A GML team, programmable flask sampling packages

In early 2008, Associate Scientists Sonja Wolter and Doug Guenther and Research Scientist Fred Moore took on the challenge of upgrading existing Programmable Flask sampling Packages (PFPs) in order to meet stringent FAA flammability requirements for on-board instrumentation. This upgrade was not required to maintain the existing sampling program, but was instead an effort to substantially broaden the scientific capabilities of the atmospheric CO2 and trace gas sampling program at NOAA/CIRES. Meeting FAA requirements, while maintaining the expected mechanical reliability of existing PFPs, proved to be a daunting task. More than half the elastomeric parts of the existing PFPs needed to be replaced, and the repeated failures of candidate materials in flame and/or mechanical stress tests made the path to success less than certain. Even after acceptable materials were found, integrating the new PFPs onto the space and weight-constrained aircraft platform in a way that did not affect existing instrumentation demanded highly creative solutions. The skill, resourcefulness, hard work, and just plain persistence of this exceptional team resulted in a successful deployment of the newly designed PFP onboard the National Science Foundation’s High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) in January 2009. This was only the first of five planned deployments that constitute the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations mission, or HIPPO, but if the exciting early results are any indication, the new FAA-approved PFP design has already proven its scientific worth, and only promises to further advance the cutting-edge atmospheric and climate-related research taking place at NOAA/CIRES, and their partner institutions.