunately, it's much too cold, else I would try to go swimming there, at least once.
Actually, I just found out I'm not living alone at my booth, although it's just a single room. I saw a cockroach today, and you know, if you've seen one, you can be sure there are hundred more around. So I'll stop writing and start a little hunting session ....
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday morning
This morning I let the girls do all the work. Later, I had a trip to Huelva which was in the end nearly useless.
I woke up this morning around 6:30, but since the girls should learn to take care of MoLa on their own, I turned around and decided to sleep in. Unfortunately, I had to get some spare parts for MoLa in Huelva, so I forced myself to rise around 8:30 am.
When I arrived at the measurement site, all instruments were running, and Sarah-Lena and Jovana didn't have any problems. But Zeinab, another college of mine, was close to getting cabin fever, so when I told her that I would drive to Huelva, she immediately joined me.
When we approached the city of Huelva we could not only smell but also see the exhaust of the petrochemical industry. The air around Huelva was kind of brownish, and it smelled like it did in Germany twenty years ago, when you did live in an industrial town.
I found a shop, and after I had explained two shop assistants what I needed (it took me nearly 15 minutes and a lot of bad drawings, but I managed without a word of spanish ;-) ), they found out they didn't have my spare parts. It seemed to not only suprise me but also them! The same thing in a second shop - I was kind of frustrated. Zeinab, on the other hand, really enjoyed shopping.
But it just wasn't my day. Also my second task, to find a McDonalds or Burger King, failed. And I was so eagerly hoping for some freedom fries and a Burger!
So we went home, Zeinab relaxed and happy, me a little bit frustrated. Now I get the spare parts from Germany, delivered by FedEx. We will see how they perform this time! ;-)
I woke up this morning around 6:30, but since the girls should learn to take care of MoLa on their own, I turned around and decided to sleep in. Unfortunately, I had to get some spare parts for MoLa in Huelva, so I forced myself to rise around 8:30 am.
When I arrived at the measurement site, all instruments were running, and Sarah-Lena and Jovana didn't have any problems. But Zeinab, another college of mine, was close to getting cabin fever, so when I told her that I would drive to Huelva, she immediately joined me.
When we approached the city of Huelva we could not only smell but also see the exhaust of the petrochemical industry. The air around Huelva was kind of brownish, and it smelled like it did in Germany twenty years ago, when you did live in an industrial town.
I found a shop, and after I had explained two shop assistants what I needed (it took me nearly 15 minutes and a lot of bad drawings, but I managed without a word of spanish ;-) ), they found out they didn't have my spare parts. It seemed to not only suprise me but also them! The same thing in a second shop - I was kind of frustrated. Zeinab, on the other hand, really enjoyed shopping.
But it just wasn't my day. Also my second task, to find a McDonalds or Burger King, failed. And I was so eagerly hoping for some freedom fries and a Burger!
So we went home, Zeinab relaxed and happy, me a little bit frustrated. Now I get the spare parts from Germany, delivered by FedEx. We will see how they perform this time! ;-)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Weekend
First, I would like to apologize for not updating the MoLa diary yesterday. Those of you knowing me well do remember for sure that I'm a lazy person. ;-) And of course, I have a lame excuse for it: I was just to busy introducing the new MoLa-crew members into everything.
Actually, we had a pasta-and-garlic-bread party on Saturday night, and it was over somewhen around 2 A.M., and ... I awoke with a bad headache on Sunday morning. ;-)
Nevertheless, we also had a lot of work to do. One of our instruments had a problem, because another instruments exhaust was heating up its stand. So, I became "MacGyver" and created a heat shield using bubble wrap and some cable ties.
The funny thing with temperature here is: during the day it's quite warm (around 20°C), but as soon as the sun goes away it's getting quite cold. Unfortunately, we had to calibrate our mass spectrometer today. And since we missed the calibration time in the morning, we could not start earlier than 6 pm. By the time the calibration was finished it was half past seven, but I was frozen to the bone. That's why I will finish now and go "home" to avoid a cold that will otherwise catch me for sure! ;-)
Actually, we had a pasta-and-garlic-bread party on Saturday night, and it was over somewhen around 2 A.M., and ... I awoke with a bad headache on Sunday morning. ;-)
Nevertheless, we also had a lot of work to do. One of our instruments had a problem, because another instruments exhaust was heating up its stand. So, I became "MacGyver" and created a heat shield using bubble wrap and some cable ties.
