MANA

NABIIT grants announced

The strategic research council has released the list of funded projects for the August 2007 call (in danish):

Projekttitel: MANA – Monitoring remote environments with Autonomous, reliable sensor-Network based data Acquisition systems (2106-07-0035).
Bevilget beløb: 4.941.546 kr.
Samlet budget: 9,2 mio. kr. Uddannelse af mindst 2 ph.d.ere.indgår i budgettet.
Periode: 2008 – 2011
Bevillingsmodtager: Lektor, Ph.d., Philippe Bonnet, Datalogisk Institut, Københavns Universitet

Projektpartnere: KU, School of Computer Science, Reykjavik University, Arch Rock og Dan-System ApS

Winter trip to Zackenberg

Kirsten Christoffersen will travel to Zackenberg on March 10th until March 25th (if she does not get snowed in). The main goal of this winter trip is to take measurements in the Langemand and Sommerfugl lakes. Kirsten will deploy a buoy and a couple of data loggers inside the lake for testing purposes.

Dan-system delivers test buoy

Ole Guldbrandsen from Dan-System designed and built a test buoy that Kirsten will deploy at Zackenberg during her winter trip (March 10-25). The buoy is equipped with an antenna to test how it resists the polar winter conditions.

Winter Trip to Zackenberg II

Kirsten has now left for Zackenberg. A long trip from Copenhagen with multiple legs to Reykjavik, North Iceland, Greenland and then finally Zackenberg. Kirsten took many kilograms of equipment with her (buoy, manual chlorophyll sensor, light sensors, temp sensors with embedded data loggers) as well as multiple camera, PDA and batteries.

You can follow the climatic conditions online (air temperature, wind).

Looks like it got much warmer these last days (here is the temperature for March 8th):

Motes in Antarctica

Crossbow reports that an expedition from the Chinese Academy of Science has deployed motes in Antarctica
Four motes collect weather parameters (air/snow temperature, humidity, sunlight, air pressure). The four motes are connected to two base stations, one that acts as  a data logger, the other that forwards the collected data to a backend host via satellite. This system is deployed at Dome-A, apparently a much colder place than Zackenberg (-82C low, and -55C average). The lifetime goal is set to 1 year.

We are trying to get more information about packaging and batteries, as it could be relevant for our project.

News story about Kirsten's winter trip to Zackenberg

Hillerøds local newspaper has a story on Kirsten's work at Zackenberg. The article is in danish, but the pictures are a pretty good illustration of the hard work that Kirsten had to do to drill the ice and place the test buoy.

SAON Workshop

Here is the presentation Philippe Bonnet gave at the emerging technology session of the SAON workshop.

August 19 2008

Flight Plan

We are schedule to fly from Copenhagen to Reykjavik (Keflavik international airport). We have a 110 kg of extra luggages (good we shipped 400+ kg in July)... From there we have a flight to Akureyri (the second largest icelandic city in the North of the country) where we are staying overnight (August 18). From there, we are flying to Constable point, the "Greenland Air" hub in North East Greenland (with a dash-8). The trip up the coast to Zackenberg is a couple of hours long with a twin-otter. The actual route depends on the destination of the people who take the plane (with possible stops in Mestervig and Dannebrog). There is no fixed timetable; everything depends on the weather. Indeed, the twin otters cannot fly with instruments; a good visibility is thus required. In addition, the clay runways should be dry to allow take off and landing.

Action at Constable Point

The plane from Zackenberg is delayed because of the fog there. We are stuck at Constable point. After a very good meal (and gratis - in an airport!!) , I work on the user manuals while Kirsten and Anders enjoy the sunshine. Suddenly, airport crew start running with their talkie walkie. An helicopter is hovering over the tarmac. It looks like it is having problems. In fact, the pilot spotted a polar bear on its way to the station and is trying to make the bear change its route. It takes us some time to spot the bear who has been running off to the water. At comfortable distance, it is an amazing sight. Three hours in the arctic, I see my first polar bear.

Watch the pilot telling his story.

Arrival at Zackenberg

We beat the fog and land at Zackenberg at 20:30. Everybody is there to welcome us and help with the luggages. All of our packets made it all the way from Copenhagen to Zackenberg. Intact. We are shown to our quarters: the place looks like a summer house; we each have our room. This is luxury. We get to eat the rest from the week-end's VIP party: muskoxe with Ole's sauce + cake + nougat roulade. Brilliant.

