Adventures with a Ground-Based Microwave Radiometer, Fraser, CO 2002

Boulder, CO, January 14, 2002 Japanese and German teams arrived in Denver last week to assemble and install the microwave radiometer built to simulate AMSR. The instrument is actually on its way to Oklahoma for field work next summer, but the Japanese offered us the use of it for this winter, in conjunction with the Cold Lands Processes Experiment (CPLX) scheduled for this winter. After all these years working with SMMR and SSM/I to derive snow extent and snow water equivalent at satellite distances, we finally get to "watch" the snow up close and personal (as it were). Their plan was to install it in the Fraser Experimental Forest, at the same site chosen for the intensive operations of CLPX. Part of the installation, of course, included "cold" calibration, so, after a considerable amount of running around and calling in a couple of favors to get our hands on a suitably-sized dewar, Rob Bauer and I delivered liquid Nitrogen to them on Friday afternoon. Rather like bringing coal to Newcastle, as Richard Armstrong says...taking liquid nitrogen to Fraser in the wintertime! (They didn't call it "Fraser" fer nothin'.) Here are a few photos from Friday (thanks to Ron Weaver for loaning us the digital camera!) (Click on any of the thumbnails for a larger image.)

By the time Rob and I arrived, it was noon, and Richard had been working with the others to clear the snow away from the area needed for the wooden foundation. (The foundation is not actually floating in mid-air, it's suspended from a crane out of the picture to the right.) Susumu Nakamura and Hideyuki Fujii, who built the container, are hacking away at ground that's frozen solid, to get the foundation as level as possible.

Lowering (or lifting)--they did this several times over to get it just right.

Perspective's a bit odd here, hard to see the crane.

Once they decided that 1/4" over 8 feet was good enough, they started to move the container (built by the Japanese) with the instrument (built by the Germans) inside.

I wasn't getting anywhere near where this thing was swinging. Seeing it up close like this gives a whole new appreciation for large equipment operators like the guy who ran the crane.

They had a scale on the crane: it weighed 18,600 pounds! (That's about 8,400 kg, compared to about 324 kg for the AMSR that's going to be on the Aqua satellite launched later this year (cross yer fingers), or 1,100 kg for the entire instrument payload on Aqua.)

As if having it level wasn't good enough, they must have lifted it ten times to make fine positioning adjustments.

We're talking fine positioning.

Meanwhile, Richard and I visited with Amy, our local USFS rep.

Did I mention the fine positioning?

That crane operator was amazing. When he was finished, he asked us how much the instrument was worth, a million bucks? (We didn't really know.) He said he was sure he'd never lifted anything that expensive before. (Glad he knew what he was doing!)

Peter and Ralph Zimmermann (the instrument engineers) and me, with our friend, R2-D2 (the dewar with the liquid Nitrogen) softly hissing in the Jeep. The guys who loaned us the dewar told us, "make sure it keeps hissing, if it stops, run like hell!" (Oh, yeah, thanks, just what I needed to hear. Whaddaya mean "make sure it keeps hissing"? Like I can really do anything about it!) That morning I had asked my husband, Hans, if there's anything special I needed to know about transporting this stuff. He told me, "Nah, there's nothing to it, these containers are fool-proof, you can't screw up." I asked him if was OK to put it on its side if it didn't fit upright in the Jeep "DON'T DO THAT! It'll freeze the pressure relief valves!" (Yikes! So much for fool-proof. So I'm supposed to be born knowing not to tip over pressurized liquid Nitrogen dewars? Sheesh!)

Boy, are we glad to be rid of R2-D2, hissing away. Too bad Rob missed the shot where he opened the escape valve and gave Ralph and me a cold spray. (Gee, whiz, Rob, give us a break, give a warning or something when you start opening valves!)

Fillin' 'er up. This container is amazing, a lot like those newfangled hybrid cars, runs on unleaded, or electric. We didn't have power lines to the site, yet, so we had to live with fumes for a while, as much as we hated to stink up the forest.

The radiometer is mounted on a big scissors-jack in the middle of the container.

It's the big blue box.

The view from inside the container.

The antennas are the round things covered in styrofoam.

There's not much room inside. Reminded me of those old NYC apartment jokes: "my apartment is so small, you have to go outside to change your mind..."