The funny thing with temperature here is: during the day it's quite warm (around 20°C), but as soon as the sun goes away it's getting quite cold. Unfortunately, we had to calibrate our mass spectrometer today. And since we missed the calibration time in the morning, we could not start earlier than 6 pm. By the time the calibration was finished it was half past seven, but I was frozen to the bone. That's why I will finish now and go "home" to avoid a cold that will otherwise catch me for sure! ;-)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Change of MoLa crew
This was a day full of changes. Two third of the MoLa crew left. On the other side, two new members joined. And, I got a new job! :)
This morning, we all got up around six. Frank and Thomas, my companions during the trip to Spain, left and had to be driven to the airport at Faro in Portugal. So I got promoted to become a taxi driver, where I had to pickup the new members of the MoLa crew, Sarah-Lena and Jovana, who have to take care of our measurements for the next days.
Why's that a promotion? Since I'm "only" a meteorologist/atmospheric physicist, I'm not a full physicist. But taxi driver is the job most "real" physicist work in, at least if you believe some sharp tongues! ;-)
Poor MoLa, it had not only to survive the night but also most of the day without anyone watching over it. And it did, with nearly no problems.
So tomorrow, I'll start to introduce the girls into handling MoLa so they'll be able to run the measurements without my help, giving me some time to enjoy Spain! ;-)
Größere Kartenansicht
This morning, we all got up around six. Frank and Thomas, my companions during the trip to Spain, left and had to be driven to the airport at Faro in Portugal. So I got promoted to become a taxi driver, where I had to pickup the new members of the MoLa crew, Sarah-Lena and Jovana, who have to take care of our measurements for the next days.
Why's that a promotion? Since I'm "only" a meteorologist/atmospheric physicist, I'm not a full physicist. But taxi driver is the job most "real" physicist work in, at least if you believe some sharp tongues! ;-)
Poor MoLa, it had not only to survive the night but also most of the day without anyone watching over it. And it did, with nearly no problems.
So tomorrow, I'll start to introduce the girls into handling MoLa so they'll be able to run the measurements without my help, giving me some time to enjoy Spain! ;-)
Größere Kartenansicht
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The first day at the site
Today, we finished the setup of MoLa at the measurement site. And, we started our measurements. Furthermore, we had a real nice dinner involving lot of fresh fish.
Above, you can see a picture of MoLa at the measurement side. Todays work was first to install and secure the second measurement mast. This one is the extendable mast of MoLa which carries MoLas weather station. Yeah, we have a weather station on top of MoLa. Funny thing is, while driving, it's always showing that northern winds. ;-)
After that part, we did start the installation and reconfiguring of the instruments inside. The most sensitive instruments you want as close as possible to the inlet, so while MoLa's driving around, that position is close to the front inlet. During stationary measurements, that's not true anymore, so you have to move around quite a few instruments.
Furthermore, we experienced some more problems with our air condition: a fuse broke. Only thing, this fuse was rated for 40 ampere. Fortunately, this time we're NOT in the middle of nowhere (like the last two campaigns I've joined), so we were able to get some replacements: 50 ampere fuses! ;-)
Part of the MoLa crew having a "Feierabend Bier" after work's done
When we left the side for dinner, everything was running again, and all instruments were measuring. So we really could (and did) enjoy the nice dinner in a fish restaurant we were invited to!
Above, you can see a picture of MoLa at the measurement side. Todays work was first to install and secure the second measurement mast. This one is the extendable mast of MoLa which carries MoLas weather station. Yeah, we have a weather station on top of MoLa. Funny thing is, while driving, it's always showing that northern winds. ;-)
After that part, we did start the installation and reconfiguring of the instruments inside. The most sensitive instruments you want as close as possible to the inlet, so while MoLa's driving around, that position is close to the front inlet. During stationary measurements, that's not true anymore, so you have to move around quite a few instruments.
