Day #4 Wave Action

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Today has been another fantastic day at the flume! The weather has been cooperating, and everyone is enjoying listening and watching the waves roll into the flume. We have done seven sets of wave runs, that have been generating some great data. The wave runs started out running in sets of 10 minutes, then sets of 20 minutes, followed by two sets of 30 minutes of waves. Below is a picture of what they waves look like rolling down the flume.

In between the wave runs, Dr. Jack Puleo (originally from California, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Delaware), Dr. Diane Foster (who is an Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire), Dr. Daniel Conley (Associate Professor at Plymouth University), Thijs Lanckriet (originally from Belgium, who is a PhD. Candidate from the University of Delaware), and I climb down the ladder as quickly as we can to check out equipment, and see if we need to make any adjustments to them before the next run. We have three stations set up, each station has multiple different instruments that are measuring sediment movement, and velocity in the swash zone where the waves roll in and out. I have become the designated recorder of the measurements, and adjustments in the lab notebook, which I have enjoyed quite a bit. I am definitely getting a better understanding of how, and what is being measured with each instrument. Below is a picture of waves rolling over two of our three stations.

Then you can see me diligently recording measurements from Thijs.

Diane and I had a successful distance learning experience with the 7th grade students on the Denali team at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, New Hampshire in the United States this afternoon. We used Diane's Ipad to Skype in with the students during the school day. It is a six hour time difference between the two countries, so we called them at 2:00 pm our time, which was only 8:00 am in the United States. The students were able to see a wave run in the flume, were introduced to several of the different scientists, and had the chance to ask several questions they had about our research in the flume. I think it was a great experience for all. I look forward to our next Skype session tomorrow with the other 7th grade team Fusion at Oyster River Middle School. As a science teacher, I believe that it is important for students to have the opportunity to experience, and see first-hand real scientific research in action. So they can develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for the time and energy that goes into producing sound research.