As much of a meeting place
as Gobabeb often is, of people and creatures alike, there are times when our
staff gets a bit pared down. It is during times like these, and as in this
episode relating to a particular week in September of this past year, that we
like to emphasize the point in all Gobabeb job descriptions (and emphatically
noted in the Grinnells’ job postings) of being
flexible. Gobabeb is a small family, with plenty of responsibilities to
take care of, and there are times when it really becomes ‘all hands at hand’
around here. To illustrate, let’s hop aboard a time machine back to
mid-September of this year…
It is around September 17th,
2015. I am just returning with Gillian from my short excursion to Windhoek,
where I successfully sought an intact (but, as it would turn out, structurally
deficient) boot for my newly Fickle Foot. I arrive back to much fanfare – less
for my arrival and more in celebration of our lovely IT guru (and featured
previously in a particularly memorable encounter with a horned adder) Doris’s
birthday – and cheesecake. (Glittery
cheesecake, no less! A marvelous treat of our generous chef Hendrik’s creation)
No sooner have I arrived back at the station then everyone else left – well,
not everyone, but the bulk of the research section was leaving for about a week
for a series of conferences in Windhoek.
The upshot? Doris, Gillian,
Johanna (our chipper receptionist and accommodation assistant), and myself were
on our own for the week. Which left us with all of the research tasks to take
care of, for about 10 days. Here’s how we made it work out:
Doris
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Meg
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Pitfall Traps
(M-W-F)
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Weather (Thrice
daily)
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BSRN (Daily at 8h)
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NOAA Sampling (Thurs
or Fri)
|
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FogNet Monitoring
|
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MPI Sampling (Thurs)
|
Gillian and Johanna were
around for support, while Doris and I basically tag-teamed it as needed.
Fortunately, there were no needy school groups or such things around in
Training’s hair for the week. A little background on each of these tasks,
before I go into storytelling of my week as RITS:
Pitfall Traps: How intriguing-sounding, hey? An easily-deducible answer – it’s
literally spelled out in the name. A pitfall is nothing more than a bucket
buried so that its lip is flush with the surrounding soil surface, where it
waits for anything crawling around to drop in for a visit. They’re an easy,
cheap method used to survey insect and crawling-critter populations anywhere,
and a particularly useful one around Gobabeb. GBB has been using pitfall traps
to sample the area’s famed variety of beetle species for many decades. There
are two key, long-running projects that have been making good use of the
hundreds of buckets (and bucket-like objects) around Gobabeb: regular beetle
sampling around the three ecosystems, and the East-West dune sampling.
I have previously referenced
the East-West Dunes excursions, which happen semi-regularly every three-ish
months, and take you out into the less-frequented dunes of the Namib Sand Sea,
east of Gobabeb. I went on one-such outing in August, when we were testing the
methods of the anticipated “Watering the Desert” experiment of this year’s SDP
19 programme in December, in addition to the standard tasks of typical E-W
outings. Here’s how it usually works:
[Recipe for
East-West Excursion]
2 Research Technicians (more hands
are more helpful!)
40 buckets
2 spoons
Weather sampling kit
Food for 3-5 days
Water for 3-5 days
Beetle ID book
Sampling vials
2x 25 m measuring tapes
1 square-meter quadrat
Plant ID book
Spade
Cook stove, table, chairs, eating utensils
Toilet paper
Sleeping bags/personals
The responsible researchers head out early on a Monday
morning to trek through Namib-Naukluft Park in what amounts to a massive loop
back to the dunes that lie east of Gobabeb – if we could go directly from
Gobabeb as the crow flies, it would be a much more direct route. Unfortunately,
our vehicles don’t yet fly over the dunes, unless you’re driving them in a
vehicle-lifespan-shortening fashion. It is reported in GBB gossip that this
direct-if-slightly-treacherous route has been previously attempted, but the
dunes were deemed too sharp-angled for our vehicles to survive the route
intact. In any case, the route to the start of the E-W transects is a beautiful
drive, especially when begun in the wee hours of the morning: you get a great
view as both the sun and temperature slowly rise over the horizon of the gravel
plains. A couple of hours into the drive, you’ll reach the gate – we actually
re-enter Namib-Naukluft from a sort of back entrance, with permission of MET of
course, and begin the trek along the far-less-traveled path. The tire-treads in
this part of the park are best described loosely as ‘paths’ because they are
often little more than a faint shadow on the surface of the wash-ridden,
boulder-strewn plains that stretch before you. If you’re able to catch a glance
of the landscapes wrapping around the route, you’ll be amazed by the hills and
valleys, the storied and still mysterious so-called ‘fairy circles’, the silent
herds of zebra and groups of oryx that pop up suddenly. (Had you not just left
a major motorway bisecting this portion of Namibia and frequented by many the
white bakkie racing through these hills, the transition to these landscapes
might not be so dramatic) In any case, you soldier on through the bumps and
jolts of the pathways, until you find three different sites parked along the
dunes – the first, Mniszechisvlei, occurs on the far side of what looks like a
more modest ‘beginner’ dune. Continuing on up through a dried creekbed and past
several challenging running-start-worthy dune fields, there’s the second site
tucked away past a spring frequented by surprising numbers of wildlife. This
one is Noctivaga. To find the third one, you’ll venture out along the rim of
the X Canyon and its sweeping views of dark stone crevasses towards the
furthest station, aptly named Far East.
