BARREL Daily Update Feb 5th 2014

Hi all, 

It looks like we have a CME on the way! It should hit us on Feb 8th, right before the high speed stream should hit. This weekend could be very very exciting! 

We have an update as to when the teams will be leaving the ice and the last possible launch dates. SANAE is leaving around Feb. 9th so their last possible launch date is Feb. 9th. Halley is leaving a bit later but has to have all the gear on the flight line by Feb. 15th, so their last launch date is Feb. 15th. 

We have been having trouble connecting to payload 2F but have hopes that after a reset it will start talking again. This takes about 5 hours. However since we've been having trouble communicating it, it may have already self terminated and thus be on the ground. If so we'll add it to the ephemeral BARREL ground magnetometer array, and if it's still afloat, hopefully it'll be able to see the stuff expected to hit us this weekend! 

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -4. C
Wind speed: 12 knots but declining as the afternoon continues

Halley 6: 
Temp.: -11.5 C
Wind speed: 10 knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2B, 2E, 2F
Halley 6:  2O, 2P, 2Q

Payloads coming down:
2A , 2F?

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

An EMIC wave last night, but nothing today.  

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, but thee were some dropouts/structure. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 399.3 km/s 

Solar proton density: 1.2 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 183

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 80% and a 50% chance of an X class flare.  

There is a coronal hole about half way across the Sun. It should be reading us on Feb. 9th. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =0 with a 24 max of kp = 1

Bz = 10.7 north

Btotal = 11. nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: quiet

Dst: quiet.

From the ice: An Update from Robyn, Feb 4th.

No launches again today due to high surface winds. Payload 2A was terminated at 1730 UT.  For those of you who haven't seen it, here's a link to an article about BARREL on the NASA website. There is also a video that Alexa put together. I can't view it myself but have heard it's great!

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-funded-science-balloons-launch-in-antarctica/

Also, some of you have been asking about our travel plans. Our SANAE team leaves around February 9th. They'll fly to Novo and then on to Cape Town from there. The Halley team will board the ship somewhere between February 17 - 20 and will sail to the Falkland Islands. We expect to depart from the Falklands on March 1st to return via South America. As such, the last possible launch date for the SANAE team is February 9th and the Halley team a few days later (we have to have our cargo on the line by February 15th at the latest). Although we've now launched 20 balloons, we'd very much like to replace the two that came down shortly after launch. So, each team hopes to be able to launch one more before departing. So far, surface conditions do not look great for the next few days. We have a possible launch opportunity from both stations tomorrow.


Robyn

BARREL Daily Update Feb. 4th 2014

Hi all, 

Things look hopeful on the Sun, We just need something to start happening at the Earth. Sunspot 1967 had a bunch more M-class flares, but no word on any CMEs from them. The sunspot right behind it, 1968, although not as complex produced a M class flare that has a CME directed towards us. We're still waiting on the modeling to determine when it may hit. 

We have the Coronal Hole which produced the large solar wind speeds back onto the sun. Last time it was around there was primarily Northward Bz, but one can always hope that this has changed. It is expected to hit us on Feb. 9th. Lets hope we still have some payloads up for it! 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -9. C

Wind speed: 18 knots

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -13.4 C

Wind speed: 16 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E, 2F

Halley 6:  2O, 2P, 2Q

Payloads coming down:

2A is at a very low altitude and will likely be terminated in the next couple of days. 2F, and 2Q We've lost contact with them but hope to regain it before they self terminate. 

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

some EMIC waves throughout yesterday and a nice bright short one this morning. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, but thee were some dropouts/structure. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 347.0 km/s 

Solar proton density: 2.5 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 168

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 80% and a 50% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no large coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun, but one is starting to peak around. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 2

Bz = 0.5 north

Btotal = 8.0 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: quiet

Dst: quiet.

BARREL Daily Update Feb 3rd 2014

Hi all, 

2L was cutdown last night. It had already been a bit low but started dropping suddenly and unexpectedly. 

The CME which was expected to hit on Feb. 2nd may or may not have arrived yet. There was definitely a bit of an increase and some compressions late last night. However some sources are saying that it won't be here until Feb. 4th now. 

That CME came/is coming from sunspot 1967 which NOAA is now giving a 50% chance of producing a X-class flare and a 80% chance of producing a M-class flare. It is now geo-effective, so lets hope for the X-flare and a huge CME to follow. We've had lots and lots of M-class flares over the last 24-48 hours. Hopefully this is a good sign that we'll have some geomagnetic activity soon. 

