The Nauru99 campaign began in earnest this week, with the ARM, Mirai, and Ron Brown crews moving from the set-up to the operational phase of the experiment.

DOE’s ARM/Nauru Site
The ARM Nauru site crew began the first day of operations on June 18 in good spirits, enjoying a visit by many from the Mirai. In turn, the ARM staff visited and toured the Mirai the morning of June 19 and were very impressed. The last of the remaining three site crew members arrived June 20.

Despite problems with high-frequency communications with the Ron Brown and the Mirai, the site crew called the Ron Brown via Inmarsat to agree on a time for the radiosonde (an instrumented balloon) launch. All standard site instruments were functioning properly with the exception of the whole sky imager, which needed a replacement part.

NOAA’s Ronald H. Brown
The majority of this week aboard the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown brought overcast skies and angry seas with waves estimated in meters in height. The weather on June 18 was so rough it impeded the ship's progress towards Nauru and the Mirai. The rough weather also caused seasickness among the crew, which lasted most of the week.

Radio communications presented major challenges for the Ron Brown. On June 18, the ship attempted two-way radio communications with both the Mirai and DOE/ARM/Nauru but was only marginally successful. June 20 brought them better luck with two-way communications between the Ron Brown and Nauru. Unfortunately, the Ron Brown heard the Mirai and not vice versa.

After traveling from the Coral Sea to the Solomon Sea via the Jomard Passage, the Ron Brown saw land for the last time June 22 as it began its 8-day voyage to the tropical atmospheric ocean buoy. Everyone's spirits were soaring as they approached the first mission milestone with sensors in good shape, stomachs finally settled, and glorious weather.

JAMSTEC Mirai
The Mirai arrived at Nauru on June 17 and anchored close to the island -- so close, in fact, that the ship’s correspondent could easily see people working at the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site on shore. The next day, government officials from Nauru came aboard for a tour, and Mirai staff visited the DOE/ARM site. Scientists also were able to intercompare readings from similar instruments.

The night of June 19, the Mirai set sail for the equator and its position during the “large triangle” phase of the Nauru99 campaign. Fine weather and good sea conditions met the ship’s scientists and crew when they arrived at their coordinates on June 20, and they settled into the routine of monitoring instruments and launching radiosondes.

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