The highest point in Finland lies near the summit of Halti (Haltitunturi in Finnish; Háldi in Sami), on the Norwegian border in the far north-west of Finland. At a height of 1324m, it is a spur of the mountain whose main summit lies within Norway.
Getting to it from the Finnish side involves walking or skiing some 50km from the road, a journey which usually starts in the village of Kilpisjärvi. However, it is more accessible from the Norwegian side, at least in summertime. On a recent visit to KAIRA in early June, I went to see if it would be possible.
From Kåfjord, a dirt track winds it's way up into the mountains, terminating only a few kilometers from the summit of Halti, on the side of a reservoir. In the picture the reservoir can be seen, still frozen, in the middle with Halti as the large mountain in the background. With the snow staying late this year, the road was impassable from about half-way up so getting to the summit of Halti itself was out of reach of a one-day trip and this was as far as I got.
The dog, incidentally, is a seven-year old Labrador and also a regular visitor to KAIRA.
Monday 30 June 2014
Sunday 29 June 2014
Siilasjoki
KAIRA is actually closer to Siilasjärvi, rather than Kilpisjärvi, although you are unlikely to find the former on the map and Kilpisjärvi is the name of the nearest town in any case. Between Siilasjärvi and Kilpisjärvi is a small white-water river called Siilasjoki, which drains the former into the second.
There is a small path that runs up to Pikku Malla from about 1 km near the KAIRA site. There is now a new timber bridge that crosses the rive and heads up the mountain.
No other LOFAR site has such picturesque scenery!
There is a small path that runs up to Pikku Malla from about 1 km near the KAIRA site. There is now a new timber bridge that crosses the rive and heads up the mountain.
No other LOFAR site has such picturesque scenery!
Saturday 28 June 2014
June snow banks
During the week just gone, we had some summer workers up at KAIRA to carry out maintenance and other site duties. We had one nice afternoon, so we made the most of it and trekked up a nearby hill to get a nice view of the site. There were a few patches of snow to get through but otherwise the landscape is pretty clear now.
Trudging through the snow in June (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Friday 27 June 2014
LBA in the summer sun
Today we have just a nice photograph of the LBA aerials. In the background is Pikku Malla.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
Have a nice weekend everyone!
Thursday 26 June 2014
Kalela
The Biological Station has a few smaller outstations where researchers can stay. The small cottage of "Kalela" is one of these. It is located right at the edge of the main Kilpisjärvi Lake, just across from Pikku Malla and within sight of Saana. It is a really idyllic location.
This is where some of our 2014 summer workers stayed during the repair/maintenance trips to KAIRA.
Pikku Malla as seen from Kalela (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Saana and the Kalela cottage to the right (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
This is where some of our 2014 summer workers stayed during the repair/maintenance trips to KAIRA.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Anti sea sickness measures
With all the people and equipment in the site office (a.k.a. barracks), we felt it would be wise to put some extra shoring timbers under it. While it probably would not have toppled over, it certainly reduced the amount of vibration and movement in the building (which is a converted railway carriage on road wheels).
Fitting shoring timbers (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
A lot more stable now (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Baby mountain hares
We've a few mountain hares about the site, but recently there have been some leverets (= baby hares) at the KAIRA site.
The Finnish word for mountain hare is jänis. This is also a slang word for someone who is a bit shy and reserved. The Latin scientific name of the mountain hare is Lepus timidus . So as you might imagine, these are not particularly bold creatures and we are lucky to get photographs of them.
Mountain leveret near the storage container (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Mountain leveret under the High-Band Antenna array (Photo: J. Keskitalo) |
The Finnish word for mountain hare is jänis. This is also a slang word for someone who is a bit shy and reserved. The Latin scientific name of the mountain hare is Lepus timidus . So as you might imagine, these are not particularly bold creatures and we are lucky to get photographs of them.
Monday 23 June 2014
Debris
Once the snow has all gone, there is invariably scraps of winter damage lying around on the site which needs to be cleaned up.
This work is done every year, along with replacement equipment being installed. Although pleasant, it can still be a harsh environment at times and the attrition on the system is continual.
A reflective tab found after the snow melted away. |
This work is done every year, along with replacement equipment being installed. Although pleasant, it can still be a harsh environment at times and the attrition on the system is continual.
