OPERATIONS

Wayne Newcomb

SSAI/NASA/AERONET

Overview

• Total Instruments in the Federation• Instrument count through time• Transmission Errors• Cimel Errors• AERONET Calibration Facility• Dear Wayne• The Calibration Process• So you are stuck being a site manager • #159• A Site Manager Who Cares

Total Instruments in the Federation

8:00 am May 3rd, 2004 • AERONET 89• PHOTON 38• OTHERS 109• TOTAL 236

Instruments Through TimeNumber of Instruments with Data Stored Through Time

19

30

5057

8186

115

126

158

177

191

219223

0

50

100

150

200

250

May-90 Jan-93 Oct-95 Jul-98 Apr-01 Jan-04 Oct-06

Time

Nu

mb

er o

f In

stru

men

ts w

ith

Dat

a S

tore

d

Number of Instruments (Month Sum)

Number of Instruments (Year Sum)

Grand Total: 236

Total Instruments at GSFC

• TOTAL 45• Standard 28• SWIR 4• Polar 6• SeaPRISM 2• Master 4 • Master SWIR 1

Ownership:• AERONET 25• OTHERS 20

Total Instruments in Federation

• Cal at least 12 months old 45• On the way to GSFC 7• On the way to the field 6

Transmission Errors

Platform Instruments• GOES 83• METEOSAT 52• GMS 11

Total 146• Problems 41

• Missing Messages

• Time Incorrect

Cimel Errors

Instruments• Total 146• Errors 42

• Robot 36• Filter wheel 6

AERONET Calibration FacilityJanuary – December 2003

• 130 Cimels for calibration, re-calibration, or repair

• 120 Cimel calibrations or re-calibrations • 14 New standard instruments • 13 Extended wavelength instruments • 13 Deployments of Master Instruments to

MLO

Dear Wayne

I hope this message finds you and your family well.

If you receive our Cimel unit for calibration next week, when might you expect to be able to ship it back to us?

We have a field campaign beginning next week in …..

The Calibration Process

• Inter-calibrated as received from the field• Performance and data quality are evaluated• Needed maintenance is performed• Filters are replaced if needed• Inter-calibration is repeated• Overall performance is evaluated and

instrument is declared “Field Ready”

So you are stuck being a site manager

Do not worry, it’s automatic.

It says so on the box!

So you are stuck being a site manager

The CE 318 automatic tracking photometer

has been designed and realized to be a very

accurate sun photometer with all the qualities

of a field instrument: motorized, portable,

autonomous (solar powered) and automatic!

So you are stuck being a site manager

The Cimel sunphotometer (CSPOT) is a multi-channel, automatic sun-and-sky scanning radiometer that measures the direct solar irradiance and sky radiance at the Earth's surface. Measurements are taken at pre-determined discrete wavelengths in the visible and near-IR parts of the spectrum to determine atmospheric transmission and scattering properties. This instrument is weather-proof and requires little maintenance during periods of adverse weather conditions. It takes measurements only during daylight hours (sun above horizon).

No More Contact Required#159 – BAHRAIN – DON’T APPRECIATE RUDE NOTES!!

DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS SYSTEM ANYMORE!!!

SYSTEM HAS NOT OPERATED PROPERLY SINCE INSTALLED!!!

WAS TOLD IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS MAINTENANCE FREE!!!

RAPIDLY BECAME MY BIGGEST HEADACHE!!!

REQUEST YOU SEND SOMEONE TO FIX/DEINSTALL OR MOVE TO A LOCATION WHERE PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN BABYSIT THIS MAINTENANCE FREE SYSTEM!!!

NO MORE CONTACT REQUIRED!!!

THANK YOUAGC(SW) WILLIS

A Site Manager Who Cares

• Milking the web site for information• We must have help from a pro-active Site

Manager

• Daily Issues• Transmissions and their size• Errors, Batteries, and Spider Webs

A Site Manager Who Cares

• Weekly Maintenance• Clocks, Corrosion, Collecting Data

• Swapouts• AERONET sites are sent “swapouts” to prevent

data gaps

A Site Manager Who Cares

• Contact with Mt. AERONET• Automatic emails• Webcam• User Groups• Chat Rooms• FAQs