More pictures have been uploaded to the gallery page care of Dr James Ebdon! Lots of great photos, so go take a look!! (missing the sun and mid twenties temperatures!)
Author Archives: Robert Strick
Photos Photos Photos
Head over to the gallery page to see a nice large collection of photography from the trip. If you have any photographs you would like added to the Gallery you can send them to R.J.Strick@brighton.ac.uk !!
Project day! (4th of April)
Today was the day that our students broke out into their separate groups and undertook their group projects. We had teams of students scattered around the various locations we visited during our trip doing a range of activities with the skills they have learnt whilst on the trip. I was down at the river site again with Sarah Purnell keeping a watchful eye on 6 groups of students conducting their fieldwork. The weather didn’t start out great which prompted Sarah and I to construct a shelter (I did a similar thing last year, maybe we can have a shelter building day next year..). The waves at the beach were really quite substantial today which meant that a few projects had to be manipulated for safety reasons, but all in all we had some great work today and the sun did come out and shine on us for a bit.
Students working away at their projects
Sarah sitting in our shelter!
Me (Rob) proudly sitting in our shelter!
wave breaks at the beach
running for data collection
impending wave
choppy conditions
students hard at work
The weather was even less kind on the students up on Etna, but geography students are made of stern stuff. Tonight the students are starting to prepare their work for presentations tomorrow afternoon.
Rivers, River, Rivers!
Apologies for no water and health post yesterday, I didn’t have time. But don’t fret, it is coming!
Today’s activity was down by the river and measuring discharge via a plethora of methods. The aim of the day is to compare and contrast the various methods of discharge measurements and estimation. The first method is the highly scientific method of the surface-float velocity profiling. This involves using a scientifically calibrated orange to measure velocity of the river by timing how long it takes to float from one point to another. The next method utilized current meters to directly measure velocity from a range of points across the river channel, allowing for a velocity profile to be produced. The following method is quantifying discharge using salt dilution. This involves calibrating river water into a saline solution. The saline ‘slug’ is then injected into the river and ten stream width downstream a student stands with an aqua probe measuring the changes in salinity. The slug of salt water will then show up on the readings as a spike.
Students getting in the river!
The final method of the day was the slope area method for estimating discharge. This method involves students using levelling gear to measure the channel profile and slope. The sediment of the river bed is also sorted so that a roughness value can be calculated. This method is often tricky to get right (not for our students of course) and involves inputting data into an equation which seems to turn people off the method (which I was in charge of teaching).
It was a really great day, the sun was beaming down on us and the river was nice and cool. The students must be commended for their effort and hard work through the day. As the with most fluvial work it was an intense day, hardly time to stop for lunch! By the end of the day and the coach journey back Ray Ward and I deduced we had about an 80% rate of students sleeping. Sign of a good hard days work!
Tonight the students are going to be putting themselves into groups for their individual group projects. Projects can be done on a range of topics utilizing the techniques they have learnt in the previous days. I’m looking forward to seeing some interesting projects!
Vegetation Succession and Lava Flows!
The weather was kind to us today, clear skies and sunshine! (even though it meant a few people are now slightly redder this evening compared with the start of the day) Today’s goal was to visit 4 different lava flows and see how the vegetation varies between these sites in respect to their age. The theory being that the later lava flows ‘should’ have a greater abundance and diversity of species present compared to the later sites. This is what we were here to measure and test.
A lecture to start us off
The one plant I know, Storks Bill
Group work
Trekking down the lava fl
A house just at the edge of the lava flow
The students were broken up into groups and they had to decide on their own sampling strategies to carry out the work for the day. The first site was at a lava flow from 1669, the oldest lava flow. There was plenty of vegetation to record and with the help of Chris Joyce and Ray Ward students were able to identify most species present, I personally could help with one species… Also, added to the day was a remote sensing element, curiosity of Graeme Awcock, via two digital cameras. These cameras had special capabilities to detect the near infrared wavelengths of light. The near infrared (NIR) end of the electromagnetic spectrum is important because vegetation reflects large amounts of NIR, therefore healthy vegetation will appear bright in the image. The students used this technology to record images within their quadrants.
We then visited a site which had two lava flows present from different ages running parallel, these lava flows were much newer and therefore had much less in the way of vegetation. Lunch was the next order of the day, which I was very happy about! After lunch it was then time to visit our last site and then the coach trip back to base camp.It was beautiful day out on mount Etna and everyone managed to cope with traversing the slopes of the lava flows (no casualties). The students were a great group and after a long day I think we all deserve a nice cool beer. Tomorrow, coastal pollution, water and health!
Mumma Etna
The remains of a hotel engulfed by a lava flow
Etna’s summit
Tracking along a lava cone
Today was spent in the company of resident Etna expert Dr Boris Behncke scaling the northeast flank of Etna and taking in a range of sites of interest including lava flows, craters and recent ash deposits. Boris brings a great enthusiasm and knowledge to telling the story of Mount Etna and we’re very lucky to have him educate and enthuse us!
Fluvial and Archelology recce (Etna to follow)
The river in flow
The staff branched off today, I (Rob Strick) was part of the team that included James Cole and Ray Ward. Our mission, check that the river was flowing and suitable for our subsequent visit in the coming days and also to review possible sites for the upcoming inclusion of archaeology elements to the field trip.
We set off in our hire car, with the aid of the GPS on my phone, to try find the Fiumefreddo, our river. After some disagreements with the GPS’ choice of roads, leading us down a dubious track. We found the river in full flow. This was important to check as rivers in dryer regions are often ephemeral (don’t always flow/have seasonal flow).
Once the river was confirmed to be flowing and suitable for fieldwork, it was time to check out the potential archaeology site. After numerous wrong turns and lunch we found the site and were able to assess its potential, as well as take in some great views.
…and we’re off!
All here and accounted for and ready and raring to go! Sicily here we come.
3D view of Catania courtesy of Google Earth
The image below is of Catania made from Google Earth, incorporating the 3D buildings features and tilt angle viewer.
Image courtesy of Google Earth.
Click for larger image!
Etna Update 27th March:
During the night, the lava effusion and persistent mild explosive activity from the New SE crater ceased, after being nearly continuously active for over two months.
If this is a true end or only a short pause to the latest eruptive phase remains to be seen…
Only a few days to go…
We’ve just had the last meeting before the trip and I hope everyone is suitably excited for the trip! As you can see from the photo below, “Mumma Etna” is also still showing some excitement, so lets hope she puts on a show (well hopefully not too much ash, we need to get out there first). By now I hope you’ve made all your last minute checks, get your washing done, make sure you have all your toiletries etc. etc.! Also, another reminder that the clocks turn back Sunday morning so I would advise setting your alarm well in advance just in case. The weather is changeable this time of year in Sicily but it’s certainly better than here, so bring your sunscreen!
Etna Action on the 26th of March and the weather in Catania for next week
