Cornell University contribution to the 2017 international field experiment in Perdigao, Portugal: Blog for January 2017 installation.

BLOG! (AKA diary!)

Welcome back to our blog describing progress on setting up the Cornell University instruments… So here we are back in Portugal (again!)

Friday 31st March - Saturday 1st April

Drove from Ithaca to Newark and then flew to Lisbon. We got our new rental car - and Audi A1 this time (it is showing a warning sign of under-inflated tires but the car rental guy said 'don't worry about any light that isn't red'!) so we drove to Vila Velha de Ródão via Castello Branco to buy supplies and then went to Herdade (our home from home) to get some rest!

Sunday 2nd April

Up early and out to Ops center, where Jose Carlos Matos (from INEGI) kindly delivered our LAST piece of equipment that we will deploy at Perdigao - our Aerodynamic Particle Sizer... then off the Orange Grove site where Rebecca was reunited with the Galion and ZephIR 423. A little bit of bad news - the fuse had tripped on the extension cord and so the systems had stopped (this seems to maybe related to the heat) - so the solution - remove the fuse!! The very good news - we have lots of data over this last month and we have managed to establish live streaming with Z423! After a nice lunch with JCM we were off up the ridge. The DTU wind scanners are in fantastic locations (photo below!) and the 100-m mast (operated by ENERCON) is completely finished and instrumented. Less optimistically the SpiDAR had ceased data collection as had the seismometer at that mast (SW06) - the issue seems also to have been the fuse on the extension tripping - the solution - same as before -- remove it (the circuit is fused anyway! in the box.. so no danger :-).... During most of the day winds were easterly, but by end of the day the winds had turned to become SW when we stopped by the Orange Grove site to check on the live data streaming from the Z423 unit). As of 8pm we are bushed and off to get some dinner and sleep... (Side note: ENERCON have deployed a transect of microphones the eastern end of which is just across the road from the Orange Grove).

Some details about the data availability:
Z423 and Galion (at Orange Grove): 02/25/17->03/10/2017. (missing 03/10/2017-03/16/2017, power outage). 03/16/2017->03/18/2017. (missing 03/18/2017-03/22/2017). 03/22/2017->03/30/2017. (missing: 03/30/2017-04/02/2017).
Z447 (at Olive Coop): No missing data - total data availability.

The APS being delivered by INEGI - Many thanks!

Rebecca and Jose Carlos at the Orange Grove

Rebecca with one of the DTU wind scanners at the south end of the SW ridge

The Forwind wind cube lidar located near the 100-m mast on the SW ridge and looking west of the valley (out over Ladeira, when the ZephIR Z447 unit is located))

Monday 3nd April

Winds easterly. Went to Orange Grove. Notice - changed the Dell M4500 that is live streaming the Z423 to UTC (it was on UK daylight savings time) at 8:50 (UTC). Stopped live streaming at 08:46 (UTC) to allow data download of 10-min and 3-sec data to RJB's computer. (Note: 15 hrs of live streaming data is 626 MB). Returned to live streaming at 08:59 UTC (9:59 LOCAL). Connected to the Galion and download yesterdays data (at 10:05 LOCAL). Next went to Olive Grove (arrived 10:40 LOCAL) and set up live streaming from Z447 to Dell Ruggedbook. Left site at 11:22 LOCAL. Went to Ops center to prep the particle sizer box. Looks great! (wait for the bad news the next day).. left it running with the fan working to check it did not overheat... it didn't - hooray... as I said wait for tomorrow.... :-( Left Ops Center at 18:30 LOCAL, went to Orange Grove and put reflective materials on all boxes to try to reduce the radiation loading. ZephIR live streaming and Galion good. Also potential for wakes as the wind direction has turned from NE this AM to SW!!

'Eye Candy' - live data streaming from Z423!

Just to prove I was here! Sara with Z447 at the Olive Coop

The APS all wired up with fans running and 'ready to go'

Got the radiation shielding and a natty rain hat!

