plows-iss1: Site MISS Messages, 45 Entries..

Factory Outlet parking lot in Story City Iowa.
NB Had problems with networking when starting the system up for testing.None of the computers were seeing each other.Guessing just a loose cable. All the network cables should be replaced in the future.

Lat 42.18 degrees
Lon 93.57 degrees
Alt 307 meters

Antenna beams
Y22 357 
Y38 357
Y26 177
X21 87
X25 87
X37 267

Antenna level
Front to rear 0.9 degrees
Left to right 0.0 degress

Amp power 2.075

Sounding schedule: Starting at 6z on the 9th every 3 hours.

MISS is at the AAurora ILL Municiple Airport for an educational.

System was started at approx 18:15z.
Lat 41.77
Lon 88.47
Alt 219

Y22 350
X21 80
Y38 350
Y26 170
X25 80
X37 260
Amp power 2.071

IOP 21
First sounding was at 19:30z.Soundings will be 3 hourly except for one at 2200.
MISS is at a Residence Inn parking lot in Peoria
Lat:40.74
Lon -89.63
ALT 203 meters

Antenna Beams:
y22  290 degrees
y38  290 degrees
y26  110 degrees
x21  20 degrees
x25  20 degrees
x37  200 degrees

Note : Surface Met is working on sounding system and on Zebra but not showing in "Monitor WXT PTU"window.

Profiler amp 2.051

Antenna level is:
front to rear 0.4 degrees
left to right 0.5 degrees.

It started to snow during the set up.
Profiler started at approx 19z.

IOP was called at 10z.
6 soundings were made.This leaves approx 78 sondes.
Note: Generator ran fine through out iop.

Testing systems at NWS in Davenport.

Running profiler from about 19Z.  Trailer orientation 265 deg.
WXT not set-up for tests.

Gary is diagnosing the NIMA problem from the last IOP.  The profiler parameters from that IOP look fine, it may be a bug with NIMA when the orientation is 45 deg.

Lou working on the generator, heated the fuel pump dome to de-ice it and added fuel additive.  Seems to be running fine now.

Weather - fine and sunny.

Lou and Patti have arrived and are taking over from Bil.  Brad flew home on Tues.

Next IOP likely in Indiana or southern IL on Sunday - this will be IOP 21 since IOP 20 is a WCR calibration flight on the C130 today.

DAILY REPORT FOR MONDAY FEB 15  IOP 19

Snowing and windy at times through the night, easing by morning and ending around 1430Z.  Partly cloudy by 16Z.  Last sounding was at 16Z.  Launched 10 soundings, used 2 cylinders of Helium.

The generator ran roughly (leading to a cold container as we turned off the heater, and to an accidential pause in WXT data); plus had a couple of minor issues with sounding lockup and NIMA processing.  See separate tklog entries about these issues.

Joe and Bobby took snow-depth observations with a snow board overnight.  The measurements of two hour accumulation are:

02Z : 0.3"
04Z : 0.3"
06Z : 0.7"
08Z : 0.9"
10Z : 1.8"
12Z : 1.0"
14Z : 0.5"
16Z : 0.1"
Total snow about 5.6 inches.

Shutting down around 1730UT
Profiler final amp current : 2.06A
Generator hours at end of IOP : 1373

Generator running roughly around 10Z.

A couple of times it almost stopped running, and the UPS started beeping.
Turning off the heater seems to help, so am leaving that off for now.  
Given that it's -7C outside and windy, the container will cool down.

Turned everything considered non-essential off - unfortunately that included the power supply for the GPS and WXT, so we didn't get surface met data for a few hours (approx 11Z - 1330Z). 

Had a couple of lockup issuses on 0Z and 2Z soundings:

0Z sounding (launched about 23:28UT, serial num D2844510) had a GAUS software lockup; data okay but no web plot yet. Will be recoverable on post-processing.

2Z sounding, had trouble getting GPS lock:  tried serial nums D2845047 and D2845031 but both didn't lock after at least 5 minutes on stand and software restarts so weren't launched at this time. Finally E4430434 did lock after 10 minutes on stand, so was launched.  It was snowing so weather may have been a factor.

Used D2845047 and D2845031 successfully on later soundings (both got GPS lock after just a minute or two).

