Today, May 01, is the first day of the IOP. It is also a public holiday in Portugal, Laborday.
There are two radiosonde launches scheduled today: 1200 UTC (released at 1215 LT), and 1800 UTC (released at 1815 LT). This limited release schedule was selected because the EOL’s ISFS team is still waiting on an office trailer. At the moment, they are operating using a provisional setup in a van. The office trailer is expected to be delivered tomorrow, Tuesday 05/02. Its delivery will also affect the ballon releases tomorrow.
In the future, balloon releases are scheduled four times a day at 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 UTC. On 4-5 days, which will be selected based on weather conditions, we plan to support studies of the early-evening transition and nighttime boundary layer by additional balloon releases at 1500, 2100, and 0300 UTC.
Status of CLAMPS instruments: the AERI and MWR are up and running. The MWR requires another calibration which is planned for tomorrow afternoon. We are coordinating the calibration with Martin Hagen from DLR. The Doppler raider arrived at Halo on Saturday and we are waiting to get an update on what needs to be fixed.
Weather: It was raining both Saturday morning and also yesterday, Sunday, when a cold front moved over Portugal. Until Friday, no precipitation is expected and temperatures should rise up to ~30C on Thursday. Winds are expected to be light.
Team news: Elizabeth safely arrived in Lisbon yesterday where I met her and picked her up. We swopped the rental car from he Pick-up truck to a small automatic Volvo. After yesterday’s daily meeting at 2:30pm we went on a little excursion and discovered two beautiful cities with magnificent castles: Castelo de Vide and Mavrao. Liz took a little nap in the car and woke up in the 14th century!
-Petra