Today is a day to celebrate. We collected more than 10,000 SET pin readings, 420 Instron measurements and biomass photos, took more than 1,800 structure for motion pictures and recorded roughly 15h of wave and drag data… and we thank our expert blog writer, Maike Paul, for her superb documentation of all our activities over the past weeks! Here’s what this looked like:
Maike Paul, writing our blog posts in the ‘measurement container’…
With all that in the bag, we will be busy over the next few weeks and months and are all really curious what the data will tell us in detail.
Leaving the flume after a hard day’s work …
Been there…, seen it…, got the t-shirt!
But with the last waves of the experiments losing their energy at the beach at the end of the flume our time at FZK comes to an end. It has been an interesting, challenging, but also rewarding experience for us all – not only in the flume but also in our self-catering accommodation, where the students and post-docs have been pulling together to put on some amazing meals. Whether in the flume or in the kitchen, this is a well-oiled team!
Cooking for the team – enough energy for a fantastic meal after a long day’s work…
… and a well-oiled team makes it easier!
A relaxed team generates good ideas!
This type of experiment is hard work for everyone, with 10-12 hours per day spent preparing the pallets, doing the daily measurements, typing up and archiving data, and sampling the pallets again once they come out of the flume. Over the next few days, everybody will go home and, to be honest, feel somewhat relieved… (especially the team members who have been on site for the entire time). We look forward to getting together again in a few month’s time, however, to discuss what the results mean – and most of all how our results improve the way in which we manage coastal salt marshes and their important role as natural coastal protection against wave impact.
Just like after the experiments in 2013, we will keep you posted on our findings, albeit not as frequently as over the last few weeks. So keep checking this page for updates.