KAIRA in the snow

Today we just have a photograph of KAIRA in the snowy conditions typical for the early part of the year. After all the trauma of last couple of weeks, let's hope things remain calm now.

KAIRA in the snow (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snowverhang

Depending on the prevailing wind, snow and temperature conditions, it is possible to get some interesting effects with the ice along the KAIRA HBA tile edges. Today's photograph shows such an effect.

Snowverhang on the KAIRA HBA. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Although the effect can be seen in the foreground, it was most pronounced further into the snow corridor. (Click on the image for an enlargement.). At the furthest point, the snow was 90 cm overhanging the edge of the HBA tiles.

Note also the way the snow post at the front corner is bending under the snow loading. This is not much, but it does show a general trend of the ice to move across the surface of the HBA array.

Reindeer high-pass filter

In places around the KAIRA site, the snow has been sufficiently deep that it renders the reindeer fence useless. There are now at least three places where the land dips, but the snow surface remains constant. Thus, the fence (which follows the terrain) dips under the snow surface.

Snow-covered reindeer fence... mind the gap! (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Incidentally, we've now seen elk foot prints inside the KAIRA site compound.

Air-conditioning fixes

Recently we've had some problems with the KAIRA RF-container air-conditioning again. The problem this time has been that the refrigerant has been too cold and has lost pressure. This has taken a little while to resolve, but we now have fixed the problem. This has been done by heating the airconditioner!

Yes, that's right, we have put in a heating coil which is variably heated according to temperature. Thus, in the bitterly cold winter nights, this coil warms up sufficiently to keep the partial pressure of the refrigerant at sufficiently high pressure to allow the compressor to continue working. It is a tough fix to make, but we hope to have improved reliability again.

Servicing the air-con unit at KAIRA. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Toivo explains the changes and the new heating system. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

KAIRA site conditions

Friday again... times for some more photographs. Today, we have the KAIRA site conditions taken on 05-Feb-2014.

Snow around the LBA cable mausoleum. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

KAIRA's LBA field in the snow. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snow banks around the site driveway and storage. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snowy slopes

It is Friday again, so time for a photograph. Today's is of the snowy slopes of Pikku Malla, not far from the KAIRA site.

The slopes near Pikku Malla (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

KAIRA frozen

Yes, it is the Arctic, but for the most part, KAIRA copes with the cold. Having a lot of warm signal processing electronics and computers keeps the inside of the RF container pretty toasty. However, in the early hours of this morning, we came unstuck.

Due to a computer failure, we scheduled a 5 minute UPS power cycle to reset the station. In the end the outage lasted a total of 7 minutes. Following the re-establishment of power, we did not recover the cooling system. Our suspicion (although we are still working on testing and checking this is that during the outage, the load on the air-conditioning dropped, thus allowing the low outside temperatures (approx. -35 deg C) to adversely drop the pressure of the refrigerant. This caused an air-conditioning failure.

Outside temperatures. The UPS was shutdown at approx. 0400 on 20-Jan-2014.

The irony is that, when the power was re-established, the internal computing and electronics overheated. Made even worse by the near-zero humidity, giving little heat transfer capacity to cycling air. The final error message before the system self-shutdown to protect itself indicated an internal temperature of 35 deg C... some 70 deg C greater than the outside ambient!

Within an hour of this shutdown, the temperature will have plummeted again.

We have checked the site today, but there is not a lot we can do without major work. Our best chance is actually to wait for some forecast warm weather ("warm" means > -25 deg C), which is expected later this week.

In the meantime we are off air awaiting the better conditions.

Such are the hazards of Arctic operation.

Wild west

This is what the wild west looks like in Lapland...

Elk skull in the snow at Lampivaara (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Well, it is actually just a photograph for Friday. Have a good weekend everyone!

Heavy snow

We've had some pretty heavy snow here in the last couple of days. It took a while to dig the car out this morning and the ploughs have been running non-stop up and down the roads around Tähtelä all morning. The trees are pretty heavily laden too and, as the wind is picking up a bit, it is advisable not to walk under them!

Snow laden tree near Lampivaara (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Beyond the wire

Today's icy photograph is taken on the landscape beyond the KAIRA reindeer fence.

The world beyond the wire (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snow driving

Normally, we show winter photographs during the daytime... well, er, at least during the midday twilight, for what it is worth. However, as you might imagine, much of the time is dark and snow and poor visibility. That can be tricky to photograph. However, today we've something that looks a bit more typical.

A more typical view of the KAIRA site in winter. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Actually, on this particular occasion, we managed to get the vehicle stranded. The snow was soft and when we had trouble starting it, we over spun the wheels, which dug down and left the vehicle stranded on a mini-snow-hill.

It took about 3 hours to dig it out.     :-P

Snowscape at KAIRA

Today's photograph is of the snow and ice at the KAIRA High-Band Antenna array.

Snow and ice. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

LBA at noon

Today's photograph of the KAIRA LBA was taken recently. The kaamos noon twilight is always a beautiful time of day.

The KAIRA LBA field. (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a lovely, peaceful solstice!

Winter reindeer fence

Just a poignant Friday photograph of the frosty landscape in the depths of winter. This shot is looking across to the reindeer fence along the southern edge of the KAIRA site.

The KAIRA reindeer fence (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Normally the fence does a good job of preventing the reindeer from getting in (we know they like to use the HBA array!). But we suspect that some reindeer fly around this time of year. Let's see how we manage at keeping them out this yuletide!

Winter trees

It must be tough being a tree up here at Kilpisjärvi. Dark, cold and windswept. Today's photograph is of a couple of birch trees on the KAIRA site, taken during the midday twilight.

Trees at the KAIRA site during kaamos (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Heatwave predicted

Weather alert for Sodankylä! There is a major heat wave predicted for Thursday. The temperature is expected to soar by over 30 deg C above the current temperatures. In fact, it may even go into the positives on Thursday!

I wonder if we can expect ice cream, barbecues, and people sunning themselves in their swimwear on the river bank. After all the sun will graze above the horizon for an hour or so at Sodankylä, which is not yet in kaamos.

Under the lamp-post

Another snowy scene today. Arriving back at the Biological Station the other night, the piles of snow and the ploughing around the car park caught my attention and have become the photograph for today.

Entrance to the Biological Station (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

LBAs in the snow

Friday again! And time for a nice photograph. This photograph was taken about a week ago, showing the Low-Band Antenna aerials in the snow. The time of day was midday, but we were already in kaamos (= polar night) by that stage, hence the twilit landscape.

KAIRA LBA aerials in the snow (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Ice column

In rock formations, when a stalactite meets a stalagmite it forms a rock column. But what about ice? Well most people know that an icicle is the ice equivalent of a stalactite. However, I've not been able to find out if there is an equivalent term for the stalagmite, but made of ice.

However, we did have an ice column form at KAIRA. There was a water trail off the air-conditioning cowling which has frozen into a solid column. And today's photograph is of this.

A long thin ice column (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

Snow loading

We've had some pretty heavy snowfalls recently. This puts a lot of weight on structures, including the buildings. It also causes some interesting effects on the roof edges. Today's photographs show what happened at the Biological Station (which is where we have our accommodation for KAIRA).

Heavy snowfall overflowing the roofline (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The same view, seen from the inside (Photo: D. McKay-Bukowski)

The depth on the roof was probably somewhere between 50 and 60 cm and the weight and slope had caused it to flow over the edge. However, the ice/snow mix had not broken, resulting in a curtain of white which was well over a metre long at its longest point.