Photo (left): Hans Verlinde of Pennsylvania State University working on the C-band radar's remote display and control computers deep in the bowels of the ship, far from the radar itself. Hans will be working with the Mirai and Nauru to identify storm cells for study, and to direct the Cessna 404. Other snapshots from the Ron Brown

Commentary:

We arrived at the Ron Brown's "small triangle" location at about 0915 local time this morning, 2115 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on June 30. Nauru Island is clearly visible about 10 miles away, rising 200 feet from the sea. With binoculars we see buildings, roads, and ships.

The Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud Station 2 staff on the island can see only the ship's large round radome, affectionately called Neptune's Doorknob, due to the earth's curvature. High-frequency communications are solid with Nauru, but very high frequency does not work at all. We both have concerns about communicating with the Mirai tonight on any frequency; they are 50 km away from both of us, a distance bad for both line of sight and ionospheric skip.

The weather is not cooperating (i.e., not producing good storms for dual Doppler observations, our primary goal for the "small triangle" configuration). No RHIB (small boat) runs to Nauru today, but they will begin tomorrow. A New Zealand film crew will come aboard and live with us for one day, starting tomorrow.

Visual Observations:

It was another fair day with moderate breezes, popcorn cumuli, and a few whitecaps.

Instrument Status:

No changes. All is well.

Previous Days' Updates:

June 30, 1999
June 29, 1999
June 28, 1999
June 27, 1999
June 26, 1999
June 25, 1999
June 24, 1999
June 23, 1999
June 22, 1999
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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