AURORA development in the workshop

The first few months of 2026 have been extremely busy for the whole team as we work on building the AURORA platform. There are two main parts to the AURORA: the power system and the science system. The renewable power system consists of 16 solar panels, 20 batteries and hundreds of metres of cables. At the heart of it all is the APS, the 'brains' of the system, which controls and monitors battery charging and power distribution. The AURORA science system consists of a multitude of instruments, including the larger remote sensing instruments (Radar, Microwave radiometer and ceilometer) as well as in-situ instruments such as radation sensors, meteorological sensors and cameras. The science system controls the instruments and ensures data is collected and transferred to data storage and our data viewer. 

Check out our latest video with more information about  development of these systems from Heather, Michael and Alex:

As well as the instruments and electronics, the physical structure of the AURORA requires careful thought. We need a platform that can easily be installed in the field, with a small number of people, and that isn't too heavy and bulky to allow it to be transportable. Not only that, but in Greenland we expect significant snowfall, and drifting snow, so instruments need to be mounted high enough that won't be completely buried by the end of the season. We expect less snow in Iceland, but winds of up to 100 km/h are common. This presents a challenge: how do we get a 150 kg instrument on a frame 1.5 m high, in the field? How do we ensure the structure is strong enough to survive whatever conditions it might experience?  How do we stop our solar panels blowing away?! We eventually decided on structures made of aluminium t-slot profiles, this modular system is strong but light and easy to put up and take down.  Check out our next blog post for more photos once our first test deployment is underway at the University of Leeds farm.