AURORA deployment in Iceland

After successful testing of the AURORA at the University of Leeds farm, the next stage of its journey to Greenland is a longer term deployment in Iceland. So, in early June we  packed up all of our equipment and sent it on its way! The GAMB2LE team were not far behind, ready for a busy couple of weeks in Iceland. For this deployment, the AURORA is based at a site on the Snaefellsnes peninsular in the west of Iceland. This site is operated by our collaborators, Menapia, who are responsible for the drone operations as part of the GAMB2LE project. 

Once we, and our equipment, had safely arrived on site, it was time to unpack and crack on! Our first task was to begin to set up the solar panels that power the AURORA.  The use of renewable power for a system like the AURORA is an innovative approach that not only allows for remote deployment, but also reduced the environmental impact of our work. However, it isn't without challenges. Larger instruments such as the radar and microwave radiometer are power hungry, so a large array of solar panels and batteries are required which adds size and complexity to the system. The power system must also be able to survive in extreme conditions, both in Iceland and ultimately in Greenland. This site is one of the windiest locations in Iceland, with wind speeds of up to 135 mph possible, so securing the solar panels well is essential! Iceland is also particuarly cloudy, with cloud cover around 75% of the year on the Snaefellsnes Peninsular, so managing the power requirements of the instruments whilst ensuring battery levels do not drop critically low during times where solar polar is limited requires careful planning. 

The next step was to build the instrument platforms and mount the instruments. All the instruments are raised off the ground on frames, to ensure that they are not buried in snow (in Greenland) or investigated by curious sheep or foxes (in Iceland). The radar and HATPRO weigh around 100 and 180 kg each,  so we lifted them on to their frames with a portable gantry crane. A nervewracking experience for all but thankfully everything went smoothly, our practice back in Leeds paid off! As well as the large remote sensing instruments, we installed a suite of ground based meteorological instruments, radiation sensors, an all sky camera and webcams to monitor the system.  

At the heart of the AURORA are two electronics enclosures, which can be thought of as the 'brains' of the system: the AURORA Power System (APS) and one for the AURORA Science System (ASS). These two linked systems manage and distribute power and control the instruments, communication and data transfer. 

Once the instruments and the APS and ASS were in position it was time to plug everything in. After so much hard work, it is always a tense moment when it comes to turning everything on for the first time. Will everything work as expected? Have all the instruments survived their journey from Leeds? Luckily for us, after some minor troubleshooting everything switched on and began logging data. 

Seeing everything up and running in Iceland was a proud moment for the whole team, we are excited to see how the AURORA performs over winter! 

Check out live data and images here: https://data.gamb2le.co.uk/