Once you’ve arrived at your station, the set-up is as
follows: usually one technician will start by setting up camp, including a
shade if accompanied by other vehicles, tent, cooking station. The other
technician will busy themselves with setting in the pitfall traps – loading
oneself with about forty buckets and digging them into the slipface, the dune
slope, and the interdune in sets of ten. These traps are what will be monitored
by the researchers at different intervals – all of the traps must be surveyed
at least thrice a day, once first thing in the morning, once around lunchtime,
and then again in the evening. The slipface traps undergo special monitoring,
and must be checked hourly for a full day. This labour of love is for the
beetles. The 240-some species of beetle that are found in the Namib Desert are
key indicator species, and their monitoring makes up an essential foundation of
a lot of the environmental monitoring that Gobabeb has been doing for the
longest. For example, one of the superstars of Namib ecology is Onymacris unuicularis, popularly known
as the Fog-Basking Beetle, and is suspected to be changing its range and
concentrating more on coastal dunes with more regular fogs rolling through.
With the long-term monitoring that Gobabeb does on these further-inland dunes,
we can prove or challenge these suppositions – all those hours of pitfall
checks, thrice-daily weather measurements, dozens of data logbooks are the
evidence on the ground that tells the story.
The more regularly-performed pitfall trap monitoring involves a series of pitfall traps in the three ecosystems around Gobabeb - the gravel plains, the riverbed, and the dunes - which are checked thrice weekly. It's the same concept as the Far East sampling, except these pitfall traps are permanently installed, so there's none on the slipface of the dunes (they'd be buried within hours, with all of the quickly-shifting sand at the peaks of the dunes!). The responsible researcher heads out to check these pitfalls early in the morning, before things heat up, armed with a spoon, the Beetle ID book, and the record book. Each bucket is thoroughly scooped to evict any of the temporary residents. Each of these is then identified, before being registered in the record book, and released away from the pitfalls (to avoid another visit too soon).
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| Pitfalls Map around Gobabeb |
The pitfall traps are just one among the wide range
of projects that Gobabeb has been doing and hosting for the long run. These
Long-Term Ecological Research projects (LTER) are what Gobabeb excels in. Speaking
of long-term, one of the other pretty-fundamental-to-GBB research tasks I was
tasked with was Weather.
Gobabeb has been taking weather data for its entire
nearly-54 years of existence. For the most part, this has been in the form of
our First Order Weather Station, where we continue to take weather
measurements thrice daily at various times according to season. Within the
weather station, you’ll find your basic weather gear – wind vane, thermometers
galore, rain gauges – in addition to some less-easily-identified instruments.
My favorite is the mystical-looking Sun Recorder: Gobabeb’s divining orb, this
glass sphere concentrates the day’s sun rays onto a strip of paper, which is
extrapolated into hours of sunlight received per day. The patterns in the line give us the daily report of sky conditions; for
example, a slow start to the sun-burned line likely indicates the presence of
fog that day. These strips are then photographed or scanned and sent in to the
Namibian Meteorological Service, where they inform the long-term patterns of
cloud cover, surface radiation and such.
Also at the weather station is our array of soil
thermometers, a set of six reaching depths ranging from 5cm to 1.2 meters below
ground; these tell us more about the soil profile over the course of the day
(which has important ramifications for the wildlife around here!). There’s also
an evaporation pan, an anemometer, and several fog screens, in addition to the
Stephenson screen, which houses our full array of thermometers and our
hydro-thermograph.
Gobabeb’s long-running and extensive weather record
is one of its most valuable data sets. Particularly in an extreme if fragile
environment, observing changes in weather phenomena and temperature is
extremely valuable – because it is an environment of extremes, any changes
manifest themselves much more obviously over the relative short-term. And, in
today’s flurry of research on climate change, long-term weather records are
really valuable to informing current/future/ongoing research, by providing a
baseline on which other studies can be based and change can be observed and
tested for.