NIMA is reporting an error and not producing output or web plots.

Raw spectral data is copying to data manager correctly.  Parameters are unchanged from previous IOPs and SOAP moment data looks fine so the profiler appears to be running fine.

Manually ran NIMA in verbose mode and found that it is reporting a segmentation error:

/iss/nima/etc/spcnima: line 141: 19885 Segmentation fault      nice -19 $valgrind $wppp $args

(Emailed details to Gary)

This error is delaying some of the web page plots, however xsoap plots look fine (emailed a couple to Bob) so we should be able to recover plots in post-processing.

DAILY REPORT SUNDAY FEB 14  IOP 19

IOP 19 is starting in Evansville IN.

This IOP is observing an Albertia Clipper storm that is tracking along I-64 in southern Indianna.  MISS is in Evansville, MIPS is about 70 km to the ENE, and MAX is in between.  The C130 will be flying along this line between 2 VLRs, performing stacked microphysical obs from around 4Z this evening.  Uni. MO sounding system undergoing repairs, and there are no dropsondes, so MISS is providing the only soundings.

Started MISS about 21UT, first sounding was at 22UT.  Soundings every 2 hours until about midday tomorrow.  See separate tklog entry for issues with 0Z and 2Z soundings.

Cloudy and misty with intermittant light snow and drizzle during the afternoon.  Light easterly at surface, westerly aloft.

MISS is set up at the Drury Inn (North Evansville, route 41N & Kynch Rd).  It is in the truck parking lot (gravel covered with a thin layer of snow), and is about 70m south of the east end of the Drury Inn building, on the south east corner of the lot next to an open field.  The WXT is set to about 2m, about 8m SE of MISS on the edge of the field, with the electric field mill next to it.  

Bill and Brad are the NCAR operators, assisted by UIUC students Joe and Bobby.

Trailer orientation is 45 deg.
Lat 38d 00.73m N, Lon 87d 32.26m W, Alt 124m.
Antenna tilted about 0.2 deg to southeast.

Changed out helium and got more radiosondes in Davenport on Friday, changed oil on truck in Champaign yesterday.

Generator hours at start of IOP was 1352.  Refilled diesel tank before IOP with 21G, last IOP was 40 hours so average use is just over 1/2 gallon per hour.

Profiler final amp current 2.05A

IOP 16 and 17 in data and tklog do not match PLOWS Field Catalog numbers!

The C130 did a WCR calibration flight on Feb 1 and apparently it was decided that mission was called IOP 16.  Therefore the IOP-16 in our data (Feb 4 - 6 at Franklin IN) is offically IOP 17.   IOP-17 in our data (Feb 8 - 10 at Fort Atkinson WI) is offically IOP 18.

Daily Report for Wednesday Feb 10 IOP 17

IOP 17.

Conditions cold and snowy wtih winds picking up around 0Z. Snow decreasing early evening as the winds picked up. Last sounding at 6Z.  Sunny, cold, with breezy northerly in the morning.  Clear skies early, partly cloudy by mid-morning.

Used balloon bag for 0Z and 3Z soundings.  Had a little ice in the Helium line fitting at 3Z as we changed cylinders, but managed to get it out in time.

Wind profiler working well, although with the windy conditions there some additional clutter (on top of the wind turbine mentioned yesterday).

Joe and Bethany made snow board measurements :
(3 - hourly accumulation in inches, times are CST)
Feb 8 20:30 : Trace
Feb 8 11:30 : 0.3
Feb 9 02:30 : 0.5
Feb 9 05:30 : 0.3
Feb 9 08:30 : 0.6
Feb 9 11:30 : 0.5
Feb 9 14:30 : 0.3
There was additional accumulation after that, but with the wind and drifting snow they could not get good measurements.  They are guessing a total of about 3.5 inches.

Shutting system down around 16:30UT.

Profiler final amp current 2.05A
Generator hours at end of deployment 1352

Daily Report for Tuesday Feb 9

IOP 17.  MISS set up in Fort Atkinson WI.
Operations started at 0Z (Feb 9), with soundings every 3 hours.  IOP expected to last approximately 36 hours.

Calm with mid-level clouds at during set-up and the first sounding, light snow started about 2:30UT.  Snowing for most of the remainder of the day.  Winds picking up and backing to north late afternoon.

