ARCTAS

The purpose of this page is to serve as a repository of schedules and information for the participation of the Jimenez group in the ARCTAS campaign.

Schedules should be kept in most detail here, as the group calendar is often too crowded.

Integration Phase

(inclusive dates):

• 2/22: Truck leaves Boulder with AMS and rest of kit
• 2/29: Truck arrives in Palmdale,
• 3/4: AMS onto plane
• 3/12: Power Check
• 3/17: Safety Brief
• 3/18-20: Test Flights
• 4/1: Transit to AK

Personnel schedule on group calendar http://www.google.com/calendar/render

Hotel for Palmdale

TBD, Michael L is looking into it

Fairbanks Phase

Timeline

• 4/1 Jose travels to AK
• 4/4 Anticipated first science flight
• 4/7 Ed flies to AK in dual role
• 4/11 Jose travels back to CO
• 4/12 Last Thule deployment arrives back in Fairbanks, Joel travels to AK
• 4/23 DC-8 transit to Palmdale - Mike. Joel travels back to CO
• 4/24 Mike travels back to CO

Hotel for J-Group

• Company: Sophie's Station
• Phone: 1-800-528-4916
• Dates: April 1st - April 21st
• Name on Reservation: Jose Jimenez & Mike Cubison
• Confirmation Number: 2733120
• Total: $75.00/ night to be paid on-site
• Details: 24 hour cancellation

Transportation for J-Group

• Company: Avis
• Phone: 1-800-331-1212
• Dates: April 1st - April 21st
• Pickup: at Fairbank Airport
• Name on Reservation: Jose Jimenez
• Confirmation Number: 24109077US6
• Total: $712.98 to be paid on-site (taxes, fees, and unlimited miles included)

Summer Phase

Details to go here.

To-do List for ARCTAS

For Donna during 12-April-2008 (in approx order of priority)

• PIKA Br in aerosols in F6 & F7: need time series and HR-MS showing it. (Jack's data has Br, should be posted today after Gao is done with the intercomparison)
• Send several averaged spectra to Allison to calculate O/C
  • Biomass burning layers ("aged", "young", general background, stratosphere -- high O3 and altitude, Marine layer)
• See if you see Hg in stratosphere (m/z 198, 200, 202, 204, distinctive isotopic pattern and large mass defect, we should be able to see it)
• Work on squirreling the Fast Mode data (F4 and/or F5)
• Compare our data to various tracers from the plane (use timetrace of Flight 7 as initial guide of what to plot with what)
• If time, Squirrel test flights 1 & 2

Instrument - High priority

• Connect exhaust of our pumps to exhaust from LARGE: 1/4" or 3/8" tubing
  • Check with LARGE that this is ok
  • See whether we can afford extra pumping for Grimm after doing this

• Keep adding plane data to timetrace: work on m/z ratios, and add remaining important IWG parameters
  • Can we replot timetrace of all flights on this standard format?

• Computer control of TD valves
  • Test that AMS responds to TD as expected in the ground

• Write labels with usual parameters (VB, pumps, PID of PCI...)

• Start, mid-flight, and shutdown checklists

• Install all plane software on Mike's laptop, so that his personal laptop can serve as backup for plane laptop in case of catastrophic failure, and test that it works

Instrument - For next No-Fly day

• Replumb the Grimm to sample through a critical orifice (can we afford the pumping?)
  • install TSI flowmeter on this pumping line (filter ahead), log flow
  • Check Grimm internal filter, may be clogged
• Jose: read again bitwise instructions and poster

Instrument - high priority, but waiting for others

• (Waiting for Thomas about TPS error message: uups... / data crc / rx error: 5)
• (Waiting for NASA: Test XChat in plane laptop and our computers)

Instrument - medium priority

• Get an install 2 bike cupholders
• Get soldering iron with a finer tip
• Connect UPS software for battery indication
• Backup all plane software on FTP site (including menus and .set files)

Data analysis - high priority

• Work up and submit F5, F8
• Evaluate whether the different slopes with light scattering are due to size distribution changes (F8)
• Check DLs for Br, Hg
• Compare the Grimm OPC with the LARGE OPC and the SP2 OPC for periods of valid Grimm
  • SP2 people are very eager to compare with their volume (> 250 nm)
• Compare AMS size distributions with OPC / SMPS, to evaluate size transmission

Data analysis - medium priority

• Eventually: work up and submit T1 & T2 (intercompare with others before)
• Filter levels for Org (maybe also NO3, m/z 16) are variable in timetrace, check whether also in Squirrel and if so why)
• Implement the time-dependent CO2 and H2O corrections for the flights (or decide that they are not needed)
  • We can probably measure frag_org[18] directly in this way
• Use plumes to align our data to others

Before Summer Campaign

• Bring 2 sets of 2 MCPs, change them before test flight (2nd set is spare)
• Be ready to submit data 48 hrs after each flight (24 better if possible)
• Fix 12 V power supply in TPS for preamp
• Install HV supply for hard mirrow, so that we can run W-mode in forest fire plumes
• Be ready to intercompare the Grimm immediately after a flight
• Think whether to run at higher MCP and lower emission current for forest fires (less chance of missing threshold, reduce change of saturation in fires)
• Stuff for Joel
  • Fix timetrace for Fast mode (SO4 goes down, others go up) -- already told him
  • Gaps of 5s in fast timetrace?
  • Problem with making servo position > 70
  • Timetrace of a few HR peaks as in flux mode?
  • Test and enable cell-phone filtering
• Get sufficient spare orifices (300 and 250 nm)
• See if we can buy/lease a spare TPS from Tofwerk
• Bring spare laptop with everything installed, test that everything works, keep in plane
• Make sure we have a spare battery for thermocouple in plane
• Get another He lecture bottle
• Investigate how we can refill the lecture bottle (ask Eric Apel)
• Replace 2 Gast pumps with MD1 AC powered?
  • Increase bypass flow on inlet line (now limited to ~2.5 lpm)
• Ask John whether AC-powered MD1 could run AMS
• Put together leak detector with V70, controller, AC MD1, and SRS or Balzers RGA