Field Report: Eric AWS

Date: 2/Feb/2010

Time: ~1:50 pm to ~4:30 pm local McMurdo time.

Team Members:  Matthew Lazzara, Lee Welhouse, Justin Dye (RPSC - FEMC), Zach Heid (RPSC - VMF), Lexy and Lee (Twin Otter Pilots)

Measurements to the surface (bottom of the following):

Before:

* Solar Panel:  33 inches (0.84 meters)
* Sensor Boom:  62 inches (1.57 meters)
All other components buried in the snow

After:

* Delta-T:         Variable
* Junction box:    52.50 inches (1.33 meters)
* Electronics box: 62.25 inches (1.58 meters)
* Solar Panel:     95.50 inches (2.43 meters)
* Sensor Boom:    122.00 inches (3.10 meters)

Battery Voltages:

12.75 volts at the power plug

UNAVCO GPS: Yes

Work Description:

Thanks to "Eagle-eye" Lexy - our twin otter pilot, we were able to find Eric AWS without much searching.  She noted to me it was only short distance away from the original coordinates, and reported that the GPS in the twin otter reported the location as: 81 degrees 29.77 minutes South, 163 degrees 56.81 minutes East.

This was Eric AWS site first visit since it was installed 5 years ago in 2005.   The stations was very short....most of it was buried in the snow. (Lexy was really glad we didn't try to come to Eric when first planned - we would not have been able to work on the AWS fully...) A complete AWS raise was accomplished (5 foot tower section added), as well as recovery of the old batteries! Thanks to a monumental effort by fellow morale PAX Justin and Zach from RPSC, they completely dug out the electronic components buried in the snow and yes, a nearly 10 foot snow pit to the old batteries!  They were completely recovered! They will be retro'ed from KBA retro cargo at Pegasus and moved to Science Cargo to Crary - and we'll store them on the cargo line (in the orange shed).  These were old style triple battery boxes....two of them. We left the system running with two new battery boxes, and received two transmissions on the telonics receivers (we also received two transmission before disconnecting Eric to do the raise). The wind system was is good physical shape - no issues with the pipe like we had at Willie Field and Pegasus.   The whole event was done in record time - 2 hours and 40 minutes.