Station Eiði: check!

Thomas setting anchors for the filter sampler box in a light snow shower

Yesterday we managed to set up the mechanical parts of the first BLM station, which is the wind vane / optical particle counter mast and the filter sampler box. During that time, we had five times snow and two times rain, but sun in between. Anyway, the locals call that a ‘great and pleasant weather’. The people of the nearby marine station helped us with tools and advice for anchoring – many thanks for that!

Today, we finally connect the electrics and setup the electronics, which takes again all the day of work. Some things still need to be fixed, for example, the mast can rotate too easily, but in principle, the station started recording and transmitting data.

Ready to go: the meteorological sensor in the top of the mast records temperature, humidity, pressure, windspeed, precipitation, solar radiation, and approximate aerosol concentrations. The optical particle counters in the box below measure aerosol size distributions, while the automated filter changer in the steel box collects the aerosol particles for later analysis.
First interested visitors to our station

While we are finalizing the station setup, already the first science-interested parties show up and inspect the station for their potential use – that’s really fast publicity!