Day 5 more photos

Jean sent me a few photos in the evening so I will post them.

Here I am very pleased that today a lot of things came together and we tasted sweet success.

At the bow of the boat forward of the pilot house is a small cabin where we set up electronics. It has good light and here we are protected from rain. Here I examine some acoustic data as it is being collected.

Here Jean & I pose in front of a mountain peak. I love the opportunities I've had to work with Jean. I consider him my mentor. He possesses many skills and strengths I want to learn to emulate. He is not a man afraid to change the world for the better.

Day 5 - Testing the platform.

Today was an exciting day. We took the platform and transducers to the boat. It was a four man job because we estimate it weighs about 100 kg. We attached cables to the transducers and rotated the platform so it was on edge so we could add the pole.

Next the platform was loaded onto foam floats so it would be easier to move in the water.

Jean-Christophe judged it was enough floatation to support his weight.  It was a tough job, but we were able to move the platform and pole to the boat. The pole was attached to the boat, but I forgot to take a picture today.

The water level in Lake Geneva is quite low so Jean-Christophe and Laurent took a small boat out to test depths and find a way for safe passage out of the safe harbor so as to not run the boat or the platform aground. That would be very very bad. During this time I connected cables, and made power connections, and turned on the echo sounder system to see if it work. It did!

Later JC, Jean, Orlane & I took a boat ride on Lake Geneva for a short trip to test data collection when stationary and when we moved at about 3-4 km/hour. Everything worked well,  but my GPS shut itself off. It must be a factory setting that needs changed. Here is video of the platform as we traveled.

So thanks to hard work by Jean-Christophe we are ready to collect acoustic data. Tomorrow we shakedown the larval fish trawl. I also have to give a speech tomorrow at 10 am at the French lab. My talk is entitled, "Who is Dan? What does Dan do? Why is Dan here?". I need to practice some tonight so it is good.

Day 4 in Thonon

In the morning Jean-Christophe & I ran some errands. We took the platform to a machinist who cut it down in size and drilled holes so we could bolt on the 5 transducers. We then stopped at a local marine store where we bought a surge protector with 4 outlets to run the electronics safely on the boat and some eye bolts so we can attach safety lines to the platform. There they had a plastic seagull for sale. Can you guess what it is for?

Apparently real seagulls are adverse to this color for reasons I do not understand. So the plastic gull keeps real gulls from making a mess on a boat.  Does it work? Maybe so.

Our last stop was a hardware store because we needed 30 bolts, 30 nuts, & 60 lock washers. In the US we count out bolts & tell the clerk the number and the unit price. The hardware guy today weighed 10 bolts, entered ten into his electronic scale, and as he added more the scale automatically kept the running count. The guy stopped adding bolts at 30. He repeated the same steps for the nuts & lock washers. The guy had a great time explaining his scale to his American customer.

Jean-Christophe went and got the platform from the machinest. Later we bolted on the transducers and the corner safety eye bolts. I add this photo as evidence of our hard work. We think we are ready for sea trials tomorrow if the weather allows. We keep our fingers crossed for good luck.

Towards the end of the day JC, Jean & I met to discuss the sampling plan, order of events, gear and materials. Planning field work takes time because it is important that people understand the plan so things will go smoothly. I will share our design in a later post.

Day 3 in Thonon

A lot of progress was made today. I readied computers for our project by clearing up disk space and defragmenting the disks. It is something acousticians like yours truly often do. Jean then took me around INRA to introduce (or reintroduce) me to staff and students. I got some kisses and was greeted warmly. Such a friendly group. I'm committed to learning names, but I ask for patience.

Orlane, Jean & I met to discuss collection of zooplankton with nets. Leslie will  identify, count, and size a sub sample. Leslie has an important, mission critical, job to perform.  We will be collecting paired net tows and acoustic collections to correlate back scattering levels with zooplankton biomass. I hope it works. There is a growing body of scientific literature showing proof of concept in freshwater lakes. More on this later.

