ARVTP and cake

2008-02-16 20:42:18.000 – Steve Welsh,  IT Observer

Sunset

Today we finally cleared out of the freezing fog and, although it was still cold and breezy, Ryan and I decided to hike down to the 5300 foot ARVTP site which had stopped working early this week. So what is an ARVTP site? ARVTP stands for Auto Road Vertical Temperature Profile, it’s basically a remote sensor site which records temperature data along the auto road, the results of which are relayed back to the summit via radio waves where they can be seen on our website. The ARVTP sites are all powered by batteries which are charged by solar panels. Anyway, the 5300 foot site failed a few days ago so we set of to try and find out why. The hike down was easy enough and quite pleasant when you weren’t walking directly into the wind. Once at the site we discovered the problem wasn’t due to iced up solar panels but rather to snow which had worked its way into the “sealed” battery box. So for now the 5300 foot site is still off the air. It goes to show how hard it is to operate any kind of equipment in this environment – high winds, blowing snow, rime ice and cold will destroy any type of electronic equipment given half a chance.

The hike back up was much harder as Ryan set off like a Whippet and being somewhat older I felt a little winded by the time we got back. I kept thinking of the cake I’d seen the volunteer’s bake earlier. I certainly deserve a large slice today!

We had another great sunset this evening that was also enjoyed by a visiting edutrip. Hopefully tomorrow’s sunrise will be just as good. Got to go now as the cake is calling me.

Steve Welsh,  IT Observer