Alan Nelson's Daily Commentary for 1 September 1999

Meck Island and Kwajalein Island, Republic of Marshall Islands

After the catamaran left last night leaving the 8 or 9 of us on the island, I went scrounging for a place to work on my proposal. Finally, in the fire hall I found a desk with a straight back chair. In one of the garages I found two small pieces of 4 X 4 lumber to raise the chair to a comfortable height and I started typing away. I would imagine that I looked pretty comical. I finally quit at 2 AM!

This morning, I was looking out over the ocean and it occurred to me one of the contributions to my fascination: the visibility. There is nothing particularly artistic about this picture. It is just a normal view looking east from Meck. The reason I took the picture and the reason I include it here is to focus on those clouds that look like they are right on top of the ocean in the middle of the picture. Of course, they are not right on top of the ocean. They are just as high above the ocean as the clouds that are near by. In fact, what we are seeing in this picture are the tops of clouds that are so far away that the bottom is covered up by the curvature of the Earth. One of the finer examples of "unlimited visibility" that I remember! But such clean air is pretty commonplace around here. Kept that way by all the rain which washes it out constantly. I try to remember what it is like some days in the Washington DC area where we may not be able to see more than a couple miles. Fortunately that is difficult to comprehend. I am sure that I will remember these clear days for a long time. They might be commonplace, but they are beautiful.

Nowhere but KWAJEX!! While walking out of the fire hall this morning, I looked up at the flags (Republic of Marshall Islands on the left, USA on the right) and saw the tethersonde peeking through. This really was the angle I happened to see the first time I looked up and I couldn't improve on it! I don't know where else this picture will ever be appropriate, but I kinda like it and so I'm sharing it with you.

Unfortunately, no luck on getting the radiosonde equipment working. There is still no display on the control unit and no flow of data through the auxiliary unit. So we go back to Kwajalein on the catamaran not knowing exactly what we will be doing for the next couple weeks. I know that I need to finish my proposal tonight. I head for the TRMM office where I can hook up my laptop to a printer. Makes cross-checking a little easier!!

Alan Nelson