Modelling activities; chemistry-climate model and obserations

The last report was already the 9th of September where I then indicated that not much had happened since my return from Greenland in July. However, we have now Brian Seok from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at Colorado University, Boulder, visiting me to work together on the use of a column model version of a chemistry-climate model to help interpret all observations at Summit. For Brian, who has a more experimental background, this is a great opportunity to get introduced in the "challenges" of modelling the complex behaviour of chemical compounds in the harsch environment over- and within the Greenland icesheet. Before we can start focussing more on a comparison of the observed and simulated exchange of reactive compounds such as ozone and nitrogen (di)oxides we first need to know that the model is doing a reasonable job on simulating the local meteorology at the site. This is because the chemical processes all strongly depend on many meteorological parameters such as temperature, wind speed and radiation. In the figure you can find one result of the very nice comparison that Brian has been doing last 2 months; it shows a comparison of the measured and simulated net radiation at the surface showing that the model is reasonably well simulating this important parameter that controls the snowpack temperature but also the so-called "photolysis" of chemical compounds like ozone and nitrogen dioxide.

In the near future we will show more results and hope that Brian will soon be able to write a nice publication about these very interesting findings,

Laurens

Time for an update

I have already been back now for about 2 months and have been busy with many other activities but in some month we will have one of the team members from Colorado University, Brian Seok, visiting Wageningen for about half a year. He will get started with the modelling of some of the processes we observe at Summit and so hope to give some more updates on the progress on this in the upcoming months,

Laurens

Back in Kangerlussuaq

It is nine in the morning after an early start to fly back to Kangerlussuaq. Last days I have not given more updates on the work and live at Summit also since it has been quite stormy and because the system that I was supposed to use for additional measurements needs to be fixed. Hopefully, I can get some of the spare parts we need here in the warehouse in Kangerlussuaq. Today I flew in in my private jet; it was the Hercules but because of the high temperatures, making the snow at Summit really heavy they needed the JATO system to take off. These are kind of rockets that give the airplane the extra push to take off at this high altitude with the heavy conditions (so the C-130 being a jet for a short moment). I was also the only passenger going out and so could sit at the flight deck with the pilots having a great view especially flying in to Kanger passing by the mountain ridges quite close. By the way, it was also an expensive flight; they told me that using this JATO system costs about 180.000$! Consequently, they hardly use it and the crew was really happy that they took off without any problems, Maybe later some more updates on the data interpretation of this campaign Laurens

Inspector Clousseau at Summit

4th of July at Summit; all people have the whole weekend off except of us. We went today to the flux site also to find out why some of our instruments have failed. Yesterday afternoon we started another experiment with the "elevator" intented to measure the ozone concentrations at 5 different heights in a cycle of about 5 minutes. Yesterday it was working fine and logging in on the computer from the Big House, it seemed to run without a problem. However, then waking up this morning I found out that the temperature of the engine to move the elevator was 40C; a "little" too high. Coming to the site my suspicion was immediately confirmed; the wire to move the elevator has snapped but how did this happen? Putting all the evidence together, seeing ice formation at the opening of the engine box where the wire goes in and checking the detailed height information file it seemed easy to put the storyline together; elevator moving up, getting stuck, engine warms up, melting snow at the top of box, nighttime cooling results in ice formation, blocks cable, breaks, elevator moving down fast, and at the end ending at the surface; or....?
The next days we have to find out what went wrong and, especially, how we can solve this to get more of these useful measurements the upcoming weeks when one of the Phd students will operate the system.
By the way, you can see from the movie (and read my lips to interpret what I am saying; the wind is too strong to hear it); the conditions are not that optimal for a nice independence day BBQ and I also have to get shaved! Laurens

Another day at Summit

One more week to go; I like it here but also look forward to go back to NL next week; I heard that it is now there about 30C whereas here it is about -10C during the day, the "sense" temperature strongly dependent on the wind speed. Last night the wind picked up making it a little noisy in the tent. Since my watch is not working properly, waking up I guessed it was about 8 in the morning; time to go the site. However, then making it to the "Big house" for breakfast my watch turned out to indicate the right time, 3.30. At some lower latitude, the darkness would clearly indicate that there are some hours to sleep.
So with the winds we have had some accumulation of snow at the site due to snow drift but also had some snowfall. This implies that we soon have to put some of the lowest instruments higher up at the tower. This is also an issue for the different buildings they have here at the site. At one of the pictures below you can see the "Big house" put on poles to have it always above the snow whereas on the left hand side you see the last compartment of the "Greenhouse" where most of the staff sleeps. It got stuck into the snow so deep that they are now already for about 2 weeks moving it completely to a higher point so that it will be not burried into the snow pack for the next years,

Laurens

Summit golf course

Today, sunday, is for most people here a resting day. We actually had to work a little doing some of the daily maintenance on the measurements systems and these sundays are also used to give a guided tour at the flux site to the people that have a day off. All these people help a lot us collecting all the data and it is nice to give some insights what we are doing with all those instruments a little remote from where all the activity is. It was good to have a relaxed day; yesterday I was assigned the task being the mouse of the "big house" which implies that you are helping for one day with all the housekeeping (on a rotation basis) including preparing lunches/diner and, especially, doing a lot of dishwash although I was so lucky that at the moment there are only about 21 people here. In about 2 weeks from now there will be 50 people (including students) here. That's a lot of dishwash.

