The arrival

The first lorries with LOFAR HBA tiles have arrived at the KAIRA site at Kilpisjärvi. They have travelled from the Netherlands to Lübeck, then a boat to Kemi, before driving up to Kilpisjärvi.

Two of these lorries arrived (actually the previous evening) and were ready to unload this morning. That made for a very frantic Monday-morning start, as we had originally anticipated at least a few hours this morning to clear the site, move vehicles and do the last patch of ground levelling.

Yet the work was done quickly and efficiently and unloading would soon be able to commence.

Each lorry contains four HBA tiles. The tiles are stored 'folded' for transportation. In this configuration, the are approximately 5 metres long, 1 metre wide and 2.5 metres high. In addition to the four folded tiles, each lorry also contains 4 pallets with 'tile lids'.

Although it takes up a huge volume, the load is quite light... just over 1 tonne. When we received the delivery of the test tiles for last winter, the drivers mentioned that the load can be tricky at times if driving in high winds.

Still, these have made it here safely and will be unloaded soon.

Photos: D. McKay-Bukowski