Both Dr. Natali and I feel great about sharing this science with Fountain Valley students!
We did a little bit of everything today. The day began with a bit of fresh snow on the ground and a semi-dark sky. We needed to go in to town for a couple of tools and then fill the water bottles before we ran out in the cabin. Carrying the empty bottles out to the car is no problem, however sledding those same five-gallon containers filled with water from the car to the cabin takes a bit more effort. Rosvel pulled half of the bottles and I pulled the other half. We got most of the water home.
We have to carry water back to the cabin from the closest road. Rosvel pulled more than his weight!
After getting out to the field site we quickly set about starting up the experiment. The plan was to check out Site A and Site C, and then set them on automatic to run the experiment. With both of these sites up and running Dr. Natali felt that we could call the experiment officially begun for the 2011 season! The last couple of days we have been setting up the compressors, batteries, and solar panels at each site. We also connected the arms to the tops of the chambers so that they could be checked for leaks. Site B has been giving us some trouble, and is a bit behind the other two. We have a small electrical issue as well as issues with the valves on the compressor.
The arms on this chamber automatically open and close the top when a sample is being taken.
After looking for leaks in the system at Site A and fixing any that were found, the equipment was started up and put on line at one o'clock this afternoon. After a quick bit to eat we moved to Site C and repeated the process. Site C was up and running at three. It's great to see the arms work by themselves opening and closing the chambers, hearing the fans go on inside, and knowing that all of your hard work has paid off. The doors close and the fans go on somewhere in the site every hour and a half. At that time the air is sampled for CO2 content and the data is recorded. The doors stay closed for one and a half minutes while the sample is being taken. I will go over the whole system for you when we get Site B running.
Mr. Wood says let the science and learning begin!
With the two sites going on their own it was time to raise the flags and celebrate not only the experiment, but also the cooperation between science research and science education. For the ceremony the flags were raised at Site A. As we were putting them up I told Dr. Natali a little bit about each school and how proud I was to be representing the entire district. We took some pictures and then decided that each flag should have it's own home in the experiment. So over the next few days we will distribute the flags throughout the field site. That way, no matter where you are in the area, you will be working and learning with one of the schools in Fountain Valley School District!
The snow began to fall and and it was a cold gray day.
When the snow stopped, the sky began to open up.
During all of this time the weather went from looking pretty good to looking pretty bad. The sun tried to come out but then it began to snow and whole world kind of closed in for a while. The snow was like little bits of styrofoam. It was soft but it was packed in to little pellets that just bounced off things. The snow passed and then the sky just kept changing all around us. It was pretty cool. What a wonderful place to be!