Day 16: The Water Channel Mystery

Today we were able to meet with the professors that would lead us in our individual research. Dr. Becker had a lot of helpful insight as to what may be happening within the water shed and some possible reasons for the disappearing and reemerging water. It was very exciting to hear many of my ideas being brought up while he was talking to the group of students focused in hydrology. GPR may no longer be an option in collecting my data simply because the environment around the river channel is not suitable for this kind of tool. In order to produce a viable image using GPR the surface of the study area should be relatively flat and smooth. My study area is heavily vegetated with little flat or smooth surfaces. I will focus primarily on using flow meters, soil profiles, and geologic evidence to answer my study question. Speaking of my study question I guess I should address that now that I’m sure of what I’m doing!

I’m focusing on the water channel mystery and attempting to solve where the missing surface water has gone. To do this I will look at all the factors I listed above as well as some research of course. Since there are a handful of us working on hydrological based questions, Dr. Becker has suggested we team up to collect any initial data two of us will need. Which is a great idea because the ka’a’awa valley has a lot of ground to cover! James and I will be collected various points along the main stream corridor so we can later correct the available DEM. Tonight we will put together a data dictionary to make our lives a little easier tomorrow, since I’m sure it will be a very long day.