1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,430 2 00:00:01,450 --> 00:00:03,530 We have seven snakes loaded, 3 00:00:03,550 --> 00:00:05,550 and we have seven snakes in the belly. 4 00:00:05,570 --> 00:00:07,180 Oh it started back in the 80s, 5 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,950 and I think it's because of the serpentine looking tubing. 6 00:00:13,970 --> 00:00:17,120 I don't know, some grad students, 7 00:00:17,140 --> 00:00:18,910 I came in one day and they said 8 00:00:18,930 --> 00:00:21,410 the cans were all snaked up. 9 00:00:21,430 --> 00:00:23,410 So they've been called snakes ever since. 10 00:00:23,430 --> 00:00:25,780 It becomes a problem when you are shipping canisters, 11 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,470 though, to places that actually have snakes. 12 00:00:28,490 --> 00:00:31,930 The long name would be Whole Air Sampler, 13 00:00:31,950 --> 00:00:34,180 but in science everything has an acronym. 14 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:35,430 So we're WAS. 15 00:00:35,450 --> 00:00:39,320 We actually collect the air completely unfiltered. 16 00:00:39,340 --> 00:00:41,450 We bring air in from outside. 17 00:00:41,470 --> 00:00:44,420 it goes to a pump, gets pressurized, 18 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:46,390 goes into an evacuated can. 19 00:00:46,410 --> 00:00:49,130 All these canisters are evacuated in our laboratory. 20 00:00:49,150 --> 00:00:51,310 Pressurized to about 40 psi 21 00:00:51,330 --> 00:00:53,110 and then the valve is closed. 22 00:00:53,130 --> 00:00:55,880 Once the valve is closed then that can is done. 23 00:00:55,900 --> 00:00:57,470 And then we go to the next can. 24 00:00:57,490 --> 00:01:02,130 And we can sample as many as 168 canisters per flight. 25 00:01:02,150 --> 00:01:04,680 We can swap out - these will all be full - 26 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:07,690 put in empties and ship the filled ones 27 00:01:07,710 --> 00:01:10,780 back to our laboratory so they can get analysis going. 28 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,980 We measure three or four different kinds of gases. 29 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,100 We measure gases that destroy stratospheric ozone. 30 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,860 We measure gases that are greenhouse gases. 31 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:26,100 We measure gases that come out of the ocean, from different kinds of bugs. 32 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,610 We measure gases that are given off by biomass burning. 33 00:01:29,630 --> 00:01:35,570 We measure gases that participate in urban pollutions - smog. 34 00:01:35,590 --> 00:01:39,980 So we'll quantify a hundred gases, and in some cases, 35 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,280 gases that have never had any kind of 36 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:48,480 a global sampling like this project. 37 00:01:48,500 --> 00:01:50,430 So what do we expect to learn? 38 00:01:50,450 --> 00:01:51,180 I don't know. 39 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,060 I guess it's a little bit like asking Lewis and Clark 40 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,330 what did they expect, you know, besides trees. 41 00:01:55,350 --> 00:01:57,730 But they knew they were gonna find something cool. 42 00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:00,980 And we always do. 43 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,971