MISS is at the Fort Atkinson Holiday Inn Express hotel, set up in the north-east corner of the parking lot, approx 35 m east of the NE corner of the hotel building.

Lat 42d 56.66m N,  Lon 88d 51.79m W,  Alt 264m
Trailer orientation 128 deg.

WXT set up on small hill / snow bank aboout 6m NW of the trailer, with sensor level approx 3 meters above parking lot and sonde launch area (5-10 m to the south).  Electric field mill set up on parking lot about 8m NW of trailer.

Trailer approx level, profiler antenna tilted about 0.6 deg to southwest.

There is a wind turbine approximately 0.5 km to the ESE of the site, resulting in a significant clutter echo in some beams.  Unfortunately the configuration of the parking lot, and the need to minimize generator noise in the hotel, forced us to orient the trailer towards that direction.

The beams most strongly affected are the y+38 and y-26 beams, with the yV22 beam also showing some effect.  The clutter echoes are mainly confined to the 0.3 - 0.7 km altitude range.  The NIMA reprocessing routine seems cleans up some of the signals.  Also as snow started, the clutter is less apparent than it was in clear-air signals. 

Profiler final amp current 2.07A

Generator oil was changed after end of last IOP (IOP 16) at 1312 hours.
Oil filter also changed.

MISS operators are Bill and Brad, assisted by UIUC students Joe and Bethany.
MIPS operating at Goshen IN (MAX and U. Missouri soundings not running for this IOP).  C130 flying yesterday and today.

Daily Report for Sat 6 Feb IOP16
 
IOP16 south of Indianapolis with MISS in Franklin IN
(see Feb 5 report for details).

Steve, Bill and Jen are NCAR operators assisted by UIUC grad-students Wendi Kaufeld and Hee-Jung Yang.  Steve left for Boulder last night and Jen is heading back tomorrow (thanks Steve & Jen!); Brad is arriving tonight.

MISS operations from 2:30Z Feb 5 to 17Z Feb 6. 
9 soundings launched, starting at 5:30UT on Feb 5, at 3 hourly intervals.
1 sonde (14:30Z Feb 5) had data lockup - raw data saved but no web plot yet.
One sounding on last Helium bottle, other 2 empty.

Snow gradually eased up overnight, but breezy so blowing snow.
About 6 inches of snow fell.

Some ice build up on WXT which may affect the winds and precip.  Vents mainly clear so temp, RH, & pressure should be okay.   WXT set up at about 2m level, about 5m NNW of trailer, field mill a coule of meters further north.  Both on grassy low hill, roughly 2-3m above sonde level prelaunch. 

Trailer lock ice'ed up after last sonde - the usual hand warmers didn't work but eventually air dryer did free it up.

Profiler final current around 2.05 A.
Generator hours about 1310 at end of IOP so oil change needed soon.

Soundings for IOP 6 from the west edge of the Sleep Inn parking lot (next to Quality Inn parking lot; prior IOP). 3-hourly soundings began for 06Z Feb 5 and should continue for about 30 hours.

06Z 05Feb sounding: lost signal about 180 mb, 13 km. Several warm layers in lowest 5 km. One associated with a dry layer.

IOP 16. MISS in Franklin, IN

Setup in parking lot of Sleep Inn. Far west end.

Lat 39 28 55,6 N
Lon 86 01 10.2 W
Alt 231 m

Trailer oriented toward 178 degrees

WXT set 5 m NW of antenna
Field mill set 7 m NW of antenna

Surface data collection began ~02:30 Z
Profiler collection began ~03 Z
Profiler final amp current 2.05 A

Generator began with tank 3/4 full at 02:3Z

Soundings planned from 06Z, every 3 hours for about 30 hours

Weather at 06 Z: Overcast. 2C, light winds. Profiler shows snow 2km overhead

Interesting feature in profiler:
03-06Z: At base of snow (lower limit of reflectivity feature) there is an updraft of 0.5-1.0 m/s. This feature also has broader spectral width (indicative of higher turbulence). In-trailer discussion: hypthesis that snow is falling into supercooled liquid water, which freezes releasing latent heat, leading to updraft.

Snow increasing through the day.  Periods of large snow flakes during the morning.  Breezy at times.