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -10. C
Wind speed: 13 knots

Halley 6: 
Temp.: -15.7 C
Wind speed: 12 knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E, 2F
Halley 6:  2O, 2P, 2Q

Payloads coming down:
2L

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

some nice EMIC wave activity with the late arrival of the CME. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, but thee were some dropouts/structure. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels but there were some dropouts from the start of the SI

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 365.6 km/s 

Solar proton density: 4.2 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 163

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 80% and a 50% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no large coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun, but one is starting to peak around. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =2 with a 24 max of kp = 2

Bz = 3.1 north

Btotal = 6.4 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: quiet

Dst: quiet.

BARREL Daily Update: Feb. 2nd 2014

Hi all, 

There was a planned power outage at UCSC where our soc is held. It was not suppose to affect our room, but did. We have a backup power system for these situations which gave us time, with some great quick work from our team, to move the payloads to the Dartmouth backup soc. The payloads are back up on the UCSC soc. It may take some time for the CDF files to be updates with the data that was housed at Dartmouth. 2L will be at the Dartmouth soc this morning and  moved back to UCSC this afternoon. 

Yesterday we also had the launch of payload 2F. It stayed down at the Halley Soc until it was transferred to UCSC. Halley launched 2Q today so we have another large array of balloons up. 2A, 2B, and 2L are all getting lower in altitude but are staying stable so far. 

There have been a few more flares, hopefully some more activity will follow. 

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -11. C
Wind speed: 12 knots

Halley 6: Their computer is down. 
Temp.: ? C
Wind speed: ? knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E, 2F
Halley 6:  2L, 2O, 2P, 2Q

Payloads coming down:

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

A nice EMIC eve last night at about 22:00 UT 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels, but thee were some dropouts/structure. 

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels but there were some dropouts from the start of the SI

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 391.6 km/s 

Solar proton density: 1.1 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 147

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 75% and a 15% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no large coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =0 with a 24 max of kp = 3

Bz = 2.6 north

Btotal = 3.2 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: some small activity

Dst: quiet.

BARREL Daily Update Feb 1st 2014

Hi all, 

There was another couple of flares last night. They appear to potentially be more geo-effective than the first but we need to see more modeling to be sure about this. NOAA has upped the possibility of an X-class flare from 10%  to 15%. All of these occurred from sunspot 1967 and it's still growing in complexity! Yay! Even more good news is that it appears that a Sunspot off the Easter limb (not yet in view of the Earth) is also flaring with large M class flares. Hopefully this will also continue as it moves into view and begins to become geo-effective throughout the next week or two (depending on how far back around the Sun it is). Currently Enlil is predicting that the Jan 30 CME will hit us on the morning of Feb. 2nd. It doesn't appear to have updated yet to include the two latest solar events. 

I think our not looking at the Sun worked, lets not watch it for the rest of the weekend and hopefully next week will be even more exciting! 

SANAE is hoping to have a launch today, but the winds are still expected to be strong at Halley. The winds should die down at Halley as the day continues so we're hoping that they'll be able to launch on Sunday. 

Ground Weather:
SANAE IV: 
Temp.: -10. C
Wind speed: 5 knots

Halley 6: 
Temp.: ? C
Wind speed: ? knots 

Payloads up: 
SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E
Halley 6:  2L, 2O, 2P

Payloads coming down:

Collection times for EFW:  

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

2014-02-02

A: 13:30 - 20:20

2014-02-03

B: 12:45 - 19:45

2014-02-05

A:13:15 - 18:59

A: 19:10 - 20:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

very quiet, but perhaps a very small very faint very narrowed band EMIC wave at about 06:00 UT. 

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 335.6 km/s 

Solar proton density: 3.2 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 87

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 60% and a 15% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 1

Bz = 0.7 north

Btotal = 2.9 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: some small activity

Dst: very quiet.

Make sure to back up your computer!

BARREL Daily Update Jan 31st 2014

Hi all, 

There was a large(ish) flare that occurred right as the lunar transit ended. It also happened to produce an asymmetric halo CME which we should see a glancing blow on Feb 2nd. This flare came from our favorite sunspot 1967. 