We now have an automated weather station on site, as
part of the FogNet tower at Gobabeb. However, we continue to take manual
measurements at the FOWS because we want to ensure the relative continuity of
our data in the long-term; if we switch to relying on the automated weather
station at FogNet, then we need to see if there are any major differences with
how they both measure maximum temperature, for example. If there are, our new
data will have to make clear that the older data is not on the same relative
scale/sensitivity.
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| What the NOAA box looks like |
NOAA, the research task named after the American National
Occeanic and Atmospheric Administration, is probably one of my favorite
research tasks – it’s simple and easily performed, and it takes you out to the
dunes! What’s involved: you take the box pictured below, the one which I am so
enthusiastically toting, onto the quad bike and drive out to the designated
spot. Haul box to northern edge of dune, and open ‘er up. Slide the
extend-o-pole tube sampler to its highest reaches. Flip a few switches, and
allow the gas flasks to flush for a few minutes while you take the wind reading
(standing Statue of Liberty style towards the wind). Flip a few different
switches and record a few readings in the box (pressure of pump, etc), before
walking away again to let the flasks to fill with fresh Air of the Namib.
Meanwhile, you get the opportunity to take in the view, marvel at the perfectly
glazed quartz stones along the slopes, or even hunt for some Golden Mole trails…
After the sampling is done, you strap the box back
onto the back of the quad bike in as secure and convoluted a manner as
possible, and jet back to the back lab, where the flasks are placed with the
filled-out info sheet into their appropriate box, bound for somewhere in the US
of A in ~6 months or so (with a legion of its fellow flasks). The gas samples are
part of a global data set of air samples that NOAA documents and tracks over
time for a wide variety of trace gases and the like, and Gobabeb has been working with NOAA to provide air samples since 1997.
As long as we’re onto the alphabet-soup portion of
the research projects, BSRN is one
of our atmospheric-sciences projects that requires daily monitoring. The
purpose of this robot-looking machine-upon-a-rock is to look at long-term
trends and patterns in solar irradiation, both atmospheric and reflective off
of the ground. It takes continuous measurements over the course of the day, and
the Micky-Mouse-heads-on-a-stick portion of the machine tracks the sunlight
directly. Our job is to ensure that the sensors are cleaned daily, and to
record what type of cleaning we did – to correspond with local weather events
and accompany the solar irradiation readings the machine is taking,
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| BSRN array at Gobabeb; picture courtesy Reyk Borner 2015 |
Most people don’t relate directly to the need for
data on solar irradiation, unsurprisingly. So why do we painstakingly record
whether sensors are wet when wiped (code 1) and whether the balance is accurate
on each one (0 or 1) +-365 days/year? Solar irradiation is an elaborate term
for how much energy (via light) we get from the sun. Understanding how much of
that energy comes directly from the sun to the surface of the Earth, and how
much is reflected back off of the surface into the atmosphere, is pretty
important for a number of reasons: (1) weather! Energy in the system is largely
what drives weather patterns, on regional and global scales. Getting a grip on
how much energy is coming directly from the sun, and how much that varies
daily, seasonally, geographically can improve our understanding of weather and
climate. (2) sun power. Direct data regarding how much energy we’re receiving
from the sun can support future research into and justification for different
forms of renewable energy. In this part of the world, and as it happens at our
very own station, we have a solar array that generates most of the power we
use. This is an extremely fitting example of what is termed an “appropriate
technology” – one which not only enhances the quality of life for a group of
people, but does so in a relatively low-cost, efficient, and
environmentally-conscious manner. The data provided by BSRN, or Baseline
Surface Radiation Network, details where and when the greatest amounts of solar
energy are received, and where they’re going (whether that is back into the
atmosphere, or into the ground).
MPI is another of our more complex regular research
tasks. It is another atmospheric science monitoring project, from the Max
Planck Institute in Jena, Germany, which goes a little bit further than the
NOAA weekly samples do. MPI installed a
shipping container filled with beeping, buzzing, clicking machinery and manned
by four different computers connected by miles of thin metal wires and
neatly-taped-together bundles, a suite of massive gas cylinders, a cryotrap, and a briefcase-sized gas sampler in 2012. This
container with its ~12m tall tower are continually measuring trace
gases in the local atmosphere. Like many of our atmospheric projects, this is
one of a network of stations around the world, which all report back to the
mothership in Germany, creating a more complete idea of global atmospheric gas
concentrations. With all of that intimidating machinery and glam tech inside
the temp-controlled container, you may wonder why we humans must enter this
elaborate techy trap at all. Our weekly work with MPI requires us to manually
capture several (four, to be precise) air samples to send back to MPI for
further analysis. We also perform checks on the rest of the system, and answer
any queries the MPI staff back in Jena may have for us – usually they can see
everything that is (and isn’t) happening with the system through the manifold
computer presence of the MPI box itself, but sometimes the computers need a
little human help after spats with dust storms and such.