Today we played some nice golf here at the Summit golfcourse; some people read books, others are computering the whole day, or do skiiing. We decided to play some golf; was real fun!

Laurens

Measurements at Summit

So far I didn't mention that much about the kind of measurements we are doing here at Summit despite the fact that this is the main reason why I am here for about 3 weeks. So, I am here as a Co-PI of an US National Science Foundation project on long term measurements of reactive trace gas exchange between snow and the atmosphere. Despite the fact that I am supposed to contribute to this project doing the modelling work we (me, Detlev Helmig, the late Richard Honrath and other colleagues) felt it was essential to also have me here helping collecting data. I have done this before in the tropical forests of Manaus and it turned out that such a contribution as modeller to the experiments is valuable and highly appreciated for numerous reasons.
Anyhow, we use different systems to measure the fluxes (flow) of reactive gases such as ozone, reactive nitrogen and organic nitrogen between the atmosphere and the snow pack. For example, we measure the concentrations of these gases in and above the snowpack and with different parameters such as wind speed and temperature we can then estimate the flux between the snow and the atmosphere and inside the snow pack.

The actual measurements are not done in the towers themselves but through measuring the air that is pumped all the way through tubes from inlets at the towers to the instruments that are put in a container burried deep into the snow pack. The construction is quite impressive and it has taken a big effort to get this put at this site. It takes about two stairs to make it all the way down into the container (see picture, the door is deep down there).

The container is full with instruments, cilinders (with gases to calibrate the instruments) and computers to monitor and control all these complex instruments. The other picture shows all the tubing behind the instruments. Through all these lines the air with the gases is fed to the instruments,


Laurens

Hercules producing air pollution at Summit

Today I intented to write a short explanation on the kind of measurements we are doing here but the plan has changed. Another C-130 Hercules came in also to bring, as usual, cargo, this time only one passenger and pick up a number of people longing to go home, like our colleague, Claudia. She has been here for about 5 weeks and has done most of the daily/weekly/monthly maintenance tasks alone except of some time together with another colleague, Detlev. She was already some days looking forward to go home. Today she left with 10 others and now we are back to 21 people here at Summit.
The use of these relative old and "smoking" airplanes is actually quite an issue for our measurements. Since we are trying to measure the exchange of chemical compounds for the pristine unpolluted snow-ice sheet of Greenland we don't want to have such a plane effecting the flux measurements. In the movie you can see how the "smoke plume" of the waiting Hercules disperses and passes our flux site on the right hand side.

Because of this pollution problem they are now also considering to actually bring in the cargo and fuel not anymore by plane but using tractors to pull it all the way from Thule (west coast of Greenland) with sleds. They are currently testing if this is feasible but it seems that they are already using this system at Antartica with success.
Laurens

Just some nice pictures

No spectacular news today, just some nice pictures;
One taken at Solstice day (or was that the day before) around 23.45 to the North at the Northern hemisphere

Getting ready to climb the 10m tower (it is really 10m, just looks a little weird with this positioning) to remove the rime and snow from the temperature and ozone sensors. As you see we use security vests,


Laurens

A relaxed sunday at Summit

Most of the people here, doing re-construction of the buildings and other logistical work, and the cooks are off today; they hang around, go skiing (cross country, not so much slope here). Food today is self service; all the leftovers of last week can be tried (again, good food). Today, we actually had to go to the flux site to do again the daily maintenance on the instruments and made some changes to start new experiments. By the way, the reason that we do these measurements; We want to measure some full year of the exchange of reactive gases such as ozone, oxidized nitrogen and organic nitrogen between the atmosphere and the snow-ice sheet. So, they are already running now for one year where we as team members change shifts to secure the measurements being done for a full year. Me being here in June for about 3 weeks gave me the easy shift; today it is sunny and minus 10C, hardly any wind which actually makes it tempting to walk around in a t-shirt. By the way, it is fun to notice here at about 72N that at this solstice day the sun all rotates all around you. I realized this laying down in the tent and making some nice picture of the camp yesterday night around 22.30, Laurens

First day of measurements after a warm night

Today, we (with the colleagues from Michigan Technical University, Louisa and Claudia) went up to the flux site tower, about half a mile south of the base camp also to secure clean conditions, to do the daily/weekly/monthly routines of checking and maintaining the instruments. Some of the tasks are removing the rime and snow from the temperature and ozone sensors but also to check the gas cilinder supply, checking the concentration levels and measuring the height of the instruments above the changing snow surface. Recording of the information from all the instruments, which are all stored in a huge warm shed constructed deep into the snow pack is essential for the later interpretation of all these observations. But it is also updating the logbook with information when we have been at the tower and the exact time when we changed the position of some of the ozone sensors. By the way, sleeping in the tent was not too bad, not cold at all having a sleeping bag for surviving -40C and an extra flee sleeping bag to put inside (but you should only not have a sleeping bag claustrofobia), So far for now,

ciao from a nice sunny and warm Summit (~ -15C), Laurens

We are there: Summit!

