TOCS ATD Lidar Technician's Log
TOCS ATD Lidar Technician's Log
Shown as the header to each day's entry is the date, lidar tape number, and start/stop date and time for the recorded data.
Special thanks is given to Joe Vinson, who ran the system and wrote this log.
26-Jan-1997 P61501 26-Jan-97 0333 27-Jan-97 2130 Big problems with this first tape. There are periods where the Captain has required the laser to be turned off at night because we are too close to Kwajelein. To make matters worse, the compressor for the balloon launcher and SABL share a common circuit and we loose power. I am required to re-configure the power to a different circiut and loose some time. I try to copy this tape and I can't even copy it. A pretty bad start. I ran this tape because I wanted to see how long the tape would run. I was told they would last 12 hours. I find out that they actually last 21 hours.
27-Jan-1997 P61502 27-Jan-97 2350 28-Jan-97 2052 Tried to use this tape to try to learn how to use the SOLO program. Successfully made a copy and generated sweep files from the copy. Not much luck running SOLO -- it's a pretty goofy interface and very frustrating. Before I started this tape, I was unsure I could make a good data tape, so I spent more time recording a short test tape, made a copy and generated sweep files. This took away a lot of time from watching the laser system.
28-Jan-1997 P61503 28-Jan-97 2052 29-Jan-97 1632 This is the first tape recorded on Drive #2. Verified I could copy this tape and made a bunch of sweep files for SOLO. I can copy both SABL generation drives, no problem. The data during this period are also not much good because there is so much rainfall I can't keep the power window from filling with rainwater and it keeps attenuating the laser light.
29-Jan-1997 P61504 29-Jan-97 1948 30-Jan-97 1636 Delay of recording startup because the drives did not switch automatically. I was asleep at drive switch-over. Another day where the data may not be too interesting because there is a lot of rain again. I can't keep the window dry. Also having problems with the SABL system automatic logging feature. I keep loosing the file and it also makes erroneous entries when the [tape drive] ping-pong fails. It reports files are created when the drive that it says it is writing to never leaves the BOT position.
30-Jan-1997 P61505 30-Jan-97 2152 01-Feb-97 0407 A bad day with the data system and laser. The night before, we noticed the laser was not looking as bright as usual. The rain has slowed in its intensity, and we don't see much data. We try to do a tilt and spin adjustment, but mess that up (it's our first time). And at the same time, we replace a flash lamp (also for the first time). The laser power came up again, but we had no sensitivity as the telescope was severely mis-aligned. We followed the directions for correcting the mis-alignment and had major problems because marks on the telescope [mentioned in the directions] were not visible to me. A second major problem was that the procedures assume you have Console and Display [co-located] and this was not the case. They are situated many hundreds of feet apart and many flights of steps away. We had to do the alignment via radio and it was pretty tough to do. We also had a suspicion that the tilt was not working, but could not verify that visually because the motion of the lens is too small. Had to build paper targets and put on our laser safety goggles to verify tilt was working. After the coarse alignment we began to see rainfall and were on the right track, but it was very late and we needed some sleep. These data were not much good. This tape was in the system for a long time, but there were not very many good things happening here.
01-Feb-1997 P61506 01-Feb-97 0407 02-Feb-97 0120 Re-aligned the optics of the antenna and got the sensitivity back. We are befuddled by the display controls labelled "IR and Green Range-square cutoff", as they seem to kill the green channel display. To compensate, we increase PMT voltage and try to get the green channel working.
02-Feb-1997 P61507 02-Feb-97 0135 02-Feb-97 2205 [Tape drive] ping-pong continues to fail, so we loose data between tape changes. Not a big deal because the tapes are pretty long. Note the air is so clean and no rain or wind, and you see long periods of boring stuff in the morning and just the occasional Cu float by.
02-Feb-1997 P61508 02-Feb-97 2303 03-Feb-97 2006 Ping-pong fails again. Another day -- dry and not much to see.
03-Feb-1997 P61509 03-Feb-97 2112 04-Feb-97 1655 More light returns and a ping-pong failure.
04-Feb-1997 P61510 04-Feb-97 2114 05-Feb-97 1738 We have sorted-out our display problems and reduced the PMT gain back to 800. The returns are still weak. No wind to agitate stuff into the boundary layer.
05-Feb-1997 P61511 05-Feb-97 1805 06-Feb-97 xxxx This tape I tried to use the Sun-SABL control panel to select the other drive. None of the tape control buttons work, whether the system is running or not. I was afraid I was over-writing the tape and manually ejected this tape. It reads a bunch of files, then has a problem with the last file because of the manual eject. If the tape control would work, I would not have these problems.
06-Feb-1997 P61512 06-Feb-97 1016 07-Feb-97 0619 Power on the laser read .45 watts and the counter read 30,500,000 so I changed the flash lamp somewhere during this period. I had problems copying a tape (either 12 or 13) because my copy system tape [drives] needed cleaning. One log says tape 12 had a problem, and one log says tape 13 had a problem. Poor bookkeeping here. I am pretty sick right during this time period.
07-Feb-1997 P61513 07-Feb-97 0624 08-Feb-97 0124 Either tape 12 or 13 needs to be re-copied. Still pretty boring stuff unless you like clear air boundary layer stuff.
08-Feb-1997 P61514 08-Feb-97 0215 08-Feb-97 2135 This tape shows great features in the boundary layer because the wind has picked up and there are big swells and lots of white caps on the water.
08-Feb-1997 P61515 08-Feb-97 2149 09-Feb-97 1750 More good stuff because of the high winds and waves. The laser power is changing and nearly cuts off momentarily. You can see this in the data.
09-Feb-1997 P61516 09-Feb-97 1750 10-Feb-97 1000 The power fluctuation may be caused by a coolant leak that drips coolant into a HV connector. As we arrive in Truk, I see a lot of neat stuff, and can smell stuff in the air (smoke, etc.) hours before we land. There is something in the air that shows up well on the displays. This concludes the Majuro to Truk leg.
Log info for 10-Feb through 27-Feb is not yet available. Information is in transit. **** ADDITIONAL INFO to be APPENDED **** 1x-Feb-1997 P61517 xx-Feb-97 xxxx xx-Feb-97 yyyy
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