Weather predictions

Henrik tells us that the weather prediction is more of the same fog for wed, thu. Nice weather friday. Storm warning for the week-end. As a result, the helicopter planned for wed (day1) will not be available. Plan A is to get the helicopter thu. Henrik proposes a Plan B, which is to use the boat to sail to Dannebrog and get the buoy+mast. We take no decision. Wait and see.

August 20 2008

Helicopter Story

This is a beautiful day. No fog. Henrik tells us that the helicopter should be able to fly today. We should know more at 3pm. We thus decide to spend the morning at the camp and to go to the lake in the afternoon to find the right spot for the mast, and to guide the helicopter. On our way to the lake, we hear the conversation between Henrik and the GEUS people who are using the helicopter: the helicopter is in the South and it is not likely that it will be able to transport our equipment today. Maybe at 7pm. Another VHF conversation is planned for 5pm. At 5pm, the GEUS people say that the pilot is tired and that he does not want to take off with the windy conditions at Dannebrog. The pilot is scheduled to have a day off on thursday, so Friday would be the next day where the helicopter can transport our stuff. Due to the storm warning for Saturday and Sunday, that is possibly the last chance to use the helicopter. Henrik negociates that it will go to the lake with our equipment first thing in the morning on Friday, i.e., at around 8am. There is nothing we can do about this. I am just happy we still have a chance to use the helicopter. Friday (day 3) will be a long day!!

Boat story

With the risk of the helicopter not flying on Friday, Henrik asks if we are interested in taking some of the stuff (e.g., the buoy) from Dannebrog to Zackenberg by boat. He is sailing there on thursday after dropping off Jacob and Geyrnot at Cavering island. Kirsten and I talk about this, and we decide against taking the buoy to the camp. The rationale is the following. By taking the buoy to Zackenberg on thursday, we have 4 days to bring it up to the lake and install it - regardless of what happens with the helicopter. What we also get is a situation where we need to transport the 40kg+ buoy from Zackenberg to the lake, along a rocky, 5km road. Our decision is thus to bet on the helicopter.

At the lake

The buoy that Kirsten placed in March is still there. It is a bit oblique in the water - probably because it has moved and now touches the ground. We need the boat to get the buoy, we decide to wait until the new buoy is assembled to do so. The shield protecting the WQM sensor will allow the Capoh buoy to function even if it moves and is grounded at the bottom of the lake.

Arctic drilling

The battery based drilling machine that Birger Hansen loaned us works as advertised. We are able to drill a hole in a large stone that will serve as anchor for the buoy (25 cm in diameter, approx. 10 kg). We also drill 1 1/2 holes for the baduljer anchor. A big thanks to Birger Hansen and Mikkel Tarmsdorf!!

Finding the mast position

We spend an hour looking at the stones, trying to find the best location for the base station. We opt quickly for the south of the Langemand lake. To my surprise there is line of sight to the camp - which is only 4 km away. Getting a wifi connection from the mast to the camp should not be too much of a problem!

Lepidimus arcticus

On our way back from the lake, Kirsten stops by vesterportsø to check on the lepidimus. Interesting creatures! Check out the video.

August 21 2008

Morning at the camp

I test the connection between the microserver and the motor control box that Ole has prepared. We use the microserver to generate a 3,3 V, 4mA high, that the control box transforms into a signal with an intensity that is well-suited for the motor. The signal brings the solar panel down in a face down position so that it can resist wind, ice and snow in Winter. When there is enough sun radiation the solar panel starts to generate current, a small part of which is used by the motor to turn the solar panel back to the production position (15 degrees). Based on the numbers from Geobasis (thanks Charlotte!), I decide to program the microserver to generate the signal every evening in the first two weeks of November and every evening from mid-January to mid-March.

Afternoon at the lake

We drill two and half more holes for the guy-wires. We still have four and half holes to drill (guy-wire anchors plus the foot of the mast). We cannot do that with a single battery. Back at the camp, Charlotte suggests that we take a small generator up to the lake. Henrik says that he has a medium-sized generator that we can take.

Evening volleyball

At 10pm, we get to play volleyball in this beautiful landscape.