Ny-Ålesund

I have finally made it to Ny-Ålesund, although with not the right package. I picked up a package from the SAS terminal that was addressed to the person we sent it to, but apparently he had at least two big packages coming for him from out of the country. The next plane does not arrive until Monday, so I'll send this one out and receive the proper one and spend the next four days troubleshooting.

Goodbye, Longyearbyen! I'll see you in a week!




Hello Ny-Ålesund!



I am here to completely replace our induction coil system. The signal we are receiving from the system makes it look like the coils are dead.

This is bad and what we are currently receiving:



This is good and what we are receiving in Longyearbyen:



As a side note, you can notice the Pi1B events in the Longyearbyen plot. Pulsations, irregular, 0-40s period, bursty. (Yes, bursty is a technical term.) The Pi1B pulsations are what I will study for my Ph.D thesis. It is a disturbance in the magnetic field caused by any number of things: substorms, fast flows of plasma without a substorm, a disturbance in the force, etc.

Without my package you might think that I don't have a lot to do, but I do! I am troubleshooting our system to see why it failed. Today I did a visual examination of the coils.

I found this:



When it should look more like this: (Longyearbyen)



Nothing showing, no way for water or anything else to get in.

The arctic winters are harsh and the rocks and dirt placed last year could have been swept all away, so this time, we are trying to make sure nothing of the sort happens. Because when water gets in, we get corrosion.



And water does not play well with electronics:



These are pictures of the junction box which carries the signal from the two coils to the data acquisition system. The two coils are aligned to the magnetic field. One is pointed north-south and the other east-west. I have a super awesome compass to properly align the coils. Since the pulsations and waves we are interested in travel down the magnetic field lines, we want to be in the best position to pick up any signal.

Tomorrow, I am going to try and find a new tarp to place over the coils. As well as examine the coils themselves for corrosion, water leakage, or any other damage.

I have a hard time going to bed at a decent hour. With it being light outside, my body does not think it is time for bed. Thank goodness for heavy curtains.