In anticipation of the oncoming weekend storm due to Hurricane Hilary soon hitting southern California, we spent the morning securing possible flood-susceptible access points within our equipment. The morning began with open skies and hot sun but quickly became cloud covered and has begun to cool down rapidly with the approaching storm. The rather chaotic Sounding is shown below:
As I will potentially be departing Tonopah before the rain ends, I've compiled a brief list of things that I have done to secure certain items that will need to be undone by whoever comes to replace me out here:
- First we added some tape around the plugs of the 449 amplifier and silver boxes, this probably won't need removal until teardown as it is just some extra protection on cables that are already protected.
- Secondly for the Metek Lidar atop the MISS trailer we unplugged the USB and VGA Cables before wrapping and zip-tie-ing them in plastic bags to protect from the rain. The ports they plug into were also capped with the included screw-on covers. Flood mitigation was not necessary as if water levels reach this height then the entirety of M2HATS will have most likely been swept down valley. Picture below:
- Thirdly, for Stephan's Lidar box we added 2x4s beneath it to raise it up, removed the data drive and placed it within the ISS1 trailer by the lidar laptop, sealed the fan/vent holes with tape, unplugged the fan as temperatures are rapidly cooling, and sealed the empty USB cable just in case. This is all most likely overkill but we wanted to be slightly cautious with potential flooding. Pictures below:
- Finally, unrelated to the storm but included as it is very important, Black Widows have been found enjoying the ISFS coolers and the shade they provide. Please be wary of opening any box with your bare hands as it would not be fun having to drive to the hospital for a bug bite. Picture of the rather large fella below:
Other than the potential storm and the clouds it has now brought it, the days have been astonishingly clear, I've included a star photo taken from my phone out at the site. While being in the desert alone is rather spooky, the galactic sights make up for it.
