Category Archives: Technology

Camera 2 Reconnected

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The weather changed many times today. It started out foggy with no wind, then cleared with a light north wind. Then it clouded over and blew a little more from the southeast. By late after noon there was light rain, which continued into the evening while the wind shifted back to the northeast. The barometer remained fairly steady until this evening when it started to fall. The forecast for the weekend is cloudy with showers and a strong wind warning for central Juan de Fuca Strait.

Only one whale watching boat was noted in the Ecological Reserve today and it arrived in front of the jetty at the exact time that Second Nature arrived with students from Pearson. Second nature tied up to the jetty and conducted a working dive installing the underwater camera (Webcam #2). Half the team dealt with mounting and connecting the camera while the rest of the crew ran the cable out and secured it along the way. Everyone was well-briefed top-side and it was probably a thrilling dive with the many sea lions in the water all around the divers. Students Stuart, Alex and Sean were in the water with Chris and Courtney led Joliene, Sarah and Yam. Riikka was dive marshal and had a crew of three who made sure that everything went according to plan. The camera is installed and connected and we should be able to view it again shortly.

I didn’t spend much time on ecological observations today but as I was wheel barrowing gear around in the morning, I looked up and saw a big flock of Turkey Vultures. They seemed to be coming from Rocky Point and heading across the Strait to Washington State. They seemed to be using the light tower as a navigation aid. I counted and the group included 102 birds. Five of them turned around just after Race Rocks, maybe they had forgotten their passports.

Today was a clean-up and re-group day here. I tidied up after the electricians and moved and packaged up the waste and debris from the oil change on the Lister generator. The solar panels were washed, fresh water made and electricity generated. Just before the dive was over I launched the boat and went to pick up Alex.

Elephant seals more durable than internet networks

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I  checked on the pup briefly this morning (so far unnamed as we will wait for a while to make sure he has a good chance of survival.)  I said “he” because Alex thinks it is probably a male because of a tell-tale opening midway from umbilical to tail.

Pup- 2014-01-15 at 11.10.50 AMThis picture taken at 11:15 AM from camera 1 shows all is well and the male Chunk (top) is not bothering the pup or the female. 

 

 

Hopefully you can take advantage of the documentation we have on the website of our observations of elephant seals at Race Rocks Ecological reserve.……more tomorrow…..

The Tidal Current Turbine Energy Project in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

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Erika Lee Brown Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

ABSTRACT

the full PDF can be linked here:tidalenergyreport
There is a predicted potential of 42 000MW stored in tidal energy off the coast of Canada which remains widely untapped by the energy industries.[1] Although there has been significant research and development done in the tidal energy sector, it has been a challenge to develop a cost efficient system which has a minimal environmental impact.
In 2006, the first tidal current generator to be built and installed in Canada was deployed north of the Middle Islands in the center of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve off the coast of British Columbia. The current generator prototype was part of a six year joint research venture between Clean Current and the Race Rock project. The project aided to power Race Rocks using a combination of alternative energy technology to minimize the environmental impact of the facilities in the reserve while providing bases for testing of structural materials of the generator.
After numerous interruptions in power supply were experienced due to mechanical and electrical problems, the final phase of the project was completed in September 2011. The generator was retrieved from the seabed and transported to Vancouver for structural analysis.
The following paper will discuss the parameters of the study, as well as the challenges and problems encountered with the deployment, maintenance and retrieval of the tidal current system. A brief investigation of the outlook of tidal current generator systems as a means of power generation within Canada will also be completed.

 

See the full PDF: http://journals.library.mun.ca/ojs/index.php/prototype/article/view/397/496

Race Rocks Sponsors 2012

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DONORS:
The Hesse Family: Mr. and Mrs. Hesse of Metchosin have been long-term enthusiasts for ornithology. They decided to help us with our Race Rocks Program in 2003 and 2005 with a generous donation to the program. They have both passed away now but have left a generous legacy to the College Race Rocks Program.

Dr. Anita Brinkmann-Voss : has provided long-term scientific support and yearly financial assistance to the racerocks.com program.

 

Lester B. Pearson College– is one of ten United World Colleges located around the world. Two hundred students from over 80 countries study the International Baccalaureate curriculum during their two years at Pearson College. Garry Fletcher, a former faculty member who taught Environmental Systems and Biology at Pearson College, volunteers as the the educational director of racerocks.com, and webmaster for the website. Garry still works with students and staff to guide the educational content of the site. In addition, Laura Verhegge, also a faculty member teaching Biology and Marine Science provides additional guidance to the program. Pearson College operates the former Race Rocks light station facilities as a education centre under an agreement with BC Parks. Chris Blondeau, the Director of Operations for Pearson College provides the Operational Management of Race Rocks. A job-sharing arrangement in order to provide an employee of Pearson College as the on-site Ecoguardian is supported by Lester B.Pearson College which is the lead proponent and partner directing the racerocks.com project.

