Observed many polystyrene pieces by the lake. Though individually they were easy to overlook at a quick glance given their small size, there were clusters that formed, even landing well above the rocks forming a water wall. Here’s some photos of the observations:
These pieces are polystyreneCollecting in areas where there are rocksAlmost looks like snow, but it’s not…The clusters can even be seen from further away – where it’s whitePolystyrene pieces caught amongst intertwined pieces of grassPolystyrene pieces collecting near these rocksPolystyrene pieces between these smaller rocksNow the polystyrene pieces are captured between these rocksDown these steps is where many of the polystyrene pieces are situatedSome of the polystyrene pieces land above the steps onto the grassClose up of the polystyrene pieces which are now on land
Hypothesis: Watching water flow routes during the thaw could help us better plan for heavy rainfall events to avoid additional sediment and coastal erosion.
The thaw is starting here. We can observe the erosion in action. Here’s what it looks like at a beach.
Erosion path at the top of the beach
Mid way pointWater flowing downhillMidway point downhillDraining to the lakeVideo showing this erosion pathThere is ice and snow underneath some of the sand layer. It will be interesting to see how the melting of those layers will contribute to the additional erosion.It will also be interesting to see what the restoration action will be based on this. At the same park, here is a different location, though it is not draining to the lake as rapidly.Water in a big puddle Exit location of the big puddle to the top of the beachPath of erosion on the beach
Why is this interesting? If we had more precise data on where the water does travel based on the soil, then…
We could design better routes for the water to get to the lakeAND/ORWe could design better temporary drainage basins
This will be an interesting site to observe over the coming weeks of the thaw.
This post was written and uploaded from the field for the first time on this blog. Hope it works! ?
At the closeup view, watching the water flowing is interesting to see the different colours and small grains of sand movingWords