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| Meg carries the NOAA sampling box effortlessly |
Usually MPI goes swimmingly. You ride out the 2km east of
Gobabeb to the tower via quad bike or bakkie, open the gate (to keep out those
wayward goats with an interest in atmospheric sciences), wave hello to the
camera outside the container itself, unlock the container, and pop in. Once
you’re in, you tell the computer who you are and what you’ve just done/are
coming to do: for example, “Meg and Chris, entered container”. Then you start
going through the regular procedure – which involves a lot of checking on things,
like reading off the gas pressures for all of those tanks I mentioned, gingerly
replacing the cryotrap, entering data into the spreadsheet, and of course
performing the gas sampling. However – when MPI is not working, it usually takes a whole fleet of Gobabebeans and lots
of correspondence to figure things out. Mostly, you just pray that the science
gods are on your side when you enter that nicely-cooled container. It’s easy to
get intimidated by the container, being a living caricature of science – but
once you get used to the sampling process, and as long as you have the trusty
guide developed by RITS alum Taylor Chicoine, you’re in good hands!
Finally, FogNet
Monitoring. FogNet is a German-sponsored initiative to get a better idea of fog
frequency and distribution along a 120 km gradient stretching from the coast
(Walvis Bay) inland towards Gobabeb. The project consists of a network (thus
Net) of nine towers stationed across the gravel plains, each equipped with a
local weather station array, a fog harvester, and several pieces of
fog-specific weather monitoring equipment. These stations collect real-time
weather data and ‘collect’ the fog that passes, delivering that data directly
to a website (accessible here). Our
resident FogNet technician, Ruusa Gottlieb, oversees the ongoing operation of
these towers and collects the data for later analysis. The researchers behind
this project are looking for patterns in fog production and frequency over time
across this gradient – specifically with change
in mind. Climate change was a key driver behind the instigation of this study,
because of observations by
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FogNet Station at Gobabeb: two fog harvesters pictured
Photo courtesy Reyk Borner 2015 |
long-time Gobabebeans that fog production and
frequency at the station have been declining over time. There are concerns that
climate change is the culprit behind this too, owing to changes in ocean
circulation and currents. The Benguela Current, which flanks the Namibian coast
with upwellings of cold and nutrient-rich water from the Antarctic south of us,
may be warming slightly. And it is this current that provides the cool air that
then collides with the hot, dry air coming off of the Namib to reach the
critical point of condensation, which is then blown inland by the coastal
winds. If fog production is declining over time, it will have pretty serious consequences
for the wildlife of the coastal Namib: both furry/scaly and photosynthesizers
around Gobabeb obtain most of their moisture from fog, which is an obvious
choice when it’s about five times
more available as a source of moisture than fog is. Much of the unique
biodiversity that calls this desert home is dependent on those fog banks that
roll through, and if this region were to receive less fog (whether that’s in
fewer events over the course of the year, less of the right kind of (usable and
accessible) fog), it would spell trouble for the long-term sustainability of
these unique and bizarre animals and plants.
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| Novald shows Meg a lizard during FogNet Monitoring, November |
FogNet monitoring, while at the Station, involves
ensuring that all of the towers are reporting their data to our servers here,
and checking out the fog harvesters after fog events. When a fog comes through,
we have to take a sample of the fog that is collected. This is then labeled and
stored in our refrigerators until Ruusa takes a whole load of these samples
down to UCT, where she is able to use their laboratory equipment to run
analyses on what that fog might contain. Her Master’s degree research is a
study of a known fog-collecting plant, Trianthema hereroensis, and whether it (and other
plants/organisms) might be getting more than just moisture in the fog. Regular
FogNet maintenance just has us measure the amount collected by the fog
harvesters, and to ensure that all of the equipment is operating. Once a month,
several technicians go to the eight towers across the gravel plains, where they
clean all the equipment, collect the fog harvested for the month, and do
general maintenance as needed at the stations.
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| Meg marvels at aforementioned lizard |
These are, of course, hardly all of the research
tasks that Gobabeb technicians are tasked with, in addition to their own
research. Besides this is the Oxford Dust Models, several different towers
operated by KIT, the Salt Spring CameraTrap, and Kahani Beetle sampling – just
to name a few of the ones I’m familiar with. I don’t always get to do research
work, but I enjoy learning everything from the reason we have four thermometers
to read for ambient temperature, to getting to know some of the 80-plus species
of beetles during pitfall monitoring. Some of my latest research exploits were
had on a weekend out for Kahani Beetle Sampling – stay tuned for that story!
