Weather Stormers
One of our original team members is too old to be part of the team this year. Rather than miss out on all the fun, he's created a game based on the Climate Connections theme.
Click on the Earth to download the game to your PC. Author: Ian Leslie |
|
The "Polar Game" is a fun 10 Level game where you have to save the earth by collecting energy saving objects while also solving puzzles and dodging cars that will run you over if you give them the chance. In short "Survive and save the earth!" The game will end after you finish Level 10, or you can hit esc if you want to end at a lower level. The game is in .exe format. When you start the download, you may receive a warning about the potential for viruses because of the .exe format. The file was scanned for viruses before it was loaded to our website. |
The solution we came up with for the erosion
problem at Esquimalt Lagoon was a curved breakwater. It would be made of a clear
material and have holes at intervals to allow water through. The side that would
be facing the ocean would look like a crescent moon so as to neutralize the wave
energy and rebound the waves onto themselves.
Disadvantages
- It would have to above the height of the high water level and people would see it.
- In a storm, there would be lots of water moving at high speeds that could effect other areas.
- More work needs to be done to figure out what it should be made from, what would be the best shape, and the footprint on the ocean floor.
- A solid structure breakwater will change the shape of the beach.
- Increased costs?
Advantages
- The power of the waves should be dissipated into the ocean and not onto the beach.
- The breakwater will allow water to move around it so that water will still be able to flow in and out of the lagoon.
- It could be designed with a walk way for pedestrians, creating a opportunity for tourism.
- It's an innovative solution that our team came up with!
We think the breakwater would have to be 150 meters long to protect the north end of the spit. Unfortunately, we don't have a cost estimate.
Our team contacted the Landroids from New Jersey. They had chosen beach erosion caused storms for their project too.
They chose point Harvey Cedars as a case study area to learn about the local impacts, funding, politics and engineering solutions. On a stormy, rainy, windy day, the Landroids met the Harvey Cedar Mayor on the beach, to witness first hand how the storm can damage the shoreline. The team also presented to the mayor their ideas and concerns. They also visited Surf City to see what a completed beach replenish project looked like, and how the sand can migrate to Barnegat Lighthouse.
The Landroids thought we should look at WhisprWave®, a floating breakwater.
Traditional breakwaters, seawalls and jetties have failed primarily because they reflect or direct wave energy in destructive ways or concentrate it in local hot spots. Erosion problems and the scouring effects of the misdirected energy lead to the loss of beach / coastline and undermine the structures that were meant to be protected.
In addition, other fixed structures such as groins lead to the loss of natural flows in down-drift beaches by interrupting the littoral flows of sand and generally create a surplus condition on the up-drift side and a starvation condition on the down-drift beaches.
The WhisprWave® is designed to remedy the limitations of traditional breakwaters, seawalls and jetties. The WhisprWave® can be set in any depth of water, but is particularly effective at 20foot depths and less, believed to encompass most in-shore erosion problems. Unlike other systems, it has complete portability and does not require major construction to move it. This flexibility greatly enhances its usefulness at sites that are subject to possible changes in needs and requirements.
Pacifica, California coast after major storms in 1997 destroyed the houses shown
above.
The very soft cliffs that are being easily eroded .
They are putting in brake waters in to try to help the erosion stop
Many stretches of the East Anglia, England coastline are prone to heavy of erosion, such as this collapsed section of cliffs at Hunstanton, Norfolk.
They are trying to stop it by putting groynes and other artificial measures
to keep it under control but all it did was speed up the erosion.
Artificial Reef in Australia
Australia's Gold coast city has beach erosion problems and it threatens to destroy one of the roads leading to surf reefs. Ken Lambert invented a giant sloped triangle and put it in the water and it stopped the eroding on the beach and road.
The reef was made of car tires and heavy duty plastic straps.
The place of the artificial reef was, give take or a few meters.
Benefits
In addition too providing the potential for beach restoration and great waves,
in an easily accessible place the design was:
- cheap
- impact absorbing
- easily shaped and modified
- well anchored structure
- A robust structure which could survive the huge cyclonic seas that visit this area
- A structure that would be relatively impervious to boat anchors and boat propellers
- A structure not prone to sinking into the sand
- A robust structure with cheap easily replaceable modules
- Additionally the vertical tunnels and spaces between the columns, that were not filled by the natural movement of sand, would provide a safe attractive habitat for small fish and other aquatic organisms
- Another environmental gain was that the Gold Coast's over supply of used tyres would be recycled into a non-polluting economically advantageous project
The north end of the Coburg Peninsula Did shelters the bridge and the entrance to the lagoon from high waves.
All through January 2008, there were high tides.
There had been some rainfall that drained from the Colwood delta into the lagoon. The rainfall created high water levels on the lagoon side of the peninsula.
On January 4, 2008, there was a high wind storm. The winds were from a different direction then normal West winds. These high winds, coming from a different direction, changed the direction of the waves.
These waves crashed over the north end of the spit causing erosion around the bridge and reduced the height of the barrier spit by 1 meter.
The lowered height and reduced size of the barrier spit is less effective in acting as a breakwater protecting the mouth of the lagoon.
photo credit: bridsofafeather.ca
This Photo is of the spit before the storms
For the Research Project, out team is looking at the recent storm damage to the north end of the Esquimalt Lagoon.
Esquimalt Lagoon is a Migratory Bird Sanctuary located in Colwood, just outside Victoria BC. Esquimalt Lagoon made up of a large area of open water. The fresh water in the lagoon comes from 13 streams that drain the Colwood delta. The salt water comes in from the ocean at high tide.
This area is protected by the long, sandy beach that makes up the Coburg Peninsula. A road runs along the centre of the peninsula and there is a bridge at the north end.
>
On September 5, FIRST LEGO League announced this year's Climate Connections Challenge. The kids work as a team to design a robot to complete over 20 missions and do some scientific research. This year's challenge is to find out about your local climate, and then find a another community anywhere in the world that shares your climate challenges.
Our 2008 team has started meeting and came up with their name, the Weather Stormers. And now, the season begins...
