Survey of Terrain Surface Exercise

Introduction:

In this exercise, the class was divided into groups, and told to create a miniature terrain in sandboxes and sample its elevation using whatever methods seemed appropriate. This simulates situations where there are often no obvious methods to accommodate problems that might arise in the field, and challenged our critical thinking skills. We were advised by the instructor to set up an arbitrary coordinate system of some kind for use in later exercises, and were given a set of tools that included meter sticks, yarn, and marker flags. We were allowed to use any other necessary tools as well.

Methods:

First, we had to sit down and discuss our ideas for our sampling methods. We drafted a possible terrain on paper and prepared for sampling. We also consulted other students' blogs from previous years for ideas on methodology. We then gathered the necessary tools: string, thumb tacks, and measuring sticks before heading outside to build our terrain. That day, January 30th, the skies were overcast and the temperature was -9 degrees celsius. In our terrain, we included a depression, a hill, a valley, and a ridge.

Setting up our miniature terrain. Note that all features were BELOW
the rim of the box- we measured down from that point.

A shot of our finished terrain.

Once our terrain was created, we set up our coordinate system by setting thumb tacks every 10cm on the rim of the box. We then stretched yarn around them, but ran out of yarn less than half-way through. We were forced to just use the visual reference of some of the thumb tacks, and used meter sticks to delineate more clearly along the other axis.

Thumb tacks around the edge of our terrain, delineated by string,
measuring sticks, and sometimes not at all.

Next, we collected our samples. We had one person take measurements in each 10cm by 10cm box, giving us 253 samples when we finished. The person that took the measurements said them aloud to another, who recorded them in a rough draft of the graph shown below.

Discussion:

This exercise was interesting, because it was very open ended. We were required to devise our own methodology, simulating this common challenge in full scale field work. We also faced a challenge when we ran out of yarn, and had to improvise. I imagine this type of adaptability is very important in other field work. These challenges affected our research's level of error, and are important to take note of. We tried to minimize error by having the same person take the measurements the whole time.

Conclusion:

This exercise was valuable because it pushed the limits of our groups' critical thinking skills. It also expanded our knowledge of field methods and how to devise them. I learned that the mission planning phase is especially important in field studies, and that it is important to take stock of available tools before setting out into the field.