Field Notes

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Gilbert Tract: 2024-04-04 08:45:00 (DOY 95)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Dennis, Robert, Tyler, Jason R., Molly F., Dylan C., Emma

Summary: Knightsen Elementary field trip, cold and wet

2024-04-04
Gilbert Tract

Today we hosted 5th graders from Knightsen Elementary School District for a field trip. There were about 80 students who stayed from 8:45-10:15 PDT. It was overcast but dry when we arrived around 7:30 PST (8:30 PDT), but unfortunately, it started steadily sprinkling around 9am. It wasn’t too windy, but it was cold (the car’s thermometer reported temperature ~6-7C or 44-46F).

The students split up into 5 groups and rotated among 5 stations:

(1) Water quality with the conductivity sensor, at the channel - Dennis
- Measure salinity of different water samples (GT, HS, MB, EE, and DI water)
- Look at map of Delta and see how salinity differs depending on location in estuary
- Next time, Dennis will collect some seawater from Dillon Beach so we have a wider range of salinity

(2) Naturalist walk (observing plants and animals), between the channel and the tower - Jason R. (UCD)

(3) Sensors, at the tower – Daphne
- Perfect chance for me to talk about different ways to measure rain and wind, since we were experiencing it in real-time
- My hook was saying that we could use the weather station to tell the future (aka weather forecast)

(4) Peat soil/carbon cycle, near the tower - Tyler A. (DWR)
- The students enjoyed squeezing the bag of peat soil and asking questions like, “Is it poop?”

(5) Abiotic/biotic factors, near the tower – Robert

Molly and Emma from DWR and Dylan from DWC were also milling about, taking photos and checking out all of the stations.

The field trip was supposed to go for another hour, but the teachers called it off after 3 rotations since everyone was getting steadily colder and more miserable.

Dennis said the rain made insects(?) active on the water surface, which attracted a group of swallows into a feeding frenzy near the channel.

After we wrapped up the field trip, Robert and I drove back to the channel to pack up the conductivity station. As we left around 9:30 PST (10:30 PDT), we noticed snow on Mt. Diablo.

0 photos found

8 sets found

Can't check MBWPEESWGT_mixed
Can't check MBEEWPSWEPGT_cam
16 GT_met graphs found