SRP-2004: GENERAL Messages: 23 Entries..

Systems down for about 3 hours, service man was about one
hour late.

MAPR Blanking had to be used to get transmitter powered up,
so first 45 min of data collected after system was turned on
will not be good.

All other systems came up just fine.

Surface:
Aspirator working properly, guys fastened, sensors making sense.

MAPR:
System transmitting and taking data.

Sounding:
Seem to have a bad flow meter and regulator. Using MISS board here now.7 sondes left. Maybe more at MISS?

There will be another sonde at 5 am tomorrow.

Weather:
1630, 19apr04, there are high short lake top ripple looking clouds over the profiler container and south which seem to be disapating quite quicking in the last 15 minutes. The moisture which they are made of must be getting disapated. No camera available for a picture. 

2000 hrs utc. Winds def blowing sometimes from the east at the surface. Nothing obvious in the temp/rh data, just the anemometer.

Everything looks okay.

Surface:
Aspiration, solar, guy wires,anemometer, values all okay.

MAPR:
The same as always over night, birds. Presently good correlations up to 1450m. Gnd clutter to 700m.... 

Soundings:
Excellent

Weather:
Clear of clouds, but hazy. Winds light and from the SE. WSPD increasing.

Possible wave cloud forming directly to the west at 15/04/04 1900 hours. I took a photo. 

2030, more cirrus to the north than the south. other what might be little wave clouds forming to the north, but embedded in the cirrus. surface winds still from the south.

Backup:
I copied the raw glass files from the PC to the glass.raw directory. Created a shared directory on the pc with the standard user and passwoid.

Winds have been consistently from the NW at the MAPR site since shifting
there at about 20:30. (It is now 23 Z.)  After peaking at around 13 m/s 
speeds have been slowing down gradually, but still gusty and typically
5 - 10 m/s.  Temperature has leveled off at about 23C and dew point about
-12C.

Remarkable increase in the amount of cirrus during the past two hours
with occasional evidence of waves. 

Just after I made the last entry, the winds at the MAPR site suddenly
changed to the shifted to the north and increased to over 13 m/s at 21 Z.
It was accompanied by oscillations in the temperature of about 2 C 
and a more gradual lowering of dew point (from -8C to -12C). 
We observed dust being kicked up in acute locations at several locations
in the valley, and fractus overhead.

Note: James and Shane just traveled from MISS to MAPR and Mike
from MAPR to MISS.  We note that MISS was very windy (up to 12 m/s) 
between 19 and 20 Z with strong (2 to 5C) oscillations in the 
temperature and dewpoint (20 minute period).  The pattern was 
increase in temperature with increase in dew point.  Meanwhile, 
conditions at MAPR site were more clam with wind speeds usually 
less than 4 m/s.  Also note: the wind diection at MISS was 
westerly while direction here is more southerly and southeasterly.

Sky conditions are mostly sunny--cumulus clouds over the high
peaks and occasionally in the valley. Very torn looking.

Weather obs:
This morning clear and sunny. 3 little clouds which might look like they are being wind whipped. 

Sensors:
All sensors appear to be reporting and reasonable. RASS speakers working. Aspiration fan working.Guy wires attached. Site appears fine.surface winds lite and the anemometer is pointed west currently, but barely spinning.

Soundings:
Done from MISS. We need to move another He bottle over there.

Weather obs:
Rows of clouds all morning. A large wave cloud to the north of IND and wave clouds all along the valley. Surface winds light though from the east earlier and from the south now. Clouds are moving to the west.

Sensors:
All sensors appear to be reporting and reasonable. RASS speakers working. Aspiration fan working.

Gen Maint:
Going to shutdown MAPR for generator maintenance today in anticipation of an IOP starting tomorrow. system going down at 2000 12 4 04. All systems back up at 21:15 hours and working.

Data Check:
All data reporting and resonable. Quick scan of all sensors, cables shows all items are fine. MAPR operational. 

Today we will do a data backup here and at MISS. 

All RASS speakers operational (huh? I can't hear you!)

Aspiration fan working, guy wires tight solar sensors level, anemometer looks fine.

Weather:
Today the weather is fair, with high cirrus which is getting heavier.

Databackup:
The data at MAPR has been backed-up and is labled 20040410.

Surface winds have been 8-12 m/s from the NNW (315-360) since 16 Z.
Temperature slowly increasing: now 21.2 C.
Skies are totally clear and sun is strong.

Wind speed at surface has been increasing steadily since 14 Z and
is now starting to exceed 10 m/s.  Direction from the NNW.
Sky remains completely clear.

Weather conditions from 7-8 AM during drive from Bishop to MAPR site were
absolutely clear.  Not a cloud in the sky.  At MAPR at 8 AM: clear, light winds 
(2-4 m/s) from the NNW (300-330 degrees).  Low temperature about 9 C at 13 Z.

MAPR seatainer nice and cool inside.  Everything running fine.

Shut MAPR ISS down from approximately 19:15 to 20:00 UT (12:15-1 PM LT)
for generator maintenance.  Next service in 10 days will include replacing 
fuel pump, so the service techs may need a little more time then.

Surface winds gradually increased in speed through morning and ranged
from 10-14 m/s before starting to drop off at around 20 Z.
Direction from 315-360 degrees.

Sky cover has been mostly cloudy with a more well defined cloud base on the
western side of the valley.  The high peaks have been obscured so I would
guess cloud base to be about 12-13K ft on that side.  Clouds do show 
evidence of wave activity on the eastern side of the valley--more or less
running parallel to the range.. occasionally there are sufficient
breaks in the clouds on the eastern side that sun shines through on to the
eastern foothills.

Cycled power on all MAPR instruments for training Shane and Bruce.
MAPR came up in wind100_rass100 mode.  Changed to turb100_rass100 mode
because there still seems to be precipitation in the data.

Raindrops on the MAPR seatainer windows at 21:40 GMT

Start of IOP #9 at 1800 30 Mar 2004.  Wind has picked up from the south.  Speeds
at 1800 over 10 mps.  Very dusty, mountains to both the north and south obscured
by dust.  High scattered cirrus.

Generator was down for regular servicing March 17 for about an hour from 1730Z.  Serviceman found a major line in the oil line so sent for parts.

Generator was down again to replace the oil line March 18 2130Z for about 45 minutes.

Next generator service is due next Friday March 26.

Networking in MAPR trailer down twice today.

Down for several hours to about 2UT, then again to 21 UT.
Both times reseting the D-link switch fixed the problem.

No data was lost due to this problem, however some data transfers back to NCAR were skipped.

The AC unit was repaired in Big Pine today and in back in place operating well.