Perdigão 2017 - Campaign Blog

Diary of events for DLR research group at Perdigão campaign, April-June 2017

20 June 2017

  • Chau, Perdigão!
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19 June 2017

  • Last teardown for us at the Orange Site.
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17 June 2017

  • We are wrapping it up and moving the lidars back to the operation center.
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16 June 2017

  • To get through with our workload today but not burn in the ridiculous temperatures that we were facing the last couple of days (>40°C), we are on site at 06:00am to move the MWR from its location in the far West to the lower Orange Site, just next to the instrument from the University of Oklahoma.
  • Before noon, we have finished our work, including the packing of two lidars in their transport cases to be ready for the pickup tomorrow morning.
  • At night, we picnic with our friends from Colorado and our NE ridge lidar to say farewell to this great spot.
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15 June 2017

  • This is officially the last day of the IOP @ Perdigão 2017.
  • Martin and Lothar are back in Perdigão and do another calibration of the MWR this morning.
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  • 18:00 UTC is the time for the last regular radiosonde launch. Time for group pictures.
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  • This video is my thanks to everyone involved in the Perdigão experiment:

14 June 2017

  • Since the campaign is almost over, the groups with scanning lidars in the valley will want to do a comparison of all their instruments, and therefor all shoot close to the highest sonic anemometer on the 100 m tower in the valley for at least twelve hours. We appreciate this tree's cooperation to let us see the sonic anemometer with lidar DLR86.
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13 June 2017

  • Fun times with our friends from the University of Colorado.
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12 June 2017

  • The first instruments, i.e. our microphones, are teared down...
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  • By the way, today (12 June) has been the hottest day of the campaign so far: n.a.
  • Some quicklooks were not designed for this: n.a.
  • In the evening, Arthur gets to launch his first radiosonde! n.a.

11 June 2017

  • I finally got my shot of the CU TLS, including the "pirates"! When I got there at 07:30 am, they already have three hours of work behind them...

09 June 2017

  • Arthur and Philipp are spending long days in the heat of Perdigão to capture the wind turbine noises:
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07 June 2017

  • WAKES!?
  • The CU team was flying their tethered lifting system (TLS) in the morning and spotted a little bubble in our lidar quicklook, which can be nicely correlated to their TLS flight. It is very likely that we measured the wake of the TLS here!
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  • In the night we had a BBQ at our place with the CU team.

05 June 2017

  • Monsanto! A place worth visiting:
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03 June 2017

  • As if by magic, lidar DLR85 and DLR89 were swapped today. At sunsest, both lidars are already back up and running. DLR89 provides the high resolution wind data of the wind turbine wake and valley flow that we were missing for two weeks! And after some focus readjustments, DLR85 will provide reasonable data below 1000m, which is maybe enough for the SW site.
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  • A huge thanks to Ludovic and Ed, who started the discussion about the possibility of a swap today and Jessica, Nicola, Patrick and Robert who all volunteered to help. The team spirit in Perdigão is amazing!

02 June 2017

  • After two days of leaving me in the believe that another site visit from Leosphere will fix the problems with our lidar DLR85, Leosphere writes me an email late Friday afternoon, stating that they have decided to not make another attempt to fix the system in the field. We should send the device back to the factory.
    This leaves me no time to react before the weekend, discuss their decision or arrange alternative options. Great move Leosphere!
  • In order to still make the best out of the remaining campaign days, I am now considering to swap DLR89 and DLR85, since the measurements on the SW ridge do not need that much range and can maybe be performed with the defective system. Since I need the help of the municipality to move the 250kg devices, this will not happen before Tuesday.
  • Let's talk science: The CU team was flying their tethered lifting system this morning and detected a gentle warm air jet from the west, that can also be seen in our wind speed measurements (on the right are temperature measurements from the TLS):
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31 May 2017

  • Stéphane from Leosphere is trying to repair our lidar
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  • After the repair, things are worse than before... CNR has dramatically decreased compared to before the repair and the only chance to still measure something is to switch to the 400ns pulse. The screenshot shows the CNR of DLR85 with 400ns pulse, compared to the CNRs of the other lidars with 100ns pulse. It also shows how I feel about it.
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30 May 2017

  • We are getting quicker and quicker with the radiosonde launch routine.
  • After the launch, the fog comes crawling back into the valley.
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27 May 2017

  • The TV-report that was shot yesterday morning has already been braodcast last night on national television RTP. Not only our lidar, but also our quickplots made it to the report:
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  • The full video can be found here (minute 16:00).