Soundings going okay.  Had one lock-up at 14Z, it won't be plotted on the web for now, but the raw data is okay so it can be recovered later.  Also one sonde failed ground checks so wasn't launched, replacement worked okay.

Some ice build up on WXT sonic anemometer that we cleared off occasionally so some winds may be bad (eg, 21-22Z).
 

Sounding conducted for Eduction at Willard Airport (Champaign). Before launch, sonde was intrmittently losing signal.Launched anyway since primarily a demo. Data lost by 1500 m. GAUS PC froze. Aspen does not run on files. 

Educational outreach project in Illinois at the Willard Airport. C-130 and MISS setups present. A group of approximately 60 students and observers were given tours of C-130 capabilities as well as MISS capabilities. MISS performed radiosonde balloon launch at 1245 CST (1845 Z). Sounding signal lost ear 1500 m.

WXT lost wind speeds during IOP 15. After IOP replaced WXT with spare unit. Upon completion of the hardware swap, Gary updated the program to accept the data strings from the new WXT. WXT is now fully operational.

Generator getting rougher. Actually cut out and had to be restarted May have to shutdown to attemp a fix. Intend replacing fuel filter first to see if that fixes problem
The system was shutdown at 18:30z while the fuel filter in the generator was replaced. The problem is still there but not as bad. So the problem may also be the in line filter under the trailer. I do not have a spare for this with me but will ship one out on tuesday with instruction on replacement. I can try one other possibility which I intend to try on Sunday. This will be running on the day tank.
System was restarted at approx 19z
Replaced fuel filter at main tank pump. Noticed ice accumulation in old filter. Added dry gas product to remove water from tank and lines after replacing filter. Ran generator again for several hours and have not experienced any problems.

IOP 15 has MISS in Vienna Ill.
Soundings will start at midnight local time and continue every 3 hours.

Lat 37.41 degrees
Lon 88.87 degrees
Alt 117m
Antenna level
Left to right 1.2
Front to rear 0.8

Antenna Power 2.128
Beams
Y22 265
X21 355
Y38 265
Y26  85
X25 355
X37 175

Surface met was not being written to net cdf until 16:42.
Possibly not written sounding system
Gary is looking into the cdf files not being written ,this process also controls the surface met broadcast message for the sounding system.
IOP ended with the 03z sounding.
Profiler shut down at approx 04z

IOP 14 has started with a18z sounding.Soundings will continue at 3 hourly intervals until further notice. MISS is in a Holiday Inn Express parking lot in Fort Atkinson WI.
Lat 42.94.
Lon 88.86
Alt 262 meters
System level:
Left to right 1.1 degrees
Front to rear 0.4 degress
Aantenna beams:
Y22 140 degrees
Y26 320 degrees
Y38 140 degrees

X21 230 degrees
X25 230 degrees
X37 50 degrees.
Amp power.2.110

NOTES
Aapprox 1k in front of system is a wind generator with blades spinning.

During testing on the 22nd I noticed the Garmin GPS display was breaking down .I replaced it with the spare we had.

As of 19z Bob called and had us hold off on the next sounding until 0z as weather is slower in its arrival then expected.

IOP 14 ended with the 18z sounding Sunday the 24th.
Data transfers and backups were made

Mike Strong and I started the profiler today to test it for the seconnd half of the PLOWS project. Overall the system appears fine after the XMAS break.Snow had blown across the front of thetriler about 18 to 24 iches. We have packed that down with the truck so we should have no problems pulling the system out.Today we are not running surface met as the cables are iced in We've cleared the snow away and should be able to get the cables out tommorow.Profiler was started at approx 10:30 am.
Sondes shipped from boulder arrive yerterday
System was run until 2:15 local.
Data was being transfered to Boulder.

Note MISS had to be moved from the road behind the motel as we were parked in a city plow zone. So MISS is in the Comfort Inn parking lot behind the motel System was moved at approx 3:25 cst.

The MISS system is at Le Claire Iowa for IOP 10.
Lat 41 35.32
Long 090 21.81
ALT 682 ft

y22 =166 degrees
y26 =346 degrees
y38 =166 degrees

x21 =256 degrees
x25 =256 degrees
x37 =76 degrees

Level 
front to back 0 degrees
left to right .4 degrees

Profiler current 2.068

System was set at approx 14:20 to run for testing.