Saturday 21 June 2014
Midnight solar flare
Around this time of year, we have the midnight sun and one very long day! The midnight sun is nicely viewed from KAIRA and it is always calm and peaceful. Of course that's not always the case at the sun itself.
A few weeks back we caught a solar flare very close to the local solar midnight. Due to the equation of time, the application of daylight-savings/summer time in Europe, and our location, the minimum elevation of the Sun is not exactly at clock midnight.
However, very close to the point of minimum elevation (and the Sun crossing the northen meridian), KAIRA caught this solar flare.
Given that the elevation of the sun was quite low (approx. +2 degrees), this must have been a bright flare!
Our northern summer solstice occurs at 10:51 UTC on 21 June 2014.
A few weeks back we caught a solar flare very close to the local solar midnight. Due to the equation of time, the application of daylight-savings/summer time in Europe, and our location, the minimum elevation of the Sun is not exactly at clock midnight.
However, very close to the point of minimum elevation (and the Sun crossing the northen meridian), KAIRA caught this solar flare.
Midnight solar flare! (Image: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Given that the elevation of the sun was quite low (approx. +2 degrees), this must have been a bright flare!
Our northern summer solstice occurs at 10:51 UTC on 21 June 2014.
Friday 20 June 2014
Midnight sun
Today we just have a nice photograph of the midnight sun taken from KAIRA.
Midnight sun seen from KAIRA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Wednesday 18 June 2014
Plotting single-station LOFAR data with the R programming language
The R programming language is a free (GNU Public Licence) language and environment use for scientific computing. It has developed a strong reputation for being used for statistics and data analysis, although its use goes far beyond that. It is easily extensible with function packages and has an active community. Staff at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory use R, particularly for signal processing and inverse problem methods.
I myself have never used R before; my native language is actually C, with PostScript, Python, FORTRAN as some of the others that I know. I've been aware of R because my colleagues use it, but other than that I've not had a chance to use it. I keep meaning to write something, but those opportunities rarely come up and, when they do, it is usually faster to hack something out in a language I know.
But a couple of days ago an good opportunity presented itself, so here's my first real programme beyond the "Hello world!".
Lassi has asked for some KAIRA data, in particular some beamlet statistics data. These are the data generated by any LOFAR single station. Not only did he want the data, but also a way to plot it... using R (which is what he uses). Fair enough. So here's my attempt:
R-code to plot a single beamlet from a LOFAR beamlet statistics (BST) file.
The plot looks like this:
I also plotted the same thing with KPB (KAIRA Plot Beamlet-statistcs). KPB is the python software that we normally use for plotting things.
For those curious, the command line settings for this were:
Of course I will continue to use Python and C code, as that is what I do. However, hopefully the above code fragment will help anyone either learning R or getting started with LOFAR single-station data.
Bear in mind that I am a novice though! So, if you're an R-expert and have suggestions on how I could improve that code, or make it more R-esque, do let us know in the comments below!
Links
I myself have never used R before; my native language is actually C, with PostScript, Python, FORTRAN as some of the others that I know. I've been aware of R because my colleagues use it, but other than that I've not had a chance to use it. I keep meaning to write something, but those opportunities rarely come up and, when they do, it is usually faster to hack something out in a language I know.
But a couple of days ago an good opportunity presented itself, so here's my first real programme beyond the "Hello world!".
Lassi has asked for some KAIRA data, in particular some beamlet statistics data. These are the data generated by any LOFAR single station. Not only did he want the data, but also a way to plot it... using R (which is what he uses). Fair enough. So here's my attempt:
R-code to plot a single beamlet from a LOFAR beamlet statistics (BST) file.
# Set the name of the file that we wish to read filename = "20131220_150320_bst_00X.dat" # Set the beamlet number we wish to plot beamlet = 243 # Create a connection to this file file = file(filename,"rb") # Typical maximum file size (244 beamlets x 86400 seconds/day) maxsize = 244 * 86400 # Read the entire file as a raw data stream (up to maxsize) raw = readBin(file,double(),size=8,n=maxsize,endian="little") # Re-shape the data into matrix w/ 244 columns (beamlets) data = matrix(raw,ncol=244,byrow=TRUE) # Convert the data into a dB scale data_db = 10.0*log10(data) # Create an array of sample numbers for the X-axis sample_num = array(1:dim(data_db)[1]) # Plot the data (we need "beamlet+1"; R counts from 1, not 0) plot(sample_num,data_db[,beamlet+1], xlab="Samples since file start time", ylab=expression("ADUs 10log"[10]), main=paste("KAIRA ",filename," Beamlet=",beamlet) )
The plot looks like this:
I also plotted the same thing with KPB (KAIRA Plot Beamlet-statistcs). KPB is the python software that we normally use for plotting things.
