One quest for the day is to rescue our electrically-challenged Princess of Ladysparkles from the Kingdom of Carbon. We endeavor to ride on the back of the white stallion with wheels for feet. Like dogs in the wind.
Equipment woes require team consultation.
The other noble squires bearing their weather-measuring instruments have met a similar fate to that of the Princess of Ladysparkles. Their story is a tragic one, full of redemption and failure. When the life-giving sun is out, our noble homeless men who have been employed to measure that phenomenon of the natural world are filled with life, so full of happiness and numbers. However, they soon lose their vitality during those sunless times of the night. Indeed, though this may seem a tragedy, we can take solace in the fact that they are not were HOBOs. In not so many words, though they have failed in their duty, we shall always remember them in reverence and love and csv files. We will soon dismember them as is befit their station in life. And though they may have passed, they will always be with, available to all in the Box of Drop.
It should comfort you to know that we have measured in the relative locations of the dam of the forest and the unknown and unseen valley. As of yet, we must have patience to take the measures of the Hill of Coatimundi.
Our time’s short, our hearts heavy, our lamentations great. And though we continue to scribe those precious of measurements, know that it is in sorrow and sadness with heavy hearts and heavy minds. We will return to you soon.
Posted by
jrumford
Posted on
July 17th 2012
Filed under
Uncategorized
weather measurement
Tags
weather measurement
Our time in the forest is nearly at an end. With only a few days left, we, the ecohydrology team, look at all we’ve accomplished. A weir was constructed from the ground up, over thirty tree sensors for monitoring water fluxes were replaced, stem flow and throughfall gauges were repositioned, and piezometers for groundwater monitoring [...]
Tags: throughfall gauges, tree sensors, water flux, weir
Posted on
Jul 17th 2012
These past couple of days I have been working on making stemflow collectors. On Monday I cut the tubes open and nailed one side of the tube to a tree in a spiral formation so that the tube would capture stemflow and route it to a tipping bucket rain gauge. This turned out to more [...]
Tags: datalogger, sapflow sensor, stemflow
Posted on
Jun 28th 2012
Natalie Teale: A number of students went to San Jose on Saturday for our day off. We took the scenic route there, passing through a few towns and overlooking some beautiful countryside. As we passed through Naranjo, we stopped at a coffee plantation called Espíritu Santo. This plantation, located about 45 minutes outside of San [...]
Tags: coffee plantation, hummingbird, Mercado Central, San Jose, water slide
Posted on
Jun 28th 2012
This post comes to you from the ecohydrology team. Nathan, Olivia, Gracie, and I (Esther) will be focusing on the study watershed’s hydrology which includes quantifying sap flow, throughfall, and groundwater table depth, as well as constructing a weir to get streamflow data. Rounding out our first week at the Soltis Center, we met with [...]
Tags: biodiversity, bullet ants, leaf-cutter ants, sapflow, weir site, zipline
Posted on
Jun 18th 2012
Day 2 Legs still sore from the summit hike yesterday, our individual groups settled into project setup, beginning with a hardware store run. My research partner, Emily, and I are studying atmospheric particles (aerosols) this summer, and needed a few key bolts and brackets [...]
Tags: arrosols, atmospheric particles, calibration, cloud forest, faculty mentor, pre-montane, tropical, weather tower, wind pollinating plants
Posted on
Jun 13th 2012
We’ve settled into the Soltis Center in Costa Rica after a long day of travel, an enlightening rainforest trek and a whole lot of unpacking. Our morning started out with a hike around the watershed that we are researching. The steep, muddy slopes and dense jungle were challenging, but discovering all kinds of new plants, [...]
Tags: field sampling, lab work, tension table sand
Posted on
Jun 12th 2012
The howler monkeys at the Sap Flow site Snatched the machete right out of my hands Took my download cable too Left me here to take his place I wish that monkey a lot of success I am sorry my dorm is a mess Most of all I’m sorry the cargo didn’t get through I’m [...]
Tags: downburst site, gas flux chambers, HOBO, howler monkeys, mist nets, sap flow site
Posted on
Jun 30th 2011
Written in the style of Herman Melville 6/29/11–Soltis Call me Tomasz. The morning was misty and grey, with the dark, pea-soup fog slowly rising up the mountain, covering everything in a cool blanket. I woke up slowly, unaccustomed to the cool temperature, and felt around for my glasses. The linoleum floor was smooth and cold [...]
Tags: GPS, howler monkeys, summit, waterfall
Posted on
Jun 30th 2011
Written in the style of Ernest Hemingway I woke up. The howler monkeys and toucans were calling in the distance. I walked down to the Center after getting dressed. The sun baked the sidewalk, and it felt rough and warm on my bare feet. The sap flow team trekked to their site. The red mud [...]
Tags: hike, monkeys, red mud, waterfall
Posted on
Jun 29th 2011