First full day (it's a doozy)
Day 2.5 -- Jan. 16th. -- Just talking about Jan. 15th.
Most Thankful For: Hot showers!
Least Favorite Part: Bureaucracy
So yesterday was our first full day. Just to clarify, I am currently doing fieldwork with the best group ever! We've got Richard, as our fearless leader, Chris, and Steph (and me). Overall it's a good size for a group as we can break up into smaller groups of 2 for getting things done.
Mostly it entailed running around the motu of Kwajalein and setting up the RTK GPS. A bit of backstory about the RTK. So we want to get really high resolution and accurate topography data for these atolls, to that end our lab purchased an RTK GPS system which should theoretically give us ~5 cm accuracy in the vertical. However like all wonderfull equipment there are caveats to such power. First caveat -- it doesn't have the best software interface (it uses arc gis......). Second it needs to be babysat periodically and it loves to drive Richard crazy! Lastly, periodically like all important and expensive scientific equipment, it just won't work. It has two main parts, the base station and a rover. The base station needs to stay in place for 2 hours to get a good satellite fix. Then you have to get the satellite data downloaded off the base sent by email to an automated corrector thing and then upload the corrector file back on the base station. Finally once all of that is done, the base station is now outputting RTK GPS to the rover (in essence the rover talks to the base station for more accurate GPS data). Then you get to walk around with the rover within 15-1 miles (huge range, because everyone tells us something different).
We spent the morning atop the local ziggurat (a multi million dollar concrete ex nuclear storage facility) setting up the RTK base station. The best part was that the army set up a crane to carry up our 12V batteries (think 50 lb car battery), which the base station runs off of. You can see a picture of the ziggurat, the RTK setup, and the crane all below. Anyways, part of the bureaucracy issue is that to get up to this ziggurat we have to call a special number to make sure they are not running scary radar stuff. Then we have to go there and hopefully get a key (this can be problematic if everyone is out to lunch). Then we have to call back in once we are done to let them know. Given that we want to access the base station at least 2 a day (to change out 12V car batteries, and turn it on/off) this gets old pretty fast. Anyways, yesterday things started out pretty well, but of course things ended up getting crazy. We couldn't get the correction file off the base station because everyone was out to lunch!
So then we went to the patriot boat to check the range of the base station to the rover (aka how far can we take the rover to different motu and still get a signal from the base station). The Patriot is a very cool boat. We first thought it was overkill (I mean a 40 ft vessle for an atoll?), but then realized how wonderful it is. First off, it comes with air conditioning and a fridge -- which means cold drinks :)! Also we have these lovely guys driving it (so we can't run aground or something by accident). We loaded up the patriot with our various equipment (RTK GPS, bathy stuff -- CHIRP and Hydrolite) and then set off to the nearest USAKA leased motu (we were denied last minute access to Marshallese motu), Carlos. We made it to Carlos and pretty much as soon as we landed we lost signal to the base station. Basically this means we have to re-set up the base station on Carlos (including the whole 2 hour babysit time and correction file mess) to survey Carlos. So we went for a walk along Carlos to see if we could find a good place to set up the base station (like a building roof). We ran into a pig instead.
Finally, we ended the day with some fun GPR of the island. You can see a picture of the clever set up behind the golf cart. Golf carts and GPR work much easier than human dragged GPR (much faster to cover large swaths of the island. We also checked out one of two beaches here and kind of just sat there in a haze looking at the water. The day ended with all of us on computers checking emails and trouble shooting equipment!
Most Thankful For: Hot showers!
Least Favorite Part: Bureaucracy
So yesterday was our first full day. Just to clarify, I am currently doing fieldwork with the best group ever! We've got Richard, as our fearless leader, Chris, and Steph (and me). Overall it's a good size for a group as we can break up into smaller groups of 2 for getting things done.