If you look at the wind maps you can see that they are becoming a bit more chaotic. 2L has taken an interesting path and may start going around Antarctica again. 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -10. C

Wind speed: 6 knots

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -7.2 C

Wind speed: 15 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B, 2E

Halley 6:  2L, 2O, 2P

Payloads coming down:

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

very quiet

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 331.4 km/s 

Solar proton density: 0.8 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 112

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 60% and a 10% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =1 with a 24 max of kp = 1

Bz = 0.2 south

Btotal = 5.1 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: some small activity

Dst: quiet.

From the ice: While the rest of us have freezing cold Weather...

The guys from the ice sent us a nice post card... It reminds me of growing up in WI. 

From Robyn, "Day after day, the sky has been white here lately. When the rest of your surroundings are also white, it can be a bit dull and dreary. Today, the sun came out finally, and we made the most of it! The clouds rolled in by the time we took the picture but it was quite lovely. With no wind, -7C doesn't feel too bad!"

To be fair, -7 C is 19 F. It's still pretty cold.

BARREL Daily Update Jan 30 2014

Hi all, 

2P was launched today from Halley. We're hoping that we'll have another launch from SANAE soon. 2P is our 15th launch for the campaign (not including 2Z and 2J which were recovered shortly after their launches). We hope to have 5 more launched this year.

Our faithful sunspot 1967 has become more complex gaining a delta configuration. Delta configurations are the ones that we want, they tend to produce the larger flares and CMES. Now lets just hope that it holds off on erupting until it becomes geo-effective. It has also been spouting off some C and M class flares. 

There was a CME from the other side of the sun, but this appears that very little of the CME is likely to graze us. NOAA is not increasing the likely hood of geomagnetic activity from this event yet. 

There are three other numbered sunspots regions on the disk besides these two active ones. They are all stable or decaying, so lets hope for more decay and possibly more active regions! 

Ground Weather:

SANAE IV: 

Temp.: -10. C

Wind speed: 3 knots

Halley 6: 

Temp.: -11.9 C

Wind speed: 1 knots 

Payloads up: 

SANAE IV: 2A, 2B

Halley 6:  2L, 2O, 2P

Payloads coming down:

Collection times for EFW:  

2013-01-06 (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:40-21:30   (6h 10m)

B: 17:30-19:30  (2h)

20:30-23:00 (2h 30m)

2013-01-07 (A quite west, B very west of stations)

A: 19:00-21:00  (2h)

22:30-23:59  (1h 30m)

B: 20:45-21:45  (1h)

00:45Jan8-02:00Jan8  (2h 15m)

2013-01-09  (A just to West, B quite a ways to West)

A: 15:15-21:15 (at 16k)  (6h)      

B: 17:30-20:30 (at 16k)  (3h)

     20:33-24:00 (at 4k)   (3.5hrs)

2013-01-10 (west of stations)

A: 18:00-01:00(jan11)

B: 20:00-03:00(jan11)

2013-01-11

B: 14:45-21:00

2013-01-12

A: 14:40-21:30

B: 17:00-24:00

2014-01-15

 A: 14:30-21:30

2014-01-22

A: 2014-01-22/17:15 - 23:59:59

2014-01-23

B: 2014-01-23/15:00 - 22:00

2014-01-28

A: 19:30 - 23:59

2014:01-29

B: 17:20 - 22:30

2014-01-30

A: 13:40 - 20:40

2014-01-31

A: 16:40 - 23:40 

B: 12:30 - 19:30

Halley Bay Search Coil Magnetometer :

Some broad band activity this morning, but no EMIC waves

GOES Electron Flux:

The electron levels have stayed at moderate levels.

GOES Proton Flux:

The proton levels are at moderate levels. 

Space Weather from Spaceweather.com and SWPC.noaa.gov 

Solar wind speed: 362.0 km/s 

Solar proton density: 0.9 cm^(-3)  

Sun spot number: 96

NOAA has the likelihood of a M class flare at 60% and a 10% chance of an X class flare.  

There are currently no coronal holes observed on the Earthward side of the Sun. 

Kp is quiet 

kp =0 with a 24 max of kp = 3

Bz = 1.3 north

Btotal = 4.7 nT  

From Kyoto:

AE: some small activity

Dst: quiet... but today it has reached -18 nT. I know nothing right? better than yesterday... Hopefully this trend will continue and pick up the pace.