Site-eye commemorate the official opening of KAIRA

Site-Eye (the company which has been making documentaries and 3D-films about KAIRA have posted a link with the film they made of the official opening of KAIRA. They write:

Never without a camera, or an excuse to use it, Site-Eye Director Brian McClave shot this time-lapse footage during the official opening ceremony of the KAIRA project.The event which took place at the facility in Northern Finland lit by the 24 hour sunshine of summer in the Arctic Circle formally opened the site of the hybrid radio telescope, radar receiver and atmospheric research station.

With the ribbon cut by Lauri Lajunen, Rector of Oulu University, one of KAIRA’s main sponsors, the party of specially invited journalists and scientists then proceeded to the local school hall for a special premier screening of Site-Eye’s ‘KAIRA’ documentary.

The documentary which features interviews with the figures prominent in the building and running of the KAIRA project was shot by Brian and oft-collaborator Gavin Peacock on location in the arctic tundra last year. Including spectacular footage of radar dishes, arctic wilderness and the Aurora Borealis by night, "KAIRA" the Site-Eye made documentary was screened in both 2D and 3D and was rapturously received by the assembled audience. It is next due for an even bigger screening in September. "93 Million Miles" a short film produced from the same material has already gone on to win international awards.
After the screening, in true Finnish tradition many of the party indulged with a swim in the lake followed by a hot sauna, although Brian, put off by the icy lake temperatures and swarms of mosquitos refutes that he took part in any of these festivities.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Link: http://vimeo.com/71085432

ASTRON JIVE daily image

KAIRA has yet again featured on the ASTRON/JIVE daily image. Yesterday, a montage of the official opening was shown, along with a description of the event and thanks to all our friends (especially those from LOFAR/ASTRON who have helped make the project a success so far.

The ASTRON/JIVE daily image provides an update every weekday with highlights related to our field of radio astronomy and the work of ASTRON, JIVE, LOFAR and other related projects. KAIRA has now featured four times on the site:

• 14-Jul-2011
• 20-Jul-2011
• 23-Feb-2012
• 02-Jul-2013.

Note you can also follow the daily image on Twitter: @daily_image

Link:  http://www.astron.nl/dailyimage/index.html?main.php?date=20130702

The view from the front

You may recall the post we made on the official ribbon cutting at the KAIRA opening ceremony. No doubt, you have been to the odd opening ceremony yourself. However, not too many of us have stood out the front, directly involved in the honours.

Well, thanks to the SGO director, Esa Turunen, who happened to have his camera with him during the proceedings, now we all know!

The first photograph was taken looking at fellow VIPs...

Colleagues Lauri Lajunen and Markku Lehtinen (Photo: E. Turunen)

Better still is the photograph taken of all of us, looking on in eager anticipation!

Part of the crowd! (Photo: E. Turunen)

Thanks, Esa, for sharing these great photographs with us all.

KAIRA Barbecue

Yesterday, we reported on the official dinner, photograph and awards. Today... we report on the after-party.  :-)

Of course, there was sauna!

But we also fired up one of the little mökki camp fire huts (ideal for when it is -30 C and paffing-it-down with snow). A perfect way to carry on the celebrations.

The campfire hut (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

There, we all sat around the hearth, exchanging stories, sipping wines and beer and grilling sausages.

Come and join the merry gathering! (Photo: J. Keskitalo)

It just wouldn't be right unless we had sausages.

Alternative Finnish cuisine. (Photo: J. Keskitalo)

The party went on until just after 4 am. Of course, in the meantime, we hiked up a mountain, went swimming in the lake and all the other things too... but that can wait for another time.

Formal photograph and dinner

Yes, I know, we're still chipping through the photographs from the official opening! But there are lots of great shots and the various photographers have continued to send them in for display here. We must have over 1000 now!

After the official site opening, and the cake reception and lectures, the staff of SGO and selected guests were invited to a formal dinner at the Biological Research station. The "Bio.Station" is run by the University of Helsinki, has excellent accommodation, and some of the best food of any observatory or field station I've ever been to.

Before dinner, we had a group photograph...

Staff of SGO and guests. (Photo: E. Turunen)

... then we had the food! MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm. yes, it was every bit as good as we had been looking forward to all day.

