One before last flight

Yesterday, I flew my one-before-last flight! Another one down, wohoo!
This was a day flight, and boy - it was SO much nicer on my system than those night flights!

This flight's mission was a 30 degree South pollution survey - basically flying south along the Chilean coastline, up and down in the atmosphere, to sample varying layers of pollution (including those from cities, and from the various copper smelters in Chile) - and associated cloud particles - in the atmosphere. Part of the mission was also another intercomparison with the Ron Brown - the research ship that is out at sea again. This is especially fun, as we fly really low (100 ft. = ~35 m.!!) over the ocean for about 20 minutes, and fly right by the ship to that we sample some of the same air, and can therefore intercompare measurments made on the ship and aircraft.

Ron Brown from the C-130. Looks a little rusty I think!
(Image courtesy of Cam McNaughton)


Again ship viewed from the C-130, this time with part of the prop in view.
(Image courtesy of Cam McNaughton)


And, vice versa, someone from the Ron Brown was nice enough to send us an image of what we looked like up in the air! Look closely, and you might see me peeping from the tail window! Haha
(Image courtesy of Paquita Zuidema)

In a previous post, I told about one of my instruments crashing. Well - we had taken it out of the airplane, trouble shoot it, and found out that one of the thermo-coolers that controls 'how humid' it is in the particle chamber, had died. This of course is a part that you cannot simply buy in a local store here, so we had to get someone back home to buy one, and ship it over here. However, others that have had instrument issues have had to wait long times for the Chilean 'overnight' shipping, so we had to come up with another plan.
Luckily, one of the guys in our group was leaving this past monday to meet his wife in Santiago for a vacation. We arranged that his wife would take the part with her from Laramie to Santiago, and then arrange airport-to-airport desk shipping so that we would get the part up here in Arica on monday evening. The flight with the part on it didn't actually come in till early early tuesday morning 1 am, so my professor went out to the airport that night to pick up the part, and then spent most of the night re-installing it into the instrument to fix it, trying to get it ready in time for the flight. That morning I then also got up early, we headed out to the airport, re-installed the now fixed instrument back into the aircraft rack, and ready for the flight I was! It made for a very long work day, but again some very interesting data was collected.

Also fun - this flight actually had 4 females on it! Wohoo! During fueling, we all sat in the back, chatting typical girl talk - it was so fun! I think the men didn't really know what to think haha! Of course this moment had to be captured:

F.l.t.r: Me, Lindsey, Cynthia (Cindy), and Katie. Lindsey is a grad student at the University of Hawaii, Katie a grad student at CSU, and Cindy a research professor at Oregon State University.

Told you not to come back!

Oh where's my husband when I need him??

I just almost threw up - I came home from dinner, headed to the bathroom (as always these days it seems), and almost stepped on this guy here! Eeeewwww!
I've been told cockroaches aren't necessarily dirty, nor will they harm or bite me, but for some reason I just REALLY REALLY REALLY DO NOT want them in my room! After the first one visited that first time, he actually came back twice, again through my shower drain hole, but both those times with a friend. I had my same female freak-out moment, and instead of killing them then, I just turned on my shower, and flushed them down for a good few minutes (least possible interaction).
Not today though! This guy had actually made it out of the shower, and was out in the room!
That action has a definite death sentence!!

Same sentence for his friend, who was still hanging out in the shower.

Then however I found myself in a predicament, because I then had two squished cockroaches, and no-one but myself to clean them up! Ewww! It still makes my stomach churn :(

Belly pic!

13 days to go! I can do it! It'll fly by!
A little post about my favorite topic :) - I'm 21 weeks + 1 day today! Wohoo! I took some pictures the other day that most definately show a belly (Sandy - I will prove you wrong!), because the shirt I wore in the previous picture just didn't do the belly justice :)

Bump! And that is before breakfast! Imagine what the thing looks like after dinner :) haha!