Soundings will be made at 6z [11:30 cst] then again at 14z [7:30 cst] and every 2 hours after this.

Site photos taken.

System started at 23:00z. No precip as of yet. Preparing first sounding.

IOP 10 has been running today All systems have been operating fine.We have had periods of snow, rain ,ice and just clouds.
Winds are forecast to pick up tonight to the level we may not be able to continue with soundings. Up to 50 mph have been forecast.Snow is also supposed to intensi.

The 0z sounding was fine on the ground but lost ptu just after launch. Gsp was still running

System shut down approx 4:30 am cst
12 soundings made.

MISS is in Franklin Indiana for IOP 9.OPs will run for 24 hours with 2 hourly soundings. I have restored MISS to how it was when I last left it Boulder and how it should be.
First sounding was at approx 11:30 z all went well All systems appear to be running fine.Including the field mill.
y22 117 
y38 117 
y26 297

x21 207
x25 207
x37 27
Antenna level within 2 degrees
amp power 2.049
Current weather at 13:51z overcast no precip.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates during the day.
As of the 14z sounding 30 sondes have been launched during this the second stageof PLOWS.
At 19:12 surface met was found to be 180 degrees out.AAt this time it was adjusted to correct direction.No more set ups in the dark.

The IOP has been called down early.The 6z sounding was the laast.Two soundings iced up after launch and had slow ascent rates beside this all went well.
System shut down approx 06:20zz on 12-03. Ba	ckups nd transfer started at this time.

Soundings conducted for IOP 08 from the NE corner of Comfort inn parking lot in Walcott, IA. 3 hourly soundings started at 06Z tuesday (midnight local) and continued for 24 hours, terminatating after the 06Z sounding on Wednesday.
The original plan was to continue until 12Z Wednesday.
The first sounding on IOP 08 failed to close correctly, and consequently doesn't have a proper suffix and launch detect. all other soundings are normal.

Deep fog until 1130. Rain began around 1145. Local thunder heard aprox 1210L. 
Up drafts noted in soap plots. 9 am, 12 pm and 3pm soundings used 200g balloons 35 cubic feet. Final amplifier current consistantly around 2.026A.

Relocated MISS to Walcott, 20 miles W of Davenport at 11am in preparation for IOP 08 tonight. NE corner of Comfort Inn Parking lot. trailer is 070 degrees.
started system at 3:30Local.
Soundings commence at midnight local (6Z) and will continue thru Wed Morning 6AM(12Z) at 3 hr intervals.
Launching all 200 gm balloons w 35 cu ft. as we are all out of 100gm balloons.

system checkout after drive back from KC.
fired up system and ran for ~1hr. at davenport airport.
visited WS office 
exchanged 3 cylinders for new, 3 old are in pod.
burning DVD
Bill escapes to boulder on Friday, Jen has replaced him.
wx is calm, overcast, system has cleared area.

PROFILER PARAMETER SETTINGS

The Profiler is running with the following (single mode) parameter set:

IPP  	 70 microsecs
PW   	 700 ns
Code	 4

Nhgts 	 75
Delay	 2700 ns
Space	 700 ns
Coh.Av	 60
Spe.Av	 26
Npts  	 128

Scale	 19.5 m/s
Dwell	 20 s
Hgt  	 0.24 km
	 8.01 km
IPP  	 9.91 km
Pulse	 105 m

Beam Sequence (all 1 rep): yV22 y+38 x+25 xV21 y-26 x-37

Full spectra saved.
Spectral avg: ICRA
DC filter and windowing
Clutter search to 1.7 km
Cns Avg 30 minutes, 55% thld, window: 2m/s (oblq), 1.5 ms/ (vert). Vert subtract.
No RASS.

Spectra are additionally processed with NIMA.

DAILY REPORT FOR TUES 17 NOV

IOP 7 Continued today and will end this evening.

Overcast and with scattered rain or drizzle.  Northerly breeze at surface, easterlies aloft.
In western wrap-around region of cyclone, top side of wrap-around started coming over the site late morning. 
Snow early morning (about 7Z - 14Z), approx 1/2 inch on grassy areas, otherwise scattered rain, heavest around midday and early afternoon.
Precip ended about 0Z (Nov 18).