After the meal, there were some speeches made by the Rector of Oulu University (Lauri Lajunen) and the Director of SGO (Esa Turunen). As part of these proceedings, there were two special awards made to members of SGO staff for their outstanding contributions to the KAIRA project: one to Markku Lehtinen and the other to Markku Postila.

Then we went back for seconds of food.


And thirds.


And fourths.

Cake

On the day of the official opening, we had a reception at the local school, with coffee and cake. And, oh, what cakes! The first cut was made by René Vermeulen, Director of LOFAR.

All delicious... it wouldn't hurt to have one piece of each, right? (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Foreground: Markku Lehtinen. Background: people going back for seconds. (Photo: E. Turunen)

Seriously, this must have been the best "event cake" I've ever had.

Formal reception

After the official opening, we had a reception at the local Kilpisjärvi School. There was cake and coffee (and more cake!) and a number of speeches and presentations to the gathered crowd. In fact we had so many guests that the only place that could accommodate everyone was the sports all.

Rector of Oulu University, Lauri Lajunen, begins the proceedings.

At the event, we also showed the première of the KAIRA construction film. A 10-min, 3D film describing the facility, the construction and showing some of the spectacular sights of the region. We will be giving a full report on this in another post.

Ribbon cutting

As promised we have a selection of photos that we will be showing from the opening over the course of the next few days. Here was have the actual cutting of the ribbon by University Rector, Lauri Lajunen, who commenced the proceedings with a brief introduction and welcome.

Left-to-right: Markku Lehtinen, Lauri Lajunen and Esa Turunen. (Photo: Th. Ulich)

Then came the critical moment and the ribbon was cut!

The instant that the ribbon was cut, and KAIRA was opened! (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

In fact, the ribbon was cut multiple times, into small pieces, which were given to the distinguished guests and to the representatives of the participating institutes and a symbolic reminder of the project.

First photos from the KAIRA official opening

As you know, today is the official opening of the KAIRA facility. There will be so much to tell and many, many photographs to share from what has been a fantastic day. However, just to whet your appetite, here is a quick selection of a handful of photographs from the site opening. The centre image in the montage is the moment the Rector of Oulu University cut the ribbon and declared the station officially open.

Just a few photographs from the KAIRA Official Opening.
Click to enlarge. (Photos: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Many more to follow... and the day is by no means over yet (formal dinner and party yet to come!).

KAIRA officially opened

The following was issued by University of Oulu, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory

PRESS RELEASE

06 June 2013, 13:00 Finnish Local Time

Finland’s largest radio telescope opened at Kilpisjärvi

The largest radio telescope in Finland has be inaugurated on Thursday 6 June, 2013 13:00 local time at Kilpisjärvi. The instrument is the newly built KAIRA (Kilpisjärvi Imaging Radio Receiver Array) radio observatory. KAIRA has been constructed by Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, which is part of the University of Oulu.

KAIRA is a new generation radio observatory. Research targets include various layers of Earth’s atmosphere and space from near-Earth to deep space.

An important research goal will be the effect of solar activity on atmosphere. For example, KAIRA can be used to study the chemical changes in atmosphere, caused by the electrically charged high energy particles, which precipitate into the atmosphere from space during Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.

Using KAIRA, we can also gain new knowledge about sapce weather, which is driven by solar activity. "The significance of near-Earth space and space weather is increasing in our society. New knowledge helps us to understand these so that we finally will be able to forecast the space weather", tells Director Esa Turunen of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory.

Sudden changes in space weather, caused by the Sun, can damage and even destroy satellites orbiting Earth in the near-Earth space. "For example, satellite navigation such as by GPS, is increasing all the time and will fail at times when space weather causes unexpected disturbances in the satellite signals. And space weather has other harmful effects on human technology, too." continues Turunen.

Research of Earth’s atmosphere and near-Earth space was conducted  at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (SGO) since the beginning of the 20th century. Finland maintains a leading position in certain areas of radio science. Scientists at SGO have for example developed revolutionary new methods for measuring the near-Earth space using high power radars.

KAIRA is related to the EISCAT radar facility in Northern Fenno-Scandinavia, being able to receive signals from the EISCAT main transmitter, which is located in Tromso, Norway 80 km from KAIRA. KAIRA is used to develop the proposed new generation radar facility EISCAT_3D.


KAIRA: Scientific background and technical description

KAIRA has been built to conduct vital research into the upper atmosphere and to maintain Finland's position internationally as a leading nation in radio science. Locally, this facility represents an important investment in high-technology in northern Finland.

