Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Day #6 Gelukkig Maandag (Happy Monday)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Today has been beautiful! They were calling for 80% chance of rain today, and it only drizzled for a few minutes. So, I enjoyed a nice dry bike ride to and from the flume today.

As I have mentioned before, there is a lot of prep-work that goes into an experiment like this; such as tweaking and moving various instruments, and sensors for most of the researchers. We spent the first 2.5 hours of the today shifting all three of our stations in the swash zone up the beach because the beach had become so eroded after our wave runs on Friday. Other researchers with instruments in the surf zone had to dive out to make adjustments to their equipment. Below is a picture of Dr. Daniel Conley (Associate Professor at Plymouth University), Dr. Jack Puleo (Associate Professor at the University of Delaware), Thijs Lanckriet (PhD Candidate at the University of Delaware), and Dr. Diane Foster (Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire) working on moving their equipment this morning.


Instruments such as the Conductivity Concentration Profilers (CCP's), that stick into the ground in the swash zone, had to be move as well. The CCP's measure the conductivity within a volume around the sensor and that conductivity is related to the sediment concentration in the water. Below is a picture of Dr. Jack Puleo (Associate Professor at the University of Delaware) digging trenches for his CCP's instruments to go into.



Below is a picture of Dr. Diane Foster (Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire) helping Dr. Jack Puleo (Associate Professor at the University of Delaware) place his CCP instruments into the sand just below one of the Vectrino II's at one of the three stations in the swash zone. The Vectrino II's measure the velocity of the sediments in the water.



As were were shifting our instruments in the flume, we also had to take a survey of their new location before we start running waves for the day. Below is a picture of Dr. Gerd Masselink (Project Investigator (PI) of this Bardex II research project at the flume, and Professor at the University of Plymouth) helping with taking surveys of the new positions of the instruments in the flume.


After we finished surveying the instruments, we had four sets of 30 minute irregular wave runs. In between the wave runs, we again hopped down the ladder into the flume to take measurements, and make any needed adjustments to the sensors.

This afternoon, I also had two successful Skype sessions again with students from Oyster River Middle School in Durham, New Hampshire, U.S.A. Because of the six hour time difference, it was just the start of the school day for them. The first session I talked with 5th graders from Sunny Sadana's classroom on the Mountain Lion team. They were able to see part of a wave run, as well as have the opportunity to speak with me, Dr. Diane Foster (Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire), and Dr. Ian Turner (originally from the UK who is an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, in Australia). The students asked tons of great questions. I have listed below their questions and the answers to them just in case people are interested in reading them.

Questions and answers that the 5th grade students asked during our Skype Session:

1. How do you make the waves in the flume?
It depends on how much they move the paddle in the flume; similar to when you sit in a bathtub and make waves with your feet or hands.
2 Is the flume like a wave pool at a water park?
It sure is to some degree since we are making the waves.
3. How deep is the water?
The water is 3 meters deep offshore in the flume.
4. How deep is the sand?
The sand is 4.5 meters deep right where the ladder is that we use to get into the flume.
5. What is the largest wave you can produce?
The largest wave that can be produced in the flume is 1 meter in height.
6. How long ago was the flume built?
The flume was built on August 21st 1980.
7. Wouldn't there be a difference between river water and salt water waves in your research?
Yes, there would be a difference between fresh river water and salt water. Salt water is more dense contains more bubbles than fresh water which can affect the optical instruments, also salt water has more conductivity than fresh water and some of our instruments measure the conductivity in the water.
8. What are the black and white circular disks that are on the top of the flume?
The disks are called ground control boards which help give an exact location of what we are filming with our cameras.
9. Can you surf the waves or play in the them in the flume?
Because the flume has narrow hard concrete walls, it would probably be a dangerous activity for inside the flume.
10. Are there any animals (plankton etc.) that you put in the water to better simulate the ocean?
No, we have not put any animals in the water for this experiment. We are strictly looking at how waves change the shape of a beach, and create beach erosion.
11. Where is the water stored behind the waves....is there a tank?
There is a fixed body of water that is being forced into the flume by a pump.

Later in the afternoon, I had another successful Skype session with 7th graders on the Fusion team in Stephanie Ward's classroom. They too, were able to see a wave run, and had the opportunity to talk with me, Dr. Diane Foster (Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire), Dr. Jack Puleo (Associate Professor at the University of Delaware), and Dr. Martin Anderson (Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales). The students also had the opportunity to see first-hand the measurements, and adjustments that can be made in between wave runs. The students thought of great questions for us to answer which I have written down below as well if anyone is interested in reading them.

Questions and answers that the 7th grade students asked during our Skype Session:

1. Is the sand all the same size in the flume (uniform)?
No, the sand is not uniform in the flume. There is a mixture of coarse and fine sediments in the flume.
2. How do you get the water into and out of the flume? 
There is a big pump that is forcing the water into the flume.
3. Does the fact that you are not using salt water affect the results?
Yes, salt  water is more dense and contains more bubbles than fresh water that can affect the optical instruments that are being used in the flume. Also, salt water has more conductivity than fresh water which can affect our instruments that measure sediment conductivity in the water.
4. What are the black and white disks on the side of the flume?
The black and white disks are called ground control boards which allow our camera to get an exact reading of what were are filming.
5. Are you using any other type of obstructions like larger rocks or rip rap in this experiment?
No, we are not using any obstructions. With this experiment we are strictly looking at how waves change beaches over time.
6. How many more days will the experiment run?
The experiment will run until July 4th. Diane and myself will be here until Saturday, June 16th.
7. Will you be there for the clean out of the flume?
Unfortunately, Diane and I will not be here to help clean out the flume at the end of the experiment.
8. Have you used the smart grains that you showed us?
We are not yet used the smart grains in the flume. Hopefully we will place them into the flume on Wednesday. We are just trying to figure out the best way to release them into the flume without losing them in the deep offshore part of the flume and without bumping into other instruments in the flume.

No comments:

Post a Comment