For those curious, the command line settings for this were:
% kpb --db -y 243 20131220_150320_bst_00X.dat -g trace \
-t "KAIRA %n bl=243" -o kpb_example.png
Of course I will continue to use Python and C code, as that is what I do. However, hopefully the above code fragment will help anyone either learning R or getting started with LOFAR single-station data.
Bear in mind that I am a novice though! So, if you're an R-expert and have suggestions on how I could improve that code, or make it more R-esque, do let us know in the comments below!
Links
- http://www.r-project.org/ -- R programming home page
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_%28programming_language%29 -- Wikipedia
Labels:
beamforming,
beamlet,
LOFAR,
R,
single-station,
software,
statistics
Tuesday 17 June 2014
Saana transmitter
Sticking up from the southern peak of Saana is the local transmitter tower. Mobile communications base station and FM radio transmitter (though probably not the source of our mysterious "dragon teeth" interference problem.) Joona took this photograph from just down the road near the Biological Station.
Saana and the transmitter tower (Photo: J. Keskitalo) |
Monday 16 June 2014
Käsivarrentie
Today's photograph is the long road (called Käsivarrentie) that runs though this part of the world, coming up from the direction of Karesuvanto, through Kilpisjärvi village and continuing on to KAIRA (and, if you insist, you can keep going into Norway and on to Tromsø.
Käsivarrentie (Photo: Joona Keskitalo) |
Sunday 15 June 2014
KAIRA EISCAT VHF intersection heights/elevations
In order for the KAIRA beam to intersect the vertical EISCAT VHF transmitter beam, the elevation must be set as follows. (All data provided by I.I.Virtanen, U. Oulu).
Note that the azimuth to the EISCAT VHF is 313.95 degrees. The numbers for the above plots are as follows. Hgt is the height above the EISCAT VHF transmitter in kilometres and Elev is the require elevation of observation from KAIRA to have the beam centre at this height.
We hope you read all these numbers and memorised them!
Note that the azimuth to the EISCAT VHF is 313.95 degrees. The numbers for the above plots are as follows. Hgt is the height above the EISCAT VHF transmitter in kilometres and Elev is the require elevation of observation from KAIRA to have the beam centre at this height.
Hgt | Elev | Hgt | Elev | Hgt | Elev |
0 | -0.735 | 670 | 82.155 | 1340 | 85.69 |
10 | 6.101 | 680 | 82.259 | 1350 | 85.717 |
20 | 12.747 | 690 | 82.359 | 1360 | 85.743 |
30 | 19.044 | 700 | 82.457 | 1370 | 85.768 |
40 | 24.881 | 710 | 82.552 | 1380 | 85.793 |
50 | 30.199 | 720 | 82.644 | 1390 | 85.818 |
60 | 34.987 | 730 | 82.734 | 1400 | 85.843 |
70 | 39.261 | 740 | 82.821 | 1410 | 85.867 |
80 | 43.06 | 750 | 82.906 | 1420 | 85.891 |
90 | 46.431 | 760 | 82.989 | 1430 | 85.914 |
100 | 49.423 | 770 | 83.07 | 1440 | 85.937 |
110 | 52.082 | 780 | 83.148 | 1450 | 85.96 |
120 | 54.451 | 790 | 83.225 | 1460 | 85.982 |
130 | 56.568 | 800 | 83.3 | 1470 | 86.005 |
140 | 58.467 | 810 | 83.373 | 1480 | 86.027 |
150 | 60.176 | 820 | 83.444 | 1490 | 86.048 |