Tuesday 4th April

Spent a little more time on the APS housing... Then went to SpiDAR location (SWridge 06) and set up the APS and started data collection... (60 sec samples, 59 repetitions repeat every 1 hr) at 11:54 UTC. Then turned to the SpiDAR... it is rejecting communciation still. Tried filling reservoir, cleaning the screen and a hard boot. But it is not even possible to ping that IP address.... DARN! At 14:30 LOCAL in order to avoid launching the SpiDAR off the ridge in frustration we turned to the seismometer service... Did a service of this seismometer (swapped out flash disks, checked stomp test etc.) THEN HORRORS - checked on APS and it had already overheated within 22 mins! This is the hottest day we have experienced and a lack of air flow at this site means there is little advective cooling - i.e. cabinet temperature > 45 deg C.. it was extremely hot and so we decided to bring it down and locate it somewhere where it could get shade... The radiation loading is extreme! Serviced seismometer at SW ridge 05 - found it was running but the GPS needs to be replaced (it is not locking - details below). Did service at seismometer at SW ridge 03. All OK! Drove to Olive co-op arrived 17:15 LOCAL. The Dell laptop had rebooted - at 04/03/2017 14:47 - it MAY have overheated. So we put more radiation shielding on the cover. Z447 was running fine... re-established live link. ** Spoke to Jose Carlos and he agreed we can deploy the APS and SpiDAR at the Olive Grove... Started to prepare the power supplies for that but the light was fading rapidly by 20:30 LOCAL and so we had to call it a frustrating day!

Servicing seismometer at SW06.

As the light fades our interpid leader continues!

The beautiful sunset on a terrible day

Here's some boring (but important) stuff about seismometers:
Seismometer at RiSW03. Disk Serial # 1015345 DAS 9405 The iPOD indicated 957 events We installed it on 02/23/2017. We swapped out the cards yesterday 04/04/2017 ** this system appears to be working OK 7 satellites locked.
Seismometer at RiSW05. Disk serial # 1015363 DAS 91FD The iPOD indicated 123 events We installed it on 02/21/2017. We swapped out the cards yesterday 04/04/2017 ** this system has lost the GPS –This site – no our knowledge has not had any significant power fluctuations.
Seismometer at RiSW06 Disk serial #5013191 DAS 9388 The iPOD indicated 513 events We installed it on 02/23/2017. We swapped out the cards yesterday 04/04/02017 ** this site lost power for some time (unclear how long).

Wednesday 5th April

Another day another dollar....Winds easterly and gusty... Went to Castello Branco and bought a different enclosure for the APS and washer fluid for the ZephIRs... Arrived at Olive Grove at 11:00 LOCAL. Stopped Zephir Z447 livestreaming and changed the power bar so we can supply power to the SpiDAR and APS... Zephir restarted at 11:25 LOCAL and live streaming restarted. APS started data collection at 12:00 UTC (13:00 LOCAL) data are stored as dN/dlogDp. Current mass conc. 3.4 micorg/m3. Data logging for the Z447 live stream and the APS is now being done on the Dell latitude. Went to Orange Grove arrived 13:58 LOCAL.The live streaming from Z423 stopped at 04/04/2017 20:08 UTC.. unsure why... restarted the live streaming and collected Galion and z423 data. Met Jose Carlos and Miguel and went to collect the SpiDAR to move it to the Olive Coop... When we restart the SpiDAR to shows a green indicator light briefly and then red LED (fatal error - but what??) still can not connect to it via a cross-over LAN cable... Sent help request to Pentalum (but they only provided the username again). Stopped live streaming of the Z447 system to briefly try connecting to the SpiDAR using a different computer - no LUCK. Live streaming off approx. 17:38 LOCAL to 17:53... Checked on APS running great - no further Temperature problems... cabinet T 30 deg.. NO WORRIES! Left site around 19:00 LOCAL. And in case you are wondering we are surviving on pasta with pesto for dinner.... field work is not all it is cracked up to!

Yet more easterly winds!!!!

SpiDAR loaded up and ready to go!

Poor seismometer left alone at SW06!

