SOLVE Instrument Principal Investigators,

The Project Office is in the final stages of securing the military 
aircraft to ferry project, aircraft, balloon and investigator equipment 
to Kiruna.  Planned periods for these transports are the end of October 
and early January.  We are asking again (but for the last time) for your 
input regarding the specific gasses to be shipped to Kiruna (as opposed 
to those we will purchase in country). Many of you have already answered 
our previous request for this information but a few have not. We must 
have the information in order to complete the request we make to the Air 
Force units we hope to utilize. Without the information on the AF 
validation request that will be submitted next week, you will be forced 
to make your own shipments at your own expense.

We need the number of cylinders, their size, the type of gas, and the UN 
number. Many toxic and flammable gases will require specialized packing 
and some may not be allowed on these aircraft in certain combinations.

For those that have not sent a previous reply, we also need to know the 
gasses you wish to purchase in country.  Again, although there is not a 
local gas company in Kiruna, there is one in Lulea that will carry most 
all types (with certain exceptions of calibration gases) and will deliver 
on a weekly basis. We need to collect information on all gases needed for 
your instruments.

For your planning purposes, you can expect to have approximately 6-7 
Sorties per deployment on the DC-8 and 7-8 sorties per on the ER-2, plus
transits.

As most of you know, European gas bottles are threaded differently than 
those in the U.S.  We are working on obtaining adapters for the more 
common regulators that use the 580, 590, and 540 fittings.  If any other
specific fitting is used and you would like the project office to help, 
you must let us know.

For those PI's who have not previously received this notice, my apologies; 
to all who have not previously replied for whatever reason, please do so as
quickly as possible. We must have all replies by COB Wednesday, September 8.
After that, it will be too late.

Thanks,

Sue Tolley