26 May 2017

  • Another early morning with radiosonde launch. This time, no lightning, but fog and SW winds await us.
  • 07:00 UTC
  • 07:30 UTC
  • Still before lunch, Portugal's minister for science and technology visits the site, together with a representative of the German and the Danish embassy. Again, our lidar on the SW ridge gets some attention.
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25 May 2017

  • Ops Center impression
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  • Doing the 6:00 UTC readiosonde launch, we realized first that much of the network was down due to lightning strikes closeby. Thanks to NCAR, DTU and our support, everything was back up before noon.
  • When it's too hot for science, it is time for side projects.
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24 May 2017

  • Thanks to Nikola and Robert from DTU, all the sonic anemometers on the towers are now mapped. They also measured the position of our lidars with a higher precision than we could!
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  • Bad news from Leosphere is that our lidar DLR85 will not be repaired before mid of next week. With the higher power pulse and longer accumulation time I can at least get a bit more data out of it until then...
  • In the night, a huge thunderstorm develops South of our site and moves towards us...

23 May 2017

  • It is getting hot in Perdigão. With maximum temperatures of 35°C the instruments are undergoing their next hardness test. So far, temperature is not a problem, the air condition in the instruments keeps the temperatures at 32°C. Other groups are reaching the 40°C, which shuts the devices off.
  • Our lidar DLR85 has other issues, with a lot of bad data. Leosphere support will send someone to do a repair in the field. Details to be announced.
  • Today was also the day of the Mid-IOP meeting, with presentations of all groups that can be found in the field catalog shortly.
  • In the evening we all went to Restaurante Kalifa in Castelo Branco for the Mid-IOP dinner!

21 May 2017

  • As of today, I may carry the boss phone!
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  • In the evening, we have a gatecrasher in the appartment.
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20 May 2017

  • Today was the joint gathering with the municipality to thank them for their cooperation.
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18 May 2017

  • Despite some problems with software crashes and bugs in the planning of the wake line scenario, we can measure some interesting wake structures even with the prevailing Northerly winds.
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15 May 2017

  • A video team is filming us at the Ops Center today...
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14 May 2017

  • With varying, and low winds from SW to NW, we change the scanning strategy. We now scan synchronously with all three lidars downstream the wind turbine, adapting the measurement points to the prevailing wind direction. The wind direction is determined by a 5-min VAD-scan by DLR89, performed every half hour.
  • During the night, we expect the North-Easterly jet to appear again, and thus change the scanning scenario back to coplanar scans with DLR85 and DLR86. DLR89 is now taking measurements at hub height of the turbine over the whole valley.
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13 May 2017

  • All systems are running and well behaving. Showers are getting less and we are looking forward to some warmer days.
  • Finally, I got to make a video from the NE-ridge that shows our lidar, the valley, and the wind turbine on the SW-ridge.
  • Alvaiade in the meantime is celebrating their village festival just in front of what we use as our operation center.
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11 May 2017

  • A day of thunderstorms, power breakdowns and because of that also some gaps in the measurements.
  • At the beginning of the day, the micro-wave radiometer could not be reached through the network, wich was due to a blackout of the tower with the wifi access point it connects to. This could be fixed rather quickly by NCAR and the system could be reached again after lunch. No data lost.
  • Just after the daily meeting, heavy rainfall sets in with accompanying thunder and lightning. Looking at the connection to our measurement instruments, we can see one go down after the other. Almost the whole measurement network is down after the storm, with only few towers left operating.
  • At the end of the day, we have two lidars (DLR85&86) back up and running, but the MWR and DLR89 remain off the network, because the whole SW-ridge is without power. We will see if it can be fixed tomorrow by the local power contractor.
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09 May 2017

  • Many people were looking forward to today, when winds turn West/South-West and could bring us some interesting measurements.
  • Forecasts were right, and we did get these wind conditions. Our lidars measured some nice wakes, until low-hanging clouds covered parts of the regions of interest and blocked the lidar beam. This can be observed in the data until approximately 02:15 UTC.
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  • I helped with the radiosonde launch at 00:00 UTC and could see how the turbine disappeared in the clouds temporarily at that time, while still turning.

08 May 2017

  • Students from the University of Porto were visiting the site today and we explained them how our lidars and microphones work and what we are measuring in Perdigão.
  • It was the hottest day of the week with very low winds. Because of that, the day was used to readjust and test new scanning strategies. We are expecting a cold front with South-West winds passing in the next few days.