KAIRA is a new-generation radio observatory. Instead of traditional metal parabolic antennas, KAIRA uses a combination of aerials and flat-panel antennas together with sophisticated digital signal processing technology. KAIRA has more than 1500 individual antennas. By using electronic steering, it is possible for the instrument to change the direction it is "looking" in a tiny fraction of a second. Additionally, the digital signal processing allows it to look in multiple directions at once. In fact, it is possible to view the entire sky instantaneously.

KAIRA can act as either a stand-alone passive receiver, as a receiver for the EISCAT VHF incoherent scatter radar in Tromsø, or for use in conjunction with other Fenno-Scandinavian VHF experiments. In additional to being a powerful observing instrument in its own right, KAIRA will act as a pathfinder for technologies to be used in the proposed EISCAT_3D radar system. When EISCAT_3D radar is realized, it will be world’s most advanced high-power radar for upper atmospheric and near-Earth space research.

Globally corresponding facilites can be found in Europe at the LOFAR-network, which includes 44 stations in various countries, as well as in USA and Australia. LOFAR and KAIRA are different compared to most radio telescopes of the world, by their use of fairly long-wavelength HF and VHF radio waves, which have wavelengths from meters to tens of meters. More commonly, radio telscopes use shorter wavelengths. For example the Metsähovi radio telscope in Southern Finland observes cm and mm wavelengths.

Siginificant investement by University of Oulu

KAIRA is the largest individual instrument investment in the 100-year long history of SGO. The University of Oulu funded KAIRA as university infrastructure by a 475 875 EUR share and SGO  invested 418 625 EUR. Support by EU through the European Regional Development Fund,  coordinated by the Regional Council of Lapland, was 320 000 EUR and Sodankylä Municipality supported construction by 50 000 EUR. The overall cost was 1.263 MEUR.

”The goal of University of Oulu is to be a strong international research-oriented university. Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory represents the top research of the university at its best. SGO conducts internationally high-level basic research, which is seen to lead to direct practical applications”,  says the Rector of University Lauri Lajunen.

Rector Lajunen inaugurated KAIRA on 6 June 2013 at 13:00 at Kilpisjärvi. During the same day KAIRA is presenting to the public in an open ceremony at 15:00.

Information

Finnish:   Esa Turunen, Director, Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory
English:   Derek McKay-Bukowski, KAIRA Observer-in-Charge

E-mail:    firstname.lastname'at'sgo.fi

Preparing for the official reception

We've just got back from the local school, where the official reception will be held later today. Only a few hours to go!

The excellent local facilities. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

First of the press arrive

We are attracting quite a lot of media attention. Apart from phone/radio interviews, we've had the first direct visits to the site. Here, reporters from the Finnish national public broadcaster arrive at the site.

One of the Yle vehicles in front of the KAIRA LBA (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

KAIRA inauguration tomorrow

Tomorrow, we will formally open the KAIRA facility. As you might imagine, there will be lots of news from this, so we will be posting new images and pictures a lot during the remainder of this week. Be sure to check the web log often!

KAIRA Inauguration Programme.

Opening display

In exactly one week from today, KAIRA will be formally opened. Although we have been operating for some time now, all the auxiliary tasks have now been completed and routine operations are now, just that. The event has been timed to exploit the hot Arctic summer, and provide a lead-in to the 100th anniversary of Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. There are lots of preparations to be done, but also a few interesting things along the way which we'll be sharing.

Today's offering is from a new all-sky display that will feature at the opening ceremony.

The radio sky image is the one that is already familiar to our readers; it often appears on the right-hand side and updates every ten minutes or so. It shows the radio intensity across the sky in false colour. However the foreground of this display is a fish-eye view of the KAIRA site.

Imagine lying on the HBA array, looking up, with full hemispheric vision. Then this is the surrounding landscape you would see. North to the top, East to the right. Saana is to the lower left, the VHF is aligned with the tile join, off to the top right. The panorama was made from a series of images taken by Thomas Ulich a while back. We stitched approx. 40 individual frames together to get the landscape panorama, which was then projected and overlaid over the incoming all-sky images.

The final display has more to it than this, but we're saving that for the opening! It updates continuously, providing a dynamic display of the invisible radio universe overhead.