TELUS has been a major supporter of the racerocks.com since its inception. This link provides the history of our long term relationship and dependence on TELUS.

Apple Learning Interchange The QuickTime live audio and temporary portable video streams are being hosted by the Apple Learning interchange over the Akamai Internet distribution network.

In the design of the Race Rocks Taxonomy central index file, I have been able to rely on the freely available JavaScript DHTML code supplied by Andy Wooley of Milonic. The availability of such free assistance on the web has been essential to the building of that taxonomy.

 

  • Archives 2012

 

Race Rocks Sponsors 2005-2011

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Lester B. Pearson College– is one of ten United World Colleges located around the world. Two hundred students from over 80 countries study the International Baccalaureate curriculum during their two years at Pearson College. Garry Fletcher, a former faculty member who taught Environmental Systems and Biology at Pearson College, is the educational director of racerocks.com. Garry still works with students and staff to guide the educational content of the site. In addition, Laura Verhegge, also a faculty member teaching Biology and Marine Science provides additional guidance to the program. Pearson College operates the former Race Rocks light station facilities as a education centre under an agreement with BC Parks. Chris Blondeau, the Director of Operations for Pearson College provides the Operational Management of Race Rocks, and Ryan Murphy is employed by Pearson College as the on-site Ecoguardian. Pearson College is the lead proponent and partner directing the racerocks.com project.

 Apple Computers (Canada)– The Computers we use for the live video webcasts from Race Rocks are all made by APPLE COMPUTERS. In July of 2000, Apple Canada became a partner in the Millennium Partnership program with the donation of a Macintosh PowerBook G3. 500 MHz. It followed up with further support in April of 2001 with the donation of a G4 500 MHz portable computer, and a G4 1GHz computer a year later. These new high speed computers have been essential in broadcasting the manually operated live programs from the islands. They have been a most valuable addition for our live video webcasting programs.

Apple Learning Interchange The QuickTime live video streams are being hosted by the Apple Learning interchange over the Akamai Internet distribution network. In April of 2001, a set of three airport cards was provided by ALI in order to make all the cameras webcasting wirelessly from the island. In late 2003, Apple has upgraded our equipment at Race Rocks with the contribution of 2 AirPort Extreme base stations and three 1GHz eMac computers for the webcasting cameras at Race Rocks. In addition, they provided funds for the purchase of the new robotic camera 5 for the island. Race Rocks support pages, ideas for educational applications and learning activities are available at: http://newali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000007/


TELUS  has been a major supporter of the rac erocks.com since its inception. This link provides the history of our long term relationship and dependence on TELUS.In 2008 , Pacific Coast Environmental Metrics assisted by volunteering time to set up a new database to restore and improve the daily log for the racerocks.com website.  PCEM donated the database hosting for the log

DONORS: This file presents several of our donors to the Race Rocks program.

The Hesse Family: Mr. and Mrs. Hesse of Metchosin have been long-term enthusiasts for ornithology. They decided to help us with our Race Rocks Program in 2003 and 2005 with a generous donation to the program. They have both passed away now but have left a generous legacy to the college.

Dr. Anita Brinkmann Voss : has provide long-term scientific support and financial assistance to the racerocks.com program.

In the design of the Race Rocks Taxonomy central index file, I have been able to rely on the freely available JavaScript DHTML code supplied by Andy Wooley of Milonic. The availability of such free assistance on the web has been essential to the building of this website .

Graduate Students: We are particularly fortunate to benefit from the services and support of a number of alumni of Lester B. Pearson College who have donated their time or have given direct financial assistance to racerocks.com

Ken Dunham ( PC year 9) has designed and implemented the advanced network at Pearson College, and recently extended these facilities across the water to Race Rocks.

Giovanni Rosso (PC year 24) has provided the money for a digital camera and a videocamera for underwater work at Race Rocks.

Jochen Kumm (PC year 10) has provided a computer for the Ecological Overview database.

Ryan Murphy (PC year 25) is now employed as the ecoguardian at Race Rocks and has provided images for the racerocks.com website.

