Chuuk day 2

Today we had a flight in the morning to get as close to the equator as possible making measurements at low altitude assessing how emissions of certain gas species from the sea may change ozone concentrations.

The flight was successful as plenty good measurements were taken. The preflight for the a second flight back to Guam suffered from a power loss unfortunately affecting the use of some instruments on the rerun flight, but the WAS samples taken while circling the island proved to be interesting.

On a side note, I had my karma for being away in the sunshine and making everyone jealous – I got sunburnt which then turned to prickly heat on my back, while on a pretty secluded island without a boots in site for some ointment 😦

A day off now for some analysis and a BBQ in torrential rain…

Suitcase flight to Chuuk – day 1

So we had a successful flight to Chuuk on Saturday with only a few of the usual instrument hiccups. The GCMS managed to see a few halogenated species which is great as that’s what we came here to measure. The CIMS is also quietly confident about sone BrO data which will soon be worked up and analysed.

After a long day we arrived in a lovely hotel next to the airport which even had a few little friends in the bedroom. Adam even spooned in bed with a 1 foot lizard throughout the night, where as me and Tom only had the company of a few cockroaches.

Rain rain go away

Our first science flight out of Guam was scheduled to head off to Chuuk for a refuel and then have 2 further flights based from there to allow us to get close to the equator with a return leg to Guam the following day.

Unfortunately a tropical downpour leading to a few instrumental problems and a power cut just before take off (after we had been prepping the instruments for 6 hours starting at 5am) meant that the first flight was cut short and the suitcase flight was cancelled.

Day 1 of science in Guam

Day 1 of Science in Guam….

Today was the first opportunity to get our hands on the instruments having adjusted to the 10-hour time difference here in Guam and prepare them for upcoming suitcase flights.

CIMS and SP2 calibrations were completed and the QCL was also checked to ensure all it’s well before the first suitcase flight. All are happy and are looking good, ready for 2 double flights in 2 days….

We also are parked next to the GV which will be flying in at the Same time as us but at higher altitudes.

Transit day 3 – Hyderabad – Bangkok – Kota Kinabalu

Our penultimate leg from India to Borneo with a late night refuel in Bangkok landed at 7am local, leaving us with a day in Kota Kinabalu to rest before our flights tonight, where we can have the science instruments on for the first time during the final legs to Guam via Palau.

Transit day 2 – Sharm – Muscat – Hyderabad

The second day of transit is where the time difference starts to become important as we need to be awake for a full nights work tomorrow to ensure we are fresh for our first science flight out of Kota Kinabalu. After landing in India at 2am, we had a great curry and a few beers to fight the time difference until the early hours.

Leaving for Bangkok this evening, will look for a massage during refuel…

Transit day 1 – UK to Brindisi to Sharm El Sheikh

The first leg of the transit to Guam saw the aircraft passing through Europe with a refuel in Brindisi to get us to Sharm El Sheikh in the evening. Although fairly in eventful, the all inclusive wristband at allowed us to polish off a few local beverages…

And the view isn’t bad either 🙂

Mike and Tom’s blog from paradise – we hope….

The CAST (Co-ordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics) atmospheric measurement campaign is investigating  the chemical and physical properties in the tropopause and assessing their impacts on the lower stratosphere, focusing on the measurement of short lived halogenated species.

Based on Guam, Palau and Chuuk (hot, sunny, beautiful islands) and collaborating with the NASA ATTREX1 project and NCARS CONTRAST project, we  will report daily news and pictures on what we are up to. Hope you enjoy!

NASA Attrex campaign

CONTRAST campaign

Mike Le Breton and Tom Bannan, University of Manchester