KAIRA & Kiitos!

The KAIRA project has been running for some time now and, like most major scientific instruments, there has been a peer-reviewed reference paper produced which describes the facility, its technical capabilities, its scientific goals and the initial results. We have written this paper and it has been accepted by the journal IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

TITLE:     KAIRA: the Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array -- system overview and first results

ABSTRACT:  The Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array (KAIRA) is a dual array of omnidirectional VHF radio antennas located near Kilpisjärvi, Finland. It is operated by the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. It makes extensive use of the proven LOFAR antenna and digital signal-processing hardware, and can act as a stand-alone passive receiver, as a receiver for the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) very high frequency (VHF) incoherent scatter radar in Tromsø, or for use in conjunction with other Fenno-Scandinavian VHF experiments. In addition to being a powerful observing instrument in its own right, KAIRA will act as a pathfinder for technologies to be used in the planned EISCAT_3D phased-array incoherent scatter radar system and participate in very long baseline interferometry experiments. This paper gives an overview of KAIRA, its principal hardware and software components, and its main science objectives. We demonstrate the applicability of the radio astronomy technology to our geoscience application. Furthermore, we present a selection of results from the commissioning phase of this new radio observatory.

DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2014.2342252

With the publication of this paper, we regard the build and commissioning phase of the KAIRA facility as being complete. As a result, the time has come to close the KAIRA web log, which was written for the purposes of reporting on the build of the instrument. The first post was written on Wednesday 30-Jun-2010 and, today Friday 12-Sep-12104, we have the last.

To all our readers over the years, thank you so much for your support, comments and attention. It has been great fun writing for you and, as our web counters indicate, it has been very popular. We have covered so many topics, ranging from the technical, to the tragic, to the humerous, and the downright bizarre. And, it has been a tough project, with real blood, sweat and tears. Yet, it has all been worth it.

Even though this web log will now halt, it will remain in place for future reference. For those who still want to read about KAIRA, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, and Arctic Finland, the story continues on the SGO web log.


However, we will now close here with thanks. In Finnish, of course...

Kiitos!

Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory blog

There is a new web log. At the end of August, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory general web log was started. It is being led by established KAIRA author Lassi Roininen and will feature others from the observatory, much more generally than what we have done here. The new site continues along the same path as our KAIRA web log, but the idea is to cover more widely the Observatory activities, including published papers, conference and workshop announcements, reporting on campaigns and extensive research visits, installation of new instruments etc.. Posts will be mostly in English, but with occasional content in Finnish and other languages too. We will also use this new web log for reporting sudden onset events. Naturally, there will also have been some more casual matters from time to time, including anecdotes about life at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, the University of Oulu and various other things that form the Lapland experience in Arctic Finland.

So, for all regular readers here, do go an check the new SGO we blog at: blog.sgo.fi

Meet the press

We had a visit from a reporter this week, to interview some of the staff about KAIRA, the Centre of Excellence for Inverse Problems, EISCAT and the general operations of Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. So, reporting on the reporting, today we have a photograph of just that!

Lassi and Esa being photographed in front of the 32m dish.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Operaatio kakku -- part 2

Yesterday we described the great cake exercise, which was an attempt to have an excuse to engage in conversation with our colleagues from FMI.

Well, the cakes were all completed successfully. They were:

1. Date cake with caramel sauce
2. Sea buckthorn roullade
3. Raisin, lavender and honey roullade
4. Lemon drizzle cake

Cakes #2 (back left), #3 (front) and #4 (back right)

Cleaning up didn't take too long and the cakes were carefully transported to Polaria on the morning of 15 July 2014 (an historical occasion!). The timing was pretty good. FMI had a visiting campaign team there, so we had ample cake for everyone and to spare! So, we've had cake for the next couple of breaks as well.

The remnants of Cakes #1 and #4.

Was it a success? Most definitely. We've now established some sort of rapport to the point where (occasionally) eye-contact is made and even a murmured "hei" (*gasp*). Of course, the first comments from our own staff on returning to SGO were "Ooo... cake... great!... what's the occasion?" and, after the explanation, this was promptly followed by "What! Who authorised that?". Probably in jest, but who knows... in any case, I regard the operation as successful and will continue to extend the welcome to all our colleagues from FMI (not just to come and talk to us at morning coffee at Polaria, but also afternoon coffee at Polaria, and afternoon tea and high-tea at the EISCAT building).

What I want to know, though, is what FMI thought of all this!

Helicopter at Polaria

Being in the Arctic, we do occasionally get the odd vehicle parked outside the main building. Sometimes tractors, often off-road 4x4 vehicles, occasionally snow-mobiles.

But yesterday the carpark had a different vehicular visitor!

Look what's parked out the front of Polaria! (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

I'd be nervous flying so close to those trees! (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Cool, eh? (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The helicopter is here for an FMI experiment. The payload is a series of chemical sensors which are being used to monitor gas species in the atmosphere.

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.

