BLOG! (AKA diary!)
Welcome to our blog describing progress on setting up the Cornell University instruments… So here we are in sunny but cold Portugal in January 2017!
Monday 16th January
We flew to Lisbon and drove to Herdade da Urgueria, a charming hotel in the countryside outside of Vila Velha de Rodao. A nice (if late) dinner and we were already feeling the warmth of our hosts and the fairly cold temperatures!
Herdade da Urgueria (our home from home)
Tuesday 17th January
Morning: Off to the Ops center to check all the equipment had arrived fine. Log of visual checks and other notes: Visual check on Gill Windmaster Pro sonics S/N 162504, 161401, 131109, 122205 & 162505 – ALL OK! Visual check on Galion: ALL OK! Visual check on Natural Power ZephIR 300 units S/N 423 & 447: ALL OK! Visual check on SpiDAR: ALL OK! Visual check on PASSCAL geophones. Two boxes. In 5000721 – iPod, Computer (in back bag), 4 geophones with cables. In 50007807 4 GOS receivers, cables, 3 DAS systems (with 2*4GB flash cards installed!). ALL OK. Other notes: Charged the Seismometer iPods.Afternoon: Went shopping in Castelo Branco for some supplies – bought the boxes for the seismometer DAS, a pick for digging, wiper fluid & supplies to change the seismometer power cables, rope, bungie cords, tent pegs and a mallet. Plus ordered some tarps from the friendly focus at Decathalon!
Overview of the Perdigao site from Google Earth. Cornell instrumentation will be focussed at the Olive Coop (west of the WT ridge) on the SW ridge, and at the Orange Grove (in the valley).
This is the excellent Ops Center that INEGI have arranged with the local commune for instrument staging and the operations control center
The Galion, SpiDAR Gills and seismometers safely delivered to the Ops center by our friends (Jose Carlos et al) at INEGI
ZephIR safely delivered to the Ops center by our friends at INEGI - OK we are ready for the deployment (and the NCAR team are already in full swing and instrumenting towers! (DTU to arrive on Sunday)
Wednesday 18th January
Morning: Met with Jose Carlos Matos – the INEGI lead and a super nice guy! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP JOSE CARLOS! We were issued a key for the Ops center! Off to visit the sites we will use.. here are some cool photos (sorry for the side-ways ones!):
Site to the west of the WT where ZephIR Z447 will ‘live’
One of the Cornell barometers (Setra 270) on a mast on the SW ridge
Climatological mast where the SpiDAR will be located
Orange Grove where the Galion and Z423 will be located (plus team Cornell!)
Glorious views all around! It surely is pretty here......(and the people are SUPER nice)
Afternoon: After a nice lunch, the ARL team helped us to deploy the lidars to the sites where we will operate them. Three cheers for the Army Research Lab. Team! Here are some cool photos:
Fingers crossed! We are loaded up and ready to go!
Galion & Z423 safely delivered to the Orange Grove site
Z447 safely at the Olive co-operative site (west of the WT)
Last but not least the SpiDAR is carefully lifted into place
Thursday 19th January
Morning: Back off to Castelo Branco for extension cords, European plugs and to collect those much-needed tarps!Afternoon: Drilling holes in the seismometer DAS boxes, putting European plugs on our power cords and trying (and failing!) to set up the Modem with our new Portuguese SIM… (Rebecca; 'this SHOULD work’!) Sigh……
Friday 20th January
All day: A day of 'digging in the dirt' - i.e. deploying the seismometers.... the terrain is a bit rocky but our will prevailed! So we deployed 3 L-28 (3-D seismometers) with RT-130 DAS and GPS at SW ridge 02 03, 05 masts... Once we have power we are ready to go!
'Up-up and away! (thank heavens for full insurance!)
Digging a hole for the geophone!
Site 1 (at SW ridge 03) up and ready for power!
Site 2 (at SW ridge 05) up and ready for power!
Site 3 (at SW ridge 02) up and ready for power!
Saturday 21st January
Morning: Minor repairs on the seismometer cables (just to improve the power connections).Afternoon: Went to the Galion Orange Grove site to change the plugs to European and verified the GPS locations of the seismometer locations .. and spent some time at the Ops center.
