The large-scale triangle portion of the Nauru99 campaign was fully deployed this week as the NOAA ship Ron Brown and the JAMSTEC ship Mirai held their positions at -2S, 165E and the equator, 165E, respectively. The DOE/ARM site on Nauru began coordinating measurement flights over the area, and all three groups took measurements in parallel.

DOE’s ARM/Nauru Site
The first in a series of Cessna flights to obtain in-air measurements began this week as part of the large triangle phase of the Nauru99 campaign. The Cessna is owned by the University of Flinders.

The Nauru99 science plan calls for the aircraft to make flights over the island of Nauru to help map out albedo and heat dome characteristics. On the second circumnavigation of these large triangle flights, a profile will be taken at about 1 kilometer near each ship so that shipboard measurements can be compared. Each profile takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

Three-way radio communication was finally established between the DOE/ARM/Nauru site, the Mirai, and the Ron Brown so that the Cessna’s arrival times could be estimated over each ship.

A film crew from New Zealand visited DOE/ARM Nauru on June 28. They spent a day filming and conducting interviews with scientists. They also filmed an interview with Bill Clements, ARM Tropical Western Pacific Site Scientist, and Nauru President Harris. President Harris expressed pleasure with the Nauru99 campaign and offered his assistance.

NOAA’s Ronald H. Brown
On June 24, the NOAA ship Ron Brown reached its "large triangle" position 100-200 m from the tropical atmospheric ocean (TAO) buoy where it will remain stationary for the next 7 days.

By early this week, the crew began settling into a comfortable routine, which included attempts to improve instrument performance, and morning meetings to go over plans, weather forecasts, satellite overflights, and request ship support. And the crew enjoyed the University of Flinders' Cessna 404 flybys.

On June 30, the ship will depart their present location, leaving the friendly dolphins who come close to the ship, and steam to the Ron Brown's "small triangle" position 20 km southwest of Nauru.

JAMSTEC Mirai
Activity on the Mirai mirrored the Ron Brown. Crews settled into a routine and everyone looked forward to the flybys of the Cessna. Crew members sponsored a competition to see who could get the best picture of the airplane. On Monday, the pilot dropped an Atlas buoy cable, which will be used to gather additional data, near the ship.

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