A Day at Black Rapids

Black Rapids Lodge is located at the intersection of the Black Rapids Glacier and the Delta River valley:


Howling winds whip across the glacier's and river's valleys at 90 degrees to each other, making the lodge's location very turbulent. So my colleagues and I decided that that would be an interesting location to put up some wind assessment equipment, including a SODAR station. The owners of the Lodge were very supportive. They are off-grid and power the lodge with a diesel-fired generator, supplemented with solar panels. They are very interested in tapping power from the wind as well. In the past, Mike Hopper had attempted to install more than one wind turbine, but all of his turbines were damaged by the violent and turbulent wind.

I went down there with a professor/researcher of atmospheric science, who kindly offered to lend his equipment and expertise, and with one of our summer interns, who also is one of my now former students (and one of my brightest students, at that!). When I announced this trip, our PR people asked if the UAF photographer could come along as well. What could be better PR than (1) a collaboration with another department (2) in a gorgeous, scenic setting (3) with an undergraduate intern (4) and with a woman engineer? This post features some of his photos, which will be indicated.

Here are my photos, first, of things that are not PR-worthy.

The view from the deck. Not bad, eh?


By the way, the Lodge is just gorgeous. Mike and Annie Hopper really have an eye for beauty, function, and design. From the beautiful huge wooden beams to the stained glass, from the dichroic glass inlaid with the tile in their restroom, to the pristine condition of their generator, to even the beauty of their outbuildings, everything is just gorgeous, designed with an eye for detail that I've rarely seen.

The Delta River. It had only just "clicked" with me how the nearby town of Delta Junction got its name--it's at the junction of the Delta and Tanana rivers, duuuuhhh...




A lodge dog, Zoë. Zoë is a strange mix of shy and yet desperate to fetch. The entire day we were working outside, Zoë followed us around, pleading and cajoling with her stick, but she didn't want to be petted, nor have anyone approach her, except when she needed to avail herself of our opposable thumbs and throwing abilities.


Zoë's parents were *very* kind and helpful. I don't know where the Hoppers found this couple, but they sure got lucky! Here is Zoë with her dad:


Now here are the "working" photos from UAF photographer Todd Paris.

GPS vs. old-fashioned compass. The verdict: Both pretty danged good! The SODAR needed to be oriented to geographic north. At Black Rapids (and in Fairbanks!) our magnetic declination is about 20 degrees East.


The SODAR had to be located away from the building, so that the building would not interfere with the readings. So we shoveled a path and made a clearing:




Pretending to work during downtime so Todd can get photos. :)


We also set up a separate meteorological station nearby, to corroborate the local readings:

I think we need to submit some of these photos to Carhartt and have them pay us for advertising!



As the day wore on a lot longer than we had planned, and the equipment refused to cooperate, we found ourselves inadequately dressed and shivering against the cold. Zoë's mum kindly offered me her bunny boots and warm coat to wear. I changed to my warmer sweatshirt and pulled the hood over my head.





And the met tower is up and transmitting data! The SODAR--not so much. :(