Tenth Loosahatchie Trip

From GeoMod

1 Testing the small balloon launched camera
2 Testing the heavy Pentax camera
3 Seep Tank Testing
4 More Transects

Testing the small balloon launched camera

Wiring the remote for the balloon cam.	First picture in the field from the balloon cam.	Preparing the balloon for deployment over the river.	Preparing the balloon for deployment over the river. Due to some technical difficulties there were lots of foot pictures.
Dan shows off his camera rig. Note the remote control in his left hand.	It works. Balloon with rig. The lift is more than enough.	The camera and remote controlled switch.	Dan is pleased.
Dan fends off the giant beaver as we race to get the balloon down to the river. The giant beavers were thought to have become extinct in the Pleistocene, but there have been occassional, late night sightings in the area.	A few, delicate last-minute adjustments needed to be made.	The one-man method of deploying the camera using an inner-tube deployment platform.	Two person deployment test. Amanda, in the middle is monitoring the launch.
The balloon in flight. This would be an ideal picture except for the fact that the lines going to the ground have become entangled.

Images from the helium balloon, taken with a Cannon PowerShot A430. No filters were used.

35 m letout.	35 m letout.	30 m letout.	30 m letout.
25 m letout.	25 m letout.	20 m letout.	20 m letout.

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Testing the heavy Pentax camera

Given the success with the smaller camera and the remarkable amount of lift on the balloon, we tried hooking up the much heavier Pentax *ist SLR camera to the rig. The Pentax was almost too heavy, and we did not have a remote but we were able to get pictures by setting the timer to shoot after 7.5 seconds, and having the person in the middle give a little extra help with the launch.

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Seep Tank Testing

We intended this to be a two to three day test. THe idea was to set out two seep tanks and monitor how much ground water was percalating up from below. We thought it would take about two days to get the bags half full. TO our estonishment, the bags completely filled in about an hour. That is a lot of water!! Both of our tanks were placed in the thalweg in spring concentrated areas.

The plan next week is to set out the seep tanks and record the exact second that they are installed and check them after about half an hour for water volume. We can try this in multiple locations over the course of the day.

-an intersting side note- We took a sample of the water form the seep tank and compared it to a sample of water straight out of the river. The seep tank water had a distinct lack of odor. It even smelled clean!! The water from the river had the typical Loosahatchie smell. So, we know the tanks are working.

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More Transects

Here we revist the transect system checking for temperature of the bed and elevation of the bar.

notice the well shaped bar. we see several new springs popping up, many small ones on the bar.

A neat 3D view of the temperature of the bed. Notice the line that seem to cut across the river. This same line is visible in the last several weeks worth of transects. Perhaps a contact lies beneath.