Silly serious face, I know - but it is hard getting the angles right taking a picture of yourself in the mirror! haha


From babycenter.com:
"Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches (=25+ cm) long — the lenght of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now"

Eventful flight

This morning I flew our last night flight! It feels so nice to have those over with!

We did however have quite some "bumps": Prior to take-off, everything looked good and normal, so we got fueled up, and headed out for a 20 South cross section. About 30 minutes into the flight though, people started noticing that the data recording system wasn't operating properly. Shortly after that, it crashed. Excuse me - "went down". Apparently one of the main boards got water on it, and fried. This means that none (apart from some instruments that have their own recording system in addition) of the data we are working so hard for to collect is actually getting recorded properly (i.e. with exact time stamp and geographical location and altitude). Basically, this also means that we are flying for nothing. The first reaction was to return to the airport, and abort the flight (yay! back to bed?). However, the pilots informed us that a C-130 can't actually land with a belly completely filled up with fuel! This meant that we had to fly around for at least 4 hrs to burn some of it off. Sigh - to think you got out of bed for that.
But, good time for a nap, right?
Anyhow - the computer guy decided to actually make use those 4 hrs ahead, and attempt to recover the system. Everything was taken apart. And with result! - After about 1 hr I was woken up from my nap that the data system was back up and running!! Big party on board, because we didnt have to waste many hours, and many dollars on a useless flight.

Fast forward 3 hrs later - 3 hrs of great data collection later - I look at the computer operating my instrument (one of the three of my instruments), and see that it appears 'stuck'. I trouble shoot some, and trouble shoot some more, but all to no avail. I spent the next 3 hrs trying my hardest to get it working again, but it appears that the electrical circuit operating the temperature of the supersaturation chamber is completely fried. Sigh. Tired.

After the flight, we unbolted the instrument from the aircraft rack (something that the big 'bosses' are never very happy with: changes sample flow etc.) and took it back to the hotel so we can work on it. But, first things first: shower and sleep - gotta take care of that little one!
The rest of the afternoon we played electrician and tested all the circuits in the instrument. Turns out we need a new part that needs to be sent from the US, and we'll have someone from UW overnight it to us. However, since you never know how long a Chilean "overnight" service takes, this might mean that, apart from the other 2 instruments, we are out for a couple of days :(
Big bummer.

Some Arica thoughts and observations - Part I

* I have a sandal tan! And it's November! :)

* At least 4 scientists (that I've seen) that work around me carry mini-calculators in their breast pockets - at all times! yikes, what nerds.

* If I hear "Hola Gringa", "Hola Chica" [in very dirty tone], or any more of those obscene noises (like kissing, or something I will not even try to mimmick) coming from where ever, somewhere around me - I might just make an obscene comment back.

* I love feeling that baby kick!

* The preferred beach wear of some of the local men appears to be a pair of very tight, very small, very neon colored speedos. I will pretend I didn't see that. :)

* The different ways in which I count down the days till I see Ben again. There is the obvious one: the count down on this blog. And then there are the others, for example: how many more flights I will have to go on before leaving (at least 3); how many more times I will get to eat the delicious hotel breakfasts (17-3=14). And then, a fun one: so when I left for Chile, I counted out how many strips of prenatal vitamins I had to take with me (at least 4, as I would have to use up about 3.5). Now, every time I get to grab a new strip (10 vitamins) it feels HUGE! SUCH a big step in getting closer to the return trip. I have 2 strips down, and little over 1.5 to go! :)

* So Obama it is.

The Ron Brown is in town!

As I may have mentioned before, this project that I am part of, involves many people, and many research platforms. From the aircraft point of view there is the C-130 that I am on, then there is a Gulfstream-159 (G-1), a Twin Otter (DHC-6), the British Aerospace BAe-146-301, and the Dornier-228:

The NSF/NCAR C-130 - I showed you this before.