07 May 2017

  • Got up early to help with the 0600UTC radiosonde launch. Afterwards watched the sunrise from lidar DLR86-site while pulling a data backup.
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  • At 08:00, people from the Alvaiade community meet for their annual mountain walk. I am happily joining them on the 2-hour walk along what we call the North-East ridge!
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  • After the walk, everybody is having lunch at (what we call) the Operation Center.
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  • More mountain walk for me later in the day as I am collecting the data backup from the other two lidars as well.
  • A long day ends at a restaurant José Palma suggested. Adega dos Apalaches serves us one full stonebaked goat for our group of seven!

04 May 2017

  • The last DLR microphone has been installed close to a 100 m tower in the valley. All sound measurement systems are now up and running.
  • System 1, on the SW ridge, North-East of the wind turbine, close to lidar DLR89
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  • System 2, on the SW ridge, South-West of the wind turbine
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  • System 3, West of the double ridges, by the village Ladeira
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  • System 4, in the valley Vale do Cobrao, close to lidar DLR86
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  • System 5, in the valley Vale do Cobrao, close to the 100 m mast.
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  • In the evening, we did our first BBQ in the appartment, to which we also invited all participants of the campaign.
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  • Later in the night we found that for the first time, we have good wind conditions to measure the wind turbine wake with our coplanar scans:
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03 May 2017

  • We recalibrated the microwave radiometer in the morning. Humidity measurements look much better now.
  • The sound-crew set up two microphones in the morning on the SW-ridge and two more in the afternoon in the valley. Only one more to go tomorrow!
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02 May 2017

  • We woke up today to find a nice low-level jet over the Perdigão mountain ridges, hitting the wind turbine and measured by our lidars.
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  • During the morning, an electrician added a second power line to the microwave radiometer site, so it now has full power and can also use the heater!
  • Arthur, Johannes and Philipp arrived in the evening with the train in Vila Velha de Rodao. The acoustic measurement installation can now begin!

01 May 2017

  • In the morning we took Lothar to the train station. After his great work that he has done for the project, he returns to Oberpfaffenhofen, until the instruments will be dismounted in June.
  • Later, we visited some potential microphone sites to check for the availability of power and general condition of those locations.
  • On the way, we made a short video of lidar DLR89 and the wind turbine, which was hardly producing power today because of very low wind speeds in Perdigão.

30 April 2017

  • After a day of office work, the first lidar scenarios are ready for the start of the IOP, and quicklooks will be available throughout the experiment here.
  • We are starting the experiment with coplanar scans of the cross-section through the valley, in line with the wind turbine. Lidar DLR89 is cutting the wake with an RHI approximately three rotor diameters downstream.
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  • We were lucky enough to measure the first wind turbine wakes with the lidars even before the IOP:
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  • Because of the very gusty winds today, the shape of the 10-minute averaged wake is not very pronounced, but the region of wind speed deficit can clearly be seen

28 April 2017

  • In the morning, two of the lidars are shut down due to work on the power grid and we start them again just before lunch.
  • In the afternoon, we take some barometric measurements of the height differences between the lidars and finish the lidar orientation bias correction. All lidars are up and running by the end of the day and it is time for Lothar to relax and the scientists to start their actual work.
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  • The forecasted rain missed our site and only hit Spain.

27 April 2017

  • The microwave radiometer is calibrated in the field!
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  • Unfortunately, we are back to power issues with lidar DLR89 at the wind turbine site....
  • While up there and working on the lidar, we see most likely a forest fire in the far distance.
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  • The rain that is forecast for tomorrow will hopefully prevent further fires!

26 April 2017

  • Today, the microwave radiometer has been connected to the power and first data (uncalibrated) can be found here.
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  • Lidar offset calibration is still going on and some network issue to one lidar needs to be fixed to have a reliable connection.