Mostly it entailed running around the motu of Kwajalein and setting up the RTK GPS. A bit of backstory about the RTK. So we want to get really high resolution and accurate topography data for these atolls, to that end our lab purchased an RTK GPS system which should theoretically give us ~5 cm accuracy in the vertical. However like all wonderfull equipment there are caveats to such power. First caveat -- it doesn't have the best software interface (it uses arc gis......). Second it needs to be babysat periodically and it loves to drive Richard crazy! Lastly, periodically like all important and expensive scientific equipment, it just won't work. It has two main parts, the base station and a rover. The base station needs to stay in place for 2 hours to get a good satellite fix. Then you have to get the satellite data downloaded off the base sent by email to an automated corrector thing and then upload the corrector file back on the base station. Finally once all of that is done, the base station is now outputting RTK GPS to the rover (in essence the rover talks to the base station for more accurate GPS data). Then you get to walk around with the rover within 15-1 miles (huge range, because everyone tells us something different).
We spent the morning atop the local ziggurat (a multi million dollar concrete ex nuclear storage facility) setting up the RTK base station. The best part was that the army set up a crane to carry up our 12V batteries (think 50 lb car battery), which the base station runs off of. You can see a picture of the ziggurat, the RTK setup, and the crane all below. Anyways, part of the bureaucracy issue is that to get up to this ziggurat we have to call a special number to make sure they are not running scary radar stuff. Then we have to go there and hopefully get a key (this can be problematic if everyone is out to lunch). Then we have to call back in once we are done to let them know. Given that we want to access the base station at least 2 a day (to change out 12V car batteries, and turn it on/off) this gets old pretty fast. Anyways, yesterday things started out pretty well, but of course things ended up getting crazy. We couldn't get the correction file off the base station because everyone was out to lunch!
So then we went to the patriot boat to check the range of the base station to the rover (aka how far can we take the rover to different motu and still get a signal from the base station). The Patriot is a very cool boat. We first thought it was overkill (I mean a 40 ft vessle for an atoll?), but then realized how wonderful it is. First off, it comes with air conditioning and a fridge -- which means cold drinks :)! Also we have these lovely guys driving it (so we can't run aground or something by accident). We loaded up the patriot with our various equipment (RTK GPS, bathy stuff -- CHIRP and Hydrolite) and then set off to the nearest USAKA leased motu (we were denied last minute access to Marshallese motu), Carlos. We made it to Carlos and pretty much as soon as we landed we lost signal to the base station. Basically this means we have to re-set up the base station on Carlos (including the whole 2 hour babysit time and correction file mess) to survey Carlos. So we went for a walk along Carlos to see if we could find a good place to set up the base station (like a building roof). We ran into a pig instead.
Finally, we ended the day with some fun GPR of the island. You can see a picture of the clever set up behind the golf cart. Golf carts and GPR work much easier than human dragged GPR (much faster to cover large swaths of the island. We also checked out one of two beaches here and kind of just sat there in a haze looking at the water. The day ended with all of us on computers checking emails and trouble shooting equipment!
 |
| The group on top of the ziggurat with the RTK GPS base station set up (the yellow tripod and black antenna behind us). |
 |
| aww the cute RTK base station looking towards the lagoon. |
 |
| Our lovely crane delivery of 12V batteries! |
 |
| Here is the fancy boat that we are using for getting to the different motu on Kwaj. Atoll. |
 |
| The GPR settup behind our golf cart for gathering data around Kwaj. |
 |
| Here is the ziggurat from afar (lots and lots of concrete) |
 |
| setting up the RTK rover on the patriot boat |
 |
| On Carlos (a neighboring motu of Kwaj. Motu) where the breakwater is visible (an old boat). |
 |
| Local wild pig! |
 |
| Trying to impress upon readers the crazy sea state within the lagoon (4-5 ft waves!). |
 |
| Our golf cart -- typically filled to bursting with equipment and food. |
 |
| One of the few sandy beaches on Kwaj. motu! Very pretty way to end the day. |
Comments
Post a Comment