{"id":355,"date":"2018-08-10T22:19:41","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T22:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/?p=355"},"modified":"2018-08-20T18:22:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T18:22:58","slug":"water-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/2018\/08\/10\/water-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Water World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuesday, July 31, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The software that we use to predict a launch point so the payload will travel to our intended landing point directed us to an area today that was inaccessible by GMC Yukon, so we were toodling around about five miles away surrounded by tall trees.\u00a0 We went down one small dirt road to see if someone had a yard we could use, stopping to ask a man who just happened to be leaving in a car.\u00a0 It turned out he was working with a construction crew there and was not the owner but, as luck would have it, he and his brother own the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.birchesresort.com\/\">Birches Resort<\/a> on Boot Lake and we were welcome to use their field there.\u00a0 As time had gotten a little late, we high-tailed it over to Boot Lake and found a beautiful open field for our use.\u00a0 As we set up, a group of guests came over to watch and we were able to recruit not just one, but two balloon launch helpers!\u00a0 As a bonus, we added a downward looking camera to the payload so we could get some views from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/1_20180731_114002c.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Thank you, Birches Resort!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/2_20180731_114604sc.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Dreamy open field<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/3_20180731_115826s.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Our intrepid launch squad<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch went beautifully but once again we had low winds throughout the profile, so the balloon sort of meandered this way and that, not really following the trajectory at all.\u00a0 We found ourselves on one side of a large lake, unsure whether the payload would end up on the far side, our side, or somewhere in between \u2013 yikes!\u00a0 Eventually we made the decision to head for the north side (i.e. the far side) and hurried off.\u00a0 The payload absolutely toyed with us\u2026. From \u201cOh, it looks like it will stay over land!\u201d to \u201cUh, oh\u2026. now it\u2019s stalled out over the lake!\u201d to \u201cOh, it\u2019s heading east again for land!\u201d to \u201cHey, look, it\u2019s actually following that narrow strip of land, almost like a runway!\u201d to \u201cOhhhhhhh nooooo\u2026. it\u2019s heading north again\u2026..\u201d to \u201cYeah, it\u2019s definitely going to land in the water.\u201d\u00a0 All the while we were driving along deciding at each intersection what our best strategy was.\u00a0 We ended up at a boat landing and were able to see the final descent as the payload just cleared a tiny island with a handful of pretty tall trees on it.\u00a0 The actual landing was out of view, but presumably it was a splashdown in Trude Lake.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1OQLT5P8Zks?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/6_Splashdown.png\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Splashdown!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/20180802_093001-e1534530055223.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Good thing we did a careful job with the plastic wrap today!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We saw a speedboat headed our way and hoped they happened to be on the way to the boat landing, but they veered off, so we hopped back in the car and drove another mile to some lakeside cabins and started knocking on doors.\u00a0 Ashley answered one of them and said she wouldn\u2019t be able to take us out in the motorboat because she was home with her newborn baby, but we were welcome to borrow the canoe.\u00a0 She provided us life jackets and paddles and off we went.\u00a0 We could see the orange bags about a third of a mile off shore and the \u201cseas\u201d were calm, so it didn\u2019t take long for us to pull up alongside the payload.\u00a0 One by one, Jack hauled all the pieces into the canoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/7_20180731_142624s.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Rescue vehicle<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/8_IMG_20180731_143333s.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Haulin&#8217; in the big catch<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/9_Rescued.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>Mission accomplished!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back on land we discovered that all the electronics seemed to be okay, despite floating out there for half an hour or so &#8211; a nice surprise for our first-ever water recovery.\u00a0 On the drive home we discussed how lucky we had gotten with that landing given that it could very easily have landed in a much larger lake or, comically, how it came so close to getting snagged on a tall tree on a tiny island in the wide open expanse of Trude Lake.\u00a0 Then we would have had to borrow the canoe <em>and<\/em> bring along our 16\u2019 AirCore snagging pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/11_20180730_161717c.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>&#8220;The Lab&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/69\/2018\/08\/10_20180731_155814s.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>And &#8220;the laundry&#8221; hung up to dry<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back at \u201cthe lab\u201d, Tim analyzed the AirCores and, huzzah, the samples were <em>also<\/em> just fine.\u00a0 Definitely a night to celebrate with the Wisconsin specialty of deep-fried cheese curds!\u00a0 To cap off the day, Colm Sweeney rolled up to the cabin at about 10pm.\u00a0 Colm is the lead scientist for the AirCore Project at NOAA.\u00a0 He flew to Minneapolis and drove up to Park Falls so Jack could leave in the morning to fly back to Colorado.\u00a0 <br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday, July 31, 2018 The software that we use to predict a launch point so the payload will travel to our intended landing point directed us to an area today that was inaccessible by GMC Yukon, so we were toodling around about five miles away surrounded by tall trees.\u00a0 We went down one small dirt&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/2018\/08\/10\/water-world\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/2018\/08\/10\/water-world\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-25 13:18:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/aircore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}