We are on board the MIRAI for one week already. My expectations were that we set up the customized EM27 Sun Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer of André Butz’s group of the University of Heidelberg, adjust the settings, wait for the sun to come, and document its performance. How contrary the reality was: First, vibrations from the ship’s diesel engine disturbed the interferograms of the spectrometer. We could minimize this via anti-vibrations mats. Then, a storm with high waves and rain kept me awake the whole night not only because of feeling slightly seasick, but also because of my worries for the instrument: Do the metal pole and the tension belts with which the instrument box was fixed last (Picture 1)? Is everything really waterproof?
The next morning was beautifully sunny. The instrument was covered with sea salt and organic deposits but seems to be ok. Then the shock, there was a small layer of water on the floor inside the box!! Luckily, it turned out that nothing else got wet. The water likely entered through the covered ventilation holes which seems not perfectly protect against splashing water from below. Hopefully, additional tapes around gaps will minimize the amount of moisture getting inside.
Switching on the power of the spectrometer, all functions were working normal! But for further operational measurements we need to optimize the settings for the tracker. The tracker has to compensate the vibrations of the diesel engine and the movements of the ship so that the sun always keeps centered over the instrument’s aperture. But if there is no sun, only clouds, even snow, or too high waves? That means: waiting…. and set up screen and cables as soon as the sun appears and start a new measurement again.
For the long waiting times, I have set myself a personal challenge: learning to play Ukulele. I never had a string instrument in my hand before…. Maybe, if I can find the right tone, I can summon more sunshine while singing “Where is the sunshine, the lovely sunshine…” I hope, my room mates forgive me the wrong tones.
(Astrid)