27.04.2016

Everyone did a good job today by removing and packing their instruments, tools and spare parts. The container got more and more empty and quit. Also the heavy high-volume sampler found its way back to the ground, even if the workers from the forest department had to help.

26.04.2016-Last coupling experiment between FINCH and IN-PCVI

During the last 4.5 weeks we performed around 40 of these coupling experiments. Some of us were a bit sentimental and counting down the last seconds of the last coupling experimentJ. The measurements at PM1 and PM10 inlet continue until tomorrow morning. Then we will pack and prepare everything for our departure.

26.04.2016

Moving forward to the end of the campaign, the graph below summarizes the OPC concentration at PM10 inlet from April, 3 until April, 24. Higher particle concentration at sizes greater than 1 µm around April, 10 and April, 16 point out the two dust events measured during the campaign.

25.04.2016

Monday morning started as usual with a meeting at the Cyprus Institute discussing recent preliminary data from different groups and instruments. During the last days, dust did not show up again. 

23.4.2016

Also horses enjoy the nice weather on Cyprus during the drive. J

22.4.2016

Back to work and at station Agia Marina, measurements continue but the PM10 concentration is still quite low with 7-8 ug/m^3. We hope to get again higher concentrations within the next days. ALABAMA did not measure today due to a change of our ablation laser head. 

21.4.2016- Day off

Today we had again a really nice and funny day off at the beach and in the old town of Nicosia.  

19.4.2016

Today we were alarmed because of an unusual noise from the FINCH. One of the cooling systems broke down which is less bad than we thought in the first moment. Besides that, the measurements are still going on. And ladies lying on the floor during work also proceeds with Franzi's arrival ;-). The air temperature is still increasing und the dust concentration is still decreasing which suggests that we should have a second day off tomorrow ;-).

17.4.2016

Time to say goodbye to this very nice place. Today's my last day, but the project will continue until April 28 (right before the orthodox Easter holidays).
The view is still beautiful:

But the INUIT crew is working highly concentrated:

16.4.2016

Nothing spectacular. Measurements continue as usual, moderately low dust concentrations. Still some issues with the combined experiment of FINCH - IN-PCVI - ALABAMA/ESEM. Weather nice and sunny.

15.4.2016

It's about half-time of the campaign, and there are some changes in the personnel. Two persons left today, and two new arrived. Also tomorrow and on Sunday will be some arrivals and departures. Measurements continued as usual, but we observed no dust and therefore low concentrations of INP (ice nucleating particles).

I still have to add yesterday's group picture of "The Beach Group":

(c) unknown tourist using S. Mertes' camera

14.4.2016 - Day Off

Today we had a really nice day off, with a visit to a beautiful beach in the South-East of the island, near Agia Napa:

 

 After that we followed the coast line until we arrived at Cape Greco:

And in the evening we went to the old town of Nikosia and visited the turkish part of the city:

 

 

This picture shows the Selimiye Mosque ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selimiye_Mosque,_Nicosia

)

.

13.4.2016

Another cold day (the third in a row) without dust and with very low concentrations of ice nucleating particles (INP) in the air.
But at least we had a beautiful sunset:

Tomorrow we plan to take a day off. That will be the first day off for the teams of FINCH, CVI, and ALABAMA since 15 days (since the beginning of the campaign). The weather is expected to be warm and sunny:

12.4.2016 - After the rain

It has rained during the night both at Nikosia and at the field site. So the dust has been washed out of the air. In the two pictures (facing approximately into the same direction ) you can see the difference between a dust day and a clear day:

Dust day.

Clear day.

Surprisingly, at Nikosia there was also a hailstorm during the day. Pictures will follow.

11.4.2016 - The dust event is over

Although still predicted by the forecast, there was not much dust in the air today. The weather has changed a bit, it became markdly colder with some strong winds in the afternoon. Also for the next days the forecasts see no dust. Here's a forecast example:

On our way to the station we like to stop at our favourite supermarket (open all days) for some fresh fruit:

10.4.2016 - Group Picture at Agia Marina Xyliatou

Yesterday we took a group picture of the crew working at the Agia Marina Xyliatou site:

(c) Nicole Savage

I received also some pictures from the Polly lidar:

The laser beam at night.

This is a construction that was needed to keep the lidar at constant temperature during the hot days.

09.4.2016 - More dust

Today we had even more dust then yesterday. The OPS (optical particle sizer) at the PM10 inlet displayed more than 70 µg/m3:

So everyone was eager to look at the instruments to see how they performed:

To sample as much IN as possible during the dust event, we stayed at field the site until 9:20 pm, and were back at the hotel at 10 pm, just in time not to miss dinner!

