So we’ve been waiting for a grid frame to arrive from Michigan. The grid frame is for the NIMS (Network Info-Mechanical Systems) transect. The NIMS transect is a 50 meter by 2 meter transect that we are using to study plant type and percentage of cover. Sergio has been taking pictures of the NIMS transect using his kite and camera apparatus. However, the ITEX team needs to ground-truth the plant types and percentage of cover so a grid was created to help us with this task. The NIMS grid frame is 2 meters by 1 meter. Laying atop a 3-foot high-ladder bridge that stretches horizontally across the short end of the transect, we will use the frame to estimate the percentage of plant cover and types of plants within the NIMS transect. A fellow researcher from UTEP estimated that it will take 169 hours to complete each of the NIMS transects. YIKES!!!!!
Here’s the problem…
It was supposed to be here BEFORE August 1st. It was ordered in mid-June, plenty of time to here before August 1st that way there would be sufficient time to wrap up all the end-of-season growth measures, pack up the Open Top Chambers for the winter, and complete the NIMS transect percentage estimates without needing to rush or do 20-hour days in the field. The grid frame left the Lower 48 over a week ago and it has been sitting in Anchorage for at least two days. We heard it “missed its plane” to Barrow. Then Rob and Kelsey, who are up in Barrow right now, have to fly down to Atqasuk with the ladder bridge and the grid frame. We all have to discuss the methodology for doing the percentages because we have never done this before and then we need to do a few trial runs to make sure that we are all on the same page. Once that’s done, then Rob, Jenny, and I will head back up to Barrow and start on the NIMS transect there while Jeremy and Kelsey “bust out” the parallel transect here in Atqasuk. So right now we’re in a holding pattern. It’s really frustrating because Rob and Kelsey can’t come down without the grid frame and instead of taking three days to sort through everything and taking a little R&R together as a whole team before the madness of end-of-season kicks into full swing, we’re going to figure out the grid frame and trial run it in less than 24 hours. So Rob and Kelsey will come down on the last flight of the day on the same day the grid frame arrives in Barrow and then the next evening Rob, Jenny, and I will head back to Barrow. Such is the life of mad scientists!