The tower and meteorological observation devices were the
only untouched instruments at the site. Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Source: SA-kuva

Tähtelä Seminar

Yesterday, Dr. Simo Ali-Löytty from Tampere University of Technology/ Dept. of Mathematics gave a seminar talk as a base for discussion on possible joint research activities in the future.
He described the research done by his research group, Personal Positioning Algorithms Research Group at Department of Mathematics. After his talk we had a joint discussion on ionospheric effects on navigation and possible interests for joint research projects.

Simo Ali-Löytty from Tampere University of Technology (Photo: E. Turunen)

Spring

Today's photo was from a couple of days ago. Spring is well and truly here now. The snow is starting to melt and there are great pools of water everywhere.

The 32m dish, reflected in rain splattered puddles. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The road to Tähtelä

Just to give everyone an idea of snow conditions at the main institute at Tähtelä these days, today's photograph shows the main road just before the turn-off.

Just shy of the turning to SGO. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Yes, there is still plenty of snow around but it is melting quickly. Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory is much further south than the KAIRA site, so the conditions here are a lot clearer... unlike the snowy landscape that we saw in Lassi's photographs from the week just gone.

Rescue vehicle at Polaria

Yesterday, on arrival at Polaria for morning coffee, I found a fire engine parked outside the main institute building. No, no fire... just a training course.

Fire engine outside of Polaria (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Rescue Service, Lapland (D. McKay-Bukowski)

Just to be clear, they were training us about fire safety, not we training them about geophysics. (Although that's an interesting idea...)

EISCAT dish at Sodankylä

Today's Friday Photograph is of the EISCAT dish at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. As you can see, there is still plenty of snow about... even at the beginning of May.

The 32m EISCAT dish at SGO. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Snow again

Yesterday it started snowing again at Sodankylä... no summer just yet!

Snow at the EISCAT dish at Sodankylä on 29-Apr-2014. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Sunshine!

Yesterday we had some sunshine at the institute. This is actually quite unusual for this year as, apart from the darkness, it has been cloudy nearly no stop since October. So, a bit of sunshine features as today's Friday photograph. The photo was taken by Lassi in the early afternoon.

Sunshine at the EISCAT Building and 32m antenna. (Photo: L. Roininen)

Have a nice weekend!

Breakfast at Tähtelä

Busy week this week. So we had a working breakfast in the conference room in the Sodankylä EISCAT building.

Juha, Mikko and Lassi in the EISCAT-building at SGO. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Glimmer of sunlight

Yesterday I caught a glimmer of sunlight. With kaamos and the overcast skies, this has been the first hint of sunshine for 2014. Admitedly it was not direct sunlight into my own eyes, but it was definitely striking the 32m EISCAT dish at Sodankylä.

A hint of sunlight on the EISCAT 32m dish at SGO. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Layer-upon-layer

We've had a bit of warm (-5 to 0 deg C) weather at SGO recently. This has led to some rather odd snow effects... typically the sort you only see in late spring. This one in particular caught my attention though. It was just outside the main institute building (Polaria) on one of the benches.

Layers of snow on a park bench (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The layering looks quite geological!

Through the archives

Yesterday we showed the records of the first geomagnetic measurements made at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO). These were from the archive kept in the observatory library. Today, we have some more photographs from the visit to the archive.

Jyrki Manninen and Esa Turunen looking through
the archives (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Current director, Esa Turunen, with the very first
geomagnetic measurement (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Locking away the archives for another
100 years (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

100 years of measuring the geomagnetic field

Today, 1st January 2014, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO) celebrates 100 years of  official geomagnetic measurements.

Yesterday at the observatory, we went down to the archives to take a look at those very first measurements. Well, here they are:

The original measurement records from SGO.
29-Dec-1913 - 01-Jan-1914 (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Current director, Esa Turunen, inspecting the original measurement
records from the archive. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The oldest routine task of SGO is the regular measurement of the Earth's magnetic field. These measurements began on 1st January 1914 and continue until today. The only gap in the time series is between 16th September 1944 and 1st January 1947 due to the destruction of the observatory during the Lapland War.

The magnetic measurement huts (Image: SGO)

The analogue La Cour instrument was in operation until 31st December 1995. Nowadays digital data is produced in the variation room of the observatory by a Polish torsion photoelectric magnetometer (TPM), a Russian TPM magnetometer and a Danish fluxgate magnetometer (FGE). Weekly measurements of the absolute magnetic field provide the base line control.


LINK

Sodankylän geofysiikan observatorio 100v.

Harking back to our celebrations of the 100-years of Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, science journalist Jari Mäkinen presents a short video on Tiedetuubi. The text is in Finnish, but there is a lot to see of the host Observatory at Sodankylä. To quote from the Tiedetuubi website...

Sodankylän geofysiikan observatorio vietti syyskuun lopussa 100-vuotisjuhliaan ja Tiedetuubi kävi paikalla paitsi juhlimassa, niin myös tutkimassa mitä Sodankylässä oikein tehdään ja mitä sadan vuoden aikana on tapahtunut.

Visit their website here:   http://tiedetuubi.fi/?q=node/572

Frozen Kitinen

This week we have a guest photo, kindly provided by our recent KAIRA observer:

It's Photo Friday! 

The frozen river at SGO. (Photo: P. Martin)

Enjoy your weekend.   :)

Text & image credit: P. Martin