Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
NO TRESPASSING – AFTER THE STORM (1).
“Strange!”
Tom did not understand. What was happening here?
The beach was dead. The previous beach sections all showed plenty of life just within ten centimeters from the surface.
He needed an auger to find out what is going on.
Tom and Lena were a couple. But they were also professional biologists. Their field of research was the life in coastal environments. It was summer on the northern hemisphere, and hence winter in the southern, where they actually were. So they did not come for the good weather. In fact, Tom and Lena were working on a project about the recovery of beach life after severe storms. So they needed to be stand-by during the storm season and hope there would come one. They had an open airline ticket ready, and when a storm was forecasted, they hurried to the airport, as usually they had at most a four day window to travel and to be in place. Fortunately, arrangements had been made to have a jeep with material standing by in the scientific institutes of their destination.
Now it had been so far. They had arrived just in time to see the storm rage in all its force on the coast. From the ten meters high elevated cliffs, they had watched its fury. The waves broke against the cliffs and splashed the water as high as they stood. Hard wind gusted over the land.
Then it became quiet. Relatively quiet. The sea was still agitated and full of white breaking wave crests. The wind had not gone down completely. But it had stopped raining and the cloud cover became broken up, allowing the sun to shine from time to time. It was safe now to enter the beaches. Tom and Lena knew they had no time to waste. Storm waves caused tremendous erosion of the beach and foreshore sediments, and ravaged the ecological communities living therein. They knew that, once the storm had calmed down, recovery would start. They intended first of all to map the maximum damage situation, in order to have a sound uniform baseline to start with the investigation of the recovery.
They had planned to investigate six beach sections. Lena reminded Tom that section 2 was located right in front of the last building along the coastal road. They parked their jeep at the dead end of the street, went to the beach and set out their quadrats. In order to speed up things, they sampled each of the six beach sections separately. It meant, at least two sections were sampled simultaneously. Tom and Lena had preferred to have assistance, so that all the beach sections could be sampled at the same time, but due to the storm, the local ecological institute needed all its (scarce) hands for other investigations and for repair of damages in survey sites. So they did simultaneously section 1 and 2, then section 3 and 4 and then section 5 and 6. Tom surveyed the pair numbers.
Fortunately, Tom found out that sections 2 and 4 showed comparable results. He knew the results of surveys from just before the storm, so the difference before and after was clear. And it became clear that recovery took more than a few hours before showing significant differences with the maximum damage situation. It was a relief, as no hurry was needed.
At noon, he entered section 6. Lena started section 5. At this pace, he realized, at least a second survey of all the sections could be carried out, and possibly even a third one before dark. But section 6 yielded a surprise. Instead of the wet, water soaked sands typical for the previous sections, these were dry, loose sands without any life form. Tom decided to shift his survey quarter slightly more seaward, but he obtained the same result. He decided to use the auger, in order to find out what was going on. He had to go back, around the protruding limestone cliff that separated sections 5 and 6, to get the auger form Lena. When he arrived, Lena herself was using it. She had done the same observation. They did not have to wait long. Soon she struck a hard surface. Concrete. They made a second hole. Concrete! And a third one! Concrete!
Tom suddenly realized something. During a previous stay, years ago, he had been warned not to enter certain beach sections, beyond section 6, as these were private property. Could it be..? He took the map and looked around. They were right, weren’t they? They had taken the last building, standing landward of section 2, as a reference point. And there, in the distance was the last building. And by the way, the entrance to the prohibited area had always been indicated by barbed wire running down from the cliff separating the beach sections. So, Tom was convinced they were right. He asked Lena’s opinion. She too was convinced they were on the right beach section. Anyway, they were finished here. They were in advance to their scheme now, so three surveys that day were still possible. Tom decided to return to section 6 and collect his remaining material, disgusted that concrete had also been poured over these beaches, which were public territory. Then they would return to sections 1 and 2 to start the next surveys.
As he returned to section five, he saw Lena waving to him. She apparently had climbed the cliff, and now she was returning, a little agitated. She showed him the map. From the cliff. She had seen the lighthouse, standing far right. The lighthouse, invisible from the beach, stood behind the actual section 6, the one they had erroneously sampled as section 4. Furthermore, she had seen a fence above the slope. They were definitely at the wrong place. They were on the private beaches. Worse, their observations had been offset two beach sections, and they had a delay now, because they would have to survey the real sections 1 and 2 as quickly as possible. A closer look on the map now revealed the cause of their mistake. The last building on the map was not anymore the last building standing. Some had been added since.
“I’am sorry, Tom, I did not notice.”
Tom knew that generally, Lena was good in map reading. But he knew too that even a good map reader could get confused by the actual field circumstances. He had made such mistakes too. They had been here before, but clearly, he could not rely solely on his memory. Anyway, he knew they had to leave the private sections as quickly as possible, before they would get into trouble.
But it was too late. Two terrain vehicles descended the ramp towards the beach. They split apart, cutting off Tom and Lena’s both exit ways.