Richard and Ralph waiting outside. Notice how much snow there is, and this is the beginning of the winter!

The silverish boxes are the source for the hot load.

Ralph offered to take off the side panel so the rest of us could see inside.

It's a lot simpler than I had expected. Of course, that's probably because Peter was good at explaining it all.

Richard, waiting to take a look inside. Now we just have to be patient and wait for the calibration before we start pushing buttons. (Hey, Rob! Do us all a favor and ask before you push any!)

Day Index
Liquid Nitrogen Delivery and Radiometer Installation
Having Fun Training
Snow Pits and Absolute Calibration
Repair Work

Mary Jo Brodzik <brodzik@nsidc.org>

Last modified: Mon Nov 18 13:19:23 2002

	By the time Rob and I arrived, it was noon, and Richard had been working with the others to clear the snow away from the area needed for the wooden foundation. (The foundation is not actually floating in mid-air, it's suspended from a crane out of the picture to the right.) Susumu Nakamura and Hideyuki Fujii, who built the container, are hacking away at ground that's frozen solid, to get the foundation as level as possible.
	Lowering (or lifting)--they did this several times over to get it just right.
	Perspective's a bit odd here, hard to see the crane.
	Once they decided that 1/4" over 8 feet was good enough, they started to move the container (built by the Japanese) with the instrument (built by the Germans) inside.
	I wasn't getting anywhere near where this thing was swinging. Seeing it up close like this gives a whole new appreciation for large equipment operators like the guy who ran the crane.
	They had a scale on the crane: it weighed 18,600 pounds! (That's about 8,400 kg, compared to about 324 kg for the AMSR that's going to be on the Aqua satellite launched later this year (cross yer fingers), or 1,100 kg for the entire instrument payload on Aqua.)
	As if having it level wasn't good enough, they must have lifted it ten times to make fine positioning adjustments.
	We're talking fine positioning.
	Meanwhile, Richard and I visited with Amy, our local USFS rep.
	Did I mention the fine positioning?
	That crane operator was amazing. When he was finished, he asked us how much the instrument was worth, a million bucks? (We didn't really know.) He said he was sure he'd never lifted anything that expensive before. (Glad he knew what he was doing!)
	Peter and Ralph Zimmermann (the instrument engineers) and me, with our friend, R2-D2 (the dewar with the liquid Nitrogen) softly hissing in the Jeep. The guys who loaned us the dewar told us, "make sure it keeps hissing, if it stops, run like hell!" (Oh, yeah, thanks, just what I needed to hear. Whaddaya mean "make sure it keeps hissing"? Like I can really do anything about it!) That morning I had asked my husband, Hans, if there's anything special I needed to know about transporting this stuff. He told me, "Nah, there's nothing to it, these containers are fool-proof, you can't screw up." I asked him if was OK to put it on its side if it didn't fit upright in the Jeep "DON'T DO THAT! It'll freeze the pressure relief valves!" (Yikes! So much for fool-proof. So I'm supposed to be born knowing not to tip over pressurized liquid Nitrogen dewars? Sheesh!)
	Boy, are we glad to be rid of R2-D2, hissing away. Too bad Rob missed the shot where he opened the escape valve and gave Ralph and me a cold spray. (Gee, whiz, Rob, give us a break, give a warning or something when you start opening valves!)
	Fillin' 'er up. This container is amazing, a lot like those newfangled hybrid cars, runs on unleaded, or electric. We didn't have power lines to the site, yet, so we had to live with fumes for a while, as much as we hated to stink up the forest.
	The radiometer is mounted on a big scissors-jack in the middle of the container.
	It's the big blue box.
	The view from inside the container.
	The antennas are the round things covered in styrofoam.
	There's not much room inside. Reminded me of those old NYC apartment jokes: "my apartment is so small, you have to go outside to change your mind..."
	Richard and Ralph waiting outside. Notice how much snow there is, and this is the beginning of the winter!
	The silverish boxes are the source for the hot load.
	Ralph offered to take off the side panel so the rest of us could see inside.
	It's a lot simpler than I had expected. Of course, that's probably because Peter was good at explaining it all.
	Richard, waiting to take a look inside. Now we just have to be patient and wait for the calibration before we start pushing buttons. (Hey, Rob! Do us all a favor and ask before you push any!)