160 | 61.719 | 830 | 83.513 | 1500 | 86.069 |
170 | 63.117 | 840 | 83.581 | 1510 | 86.09 |
180 | 64.39 | 850 | 83.648 | 1520 | 86.111 |
190 | 65.551 | 860 | 83.712 | 1530 | 86.132 |
200 | 66.613 | 870 | 83.776 | 1540 | 86.152 |
210 | 67.589 | 880 | 83.837 | 1550 | 86.172 |
220 | 68.488 | 890 | 83.898 | 1560 | 86.192 |
230 | 69.318 | 900 | 83.957 | 1570 | 86.211 |
240 | 70.087 | 910 | 84.015 | 1580 | 86.23 |
250 | 70.801 | 920 | 84.072 | 1590 | 86.249 |
260 | 71.465 | 930 | 84.127 | 1600 | 86.268 |
270 | 72.084 | 940 | 84.181 | 1610 | 86.287 |
280 | 72.663 | 950 | 84.234 | 1620 | 86.305 |
290 | 73.205 | 960 | 84.286 | 1630 | 86.323 |
300 | 73.714 | 970 | 84.337 | 1640 | 86.341 |
310 | 74.192 | 980 | 84.387 | 1650 | 86.358 |
320 | 74.642 | 990 | 84.436 | 1660 | 86.376 |
330 | 75.067 | 1000 | 84.484 | 1670 | 86.393 |
340 | 75.468 | 1010 | 84.531 | 1680 | 86.41 |
350 | 75.847 | 1020 | 84.577 | 1690 | 86.427 |
360 | 76.207 | 1030 | 84.622 | 1700 | 86.443 |
370 | 76.548 | 1040 | 84.667 | 1710 | 86.46 |
380 | 76.872 | 1050 | 84.71 | 1720 | 86.476 |
390 | 77.18 | 1060 | 84.753 | 1730 | 86.492 |
400 | 77.473 | 1070 | 84.795 | 1740 | 86.508 |
410 | 77.752 | 1080 | 84.836 | 1750 | 86.523 |
420 | 78.019 | 1090 | 84.876 | 1760 | 86.539 |
430 | 78.274 | 1100 | 84.916 | 1770 | 86.554 |
440 | 78.518 | 1110 | 84.955 | 1780 | 86.569 |
450 | 78.751 | 1120 | 84.993 | 1790 | 86.584 |
460 | 78.974 | 1130 | 85.031 | 1800 | 86.599 |
470 | 79.188 | 1140 | 85.067 | 1810 | 86.614 |
480 | 79.394 | 1150 | 85.104 | 1820 | 86.628 |
490 | 79.591 | 1160 | 85.139 | 1830 | 86.643 |
500 | 79.781 | 1170 | 85.174 | 1840 | 86.657 |
510 | 79.963 | 1180 | 85.209 | 1850 | 86.671 |
520 | 80.139 | 1190 | 85.243 | 1860 | 86.685 |
530 | 80.308 | 1200 | 85.276 | 1870 | 86.698 |
540 | 80.471 | 1210 | 85.309 | 1880 | 86.712 |
550 | 80.628 | 1220 | 85.341 | 1890 | 86.725 |
560 | 80.78 | 1230 | 85.373 | 1900 | 86.739 |
570 | 80.927 | 1240 | 85.404 | 1910 | 86.752 |
580 | 81.068 | 1250 | 85.435 | 1920 | 86.765 |
590 | 81.205 | 1260 | 85.465 | 1930 | 86.778 |
600 | 81.337 | 1270 | 85.495 | 1940 | 86.79 |
610 | 81.466 | 1280 | 85.524 | 1950 | 86.803 |
620 | 81.59 | 1290 | 85.553 | 1960 | 86.815 |
630 | 81.71 | 1300 | 85.581 | 1970 | 86.828 |
640 | 81.826 | 1310 | 85.609 | 1980 | 86.84 |
650 | 81.939 | 1320 | 85.636 | 1990 | 86.852 |
660 | 82.049 | 1330 | 85.664 | 2000 | 86.864 |
We hope you read all these numbers and memorised them!
Saturday 14 June 2014
kaira05
Recently, we reported on the arrival of a new computer. This `canister mac' has now been installed in the RF-container at KAIRA and is being used for data acquisition. In addition to the computer itself there are two RAID arrays of 28 TB each, which triples the existing capacity of the in-container storage.
The form factor of this machine is difficult so I would not recommend this. Also, the use of MacOSX has been problematic, so we may yet install Linux on this. However these are the tools we've been given and, with a lot of effort, we have managed to get it working at least for the basics. (High-speed processing remains to be tackled).
