Field Work Update - July 27

After a bit of bad weather on July 16 and 17, we hit the ground running on July 18th, ready with repaired and working equipment. Since then, we've had a good seven day streak of long, productive days in the field. Over the weekend now (July 25 and 26), we had two days in a row where the morning was nice, but where we were soaked by rain by early afternoon. We've taken today off, letting the equipment dry off, and we and hope to work Tuesday to Friday again to make up for these weather delays. Here are some nice photos from the collection of what has happened in the last days. 

Calista rolling up seismic cables

These cables can be heavy

An interesting fact I've learned about this mountain: it's a fairly popular area for Holywood studios to shoot movies. There are scenes from the movie Inception that were shot here, and Leonardo diCaprio was back again this spring filming this new movie. On the one hand, it's quite cool to see famous films and actos romping about the same woods as I am. Yet, I think now that I watch those movies, I'll be forever disillusioned because I'll always be thinking about my research site rather than getting engrossed in the movie. 

Finally, I have an interesting story from the field to share. Last Monday, we had a short, but intense shower in the morning, so I had to rush and get my rain pants on in a hurry. In the commotion, however, the safety clip on the can of bear spray in my pocket must have come loose. About an hour later, I smell something peppery and feel a bit of heat on my right thigh. That burning sensation slowly crescendoed, and in a few minutes, I was searing in pain. I tried to tough through it, but had to swallow my dignity, strip down to my undies, and rinse of the affected area with cold water. It put a dent in my day, but at least I can safely say that this was the first time I've ever done field work without pants on. 

Minus that glitch, things are moving along well, and looking forward to getting the last of our data. 

Not carrying heavy stuff, but still hard at work

Even these dry boulders are teeming with life

flowers by the cliff side

The new crew starting Monday, July 20th stayed with us until Friday

A very long radar line

A view of the lake, facing north from the main talus, just below the waterfall

Facing south, looking at the patch of snow below this waterfall

Yay! Our instruments aren't broken anymore, and we're getting data. This was a massive, 572 m long ERT line that around three days to complete.

All the lines we've done so far. For the last days, we'll move to the north side of the lake.