Soundings continuing every 3 hours - last scheduled sounding at 23:30Z.
Did 17 soundings for the IOP.

Bill visited UAH MAX radar and MIPS this afternoon.  Picked up field mill from Dustin Phillips and installed at MISS for a couple of hours of tests at 22Z.  Only collected initalisation data and Dustin says this happens if the electric field is weak.

Profiler final amp current : 2.052A
Generator hours at end of day : 1092

Shut off profiler at 2UT (Nov 18).
Shuttung down system at 2;40 UT.

DAILY REPORT MONDAY 16 NOV

IOP 7 underway.

Cloudy, cold, periods of rain, and occasional graupel.  Northerly breeze at surface, easterlies aloft.
Slow moving cyclone; dry slot moved off to east last night and now under wrap-around region.

Soundings every three hours.  Using 100g balloons at night and 200g during day.

Tank was 1/3 at 00:45 (Nov 17), added 10 gallons, fuel now at 3/4.

Profiler final amp current : 2.059A
Generator hours at end of day (0Z) : 1064

Our student helpers for this IOP are:
Joe Wegman and Bobby Jackson (both of UIUC).  Thanks guys!

Soundings being launch every three hours from 2330UT (Nov 15).

WXT approx 10m from launch area and is about 3.5m above ground.

Using 100g balloons with 25 cu.ft. Helium.

Nov 15 2340 UT sonde - first package had no GPS on ground so not launched, second package ok.

Nov 16 5:34UT sonde got some interference around 250 mb.

Nov 16 1430UT sonde - temperature reading about 2C below WXT; also showing sub-zero temps just above gnd but rain at surface.

Nov 16 1735 2036 & 2325 UT soundings used 200g balloons to get rise rate up during daytime to aviod solar heating issues.

Nov 17 0245 UT - lost first balloon - sonde okay, successful launch on second balloon with same sonde package.

DAILY REPORT SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER

IOP 7 started.

Located in Libery area of Kansas City MO.  Walmart parking lot opposite Holiday Inn Express (N. Church Rd, KC).  (Approx 500m SW of intersection of I35 and Route 152, & 100m WSW off SW corner of Walmart building). 

 39.24205 N, 94.46083 W, 270m  Orientation of trailer is 274 deg.
WXT setup on stand on trailer tongue on front of trailer about 3.5 m above ground.

Weather scattered rain, cool easterlies and northerlies this evening.

System started about 2320UT (15 Nov).  First sonde launched about 2340.
Sondes every three hours, using 100g balloons 925 cu.ft. He.

Profiler amp final current : 2.073 A

IOP that had been planned for Thu Fri canceled - doing maintenance instead.

Tim took truck in to get tires rotated since ride was pulling a little and front tires could be seen to be uneven.  Front tires were rotated to inside rear.
Shop said that trialer is a little heavy for the truck and recommended that the tires be rotated every 5k miles.

Next IOP appears to be Monday. 

DAILY REPORT FOR 11 NOV 2009	

Doing test run deployment at Walcott IA, about 20 miles west of Davenport.
Setup at "Worlds Largest Truck Stop", parked in NE corner of truck parking lot.   
41d 37.2m N  90d 46.7 m W 70' alt.  Trailer pointed at 292 deg.
Used leveling system however trailer tilted slightly approx 2 deg to south.

POP error occurred again at about 20:48UT.  It started by itself after a couple of minutes.  Gary was jiggling cables on back of computer but it isn't clear if that was related.

Fine sunny day with light easterlies.

Started system about 17:30 UT and running to about 2130UT.

Profiler final amp current : 2.043A
Generator hours at end of day : 1039.

Gary flying home this evening leaving Tim and Bill.
Ground based IOP now looking unlikely this week, although C130 may fly.

Daily Report for Tue 8 Nov 2009

Cloudy early (after a little rain last night), then clearing to a fine sunny day.  A little cooler than it has been with light easterlies.

Testing from about 1830 to 2330.

Gary ran data backup to DVD (Oct 5th to today) and deleted old data on the DM.  He also installed IDV and Google Earth; IDV can be started using an icon on the desktop and GoogleEarth using the start menu.
Bill updated xsoap to plot NIMA data.

