In looking at my photo from the other day, and my guess that the mountain in the second photograph was Mt. San Jacinto, I decided to use a little detective work to figure out what mountain it is.
Of course, I could probably just look on a map and guess, but that's not as fun, and directions and distances can be deceiving. Serendipitously, my shadow was pointing straight towards the mountain in the photograph.
The facts I gathered, some extraneous and not needed (and correct I hope!):
I was in a park that is about 34 degrees north latitude.
The photograph was taken a few days before the winter wolstice (we'll call it close enough).
The sun is hovering over 23.43 degrees south latitude at the winter solstice (the Tropic of Capricorn).
The sunset "travels" at 1041.67 miles-per-hour at the equator ("slower" as you go north).
The maximum amplitude of the sun for this latitude is 28 degrees north/south (according to: The Essential Wilderness Navigator, by David Seidman and Paul Cleveland). This means that the greatest difference from a true west sunset (270 degrees) at this latitude is 28 degrees.
Mt. San Jacinto is east-southeast of here, about 100 degrees. Can I rule it out?
Stay tuned for the answer.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Magic Time!
I had a lovely walk with my dog in the park today. Great views of snow on the mountains, just when the "sunset spotlight" was shining on the hills... I love it. The snow was down to maybe 3000'- although I'm not sure. That's Mt. San Jacinto in the distance with snow. These are pics from my blackberry- not bad!
.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Seeds of a new experiment
Call it first-experiment nerves... I planted some seeds on two hillside aspects- northeast and southwest, and for days I would check them but nothing was coming up! So much for the establishment of this "vicious" plant.
Microclimate may have a huge effect on whether this grass establishes or not. Thus, I've planted seeds, with permission, on a hillside near campus. Finally, I checked them on Thursday and some are up! Since this is a warm-climate grass, not surprisingly, the southwestern-facing slope (warmer) have popped up all over, while the northeast-facing slope seeds are just poking along.
I was a little afraid that they'd all washed away in the recent storm. It still seems possible, but at least a few have come up. Now I can stop being such a nervous nelly and get down to the science- biweekly visits and data collection. And more importantly, a lot less time spent planning, designing datasheets (surprisingly a lot of time), and worrying!
.
Microclimate may have a huge effect on whether this grass establishes or not. Thus, I've planted seeds, with permission, on a hillside near campus. Finally, I checked them on Thursday and some are up! Since this is a warm-climate grass, not surprisingly, the southwestern-facing slope (warmer) have popped up all over, while the northeast-facing slope seeds are just poking along.
I was a little afraid that they'd all washed away in the recent storm. It still seems possible, but at least a few have come up. Now I can stop being such a nervous nelly and get down to the science- biweekly visits and data collection. And more importantly, a lot less time spent planning, designing datasheets (surprisingly a lot of time), and worrying!
.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Cranberry Sauce (2008 version). I just learned that 11 people will be at dinner. I hope its enough-- well nobody eats that much cranberry sauce anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Blog anniversary
Happy birthday blog! It's been a year since I decided to have a place to write online, practice popular-style science writing and keep my family up to date.
Seems to have been a successful experiment so far.
Update on research: Got my plots in about 16 hours before our very first rainfall event here is southern California!
Seems to have been a successful experiment so far.
Update on research: Got my plots in about 16 hours before our very first rainfall event here is southern California!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Stochasticity... in all her glory
Change. One thing we can depend on. Especially in nature. It seems that sometimes the best way to mimic nature in an experiment is to leave it to nature. As opposed to field plots where you control diversity, in natural systems, you have to embrace diversity, change, and yes, stochasticity.
These can and should be seen as factors inherent to natural processes. In fact, if nature were dependable, fair and balanced (that's actually fair and balanced... no homage to Fox News here), the world would look very different. For instance, one ecological hypothesis holds that a mild-to-moderate level of disturbance is a factor that maintains diversity in communities. That is, if several plants are competing in a benign, nutrient-rich, favorable environment, the superior competitor for resources will win, hence, excluding the others. Events like, say, a big rainstorm, a flood, high winds, animal foot traffic can serve to keep all of the species on their toes, and ensure continued opportunities for all of the plants to have a fighting chance.
For instance, my dog goes for a lovely jaunt, chasing a balloon through a field with only one species of flower.
The other plants have been out-competed, but their seeds are waiting in the soil to germinate.
This is a common route for my dog, however, and I find the following year that another species is making an inroads in the community, taking advantage of the trampling effects of increase
in soil compaction, and increased light, for instance. He continues to love to run here and eventually, this area is now converted to the white flowers. We move away, leaving the field to itself, and years later, we return, only to find yellow flowers abound once more.
Currently I'm dealing with a problem of variability of resources in nature. Not a disturbance process, but a stochastic process. This process may be the key to the establishment of a species. If all years had average rainfall, it is even doubtful that this species could gain a foothold in certain places. It seems that a higher-than-average year every now and then allows the species to establish, and then just survive the low years. Therefore, models including only year after year of average weather may miss something important.
Take, for instance, these three years of rainfall in southern California:
If I tried to simulate an average year, how exactly do I do that? It seems, variability is part of the system. Constancy is not. Not only does this make it very difficult to do a field experiment and get it done in 1 year, but the variation itself may be important.
As a foreign professor told me yesterday, "if you want to see what happens in the nature then you have to leave it to the nature." Nature... much love.
.
These can and should be seen as factors inherent to natural processes. In fact, if nature were dependable, fair and balanced (that's actually fair and balanced... no homage to Fox News here), the world would look very different. For instance, one ecological hypothesis holds that a mild-to-moderate level of disturbance is a factor that maintains diversity in communities. That is, if several plants are competing in a benign, nutrient-rich, favorable environment, the superior competitor for resources will win, hence, excluding the others. Events like, say, a big rainstorm, a flood, high winds, animal foot traffic can serve to keep all of the species on their toes, and ensure continued opportunities for all of the plants to have a fighting chance.
For instance, my dog goes for a lovely jaunt, chasing a balloon through a field with only one species of flower.
The other plants have been out-competed, but their seeds are waiting in the soil to germinate.This is a common route for my dog, however, and I find the following year that another species is making an inroads in the community, taking advantage of the trampling effects of increase
in soil compaction, and increased light, for instance. He continues to love to run here and eventually, this area is now converted to the white flowers. We move away, leaving the field to itself, and years later, we return, only to find yellow flowers abound once more.Currently I'm dealing with a problem of variability of resources in nature. Not a disturbance process, but a stochastic process. This process may be the key to the establishment of a species. If all years had average rainfall, it is even doubtful that this species could gain a foothold in certain places. It seems that a higher-than-average year every now and then allows the species to establish, and then just survive the low years. Therefore, models including only year after year of average weather may miss something important.
Take, for instance, these three years of rainfall in southern California:
If I tried to simulate an average year, how exactly do I do that? It seems, variability is part of the system. Constancy is not. Not only does this make it very difficult to do a field experiment and get it done in 1 year, but the variation itself may be important.
As a foreign professor told me yesterday, "if you want to see what happens in the nature then you have to leave it to the nature." Nature... much love.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