So, we just made it with the Hercules to Summit after an initial long waiting time because of overcast/foggy conditions at Summit. Quite an experience such a flight with a Hercules making a hell of a noise seeing all the cables hanging, moving, whatever. Getting out of plane gives an impressive impression suddenly being at the middle of the Greenland icesheet. However, I feel already completely home here with this place so much reminding me of my life, and many visits after that, to Colorado. It smells like Colorado probably because of the home made cookies, having enjoyed a small late lunch consisting of crackers with Brie and some jelly. What they have told me already becomes true; the quality of the food must be quite good here. And the guy in the kitchen, also doing the dishwas, called Commander, just sat down on the sofa playing the guitar playing some Lou reed/blue grass/Colorado style songs (not my favorite ones). This place will for sure all make it a very comfortable stay despite the coldness outside. Tomorrow we will start working at the flux site that we just visited this afternoon after arrival to show it to some reporters. They also made it today to Summit just to get an impression of the work being done here, staying for one hour and then immediately leaving again with the C-130,

here some more impressions, Laurens

By the way, note the telephone book; one book for whole Greenland (picture made at Kanger)

Greenland, desert and independence

Yesterday was an interesting day with some work to be done getting instructions, how to operate some of the measurement systems at Summit, but also having some time for sightseeing. We went with some UK colleagues on a bike-trip to one of the many lakes around here and which also provided a beautiful view over the long fjord here as you can see at the picture. However with all this water and the current warm temperatures here makes the mosquito's being a real nuisance. If you move your are ok but just stopping to watch some locals playing a football match against the local police squad results in a cloud of mosquito's around you in a minute. That makes the difference with the Nevada desert landscape; somehow this landscape and the village reminds me so much of travelling through Nevada with sparse vegetation, lots of dust and "ghost-town" like villages.

I had an interesting discussion with a Danish colleague, Lars, who is here to organize ice core measurements at a site north of Summit. They are currently 400m deep and still have to go another 2km which will take them another ~ 2years. The discussion started on an issue how the chemistry (that we measure at Summit) is also an issue for the interpretation of the composition of the ice cores, in particular that of methane. This is something that I still like to know more about so if somebody happens to have information on this, I would be keen to hear it. The discussion continued on the topic of the link between Greenland and Danmark where there appears to be a lot of debate on the future. Should Greenland become independent or linked to Danmark? It seems to be a very complicated issue including the fact that you could ask if Greenland could actually be independent being so dependent on the support from Danmark with respect to infrastructure. They are considering to establish a large aluminum mine on the east coast but for that they need to bring in a lot of foreign workers to get the work done. There is also many cultural issues reflected by discussions on the main language of the country, Greenlandic (?) or Danish. They apparently changed it to Greenlandic some time ago but then they have a hard time to find qualified teachers. We discussed more but it became apparent that there is still a long and unclear way to go,

Laurens

By the way, for some nice information about the history of Greenland, in particular about the Inuit culture, the Norse (Norge) settlers and Viking period (Eric de Red) and how the Danish made it:
http://www.greenland.com/content/english/tourist/culture/the_history_of_greenland

And a little correction; Kangerlussuaq is located 160km inland at the base of a long fjord.

Laurens

Greenland, really Green

Greenland, a continent that you somehow always associate with complete snow and ice cover but then checking once more detailed maps you see that there is a lot of green areas along the coast and also here now in Kangerlussuaq, a small village situated around a former US airbase at some 50-100km from the coast. I already found a bowling lane and there also seems to be an 18-hole golf course but for the rest there is not much to do here. The airport is not so much affected by the fog found along the coast and that is also why it is one of the main aiports used by Air Greenland. The flight was full with Danish tourists which appeared to be eager to already warm up in the airplane ordering at the same time beer(s), wine and baileys for after the diner. And tax-free shopping at Kangerlussuaq before you enter the arrival hall seems to be also popular; Anyhow an interesting first impression of this culture, a mixture of native people and Danish citizens and then here at the KISS station (Kangerlussuaq international science station) a bunch of Americans responsible for organizing all the logistics for the basecamp at Summit. Thursday a large group will come and then we will make with about 16 colleagues the trip to the middle of ice sheet on friday. Passing over it today already made a big impression!

By the way, will do as of now all updates in English also for my foreign friends and colleagues

Laurens

Een eerste poging om toch nog meer de moderne media te gebruiken zodat ik dan vanaf volgende week, als ik voor 4 weken naar het hoogste punt van Groenland ga voor een meetcampagne, mijn ervaringen, mooie foto's, de reden van het doen van metingen, resultaten, etc, kan delen,

Mogelijk tot de volgende Blog