The new canister mac (`kaira05') atop the LOFAR local control unit. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
The form factor of this machine is difficult so I would not recommend this. Also, the use of MacOSX has been problematic, so we may yet install Linux on this. However these are the tools we've been given and, with a lot of effort, we have managed to get it working at least for the basics. (High-speed processing remains to be tackled).
Friday 13 June 2014
Parhelia
On the evening of 02-Jun-2014, I spotted a spectacular pair of parhelia (sun dogs) over the KAIRA LBA array. This is the first time I've seen two of them so bright and distinct -- normally one tends to dominate. Furthermore, the entire arc could be seen, including the enhanced region of brightness at the top.
Parhelia over the KAIRA LBA array. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Thursday 12 June 2014
The KAIRA refrigerator
You need to keep things cold. So here, even in summer, we simply leave things outside. The local KAIRA refrigerator is just patches of ice out and about the site.
Of course this really only works in summer. In winter this is actually a deep freezer and the milk, juice, etc., would be frozen solid!
Keeping the drinks cool along the north-western edge of the HBA array. |
Of course this really only works in summer. In winter this is actually a deep freezer and the milk, juice, etc., would be frozen solid!
Wednesday 11 June 2014
Update on the POLFAR project
As we reported last year after the Polish announcement, three new antenna stations for International LOFAR Telescope are to be constructed in Poland. At the end of 2013, POLFAR received a grant from the Polish Minister
of Science and Higher Education for the construction and equipment of
three international LOFAR stations as part of their national research
infrastructure investment. Today we have the press release from ASTRON regarding the announcement.
Today the contract was signed for the POLFAR construction work. Specifically, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and the Polish LOFAR consortium (POLFAR) signed a contract for the construction of three new antenna stations for the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) in the north, west and south of Poland. The signing of the contract took place at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in Poland in the presence of representatives of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and local governments, and representatives of the Polish astronomical and space sciences communities.
The new LOFAR stations will be located in Łazy (in southern Poland, operated by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Bałdy (in northern Poland, operated by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn), and Borówiec (in western Poland, operated by the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The formal agreement between the POLFAR consortium and ASTRON now marks the start of the preparations for the roll-out of these new stations.
The International LOFAR Telescope has 38 stations in the Netherlands, six in Germany, and one each in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Connecting the three new ‘POLFAR’ stations will add valuable extra sensitivity to the array. And in particular, the Polish stations give ‘baselines’ of up to 1550 km in the array, making the ILT a much more capable instrument for high resolution imaging of detailed structues. The positions of the new stations also literally provide new angles on ionospheric tomography.
All components for the LOFAR stations, such as the manufacturing of thousands of antenna elements and electronics, are to be contracted out to industry. The construction of the three new stations will start immediately and is estimated to be completed before the end of 2015.
Today the contract was signed for the POLFAR construction work. Specifically, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and the Polish LOFAR consortium (POLFAR) signed a contract for the construction of three new antenna stations for the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) in the north, west and south of Poland. The signing of the contract took place at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in Poland in the presence of representatives of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and local governments, and representatives of the Polish astronomical and space sciences communities.
The new LOFAR stations will be located in Łazy (in southern Poland, operated by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Bałdy (in northern Poland, operated by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn), and Borówiec (in western Poland, operated by the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The formal agreement between the POLFAR consortium and ASTRON now marks the start of the preparations for the roll-out of these new stations.
The new map of the ILT showing the POLFAR stations (source: ASTRON) |
The International LOFAR Telescope has 38 stations in the Netherlands, six in Germany, and one each in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Connecting the three new ‘POLFAR’ stations will add valuable extra sensitivity to the array. And in particular, the Polish stations give ‘baselines’ of up to 1550 km in the array, making the ILT a much more capable instrument for high resolution imaging of detailed structues. The positions of the new stations also literally provide new angles on ionospheric tomography.
All components for the LOFAR stations, such as the manufacturing of thousands of antenna elements and electronics, are to be contracted out to industry. The construction of the three new stations will start immediately and is estimated to be completed before the end of 2015.
Labels:
ASTRON,
ILT,
Poland,
POLFAR,
radio astronomy,
radio telescope
Double-X-flare
Yesterday morning we were meant to do incoherent scatter radar (ISR) observations of the EISCAT VHF. This was in conjunction with a demonstration/prototype system that is also being tested at the KAIRA site (more on this in a forthcoming article!). Then, in the afternoon, we'd revert to solar observing.