Generator hours at end of day: 1034
Profiler Final Amp Current: 2.044A

Possible IOP in MN on Friday.
Tim arrived today, Gary will be leaving tomorrow.

Daily Report for Sunday 8 November

Testing at Davenport Airport.

Fine sunny day with light southerlies.

Ran profiler for several hours to test if we got the errors we saw yesterday.
No errors were reported.   

Today we were running in PLOWS mode which is a 100m mode and no low high mode switching.

Before starting we did a minor adjustment to the angles to test if the data manager navigate parameter script caused a problem.

We also ran with the air conditioning on (AC set to low).  The termperature in the trailer stayed at about 20C (outside teperature got to 23C).

Rear left pluck on profiler antenna not holding any air - Gary pumped it up and it deflated within a few seconds.

Generator hours at end of day about 1029.

POP reported errors again. 

19:13 POP reported :

FIFO READ ERROR WORD #1: 20e00 3e00
PAR SET #2 AT 120000NS

Did a Ctrl-Alt_del to get out of POP.  Restarted POPO and got the same error.

Switched to PLOWS-IOP mode (105 m mode) - it had been in alternating 60/250m mode.  Restarted POP - got a different error message:

CANNOT START PBX - CONTINUE ANYWAY?

Entering Y kept giving the same error message so shutdown profiler computer and interface boxes.

It was rather warm in the container so turned on AC and let it cool down for a while.

Restarted the profiler and seems to be running okay now.

Daily Report Sat 7 Nov 2009

MISS still at Davenport airport waiting for action.
Our site is about 200 meters northwest of the Davenport NWS office (KDVN sounding station annd Nexrad radar).  
41d 36m 45s N  90d 35m 2s W  235m.  Trailer pointed directly east.

Weather fine and sunny with light westerlies.

Started system about 1630Z for testing.  Shutdown about 22:45Z.

MISS trailer tilted aboout 2 degrees to the west, leveled about 1730Z.

Profiler reported errors again - see separate log entry.
Container was rather warm so switched on AC.

Generator hours at end of day: 1021
Profiler Final Amp Current: 2.028A

Bill and Gary now running the site.  
Bill arrived yesterday evening and Lou left this morning. 

Today POP was interrupted with errors.  Over a period of about 30 minutes, there were 4 occasions where it had to be restarted, then it ran for an hour or more until we shut it down.  Here's the error messages:

The first was at 2009-11-05 09:30:43:

FIFO read error word #1: 2e00 3e00
Sampling did not finish in 5 seconds, flag = -1
:PAR SET #3 at 120000 ns

The error messages were basically the same each time, except sometimes it was this line:

:PAR SET #3 at 180000 ns

On one occasion, POP eventually recovered from the error and continued normally.  The other times, POP had to be killed through the Windows task manager, and the PC had to be power cycled.

No other symptoms or indications were noticed.  Temperature in the cabin seemed fine, but we didn't feel the PC for excess heat.

Lou suggests upper temperature limit in container be 50 degrees F.  I think that means he's volunteering to operate the rest of the project.

Lou and Gary ran the profiler today for a few hours.

There were no more problems with the 12V power.  Lou purchased supplies for replacing the current power supply if necessary, including a 12V adapter and soldering iron, all of which have been placed in the bottom drawer in MISS.

Looking back through the recording of WXT data, it appears the power does not go out completely.  The WXT went into a cycle of sending a startup message every few seconds, as if power were being cycled.  See below for an example.

There were errors from the profiler, reported in a separate log entry.  Otherwise no problems.  Gary was able to connect a laptop to the network and connect VPN to NCAR.

