POPEYE and SODA: Using unmanned systems to observe the Arctic environment

Gijs filled you in on the mission flight from earlier in the week. I’m posting a few more images from that day below. We collected a lot of great data! It was very exciting to see MiniFLux in action and very satisfying to have a successful mission completed. A lot of factors – especially weather – need to align just right to fly, so it was a good feeling when we got our opportunity.

Of course, there is always room for improvement. MiniFLux is a complex instrument with many data streams, a number of which are redundant. After reviewing the data, we discovered that one of the pressure sensors was faulty. While the measurement was still recorded with a backup sensor, it is desirable to have a fully operational primary set of instrumentation. Fortunately, we have a backup unit. Poor weather and crew rest have kept us grounded since Monday’s mission flight, so over the past few days I have been working to integrate that second system into SeaHunter, essentially following the same recipe the first integration. This involved some maintenance, adding shielding and grounding to the second MiniFlux, and a lot of testing. With help from the crew, the new system is now installed and has passed ground tests with the aircraft to ensure that the shielding is effective. At the next opportunity, we will conduct a brief flight test within sight of the airport and then send SeaHunter on its next mission over the Beaufort Sea! My time in Kuparuk, however, is coming to an end. I depart tomorrow in the early afternoon. Today. Janet Intrieri (NOAA) and Jackson Osborn (CIRES) will arrive to take my place. In fact, I expect they are currently en route to Kuparuk from Deadhorse. Our one-day overlap will give me time to hand off the various responsibilities and equipment, to familiarize them with the procedures for the flights and post-processing of the data, and introduce them to SeaHunter and crew.

 

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