Richard: June 2008 Archives

Christopher Gurguis, Mary Boyum, and Lorea Ormazabal also produced a Tree Guide for Leaves and Lizards using photographs taken by Christopher Gurguis.

The guide is available for download from:

http://www.ecomapcostarica.com/reports/index.shtml

The student reports for the 2008 Field Season are now online:

http://www.ecomapcostarica.com/reports/index.shtml

Latest report from the Smithsonian / OVSICORA-UNA:

4 June-10 June 2008

OVSICORI-UNA reported that an incandescent avalanche descended Arenal's SW flank on 6 June producing an 800-m-long scar and depositing a wide debris fan at the base of the volcano. A plume of dust, ash, and gas drifted W and NW, depositing fine ash in a small area downwind. The plume panicked tourists and park rangers 2 km away to the W. The park was immediately closed for the day and the tourists were evacuated. According to a news article, another incandescent avalanche descended the SW flank on 10 June and generated an ash plume. Authorities evacuated people in the area.

Sources: Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA), Nacion

I have just added a legend to the maps. Although I might adjust the maps further, they are now complete.

I have also adjusted some parameters for the MapServer layers (base map, satellite image, synthetic streams) to make them load more quickly. The improvement should be more noticeable on slower internet connections.

The spring icons have been updated. The 'hot spring' icon has been made clearer, and a new blue circle icon has been used for the cold springs. Blue&white crosses have been used for stream points (the sample point and the measured boundary crossing). These are now connected with a simple flow diagram. This is a simple line drawing that shows how water flows between these points.

Yes we all made it back safe and sound, despite a quick sprint across Bush International Airport to meet a tight connection.

The road data is now complete on the map, and the building photos have also been added. I have a few more map changes to add. Student reports will also be uploaded after they have been completed and graded.

Attached are a group of photos from Johanna's "Welly Wanging" competition that closed the field work on Saturday afternoon. I'll leave it to Johanna to give a commentary. Giovani and Dr. B were judges, and Steve & Debbie made up the out-field spectators.