D is for Daddy in the Desert
We were all very impressed at Daddy's scheduling, how his research trip to the desert of Death Valley happened during "D" week at Isaac's preschool. Isaac had all manner of D-flavored words with which to impress Miss Susie and Miss Barbara.
Daddy met his friend and former advisor-of-sorts, Alan, at the Las Vegas airport on a Tuesday. From there, they drove to Death Valley and Owens Valley to hang out and look at mountains all day. Lucky for me that there was a camera-happy researcher along for the ride who didn't know that Daddy was allergic to having his picture taken.
In this picture, Daddy is rocking his new favorite field hat, one he has gotten many compliments on. He delighted in telling people that he got it for $2.99 at Walmart. After this trip it was totally stanky and he asked me to wash it. I did. Then I threw it in the dryer. It fits Isaac really well now. Maybe one day Daddy will love me again, but I don't know.
Also in this picture, Daddy is operating his research toy, a scanner that takes detailed 3D pictures. Alan's interests are in remote sensing, a technique that uses different wavelengths of energy and light (from satellites, or, in this case, thermal cameras) to provide all kinds of information about earth surfaces. In Death Valley, Alan and Daddy are collaborating to find out more about how heat alone can break down rocks in the desert. Alan uses thermal imaging to detect which rocks and rock types are hotter when left out in the desert sun, and Daddy uses his LIDAR to make a 3D picture of the different sizes of rocks lying about and how they are distributed. They combine their information to get at an answer.
We find that we can also learn a bit about Daddy from remote sensing. Using the thermal camera, Alan's student took this picture of Daddy hard at work.
The result is a readout of Daddy's thermal energy, where lighter parts are warmer -- like Daddy's dark grey, heat-absorbing shirt -- and darker parts are colder -- like Daddy's sunglasses and the reflective window of the LIDAR. In total nerd form, Daddy told me that this picture was hard, scientific proof that his goatee really IS cool. (insert snorty laugh here)
Daddy met his friend and former advisor-of-sorts, Alan, at the Las Vegas airport on a Tuesday. From there, they drove to Death Valley and Owens Valley to hang out and look at mountains all day. Lucky for me that there was a camera-happy researcher along for the ride who didn't know that Daddy was allergic to having his picture taken.
In this picture, Daddy is rocking his new favorite field hat, one he has gotten many compliments on. He delighted in telling people that he got it for $2.99 at Walmart. After this trip it was totally stanky and he asked me to wash it. I did. Then I threw it in the dryer. It fits Isaac really well now. Maybe one day Daddy will love me again, but I don't know.
Also in this picture, Daddy is operating his research toy, a scanner that takes detailed 3D pictures. Alan's interests are in remote sensing, a technique that uses different wavelengths of energy and light (from satellites, or, in this case, thermal cameras) to provide all kinds of information about earth surfaces. In Death Valley, Alan and Daddy are collaborating to find out more about how heat alone can break down rocks in the desert. Alan uses thermal imaging to detect which rocks and rock types are hotter when left out in the desert sun, and Daddy uses his LIDAR to make a 3D picture of the different sizes of rocks lying about and how they are distributed. They combine their information to get at an answer.
We find that we can also learn a bit about Daddy from remote sensing. Using the thermal camera, Alan's student took this picture of Daddy hard at work.
The result is a readout of Daddy's thermal energy, where lighter parts are warmer -- like Daddy's dark grey, heat-absorbing shirt -- and darker parts are colder -- like Daddy's sunglasses and the reflective window of the LIDAR. In total nerd form, Daddy told me that this picture was hard, scientific proof that his goatee really IS cool. (insert snorty laugh here)
posted by Claire at 9:00 AM
1 Comments:
that all sounds very interesting. good job with the hat! i'm sure there will be another hat...even if it costs 5.99. but there is only one you to love :-)
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