My name is Michael Szocik and I have been interning at the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences with several students under the supervision of Professor Nilton Renno. When I first started interning, I was not sure how involved I would be with the projects; whether I would simply be doing grunt work like delivering coffee and typing up written documents, or if I was going to head my own research project. What ended up happening was a bit of both, but not because I was an intern; rather because those were the things that needed to be done.
One of the more interesting projects that I have worked on was traveling to Nevada with another intern on a field campaign to collect data on dust devils with our two types of electric field sensors. Then we were to compare our data with a group from France who had two other types of sensors. Originally, the plan was to have Professor Renno or one of his students supervise us during the field campaign, but what actually ended up happening was much different. At the last minute we were told that we would be the only people traveling to Nevada, excluding the French group. That put a whole new level of pressure on us.
As soon as we arrived, things started to go wrong. The 111lb bag which carried most of our equipment would not fit properly into Pierre-yve's car and we spent around 20 minutes re-aranging everything. When we finally got to the hotel, it was around noon and we were told that we would be leaving for El Dorado Canyon as soon as possible to begin collecting data.
After a long day of frustration trying to set up the tower to hold the equipment, we went back to the hotel with little to no data. Determined to get our work done, we went out the next day, certain that we would start collecting data and we were lucky enough to do so!
On Mars, dust devils can be miles high and highly electrified, therefore the data we took in Nevada is extremely useful in helping understand Martian dust devils. Alongside the electric field sensors, we attached a sonic anemometer which measured wind speed and a Prandtl probe which took atmospheric measurements such as pressure and temperature. Because the wind and dust pick up was sporadic, the French group created several "artificial dust devils" by driving their car about 100meters in front of the sensors to pick up large amounts of dust, resulting in readings as high as 50,000V/m.
After two days of collecting data in the hot dusty weather, we were finally done and could head back with about a handful of dust in our lungs. It was an experience of a lifetime and I am thankful to the AOSS department for allowing me to participate!
1 Comment:
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August 11, 2011 at 7:19 PM
fantastic post! keep up the good work, draco!
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