So the second deployment of NASA’s Atmospheric Tomography Mission is underway. My colleague, Agnieszka, is flying the first half, down the Pacific, and I’m to meet the plane and take over in Christchurch, New Zealand. Rather than head home to Boulder for the 3 days, and then back to LA (where the mission departs from… More A Brief Pause in New Zealand
Our second test flight was a 7 hour excursion south over the pacific. It’s good to do longer test flights as some potential instrument issues could only show u after a longer time in flight. We set off at 9am, which mean pre-flight from 6am, relatively civilized as out pre-flights tend to go. It was… More And the Science Begins!
We came back to Armstrong this week knowing we had a fair bit to accomplish, but feeling that on the whole things were going well and we had a plan to fix what we needed to. 7am on Sunday we re-installed a replacement drier for the one that had broken and caused us so much… More Sometimes, things have to get worse before they get better
Just before the winter break, Chuck, our advisor, and Frank, our engineer, came down to NASA Armstrong and physically installed our instrument rack on the DC8 ready for the second deployment of the ATom mission. Then first thing in January Agnieszka, my colleague, and I came down to test everything out and do the first… More Here we go again – getting ready for ATom 2!
Last summer, during the research flights for the ATom Mission, I caught a cold, which, combined with a 9 hour flight of constant ascents and descents, caused by ears to be unable to equalize. This was not only painful, but quite dangerous, as there was a risk of my ear drums bursting. I ended up grounded… More The things we do for science
So we’re about to ship instruments back to NASA Armstrong to upload for ATom2, our second set of round-the-world flights, taking off in January. You may be wondering what we do in between missions, so here is a little summary of how we’ve been keeping busy between ATom 1 and 2. First off, as soon… More The space between
I recently came across an article in adventure journal entitled “The Outdoor Industry is more Inclusive than you think” by Paddy O’Connell, and it made me think. Both in the realm of science and that of adventure sports there is a lot to say about how they are still dominated by white men from privileged backgrounds.… More Science can be more inclusive than you think
This post is a guest post from my colleague Caroline (Carrie) Womack. Carrie studies how aerosol interact with light at NOAA ESRL. She got her PhD in chemistry at the University of Chicago, and is one of my ski/adventure buddies here in Colorado! A certain type of news headline… More Setting Stuff on Fire for Science
Last week I attended a conference of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry project (IGAC) in Breckenridge, a mountain here in Colorado. Conferences are great times to reflect on the larger questions in my research field, meet other scientists, get feedback on my work and generally feel inspired. Conferences come in all shapes and size, from the… More Atmospheric Chemists in the Mountains
Moving to new cities, or often new countries, is almost part of the job for many in research and academia. With frequent moves, lots of travel for work and devoting a lot of one’s time and energy to work, it is easy to feel a little disconnected from the places and societies in which we live. My latest… More A Sense of Place