08.4.2016

Yes, as the lidar group wrote, the dust has arrived. The sky has turned from clear blue to a shady yellow. But there is still more to come, according to the forecast.

Hazy sky

In the evening, we had a small adventure: Stephan, who left the station a few minutes before we did, damaged a tire. But since we (Hans-Christian and myself) were just a few minutes behind him (and took the same road) we were able to help him changing the tire (in the dark):

Changing a tire in the dark.

This is the metal piece still sticking in the tire.

Dust in the wind ♫

Finally some pure dust!! These are the Lidar observations from the beginning of the campaign.

07.4.2016

We get a daily forecast about the weather development and the expected dust concentration. Now it seems to be interesting for the next days, with maxium concentrations reached in Sunday. On Monday, though, the forecast predicts some rain!

Expected dust mas concentration, with moderate values for tomorrow (April 8) but high values for Sunday (April 10).

Southern Europe will be under the influence of desert dust for the next days.

06.4.2016

The weather is still nice, the instruments are running well, the dust load in the air is moderate, so there's not much to report. We have made further progress with the FINCH-CVI coupling experiment, it looks very promising, but still a lot of tests and characterization work is needed before we fully understand the measured data.
Here are some pictures of the surrounding landscape:

Just one picture to avoid the impression that only the girls have to lie on the floor during work:

05.4.2016

This afternoon we had to put the FINCH (about 150 kg) on some wooden plates to install a new connection under the rack to an additional instrument. For this, a wooden pallet needed to be cut in pieces. And somehow all this seemed to be ladies' work:

04.4.2014

Today the last instrument arrived at the Agia Marina Xyliatou field site: A MOUDI (Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor), operated in a joint project by KIT and the University of British Columbia. It takes size resolved samples that will later be analyzed for ice nucleation activity of the sampled particles.

Furthermore, I learned that you have to travel to Cyprus to get some very good Norwegian chocolate ("Quick lunch"):

Apart from this, we manged to make the first measurements with one of the major INUIT experiments, the combination of FINCH, IN-PCVI and ALABAMA. More details will follow.

News from UAV airfield at Orounda

4th day of the campaign and the UAV managed to perform 11 IN flights and 4 Absorption flights

Cruiser UAV (CyI) approaching Orounda Runway

Skywalker X8  (CyI) sampling with IN prototype instrument (Frankfurt Univ.)

Absorption Vertical Profile up to 8600 feet above ground

03.4.2016

Today we paid a short visit to the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles, also know as drones) airfield before we went to the station. Very interesting, and I think there will be some report from the UAV crew here soon. The UAV can carry some small, light-weighted instruments for absorption measurements, size distribution, and impactor samplers.

At the station, most of the instruments are working, the FINCH (Fast Ice Nucleation Chamber) is almost up and running, some last flow check and tests are still necessary. But we expect first IN measurements with FINCH for tomorrow. No power failures anymore, but still from time to time the voltage on one phase is too high, which is a problem for the chiller in the HINC (horizontal ice nucleus chamber) of ETH. But they found a workaround.

02.4.2016 - No dust

Although some forecasts indicated dust for yesterday and today, we didn't measure it at the station, although we observed elevated aerosol particle concentrations, but presumably from another source. But there are other good news: The ice nucleus counter of University Frankfurt which got damaged yesterday due to the power problem apparently can be repaired, so we are hoping that it will be running soon.

Those of us who want to (or better: have to) do some other work during the day are usually sitting in "the office":

A nice place, but today in the afternoon the wind was rather chilly. But the weather forecast for the next days doesn't look too bad:

01.4.2016 - Power failure day

This day started out really well! The instruments that had been running over night performed well, and in the morning we also started the single particle mass spectrometer "ALABAMA" which also worked well. But then, at about noon, strange noises and even smoke came from some instruments, and we got a total power failure in our meaurement container. Many fuses were blown and some instruments didn't start up after we reset the fuses.
The reason for the power failure was not clear. Most likely the voltage in one of the phases was a little to high (Cyprus has nominal 240V and 10% tolerance is allowed), so that 260 V might have been in one phase, leading to too low voltage in another phase, leading to higher current taken from some instruments...
The responsible technician arrived (although it is a public holiday today), measured the power supply and distribution and the total power consumption but found that everything is in order.
So, at the end we decided to try again, and hope for the best!
Most of the instruments that didn't start just had a fuse blown or the DC converter was damaged, these all could be replaced, such that almost all instruments were up and running again by 18:00.

Additionally, we also managed to lift a heavy high-volume sampler onto the roof of the container: