Sneak preview of a forthcoming animated feature. Below is a sequence of topographic scans taken from a single run. Data are a bit raw, but they still offer a sense of how active the berm could be. One pass with the laser along the three meter length of the berm required five cross-shore swaths (here…
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Race to a spectacular beginning (overwash experiments conclude, for now)
Today was my last on the SAFL shop floor. What a spectacular visit this has been. I’m grateful to both the NCED2 program and the British Society for Geomorphology for the opportunity to work here in Minneapolis these past two weeks. Rich discussions, incredible facilities, and so much enthusiasm from so many people – not…
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“Someone’s gotta help me dig…” (Day 3 @stcNCED @saflumn)
Been singing to myself this line from Father John Misty en route to the lab these past couple of mornings. Today was one of learning systems. Chris Ellis found a rotameter, introduced me to thread-seal tape (Teflon tape), and gave me a plumbing problem to work out (I still managed to install it upside-down the…
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Day 2 @stcNCED @saflumn – check your levels
Yesterday’s trial produced one overwash lobe; today’s produced two. Getting there. I spent much of today off by an eighth of an inch. I misaligned the blocks on the screed we’re using to level the planar surfaces, reminding myself of the classic construction adage to “measure twice, cut once.” After a lot of frowning and…
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“Morphodynamics of breaching” experiments @stcNCED @saflumn – Day 1
It almost worked the first time. I’m writing from the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Lab (SAFL) in Minneapolis, home of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED). Thanks to Chris Paola, I’m here as a visiting scientist, funded by NCED and a small research grant from the British Society for Geomorphology to run…
Read MoreCruising-altitude geography (Kujalleq & James Bay)
Yesterday I flew from London to Minneapolis – a westbound and therefore endless afternoon, a trick played against winter’s abstemious daytime clock. I’m in Minneapolis for a two-week stint at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, where I’ll be running some experiments in a custom-rigged sandbox. But more on that in posts to come. Right now I’m…
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The Environmental Dynamics Lab (EDL) 