However, due to various issues we ended up postponing the VHF ISR observations to the afternoon. Sure enough during that time there was two X-class solar flares. Yep, not one, but two. After months of radio silence what there the chances (pretty good, it seems!).
In any case we were observing nonetheless and there was a chance we might have seen something in the sidelobes of the tile beams. Sure enough there were several hints of natural emission, which may be from the sun.
However, due to various issues we ended up postponing the VHF ISR observations to the afternoon. Sure enough during that time there was two X-class solar flares. Yep, not one, but two. After months of radio silence what there the chances (pretty good, it seems!).
In any case we were observing nonetheless and there was a chance we might have seen something in the sidelobes of the tile beams. Sure enough there were several hints of natural emission, which may be from the sun.
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Aerial #L21 replaced
At 21:20 EEST, we replaced LBA aerial #L21.
Pikku Malla
Just a nice photograph today. This one was taken by Joona Keskitalo, looking across the shoreline and the frozen surface of Kilpisjärvi. The mountain in the background is Pikku Malla.
Pikku Malla (Photo: J. Keskitalo) |
Monday 9 June 2014
RFI forest
On Friday evening we had an unusual few hours of RFI. The emission was broad band and came as distinct spikes. Normally the RFI situation at KAIRA is pretty good, so this sort of thing came as a bit of a surprise.
Zooming in on the above forest, one can see that the spikes are not regularly spaced and are occurring every 1-2 minutes or so. The spikes are one-sample or less in duration (that is, less than 1 second, which is the sample period we use for these sorts of statistics files).
Looking at a plot to show different frequency information indicates that this is broad band. The following is a median-filtered plot. The noise in the 10-20 MHz range is shotwave radio.
Zooming in on the above forest, one can see that the spikes are not regularly spaced and are occurring every 1-2 minutes or so. The spikes are one-sample or less in duration (that is, less than 1 second, which is the sample period we use for these sorts of statistics files).
Looking at a plot to show different frequency information indicates that this is broad band. The following is a median-filtered plot. The noise in the 10-20 MHz range is shotwave radio.
Sunday 8 June 2014
Using the snowmobile... in June!
This week just gone, we've been extending the reindeer fence... vertically. Due to the depth of the snow in this last season it has been possible for reindeer (and elk!) to get into the KAIRA compound. Therefore, we've gone around the entire perimeter and have added some additional height to all the fence posts. We'll be stringing out some additional wire later.
In order to get this work done, we've brought a snowmobile to the site. Why? Because there was at least a little bit of snow left and any excuse will do to use the observatory snowmobile.
In order to get this work done, we've brought a snowmobile to the site. Why? Because there was at least a little bit of snow left and any excuse will do to use the observatory snowmobile.
The snowmobile arrives (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Loading up the snowmobile and trailer. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Patrolling the perimeter fence. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Friday 6 June 2014
More storm damage revealed
As the snow recedes we are find more and more horrors from the great blizzard of 2014. In addition to destroyed fencing etc., there appears to be a lot of array damage that was hitherto hidden. Perhaps the most surprising was finding a broken staafje (a small white fibreglass rod that joins the S-haakje to the HBA tile cover. The fact that this broke is pretty amazing as they are very strong.
Collapsed cell in Tile H65. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Broken staafje(!) and S-haakje. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Shattered frame on the LBA cable mausoleum. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Collapsed LBA aerial #L05. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Destroyed LBA aerial #L34. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Thursday 5 June 2014
Swimming? Anyone?
Time for a nice photograph. This week we've had Joona Keskitalo on site, which means some good photography is beound to ensue. Joona posted this photograph on Twitter a couple of days ago, but it is so good, we're featuring it today. The shot is taken from the jetty at the shoreline near the Biological Station operated by the University of Helsinki. This is where we stay when working at the KAIRA site. This time last year, the ice had started to break (and yes, we were swimming), but its a bit colder this year... didn't stop some of us from swimming though! (Click on the image to enlarge it.)
The icy surface of Kilpisjärvi (Photo: J. Keskitalo) |
Wednesday 4 June 2014
Snow situation at KAIRA
Hey! We're back on site again. Normally a very joyful occasion (this is, after all, the coolest LOFAR site on the planet), however this time it was marred by the fact that the receding snow is showing up more and more damage from the great blizzard of 2014.