Our wind energy expert gets called in to help with the solar panel build ('couldn't we use wind energy?)'
Sunday 22nd January
All day: We are ready for power so had a relaxing imonring in Castelo Branco, then spent the afternoon trying to get the Galion modem to work (Rebecca) and updating this blog (Sara) .... Tomorrow we hope to be at the Orange Grove putting power on the Galion and ZephIR and getting those measurements started!
Monday 23rd January
All day: We went to the Orange Grove site and installed ZephIR 423 and started the Galion installation - POWER AT THE SITE and the ZephIR is running!
ZephIR Z423 getting power!'
ZephIR Z423 ready and already sending data!'
A Screen shot of the first profile from ZephIR Z423!'
Tuesday 24th January
All day: Mixed news from today - Z423 is running well... and Z447 now has power supplied (and grounded) at the Olive Coop.... and all our power cables have been enclosed in a casing to prevent nibbling animals (MANY THANKS to Preban Hansen of DTU). The bad news - the Galion was not responding at the Orange Grove site so we had to bring it back to the Ops Center (thanks for the ride and person power of Robert Manke of DTU) but Rebecca and Per Hansen (DTU) were able to breath life into it (thanks also to our friends at Sgurr!).. and it is ready to go back out tomorrow... FINGERS CROSSED! Other good news from today Sara's 5 Gill sonics were deployed on mast 23 (SE transect 6) ... and the last of Saras barometers was wired ready for deployment by NCAR up on the SW ridge transect.
Wednesday 25th January
All day: HOORAY! Galion re-deployed at the Orange Grove site and working! After redeployment (thanks to the DTU team of Jakob Mann, Robert Menke, Per Hansen and Preban Hensen, for assistance with transport of the Galion!) Mixed news from today - Z423 is running well at the Orange Grove site ... The Galion is now responding and scanning fine at the Orange Grove site. After we set up the Galion we went to the Olive Co-op site and set up and started ZephIR Z447 - so the good news - three lidars running!! Spent the afternoon putting cable protection (against rodents etc!) on the seismometers and covered the SpiDAR with a tarp since we don't have power on the SW ridge and heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow... Anyway a successful day.The scan pattern for the zephIRs are for heights at 19, 39, 59, 79, 99, 109, 119, 139, 159, 179, 299m (above the lens so +1 m for above ground).
ZephIR Z423 working at the Orange Grove
Two thumbs up for a working Galion!
Shot of the screen during a VAD scan
Thumbs up for a working ZephIR Z447 at the Olive Coop!'
SpiDAR (at the climatological mast) covered for the ongoing rain!
Cutting the tubing to protect the seismometer cables (only 30m to go!)
Thursday 26th January
AM: Wrote a new scan pattern for the Galion. The azimuth directions centered at 224 deg to hit the WT are: 191, 197, 201.5, 206, 209, 212, 215, 217, 219, 221, 22.5, 224, 225.5, 227, 229, 231, 233, 236, 239, 242, 246.5, 251, 257 (i.e. 23 azimuth), and the elevation angles are: 4.5, 6.5, 9.5, 12, 14, 16, 19, 22 (i.e. 8 heights), at the end of each 10-min period there are then 3 VAD scans with 12 pts (30 deg) in the cone. for a total of 220 scan positions. At the end of each hour the Galion is set to clean the head and the focal range is set to 800m. About 11:30: Arrive at Orange Grove site (in heavy rain) to insert the new scan pattern and download yesterdays data from the Galion and the ZephIR Z423. The new Galion scan file is called Perd_turb. About 12:45: Went to Olive Coop and downloaded ZephIR Z447 data. Then went to the Ops center and left supplies there.PM: Data processing at Herdade
In the evening we had a nice meal at Herdade with most of the NCAR group, the DTU team and the Cornellians..
Photos from today:
See the turbine? I can't see the ridge!
Uploading the new scan under our make-shift tent!
Downloading ZephIR data by wifi and thus from inside the car!