We got a lot of help today from Jean Christophe. Like Leslie he will be critical to our success. He spent his day readying a platform we will use to deploy 5 transducers having the following frequencies 38-, 70-, 120-, 200- & 420-kHz. Why so many? That can be learned by reading future posts! The platform will attach to a pole which we will attach to a boat. Here is what it looks like.

The platform will need to be cut by a machinist to a smaller size and something like 30+ holes will need to be drilled so we can bolt the transducers to the platform (Jean-Christophe has a big job). When we deploy the transducers they will be aimed towards the lakebed (in the photo they are aimed towards the heavens). 

Here Jean-Christophe & Jean discuss the platform. I hope my videos are working, yes?

Day 2 in Thonon

Today I cooked breakfast, but needed help from my landlord Brigitte to turn on the stove. She said it was easy, showed me, and now I will not starve.

I went to the lab. Few souls were there because today the French observed Easter. I had gear to unpack so God is ok with me. I thank God for the opportunities and challenges my job provides. Scientist like to make "to do" lists and here is my current one. Since Jean Guillard, Orlane Anneville & I are starting a new project it will grow longer before it grows shorter.

We are going to try and develop an acoustic method to enumerate food available to larval coregonids (aka whitefish). This is an important topic because coregonids are an economically and ecologically important fish species in both Eurasia and North America. There is some evidence that heavy ice cover may be important to larval survival. If we are successful we will be able to survey vast areas quickly to identify which habitats should best support larval growth and survival. That is the dream we pursue. Researchers try to test boundaries of what is possible. It is what we are paid to do. That and explain what we learned. We have a lot to do before we can begin our field studies. 

Here is my unpacked gear. Tonight I must read a GPS manual and reread some proposals Jean, Orlane & I wrote a few months back. That is, I need to refamiliarize myself with our objectives and hypotheses (it means plausible and testable explanations for an observed phenomenon).  Tomorrow we will be meeting to discuss our next steps.

My wife made it home safe. Hoorah for that!

Bike recovery

It was a beautiful night so I decided to explore. I also wanted to add a photo or two and video so I can practice the craft of blogging. A man can make a complicated task look easy by practicing. I got a nice view of Lake Geneva.

It was here I decided to go get the bike at the lab that is being loaned to me. Here is a dog I first met years ago. He is still alive. He did not remember me.

I took this one of the lake as I waited for the gate to close.

Now I'm excited to see if I can overcome technological obstacles and finally share a video. It is me filming as I ride. You can see what I saw. Did it work?

Finally I will resume blogging

I had to take a blog hiatus because I was busy enjoying a vacation.  My wife & I flew to Paris on the 19th. We stayed very near the Bataclan Concert Hall. This was not something we did on purpose, but something that happened. We walked down to Notre Dame Cathederal and had dinner near our hotel.

On Monday 21 March we got brave and started to use the metro. It is amazing how with free wi-if, google map and a handful of euros that two country mice could move about a huge city like Paris with confidence. We went to the Louvre. My favorite thing this time was the large sculptures. I think one would need to spend weeks there to take it all in. Maybe when I retire?

On 22 March we visited the Modern Art Museum. The House of Horrors made us laugh out loud. Think artist making a statement about modern life by creating a haunted train ride complete with a lady smelling her dog's droppings. Gross for sure but wildly funny.  We saw a lot of dogs in Paris and it seems maybe some dog owners are better than others at dealing with their dog's bodily functions. I think that was the artist's point, but maybe I'm wrong? It is my blog so I'm free to speculate.

