Editor’s note: Stephen Springston, a scientist from Brookhaven National Laboratory, headed to the STORMVEX deployment site in October to set up the Aerosol Observing System (AOS). This week, we will feature blog posts about his experience in Colorado.

Gremlins were first described by WWII aircraft mechanics to account for unknown problems. This fellow, call him ‘Jack’ , seemed to keep most of the gremlins at bay. Carved on site, we expect there may be some spontaneous pumpkins sprouting up next summer. He actually served a purpose. The candle lighting up Jack produced a minuscule amount of soot in the AOS interior. Since no increased signal was seen on the particle counter, we confirmed the inlet connections are leak-tight. That’s why Jack is smiling.