The Twin Otter (owner: Naval Postgraduate School / Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) USA)

The G-1 (owner: Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH)

The Dornier (owner: UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC))


The BAE-146 (owner: FACILITY for AIRBORNE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS (FAAM) U.K.)

Then there is a land site, located at the at the Universidad Arturo Pratta, in a town a little further South of here called Iquique. From there, several times of day, Research Radiosondes are launched (GPS Advance Upper-Air Sounding system (GAUS)). A balloon-borne rawinsonde system that measures wind, pressure, temperature and humidity:

Then there also are two research ships involved: the R/V José Olaya Balandra, and the R/V Ron H Brown:

The Olaya (Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE). Ministerio de la Producción, Perú)

The Ron Brown (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration; U.S. Department of Commerce, USA), actually came to port yesterday! The crew and scientists have been on board since the end of September, and apart from a break somewhere in Central America, they were very happy to be spending 7 days on land here the next couple of days! It was fun to see some fresh and excited faces. One of the girls on the ship is a fellow graduate student whom I had met at a Climate Conference in Seattle over two years ago - it was very fun to catch up again!

After its break, the Ron Brown and crew will go back out at sea for about 4 weeks, taking more marine and atmospheric samples. One of our flight missions is actually to "meet up" with the Ron Brown every now and then: we fly over them at an altitude of 100 ft. (not very much!!), and will therefore be able to do some instrument comparisons (they measure some of the same variables as we do aboard the C-130).

And the first sighting of the Ron Brown in Arica!

In the harbor.

Sic-Sac

Dear motion sickness bag,

Thank you for hanging out with me during the first few hours of every flight so far -it is comforting to know that you are there. Though I really appreciate not actually having to use you yet!

Passenger in left front of Rack 1.



"The original Motion Sickness Bag - If an upset stomach is anticipated remove SIC-SAC from this container and keep ready for use. Do not be embarrassed by this precaution as even veteran air travelers are subject to occasional motion sickness."
To use: Roll top of sac over finger tips - Tie knot in top of sac itself or use the attached tie.



This morning I flew Research Flight #8. It was another 3 am take-off flight (still meaning start of a work day at midnight), and we landed 30 minutes after noon. Even though overall it was again a very good flight - I collected some great data - the first few hours were quite rough. First of all, because my computer and data collecting system had some issues: not good! It was actually quite funny, because I learned very quickly that people aboard an airplane very much appreciate it if you refrain from using the statement "my computer crashed". Apparently, you are supposed to say "my computer is down" or anything else but the word "crash" - I guess it makes people flying in an aircraft a little uneasy :)
Mainly though, the flight was rough because like every flight, this one also started out with me being fairly nauseous for the first couple of hours, every now and then bringing out my little sic-sac, and staring at its bottom hoping that something would come out to relieve things. Always nothing. So I go back to my seat and back to work. Miserable.
I have tried various things food and drinks wise to relieve things. Starting from what and how much I eat the day and night before, to what and how much I eat right as I get on board, to drinking lots and drinking little, drinking salty things, sweet things or water - all to no avail. Also, it is so hard to force yourself (as I'm sure many of you morning-sickness-experienced-ladies know!) to eat something while feeling so crappy! But I know it does relieve things - sometimes.
Either way, today I felt extra crappy because turbulence was more intense (also flying extra below and in cloud legs), and I think it might have something to do with the fact that ever since our dinner of mussels and other sea creatures, my intestinal culture has not been the same...if you know what I mean. It also doesn't help that we are flying night missions, so looking out the window to orient myself on the horizon is not an option. So there I sat, in the back of the plane, with my baggy :). One of the pilots came by at some point though, and told me he would come get me as soon as there was some daylight out, so I could come in the cockpit and stare out the windows for a while - that was nice of him :)
But, as with all fairy tales, this story also has a good end. My nausea subsided after about 4 hrs, and happy little scientist I was again. :)


(p.s. I am looking forward to the day missions starting. No more crazy night hours, and a horizon to look at!)