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January 3rd, 2008
SCIFER 2 (Sounding of the Cleft Ion Fountain Energization Region Two)Wednesday January 3, 2008 Update
This is third update for SCIFER 2 collaborators and friends participating in the SCIFER 2 campaign. If you do not wish to be included in these emails, please ask to be removed from future mailings.
Breaking news:
The second count was held on Thursday January 3, 2008 with the window opening at 0600 UT. The winds at Andenes were marginally too strong to launch and the launcher was kept in the horizontal position. Avalanche danger at Longyearbyen continued through the early morning but starting about 0900 the snow plow began clearing the road and the effort was still underway at 1300. We hope that the telemetry tracking crew will reach their stations for the first time tomorrow. The window was closed at 1050 UT. The next count down begins at 0300 UT (0400 Norway time). Science station time is 0330 UT (0430 Norway time) at UNIS IPY room. A decision will be made whether to stay in town or to proceed to the KHO Auroral Observatory. The forecast tomorrow is for warming and snow .
Space Weather Conditions
The space weather conditions are unchanged. The solar wind velocity is currently 325 km/s and the density is 1/cm^3. An active region on the sun is just rotating into view and we expect it to be geoeffective in 4-6 days.
Current Weather Conditions:
Longyearbyen: Temperature -7.1 C (19.2 F) Wind chill -24.9 C (-12.8 F), wind speed 17.1 m/s (38.1 mph), stiff winds and snowing..
Andenes: Temperature 2 C (35 F), wind speed 15 mph, mix of cloud and sun
EISCAT: winds are 62 mph
Rocket/Payload status: The payload is mounted on the launcher and is operating nominally.
Local color: The past three attempts by SAS to fly to Longyearbyen have been canceled stranding two of our colleagues on the mainland. We hope that they can get in late tonight some 3 days past their original arrival date. For those of you who do not where EISCAT is located (see current weather conditions above), it is about 10 miles south of Longyearbyen on 1500 ft mountain ridge. The winds there are nearly hurricane force today.
| Scientist locations on January 3, 2008: | |
|---|---|
| Paul Kintner | Longyearbyen |
| Erik Lundberg | Tromso waiting for a flight to Longyearbyen |
| Mark Lessard | Tromso waiting for a flight to Longyearbyen |
| Kristina Lynch | Andenes |
| Meghan Mella | Andenes |
Phone numbers for science launch operations
Backup Science Center at UNIS, Longyearbyen 79 02 64 48
KHO Auroral Observatory 79 02 64 70 or 71
EISCAT 79 02 12 36
CUTLASS Ops 44-116-252-3520