The team
The team #2
Friday 27th January
AM: Downloaded data from the Galion and the ZephIRs.PM: Per Hansen (DTU) was kind enough to check our Galion position and orietntation (SE leg of Galion at; Portugese UTM 34002.048E, 5115.920N elevation = 365.505, NE leg of the Galion at; Portugese UTM 34002.008E, 5116.610N, elevation 365.483m), this equates to a latitude and longitude of leg 1; 39 deg 42' 49.17"N 7 deg 44' 11.69"W, leg 2; 39 deg 42' 49.19"N 7 deg 44' 11.69"W. We were perfectly aligned with true North (hooray) but our bearing to the WT was 2.5 deg off. So we wrote and loaded a new scan pattern (centered on the WT at 226.5 deg and telescoping as before. The new scan pattern is Turb_Perd2 and is: 31 azithmuth angles and 8 elevation angles. Azimuth angles: 193.5, 199.5, 204, 208.5, 211.5, 214.5, 217.5, 219.5, 221.5, 223.5, 225, 226.5, 228, 229.5, 231.5, 233.5, 235.5, 238.5, 241.5, 244.5, 249, 253.5, 259.5. Elevation angles: 4.5, 6.5, 9.5, 12, 14, 16, 19, 22. 4 VADS (with 30 deg in azimuth) at end of each scan, focal length of 800m, and a lens clean at the end of every hour (due to the high particulate loading). Last but note least we made a slight re-adjustment on leveling of Z423 and left the site at 16:07. We then collected Robert and drove to Lisbon
Photos from today:
Orange Grove (should be able to see some wakes today!)
Z447 at the Olive Coop (looking NW) (out came the sun and dried up all the rain)
Z447 at the Olive Coop (looking SE) (out came the sun and dried up all the rain)
There has been big progress over the last 2 weeks.. power is still lacking along the SW ridge BUT many towers are now powered (about 1/3 - shown in yellow with an R) and more are fully instrumented. PLUS the DTU scanners are now almost in place!
So sadly we now have to leave with much remaining still to do... but once power has been installed our priorities will be to:
1) Install the SpiDAR at the climatological mast (60m mast # 37 on the SW ridge).
2) Finish the installation of the seismometers on the SW ridge
3) Install the antenas at the Orange Grove and Olive Coop (for the Galion and ZephIRs)...
So we will return again in February once all the masts are powered ... for now here is team Cornell signing off
Important notes!
Here are some GPS locations for important sites (as measured by us using a hand-held GPS - where there are conflicts - please use the official GPS for the NEWA Perdigao experiment - note the official co-ordinate system for the experiment is Portugese Official Co-ordinate system Read more about that map projection here).Galion and Z423 at the ORANGE GROVE SITE in Lat, Long, UTM and then elevation: 39 deg 42' 49.239" N, 7 deg 44 11.658" W. UTM 29 S 0608308 4396719 (elevation = 317 m)
Z447 at the OLIVE CO-OP in Lat, Long, UTM and then elevation: 39 deg 42' 24.264"N, 7 deg 45 ' 20.016"W UTM 29 S 0606681 43(elevation = 247m)
Seismometer locations in Lat, Long, UTM and then elevation:
RiSW02: 39 deg 42' 10.116"N, 7 deg 44' 27.536"W (elevation = 482m)
RiSW03: 39 deg 42' 13.455"N, 7 deg 44' 30.276"W (elevation = 479m)
RiSW05: 39 deg 42' 31.18"N, 7 deg 44' 45.626"W (elevation = 477m)
Estimated position of WT: 39 deg 42' 26.62" N, 7 deg 44' 41.13" W (elevation = 487 m).
Orientation and distance from Galion to WT base: heading = 224 deg and distance = 994 m. WT specs: HH at 78 m, rotor diameter = 80 m.
Assuming those specifications distance and elevation from Galion: to base: 9.7 deg, to HH: 14.0 deg, to Rotor tip: 16.2 deg
Bearing to climatological mast (where the SpiDAR is located = 244 deg), bearing to RiSW04 = 209.5 deg.
Navigate to other places
Go to blog for our continued set-up in February 2017Go to blog for April 2017
Go to blog for May 2017
Go to blog for June/July 2017
Go to project overview
Go to Professor Pryor's home page