Furthermore, we experienced some more problems with our air condition: a fuse broke. Only thing, this fuse was rated for 40 ampere. Fortunately, this time we're NOT in the middle of nowhere (like the last two campaigns I've joined), so we were able to get some replacements: 50 ampere fuses! ;-)
When we left the side for dinner, everything was running again, and all instruments were measuring. So we really could (and did) enjoy the nice dinner in a fish restaurant we were invited to!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Arrival at Huelva
Hello altogether! Today, we continued our trip and arrived at our final destination: the measurement site close to Huelva in Spain.
MoLa in Spain
The day started quite nice. It was a little bit cold in the morning, but sky was clear and promising. And during the day, it got warmer and warmer. And the streets got bumpy again. So bumpy, that 50 kilometers before the end our mass spectrometer had serious problems and had to be shut down. I was cursing like hell. Still, by the time we reached Huelva, the weather was so nice, warm (20°C) and sunny, that suddenly the mood increased drastically.
Before entering the measurement site, we had to wait two hours because some kind of maneuver was taking place. When we finally were allowed to enter, it was close to 5 P.M. so we decided to just install our stationary inlet line. While driving MoLa is measuring through the tube you can see in front of the car. Here, we're sampling through a 10 meter high inlet on top of the roof.
MoLa alone in the dark
By the time we were half done, it was so dark that we decided to stop workin and close the day with a nice and simple spanish dinner from a grocery store which included a lot of cheese, fish olives and of course some nice spanish wine!
Größere Kartenansicht
The day started quite nice. It was a little bit cold in the morning, but sky was clear and promising. And during the day, it got warmer and warmer. And the streets got bumpy again. So bumpy, that 50 kilometers before the end our mass spectrometer had serious problems and had to be shut down. I was cursing like hell. Still, by the time we reached Huelva, the weather was so nice, warm (20°C) and sunny, that suddenly the mood increased drastically.
Before entering the measurement site, we had to wait two hours because some kind of maneuver was taking place. When we finally were allowed to enter, it was close to 5 P.M. so we decided to just install our stationary inlet line. While driving MoLa is measuring through the tube you can see in front of the car. Here, we're sampling through a 10 meter high inlet on top of the roof.
By the time we were half done, it was so dark that we decided to stop workin and close the day with a nice and simple spanish dinner from a grocery store which included a lot of cheese, fish olives and of course some nice spanish wine!
Größere Kartenansicht
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
This day was quite eventful. First, we reached Spain. We had some trouble with instruments. And, at the end of the day the mouse of the MOLA PC went mad.
But before I'll talk about todays trip I would like to introduce MOLAs official "Hello Kitty"-Notebook to you. At this point: special aknowledgements to T. Custer (not related with G. A. Custer) for sponsorship. ;-)
Only the MOST important events make it into the "Hello Kitty"-Notebook, like the crew's mood, or the high points of the day!
One high point was definitely when we reached the highest point of our tour, nearly 1500 m above sea level. Another one was that we reached Spain. On that note: I hate bumps - at least the ones on the street. And the streets in Spain are full of them.
So why's that? Unlike the MOLA-PC, which is collecting the data from most instruments and is equipped with the newest and hottest NERD-stuff like super-fast SSD's (Harddrives with flash memories instead of spinning disks), the acquisition computer of our mass-spec has just some regular hard drives. So, if we hit a bump, there's a good chance it crashes. And in fact, it did several times today. The problem is that most of the time some important files get corrupted, and it's a hell of an act to fix it, especially since it has to be fixed fast to prevent to much loss of data. Fortunately, streets got much better when we reached Madrid.
