Your second field correspondent has made it to the Maldives (but is very tired). I arrived in Male about 8 a.m. today, and immediately got immersed in DYNAMO. While Gan Island is the supersite for DYNAMO observations including the great density of atmospheric instruments that Daehyun has previously discussed, atmospheric balloon launches are also being conducted on Male, the capital of the Maldives. Male is in the northern Maldives, and Gan is across the equator in the far south. The Maldivian Meteorological Service (MMS) is only a 5 minute walk from the airport terminal in Male, an impressive modern facility.
At MMS, I visited Colorado State University graduate student Todd Jones, who is aiding in balloon launches during the early part of the DYNAMO experiment. While I was there, Todd and a colleague from Taiwan were trying to correct a problematic receiver that was causing the vertical profile of temperature, humidity, and other data from the balloons to be gappy. They set up a new receiver when I was there.
Look who got to launch the 10:30 a.m. balloon after all was fixed (wearing the same clothes I had been for 40+ hours). This is right before I got on my flight to Gan Island (where I will spend the next couple of weeks).
The DYNAMO scientists in Male have been complaining about the very dry and boring conditions in the northern part of the Maldives during DYNAMO, and have even actually been excited just to see an occasional cloud. Part of this boredom might be due to both the climatological position of tropical precipitation shifting south of the equator during October, and the suppressed phase of the MJO the Maldives have experienced during the last couple of weeks. We did see one cloud when I visited MMS (below). It appears to have formed over a smoke plume that was occurring due to brush clearing or some other man-made burning.
At MMS, I visited Colorado State University graduate student Todd Jones, who is aiding in balloon launches during the early part of the DYNAMO experiment. While I was there, Todd and a colleague from Taiwan were trying to correct a problematic receiver that was causing the vertical profile of temperature, humidity, and other data from the balloons to be gappy. They set up a new receiver when I was there.
Look who got to launch the 10:30 a.m. balloon after all was fixed (wearing the same clothes I had been for 40+ hours). This is right before I got on my flight to Gan Island (where I will spend the next couple of weeks).
The DYNAMO scientists in Male have been complaining about the very dry and boring conditions in the northern part of the Maldives during DYNAMO, and have even actually been excited just to see an occasional cloud. Part of this boredom might be due to both the climatological position of tropical precipitation shifting south of the equator during October, and the suppressed phase of the MJO the Maldives have experienced during the last couple of weeks. We did see one cloud when I visited MMS (below). It appears to have formed over a smoke plume that was occurring due to brush clearing or some other man-made burning.
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