Tidal Current Energy Project at Race Rocks 2006-2011

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Background of the Integrated Energy Project for Race Rocks:

Starting in 1997, Lester B. Pearson College had to raise the funds to keep the diesel generators working to supply electricity to the island. The cost of doing this was originally $11,000 per year and within 4 years reached $20,000. The lighthouse light and foghorn had been made energy self- sufficient with 8 solar panels and a battery array installed by the Coast Guard by 1997. By 1998 we were proposing to develop support for alternate energy technologies to make the rest of the island energy-self sufficient and in so doing, create a curriculum resource on alternate energy for science courses at Lester Pearson College and elsewhere.

The Tidal Current Energy Project which was part of the Integrated Energy Transition at Race Rocks operated from 2006 to 2011. It was essentially a big experiment, and was one that showed the difficulties encountered in working with Tidal Energy installations, while providing the leverage to help Race Rocks transition from fossil fuels to environmentally sustainable forms of energy in operation of a remote educational facility.

This archive provides a chronological account of the process we at Lester Pearson College undertook in this endeavour.

 

History and Background Information on the Alternate Energy Project at Race Rocks.

 

 

Along with the Tidal energy part of the project , there was also the Solar energy component. It is profiled here: The Solar Energy Component of the Integrated Energy project

 

 

 

Traditional Energy Generation
By Diesel Oil at Race Rocks .Environmental Impacts of the Existing Diesel Powered Generator

 

 

Environmental protection of the Ecological Reserve with the Installation of the Tidal current Generator at Race Rocks..2004

 

BC Parks Use Permit for the tidal energy project..2004

 

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ENCANA Partners to enable Pearson College- ENCANA – Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks Feb 25, 2005

 

Preliminary Environmental Screening for building of Battery Storage facility May 2005

 

 

 

BC Parks Preliminary Assessment for Cable entry and crossing of the island May 2005

 

 

 

Underwater testing of structural materials to be used for the turbine

 

 

 

Deployment and retrieval of the ADCP instrument for Current measurement 2005

 

 

 

BC Parks Impact Assessment Process for Piling Location , Nov2 2005

Nov 2 2005

 

 

Video of Invertebrates on the substrate at Tidal Current Energy site March 2006

 

 

 

Dredging the overburden for the tidal energy installation.

 

 

 

Installation of the Anchors for Drilling for the Tidal Current Energy Project

 

 

Drilling for the Piling Installation

 

 

Drilling Problems encountered in installation of the tidal current energy Piling

 

 

Installation of bottom part of the piling

 

 

 

Installation of upper part of the piling

 

 

 

 

Laying of the cable to shore Aug.20-22, 2006

 

 

 

Testing of the Turbine in Pedder Bay

 

 

 

 

Installation of the turbine Sept. 27, 2006

 

 

 

Installation of the turbine control unit Sept 2006

 

 

 

 

PM Stephen Harper visits Race Rocks for an “ecoenergy announcement” Jan 19, 2007

 

 

Video on the Pearson College, EnCana, Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks

 

 

 

tidalturbinrPresentation at the European Commission Coordinated Action on Ocean Energy (CA-OE)Workshop on Environmental, Economics, Development Policy, and Promotion of Opportunities, Copenhagen, Denmark 26-27 April 2007

 

6 months of growth on the Tidal Current turbine April 2007

 

 

 

powscurrspeed-300x213

Connor Scheu and Wouter Zwart April 2, 2009 the outputs of energy from the system.

 

 

 

April, 2007.The tidal energy turbine is raised to change the bearings which had been deteriorating faster than expected.

 

 

Redeployment of the Tidal Energy Turbine  October 2008

 

 

Underwater materials performance testing/fouling 2008

 

 

 

END of Tidal Energy project and removal of Turbine

History of Communications from Race Rocks

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This list of signals was used for communication with Esquimalt and Fort Rod Hill prior to radio communications Link to communications file I especially like the one for "Man-of-War" in sight !

Signals used for communication with Esquimalt and Fort Rodd Hill prior to radio communications

The microphone used in the radio room for weather and radio communications.

The microphone used in the radio room pre-1960 for weather and radio communications.

This keypad was used for the telegraphic communications in Morse Code over the radio in the early years.

This keypad was used for the telegraphic communications in Morse Code over the radio in the early years.See link to communications

n this picture, taken before 1976, the radio tower for communications, (VHF?) appears on the left hand side. On the right side are the guy-wires for the radio beacon.

