The Air Up There

A beautiful, sunny, cold morning…frost in the grass flashes like sequins. We continued our tree survey and finished our column of subplots in late morning. Our survey team split up, two of us (Romney and me) volunteering to enter the data in an Excel spreadsheet, while two others (Janice and Stacey) go off with Nancy to collect data from rain gauges, since it rained here Sunday. The rain gauge is very interesting: it has a metric side and an English side, and the graduations are not constant, but increase in value as you read from bottom to top of the gauge.
After lunch, we climbed a tower that holds instruments to make solar measurements. This tower rises 120 feet above the forest floor; 10 flights of steps. It sways somewhat in the wind. From the top you can see the Rhode River (really an estuary) and beyond it, the Chesapeake Bay. I’m attaching the video I took from on top.
Following this adventure, we all helped to gather rain gauge data from the remaining gauges. I’m also including some photos of this activity. Brad from Hawaii and I paired up to help this data collection. I guess we missed the fun, though… In the other group who worked the plot across the road, Loren from California climbed into a hollow tree. “That’s weird,” he said. The other teachers were laughing uproariously. Loren hadn’t realized that a squirrel had jumped onto his back from inside the tree and scampered out down his rear end! It may end up on YouTube yet.
This evening, one of the scientists will be presenting a lecture on climate change, so I’m signing off for now. Watch out for those sneaky squirrels!