However, the search for a hotel was pretty easy today - we picked on close to the highway, went there, and got electricity for MOLA - so we stayed. No getting lost, no search for hours - pretty easy up to that point. But when we tried to shut every thing down, the mouse of our PC got mad, hopping around on the screen like crazy, clicking by itself, totally out of control. It took nearly 30 minutes to fix it and to finish MOLA for the day. But we managed, and after having a good and filling dinner we're now awaiting the challenges of tomorrow.
Größere Kartenansicht
But before I'll talk about todays trip I would like to introduce MOLAs official "Hello Kitty"-Notebook to you. At this point: special aknowledgements to T. Custer (not related with G. A. Custer) for sponsorship. ;-)
Only the MOST important events make it into the "Hello Kitty"-Notebook, like the crew's mood, or the high points of the day!
One high point was definitely when we reached the highest point of our tour, nearly 1500 m above sea level. Another one was that we reached Spain. On that note: I hate bumps - at least the ones on the street. And the streets in Spain are full of them.
So why's that? Unlike the MOLA-PC, which is collecting the data from most instruments and is equipped with the newest and hottest NERD-stuff like super-fast SSD's (Harddrives with flash memories instead of spinning disks), the acquisition computer of our mass-spec has just some regular hard drives. So, if we hit a bump, there's a good chance it crashes. And in fact, it did several times today. The problem is that most of the time some important files get corrupted, and it's a hell of an act to fix it, especially since it has to be fixed fast to prevent to much loss of data. Fortunately, streets got much better when we reached Madrid.
However, the search for a hotel was pretty easy today - we picked on close to the highway, went there, and got electricity for MOLA - so we stayed. No getting lost, no search for hours - pretty easy up to that point. But when we tried to shut every thing down, the mouse of our PC got mad, hopping around on the screen like crazy, clicking by itself, totally out of control. It took nearly 30 minutes to fix it and to finish MOLA for the day. But we managed, and after having a good and filling dinner we're now awaiting the challenges of tomorrow.
Größere Kartenansicht
Monday, November 17, 2008
The "Avenue des Champs-Élysées"
Today, it was a nearly perfect trip, at least for our measurements. All instruments performed quite well and without any malfunction. Furthermore, we visited the beautiful city of Paris!
The morning started with a nice breakfast at our hotel. While part of our team took it's breakfast, the remainder did start MoLa and the intruments, and vice versa. So we ready to leave Château Thierry around half past seven (UTC). Heading towards Paris, we got into our first traffic jam (nice results for our measurements, although, once you get to know about air quality in a traffic jam, you might wish to never again get into one).
We passed that one and went to the inner city of Paris, with the aim to drive MoLa down the famous Champs Élysées. And, guess what happend: we actually missed it in the first! After doing another turn around the "Place de la Concorde", in the second try we got to it! If you wanna see a proof, just watch the video below.
Driving on that famous street is quite an experience, especially if it comes to the circle around the "Arc de Triomphe". The round is huge, there are no marked lanes AND no rules! But, we made the miracle true and passed it once completely without damaging MoLa.
Going as far as "Pont Neuf", we turned around and left Paris, with a last view on the Eiffel Tower. From that point on, the trip started to become at least a little bit boring, without any nice views (it started to rain) and problems, starring most of the time on the display infront of me. On the picture below, you might experience that view for yourself.
But at the end of the day, there was some adventure again: the search for a stay over night. It's hard to find a nice hotel which is willing to offer you not only rooms and food, but also electricity (some of our instruments need power all night). So we're quite happy when we found a nice place called "Le Grand Gousier" which fullfilled all our requirements. If you wanna checkout our trip today, have a look at the map below! That's all for today.
Größere Kartenansicht
The morning started with a nice breakfast at our hotel. While part of our team took it's breakfast, the remainder did start MoLa and the intruments, and vice versa. So we ready to leave Château Thierry around half past seven (UTC). Heading towards Paris, we got into our first traffic jam (nice results for our measurements, although, once you get to know about air quality in a traffic jam, you might wish to never again get into one).
We passed that one and went to the inner city of Paris, with the aim to drive MoLa down the famous Champs Élysées. And, guess what happend: we actually missed it in the first! After doing another turn around the "Place de la Concorde", in the second try we got to it! If you wanna see a proof, just watch the video below.
