Photo (left): Scott Sandberg of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration/Environmental Technology Laboratory washing dirt off the top of the high resolution Doppler lidar van, to lighten solar heat loading and to tidy the scene for a possible U.S. Department of Energy film crew visit in early July. Other snapshots from the Ron Brown

Commentary:

We saw our last land for 8 days about noon today en route to the tropical atmospheric ocean buoy nominally at 2 S, 165 E, but actually at 1 - 55.8 S, 164 - 23.4 E. Many flying fish were seen today, prompting the ship to cast out trolling lines. Last night's attempts at high-frequency radio communications were marginally successful with Mirai, unsuccessful with Nauru. We may try different times and/or frequencies tonight. Everyone's spirits seem to be soaring as we approach the first mission milestone with sensors in good shape, stomachs settled, and glorious weather.

Visual Observations:

Glassy seas, no wind. Beautiful weather with small marine boundary layer cumuli and higher patchy cirrus.

Instrument Status:

The C-band radar is operating again after repairing the coupling between pedastal drive motors and az-el gear boxes. We set up a VHF aircraft radio, high wattage base unit, on the bridge in preparation for Cessna flights tomorrow when we arrive at the buoy, ETA 0500 Z (1700 local time).

Previous Days' Updates:

June 21, 1999
June 20, 1999
June 19, 1999
June 18, 1999
June 17, 1999
June 16, 1999
June 15, 1999
June 14, 1999
June 10, 1999

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