(to be continued)
“Strange!”
Tom did not understand. What was happening here?
The beach was dead. The previous beach sections all showed plenty of life just within ten centimeters from the surface.
He needed an auger to find out what is going on.
Tom and Lena were a couple. But they were also professional biologists. Their field of research was the life in coastal environments. It was summer on the northern hemisphere, and hence winter in the southern, where they actually were. So they did not come for the good weather. In fact, Tom and Lena were working on a project about the recovery of beach life after severe storms. So they needed to be stand-by during the storm season and hope there would come one. They had an open airline ticket ready, and when a storm was forecasted, they hurried to the airport, as usually they had at most a four day window to travel and to be in place. Fortunately, arrangements had been made to have a jeep with material standing by in the scientific institutes of their destination.
Now it had been so far. They had arrived just in time to see the storm rage in all its force on the coast. From the ten meters high elevated cliffs, they had watched its fury. The waves broke against the cliffs and splashed the water as high as they stood. Hard wind gusted over the land.
Then it became quiet. Relatively quiet. The sea was still agitated and full of white breaking wave crests. The wind had not gone down completely. But it had stopped raining and the cloud cover became broken up, allowing the sun to shine from time to time. It was safe now to enter the beaches. Tom and Lena knew they had no time to waste. Storm waves caused tremendous erosion of the beach and foreshore sediments, and ravaged the ecological communities living therein. They knew that, once the storm had calmed down, recovery would start. They intended first of all to map the maximum damage situation, in order to have a sound uniform baseline to start with the investigation of the recovery.
They had planned to investigate six beach sections. Lena reminded Tom that section 2 was located right in front of the last building along the coastal road. They parked their jeep at the dead end of the street, went to the beach and set out their quadrats. In order to speed up things, they sampled each of the six beach sections separately. It meant, at least two sections were sampled simultaneously. Tom and Lena had preferred to have assistance, so that all the beach sections could be sampled at the same time, but due to the storm, the local ecological institute needed all its (scarce) hands for other investigations and for repair of damages in survey sites. So they did simultaneously section 1 and 2, then section 3 and 4 and then section 5 and 6. Tom surveyed the pair numbers.
Fortunately, Tom found out that sections 2 and 4 showed comparable results. He knew the results of surveys from just before the storm, so the difference before and after was clear. And it became clear that recovery took more than a few hours before showing significant differences with the maximum damage situation. It was a relief, as no hurry was needed.
At noon, he entered section 6. Lena started section 5. At this pace, he realized, at least a second survey of all the sections could be carried out, and possibly even a third one before dark. But section 6 yielded a surprise. Instead of the wet, water soaked sands typical for the previous sections, these were dry, loose sands without any life form. Tom decided to shift his survey quarter slightly more seaward, but he obtained the same result. He decided to use the auger, in order to find out what was going on. He had to go back, around the protruding limestone cliff that separated sections 5 and 6, to get the auger form Lena. When he arrived, Lena herself was using it. She had done the same observation. They did not have to wait long. Soon she struck a hard surface. Concrete. They made a second hole. Concrete! And a third one! Concrete!
Tom suddenly realized something. During a previous stay, years ago, he had been warned not to enter certain beach sections, beyond section 6, as these were private property. Could it be..? He took the map and looked around. They were right, weren’t they? They had taken the last building, standing landward of section 2, as a reference point. And there, in the distance was the last building. And by the way, the entrance to the prohibited area had always been indicated by barbed wire running down from the cliff separating the beach sections. So, Tom was convinced they were right. He asked Lena’s opinion. She too was convinced they were on the right beach section. Anyway, they were finished here. They were in advance to their scheme now, so three surveys that day were still possible. Tom decided to return to section 6 and collect his remaining material, disgusted that concrete had also been poured over these beaches, which were public territory. Then they would return to sections 1 and 2 to start the next surveys.
As he returned to section five, he saw Lena waving to him. She apparently had climbed the cliff, and now she was returning, a little agitated. She showed him the map. From the cliff. She had seen the lighthouse, standing far right. The lighthouse, invisible from the beach, stood behind the actual section 6, the one they had erroneously sampled as section 4. Furthermore, she had seen a fence above the slope. They were definitely at the wrong place. They were on the private beaches. Worse, their observations had been offset two beach sections, and they had a delay now, because they would have to survey the real sections 1 and 2 as quickly as possible. A closer look on the map now revealed the cause of their mistake. The last building on the map was not anymore the last building standing. Some had been added since.
“I’am sorry, Tom, I did not notice.”
Tom knew that generally, Lena was good in map reading. But he knew too that even a good map reader could get confused by the actual field circumstances. He had made such mistakes too. They had been here before, but clearly, he could not rely solely on his memory. Anyway, he knew they had to leave the private sections as quickly as possible, before they would get into trouble.
But it was too late. Two terrain vehicles descended the ramp towards the beach. They split apart, cutting off Tom and Lena’s both exit ways.
(to be continued)