Still, there is a quite a lot of snow to been seen, as these photographs show (taken on the evening of 02-Jun-2014).
Fortunately, with this quantity of snow, there are no mosquitoes... yet.
Still, there is a quite a lot of snow to been seen, as these photographs show (taken on the evening of 02-Jun-2014).
Snow banks along the storage containers. These are over 1,5m tall in places. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Looking out over the lower field. Rivulets of water are everywhere now. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
The gully behind the barracks. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski) |
Fortunately, with this quantity of snow, there are no mosquitoes... yet.
Tuesday 3 June 2014
Visitors from Ettus Research and National Instruments at SGO
Yesterday we had Matt Ettus from Ettus Research and Leif Johansson from National Instruments visiting SGO. We had a one-day meeting on mainly EISCAT_3D and KAIRA related things. Naturally, the scope was in the software radio defined technologies and on how to use them with phased-array systems. Hence, today we feature two photos of the meeting.
Derek McKay (on the right hand-side) presenting KAIRA to Markku Lehtinen (on the left hand-side), Leif Johansson and Matt Ettus. |
Markku Lehtinen and Matt Ettus in front of the 32-metre EISCAT VHF receiver dish in Sodankylä. |
Monday 2 June 2014
SGO history 1944: Lapland War and destroyed Observatory
I was browsing photos of the Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive, a project of the Finnish Defence Forces, and found a set of photos of the Observatory taken by an army photographer 30 October 1944. The photo title given at the sa-kuva.fi site states: “Saksalaiset ovat perääntyessään tuhonneet maailman vanhimman observatorion Sodankylässä täydellisesti.”, i.e “During the withdrawal, the German troops have completely destroyed world’s oldest observatory in Sodankylä”. This was no surprise, as the German troops used the scorched Earth policy during the withdrawal, for example they practically burned all the buildings in Rovaniemi. Hence, Observatory was no exception in this unfortunate war.
It is interesting to read the Observatory annual report of 1944. This document was written by the Observatory Director E. Sucksdorff. According to the report, all the population of Lapland was evacuated during September 1944. The Observatory staff emptied their desks on the 15 September. They took all the recorded data with them, unprinted manuscripts, unfinished studies as well as most important observation and recording devices. The staff and all the material were relocated to Helsinki. However, it was impossible to take everything at short notice and much of the equipment was left behind. Observatory staff wrote notes in Finnish and German, which explained the special purpose of the site and asked that the facility would be left intact. The notes were placed in visible locations, such as on doors etc.
Unfortunately the notes did not help at all and, in practice, the entire Observatory was destroyed. Only an old, and rotten, pilot ball tower (pilotpallotorni in Finnish - for weather balloon experiments, I suppose) and some meteorological observation devices survived. Only ruins were found when Finnish Defence Forces arrived at the Observatory. Among the army personnel, was a photographer, who took some photos of the destruction. Today these photos are publicly available at sa-kuva.fi. This is a pretty unique site to explore the WWII happenings in Finland -- and well worth to visit. Hence, today we feature some photos of the burned Observatory site during the Lapland war year 1944.
It is interesting to read the Observatory annual report of 1944. This document was written by the Observatory Director E. Sucksdorff. According to the report, all the population of Lapland was evacuated during September 1944. The Observatory staff emptied their desks on the 15 September. They took all the recorded data with them, unprinted manuscripts, unfinished studies as well as most important observation and recording devices. The staff and all the material were relocated to Helsinki. However, it was impossible to take everything at short notice and much of the equipment was left behind. Observatory staff wrote notes in Finnish and German, which explained the special purpose of the site and asked that the facility would be left intact. The notes were placed in visible locations, such as on doors etc.
Unfortunately the notes did not help at all and, in practice, the entire Observatory was destroyed. Only an old, and rotten, pilot ball tower (pilotpallotorni in Finnish - for weather balloon experiments, I suppose) and some meteorological observation devices survived. Only ruins were found when Finnish Defence Forces arrived at the Observatory. Among the army personnel, was a photographer, who took some photos of the destruction. Today these photos are publicly available at sa-kuva.fi. This is a pretty unique site to explore the WWII happenings in Finland -- and well worth to visit. Hence, today we feature some photos of the burned Observatory site during the Lapland war year 1944.
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