Driving on that famous street is quite an experience, especially if it comes to the circle around the "Arc de Triomphe". The round is huge, there are no marked lanes AND no rules! But, we made the miracle true and passed it once completely without damaging MoLa.
Going as far as "Pont Neuf", we turned around and left Paris, with a last view on the Eiffel Tower. From that point on, the trip started to become at least a little bit boring, without any nice views (it started to rain) and problems, starring most of the time on the display infront of me. On the picture below, you might experience that view for yourself.
But at the end of the day, there was some adventure again: the search for a stay over night. It's hard to find a nice hotel which is willing to offer you not only rooms and food, but also electricity (some of our instruments need power all night). So we're quite happy when we found a nice place called "Le Grand Gousier" which fullfilled all our requirements. If you wanna checkout our trip today, have a look at the map below! That's all for today.
Größere Kartenansicht
Sunday, November 16, 2008
MOLA on the road: the first day
So.... the first day of our travel to Spain is over. And, most important, in the end it was quite successful, although we had a lot of problems in the beginning, AND altough we nearly got lost in the Champagne by the end of the day. ;-)
But lets start at the beginning. We managed to leave the MPI exactly at 12:00 UTC.
For those of you not familiar with UTC: people working in science are always a little bit confuse, so they actually GET CONFUSED quite a lot, especially if it comes to time. Therefore, they INVENTED UTC, the Coordinated Universal Time (don't ask me why it's UTC and not CUT, must be some french reason), which is actually identical wis GMT, the Greenwich Mean Time, besides the fact UTC doesn't have daylight saving.
Soon after we left, we encountered the first problems. Our mass spectrometer (a very expensive piece of, hmmm, lets say, "scientific instrumentation", worth a family home, but most times not nearly as useful) crashed, the software of the CPC (an instrument which counts the number of particles in air) produced continuosly errors, and finally our air condition broke down. As you might imagine, our mood dropped. But after a couple of stops we managed to fix these "infancy" problems. And for a while everything was amazingly working perfect. ;-)
Above, you can see MOLA standing in front of our hotel.
When dawn approached, we started to search for a place to rest. Nowadays, such fancy things like GPS devices exist, which will guide you to the nearest hotel. And if you're not careful, the GPS will actually try to force you to use the shortest way. As starry-eyed as we were, we trusted our GPS. And ended up in front of some unpaved road, somewhere in the Champagne, not far from (but also not really close to) Paris.
Somehow, following very narrow streets, we managed to escape the wilderness and to end up in nice town called Château Thierry. And that's it for today!
Größere Kartenansicht
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Introduction
This blog is intended to be a more or less daily diary about the MOLA (MObile LAboratory) and its participation in the DOMINO campaign. So let's start.
First, let me explain what MOLA is. It's a van, filled with weird scientific instruments for atmospheric measurements of particulate matter and gases. The great thing about MOLA is that we cannot only bring all this stuff to where we want but that we actually can measure while driving - so be prepared, maybe we're just behind you and your car! ;-)
Currently, we're preparing to participate in an atmospheric measurement campaign called DOMINO, which takes place close to Huelva, southern Spain. To go there, we'll drive MOLA all the way down from Mainz in Germany.
Our trip will start on Sunday, November 16. If you are interested in our progress and adventures on the way down to Spain, just pass by and watch out for the hottest news about MOLA! :)
First, let me explain what MOLA is. It's a van, filled with weird scientific instruments for atmospheric measurements of particulate matter and gases. The great thing about MOLA is that we cannot only bring all this stuff to where we want but that we actually can measure while driving - so be prepared, maybe we're just behind you and your car! ;-)
Currently, we're preparing to participate in an atmospheric measurement campaign called DOMINO, which takes place close to Huelva, southern Spain. To go there, we'll drive MOLA all the way down from Mainz in Germany.
Our trip will start on Sunday, November 16. If you are interested in our progress and adventures on the way down to Spain, just pass by and watch out for the hottest news about MOLA! :)
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