We also visited  the Eiffel Tower and climbed 669 steps to the second platform.  Once we returned to earth, we waited 45 minutes in line to use a free toilette. The funny thing is the line was only about 10 souls long when we arrived. After every visitor the toilet would complete a cleaning cycle that seemed to take forever. Time literally stands still for people waiting in these lines. My wife and I went in together when it finally became our turn. A self cleaning toilet is an impressive feat, but this version needs serious reconsideration. From there we used the metro (light years ahead of the aforementioned toilet) to get to the Arc de Triomphe. Amazing monument dedicated, I think, to fallen military. We closed out the night going to a pizza place near our hotel called the pink flamingo if my memory still serves.

Tuesday was the day of the attacks at the Brussels airport and metro.  Our hearts were broken as we read what had happened.  I pray God will grant those that have suffered needlessly peace of mind.

On Wednesday we headed to Brussels with some fear in our hearts, but also a feeling that we must not be afraid as well. We arrived by high speed train. Our passports were checked and there was heavy guard presence (some with machine guns).  The people of Brussels were brave and going about their lives. We ended up in Leuven where we stayed for 3 nights.

On Wednesday night we strolled around the center of Leuven and through some very nice parks. It is as if their. Cathedrals are made of lace.

Thursday we took a train to Ghent.  We hoped on their version of a metro (above ground) but powered by electricity and got to the city center. We toured a castle Called Gravensteen built in the Middle Ages.  It is amazing how it has been restored.  One can find an amazing collection of military armor and weaponry. I even saw a guillotine! I decided it would be best to keep the king's peace and keep my head on my shoulders. We visited two churches and a bell tower. The bell tower had something like 400 bells if I understood Flemish correctly.  There was a giant wheel that spun every 15 minutes and a song was played on the bells (think here an elephant sized music box). The bell tower was a way to keep everything running on time which must be an important part of Belgium culture. The view of the inner city from the top was so cool I found I did not want to leave, but leave I did. We, of course, bought chocolates. We hopped back on the metro (wrong one) and ended up in the country side (not quite) before figuring out the error in our ways. We did make it back to Leuven but late.

Thursday night was a bit hellish. We learned the Brussels airport would not be opening before Wendy's flight on Saturday.  We spent 3-4 stressful hours working on and off with United airlines considering options like Luxumbergh, Düsseldorf, Berlin, before finally settling in on Paris. We booked Wend a high speed train directly to Charles de Gaulle & a nearby hotel. She was inconvenienced, but she was brave about the change of plans. We got to bed at 1 am.

Friday was a quiet day in Leuven seeing sites and buying more chocolate and cookies to bring home as gifts.

Saturday I made me way by train from Leuven to Thonon by train. It took 10 hours because I gave myself plenty of time at each stop to be sure I got on the right train. The mountains after Paris was gorgeous. The guy who tried to scam me into buying a 32 euro all-day metro pass was a loser and I wish him a very unhappy life. I finally had to yell at him, "I'm not stupid! It should only cost me two euros!"  And at that, the little man who tried to scam me ran off. I got to Thonon right on time. My colleague Jean and his wife Isabelle took me out to dinner and saw me to my apartment.

Today Wendy is on her way home. She calculated it would take 28 hours. I hope she can find restful sleep on the airplane. I was taken by Jean to buy groceries for a few days because it seems Thonon will be shutdown until Tuesday morning owing to Easter. Isabelle who is very busy with her new job made time to cook us chicken, potatoes and green beans. For dessert we had 3 types of cheeses (the blue cheese blew my mind) and a pealed pear slow boiled in red wine with sugar and cinnamon. It was a perfect meal eaten with two of my favorite people. Now I'm tired of blogging. If anyone has read this far, let it be understood that I intend to make this blog more about the science and the challenges we face and how we overcome them. Research is like a puzzle and I hope to share how the pieces come together. If you want to learn about my first trip a few years back visit
http://lakebourgetcollaboration.blogspot.fr

Hi. Dan Yule begins his second blog. I first blogged when I went to France a few years back. I'm about to make a return trip and a number of friends have asked me to resume my blogging.

I can't believe it, but this old man figured out how to add a photo.  This was taken during November 2015. I'm told it is called a selfie.