5 iss1:/iss/ds/nidas> data_dump -i 1,10 nidas_raw_20091104*.dat
2009 11 04 19:49:16.1116   60.04     147 0R0,Dn=300D,Dm=317D,Dx=331D,Sn=5.6M,Sm=
8.2M,Sx=10.7M,Ta=10.7C,Tp=11.2C,Ua=56.4P,Pa=0.9937B,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.
0M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Vs=11.8V\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:16.1350   60.02     146 0R0,Dn=309D,Dm=320D,Dx=330D,Sn=5.5M,Sm=
7.5M,Sx=9.8M,Ta=10.7C,Tp=11.3C,Ua=56.1P,Pa=0.9938B,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0
M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Vs=11.9V\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:21.1800   5.045      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:24.7162   3.536      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:28.2525   3.536      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:32.0459   3.793      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 19:50:35.5821   3.536      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
...
2009 11 04 21:12:14.2088   3.393      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 21:12:17.6013   3.393      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 21:12:20.9788   3.377      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 21:12:24.3553   3.377      15 0TX,Start-up\r\n
2009 11 04 21:13:24.3796   60.02     144 0R0,Dn=000#,Dm=000#,Dx=000#,Sn=0.0#,Sm=
0.0#,Sx=0.0#,Ta=9.3C,Tp=9.7C,Ua=60.6P,Pa=0.9952B,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M,
Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Vs=11.9V\r\n
2009 11 04 21:14:24.4035   60.02     145 0R0,Dn=306D,Dm=322D,Dx=334D,Sn=2.6M,Sm=
7.0M,Sx=10.0M,Ta=9.2C,Tp=9.7C,Ua=61.2P,Pa=0.9951B,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M
,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Vs=11.7V\r\n
2009 11 04 21:15:24.4274   60.02     145 0R0,Dn=305D,Dm=320D,Dx=331D,Sn=6.4M,Sm=
8.5M,Sx=11.5M,Ta=9.2C,Tp=9.6C,Ua=61.3P,Pa=0.9952B,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M
,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Vs=11.8V\r\n

Someone from the City of Davenport stopped by this morning to ask us to park the MISS trailer and truck on the same side of the road as the PODS container.  In case of snow, the snow plows will need to push the snow to the opposite side of the road.  There is also a note on the whiteboard.

Lou noticed a gap in the surface data this afternoon.  It appears the WXT went out around 19:50z and came back 21:20z, suspiciously close to the time I was playing with the GPS.  Tomorrow we will investigate the 12V power supply and see if that is the source of the GPS and WXT outages.

We started MISS today around 19z, including setup of the surface tripod about 7 meters south of the southwest corner of the trailer.  Winds were brisk today, from the west.  Started out mostly cloudy,  but now at 21z sky is completely cloudy.

There no problems setting up the WXT.  Surface data ingest began automatically once it was plugged in.

Bill reported problems in the NIMA plots.  I checked the NIMA and SOAP IDL plotting configurations and changed them from 105m resolution to 60m.  (All RES105 entries changed to RES60 in /iss/nima/monitor/plot_dbsnc.pro and /iss/soap/subs/soap_settings.pro.)  I assume that was the correct fix, since Bill says the plots look better now, and there are no longer any warning messages.

The GPS was not on when we returned to the trailer after being gone for an hour.  I could not turn it back on by pressing the power button.  I had to cycle the power on the 12V chassis, then I could turn on the GPS.  I noticed that while opening the door to the chassis, the power light on the front panel goes out.  It looks a crack in the light wire, but it's not clear how that affects the GPS, if related at all.

Lou will request a replacement for the GPS to try out.  The power button on the current one sometimes sticks, so that could be the problem.

Lou bought some rubber door stop wedges at Menards to jam into the truck cab laptop stand to try to stabilize it.

MISS is at Davenport Municipal Airport still.  No weather yet today.
Partly cloudy, cirrus clouds, good visibility, cool.  MISS operating from about 17 to 18 UTC.  We are going to watch for precipitation and possibly run MISS this evening or tomorrow morning.

Kurt is leaving today, Gary and Lou are at the site.  Gary got some instruction from Lou on starting up the system.  Remember to bring your manual into the field, or Lou will be unhappy with you!

Everything that we started appears to be working, except the latest profiler spectra look bad.  Several helicopter flights nearby.

Software changes:

The GPS ingestor is now recording the altitude reported by the Garmin handheld, so the altitude will be stored in the gps netcdf files.  The parmod program now writes that altitude to the POP parameter file.  Hence the parmoddir script which the user runs no longer asks for an altitude, only a trailer bearing.

The GPS altitude will now be displayed in the event logger along with the lat and lon.

Some of the desktop icons have been renamed: "Copy SPC files" is now "Finish Data Transfer", Monitor PTU is now "Monitor WXT PTU".  The icons that an operator is likely to use regularly have been arranged at the top of the screen, separate from the other icons.