The new 'team' of instruments at Olive Grove

Thursday 6th April

MORE easterly winds but a bit cooler today... Up the ridge (one more time with feeling - heavens knows how many years I am taking off my life with driving up that unpaved crazy road!) checked on seismometer at RiSW06 - looks good GPS locked and RAM and Disk 1 inc... At RiSW05 installed new GPS and it loacked (new clock S/N is 4192) -- installed at 11:30 LOCAL). At RiSW03 the system has lost GPS tracking ... time since last lock = 9:03!! AGHed tried putting on to GPS duty cycle OFF and onto continuously - but could not make it loack...! Help PASSCAL! went to Orange Grove.. arrived 12:43 LOCAL.. Live streaming from Z423 working, Galion working well.. Downloaded data from both systems. (stopped live streaming at 11:49 UTC until 11:57 UTC). Very complex flow fields - near the ground it looks northerly?? but the turbine is oriented SE! Download data from Galion at 13:00 LOCAl. Left site at 13:16 LOCAL. Stopped for coffee and arrived at Olibe Coop at 14:!0 LOCAL. Aerosol instrument running fine. Mass = 3.75 ug/m3, cabinet 34 C. photomulitplier = 32.2 C... Live streaming from Z447 running uninterupted. Small break in live streaming about 14:14 to 14:30-ish LOCAL. Spent more time trying to fix the SpiDAR - no response from LAN IP.... AGHHHH it MAY be runnign but how can we tell???? :-) Left site at 16:00 LOCAL to spend some time communicating with PASSCAL helpful folks about seismometers, and download WireSHARK to try an probe the SpiDAR..

The new GPS works at SW05!

APS data flooding in!

APS in its finished housing complete with groovey rain hat!

APS looking ready to be launched into space!

Friday 7th April

MORE easterly winds! Up the ridge again. Two of the seismometers have locked onto satellites (SW06 and SW05) so we just taped them, move the GPS at SW05 higher on the met mast (to get away from electrical interference ) - so it is now at 5m... then went to SW03 - can not get the GPS to lock even after moving the GPS 6 m from the tower (and being VERY patient!) - decoded our only option was to drive a stake into the ground and mount it 5 m from the met mast AND HOPE! You can not begin to imagine how hard it is to drive anything into the groudn here!! (see photos). So fingers crossed (it does sporadically lock but not every duty cycle). Oh and while we were up on the ridge the NCAR team cruised by - just to prove they are here and working see photo below!). Visited the Orange Grove site - all running well - live streaming from the Z423 unit and the Galion is working great... Then with some trepidation we wen to the Olice Grove - download data from the Z447 and APS and then .... DRUM ROLL please... tried the WireSHARK connection - and yep sure enough the SpiDAR IP # had changed... but we were able to find the new number and to ftp data - the system has been running abit sporadically but Houston we have access and DATA! So not such a bad days work! We finished early (around 6pm) had a nice shower, worked on this blog and now are off to have a smashing dinner in the Herdade restuarant - Cheers!

GPS now deployed at 5-m at SW05

Driving the stake into rock-hard soil and rock at SW03!

The new arrangement at SW03 (fingers crossed for a GPS lock!)

Houston we have connection with the SpiDAR and all else is also running well at the Olive Co-op!

Saturday 8th April

YET MORE easterly winds! Went to Ops center to pick up a few bits-and-bobs and then out to the Olive Coop and relocated the SpiDAR to its final 'resting place'! So now we have everything well situated at the Olive Coop (we stopped the Z447 live streaming). So that means at the Olive Coop we have: the ZephIR 447 unit, the SpiDAR and the TSI APS (for particle size measurements). We then went to the Orange Grove, stopped live streaming on ZephIR 423 and again left everything as it will be for the continuation of the long-term measurements. Back to the Ops center to make sure we leave evrything tidy and then drive to Lisbon to return the rental car and catch some sleep before our flight tomorrow.... So now we have everything up and running and collecting data.
So that means we have 5 Gill sonics, 4 barometers, 3 seismometers, one particle size instrument (APS), and the 4 lidar units; Galion, 2*ZephIRS and a SpiDAR. We are really dead on our feet but we accomplished what we hoped to accomplish during this our third visit and will be back in May!

The Olive Grove with the APS, ZephIR and SpiDAR running