25 April 2017

  • For the first time we are here, thick fog is present in the morning. It survives longest on top of the mountains.
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  • Martin, Thomas and Lothar set up the microwave radiometer!
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  • In the meantime, Stephan and Norman calibrate the lidars for orientation offsets (Northing), by shooting at the measurement towers as hard targets. The task is finished for two of three lidars by the end of the day.
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24 April 2017

  • Waking up to a bad surprise that one more lidar (DLR85) is not reachable through the network any more. More power issue!?
  • In the field we find that the problem with DLR85 was only a network issue, the lidar itself was still on.
  • We have more problems with lidar DLR89, which keeps shutting down because of the differential protection being triggered. In the end we remove the differential protection, but still have strange behaviour in the power circuit. More diagnosis and repair is required tomorrow.
  • In the afternoon, Martin arrives in Perdigão, has a first visit to the Ops Center and our problematic lidar site.
  • The Ops center in the meantime is getting more crowded and chaotic, but we can still make it comfortable for ourselves.
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  • We keep the mood up with some self-made Bolognese and dinner on the terrace.

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23 April 2017

  • After running up the hill to switch on DLR85 (the lidar that had to be switched off yesterday), we had three lidars running at the beginning of the day!
  • The first synchronized scan of the three DLR lidars could be successfully started:
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  • Since all three lidars are running, and it is Sunday, we take the day off to do some sight-seeing in the region:
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  • Unfortunately, when we come back home, lidar DLR89 at the wind turbine site is not responding any more. Moste likely a problem with the power supply that we have to fix tomorrow!

22 April 2017

  • After talking to Ted Russ who manages the NCAR wifi network, we figured it is best to use their hardware for the wifi connection. That means we have to change some of our power arrangements and the wifi antennas.
  • In the field we spent quite a long time to redo the wiring and antenna installation.
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  • At the end of the day we have two lidars running and connected to the network. The lidar on the NE-ridge is not yet connected because the group of the Notre-Dame University was working on the power at this site. We can start this lidar tomorrow morning.
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  • Depsite all the work there is time for another visit to the village party “Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres” (“Our Lady of the Pleasures”).
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21 April 2017

  • Day three of installation starts with preparing the cabling for the valley site, driving there and hooking the lidar up to the power.
  • The lidar starts and measures well. All good except for the wifi reception. We cannot find the access point from that location...
  • Thomas arrives in Vila Velha de Rodão. We pick him up around noon, have lunch and then drive to Castelo Branco to buy some more cable for the other two lidar sites.
  • Note: remember that shops might be closed from 13:00 to 15:00...
  • Thomas gets to visit a lidar site for the first time!
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  • We hook up the lidars at the NE and SW - ridge. All good and measuring. However, no luck with the wifi at either location..
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  • In the evening we visit a festival that is going on in the village. More of that later...

20 April 2017

  • The second day of installation started with a ride up the SW-ridge to drop off lidar WLS89 in its transport case.
  • Next, lidar WLS86 is moved from the OU-truck to the valley site and WLS85 onto our truck.
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  • After some magic, lidar WLS85 found its way onto the scaffolding on the NE-ridge site.
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  • If we had a halo...:
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  • At the end of the day, we have our three lidars on site, not yet connected to the power grid.
  • WLS85
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  • WLS86
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  • WLS89
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19 April 2017

  • At the end of a long and winding road, we found our breakfast at a gas station. 2.90 € for a grilled toast and a coffee - not so bad!
  • After breakfast we had a first meet and greet with fellow researchers at the Ops Center in Alvaiade. Since the groups from America were deploying their equipment with the help of the municipality, we figured we can take some time to check on our lidar sites.
  • We found and confirmed the site on the South-West ridge. Should be easy to deploy and we have a great sight to both sides of the wind turbine.
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  • Driving up the North-East ridge was the first hardness test for our four-wheel drive.
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  • We found a reasonable site for the platform for the lidar, which gives us a good view and good accessibility. But the bush must die!
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  • Time for lunch and grocery shopping. But don't try to find a supermarket at 13:30 in Vila Velha de Rodão, you have a good chance that it is closed... Reopens at 14:30, so first lunch at a restaurant closeby.
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  • 14:15 - I receive a call that the lidars need to be transported to the sites now, and we should please come to the Ops Center ASAP.
  • By the time we have our lidars lifted onto the trucks with some kind of forklift, the driver of the excavator has to leave, meaning we may leave our lidars on the trucks until tomorrow. Many thanks to the University of Oklahoma and Petra Klein who allow us to do so, and even had to extend their lease on the car for it...
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  • Later we finally got to find a hardware store and also go grocery shopping!

18 April 2017

  • Departure in Munich at freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall...
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  • Arrival in Cebolais de Cima in our appartment
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  • View from the terrace
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Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
DLR Oberpfaffenhofen
Germany
Kontakt: norman.wildmann ät dlr.de




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