In this picture, taken before 1976, the radio tower for communications, (VHF?) appears on the left hand side. On the right side are the guy-wires for the radio beacon.

rectifier

Rectifier

beacon

Radio Beacon

radiobox1

GE Radio.. with label—->

sinclairradio

Sinclair Radio Labs label

Some time in the 1980’s the Coastguard installed a Radio network which connected the lightstations. It wasn’t until the late1980s that VHF radios became the method of communication at Race Rocks. In 2000, with the millennium project, Lester Pearson College installed the V(oice) O(ver) I(nternet) P(rotocol) installed at Race Rocks. This provided, through a microwave link to the Lester Pearson College phone exchange, the first regular telephone service to Race Rocks. See the technology index.

In March 2010, I had a conversation with Trevor Anderson about the radio communications when he was at Race Rocks from 1966 to 1982.. Below are some of his thoughts about communications at that time.
The radio beacon at Race Rocks came under a different government department. They had installed a small generator for the beacon alone. The same applied for the radio equipment.
The Sequential radio beacon: Before the days of GPS, ships at sea along the Strait of Juan de Fuca had available in some areas a position fixing system which relied on a radio signal broadcast from a series of shore stations. There were 6 stations broadcasting from radio beacons in the Juan de Fuca /Georgia Strait area. Five were located at American sites and Race Rocks was the only one broadcasting from Canada on that frequency . Some of the other stations on the circuit with the radio beacons were at Port Angeles, Neah Bay, and Shelter Island. There was a non-directional wire antennae from the engine room where the radio was housed. The 6 stations were all on the same frequency. Each station sent out a Morse code letter ( From Race Rocks it was the letter J in Morse code) every 6 minutes, so each station had 1 minute per station when the code was broadcast in sequence. This relied of course on accurate timing, and Trev said that they had a wind-up clock which would occasionally go out. Then it wasn’t long until the Americans were phoning to alert him.
For Canadian Coastguard communications there was an AM radio network for the Lightstations all up and down the Coast. Weather reports were broadcast from Prince Rupert to Race Rocks on the 1850 frequency. I asked Trev if that network could be used for lightkeepers to talk to other stations, he said ” Only after midnight and then the Coastguard didn’t approve of that.”One of the problems with operating radio broadcasting equipment was that the radios operated by large tubes which would frequently need to be replaced, so Trev said his radio repair kit was always handy. He came with good radio skills however as he had been trained in communications when he was in the Second World War. He was the communications officer aboard a Lancaster Bomber which was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea when flying missions with the British Air force in North Africa. To this day he and his group from the Canadian Air Force who were assigned to work with the British in North Africa, have gone pretty well unrecognized for their heroic missions. He also has an incredible story of his miraculous escape through the window of his radio room of the bomber.Garry Fletcher, March, 2010

Wind Sentinnel Research

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The Wind Sentinnel deployed at Race Rocks on October 18, 2009
-Estimated duration is Oct. 16 – Nov. 16 (logistics/weather dependant)
-Buoy Deployment Location – Lat: 48° 17.606’N    Long: 123° 32.370’W
-Communications – Buoy: Cellular phone
-Communications – land station: Race Rocks LAN wired Ethernet connection.AXYSWindSentinelWe will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications.

In October, 2009, Lester Pearson College had an opportunity to participate in an offshore wind assessment test by AXYS Technologies Inc. in the Strait of Juan de Fuca .See video of test in Juan de Fuca off Race Rocks
Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009Great Race Rocks was used to host the land station for an offshore buoy which is designed to record  wind speed and direction data profiles up to 200 meters height. It is anchored outside of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Data from the buoy is relayed automatically every 10 minutes by cell phone to the instrument trailer on land and is transmitted to the internet through our LAN on Race Rocks.

See the Link below to this brochure pdf with more specifications

 

 

Link for more specifications AXYSWindSentinel
We will be able to benefit by adding the information collected to the knowledge base for the reserve. It will also be useful for planning for future sustainable energy applications

Our current wind measurements done by the Davis weather instrument we have installed on the ground level, often show at least a 10 km/h difference in wind velocity when compared with the Environment Canada data from the top of the tower at 36 metres. A set of data with projections to 200 metres will provide an excellent profile for comparisons.
See this sample file on Analyzing the data as an exercise
To access the Live Streaming Data from the instrument AXYS Technologies has provided the fiollowing link:http://data.axystechnologies.com/AXYSWebView/WEBVIEW/webview.aspx
Username: windtrial
Password: axyswind
The left hand window shows the station, which if you click on will expand out to show the messages (metocean and Waves) and if you click the + beside these you will get the individual data parameters which you can plot into a graph by selecting the checkbox of the parameter you want to graph and then clicking the Graph icon at the top of that window.You can also see a table of the data by simply clicking on the message (click on the 1 MetOcean name and a table will appear on the RHS window with all the data) 

Race Rocks Tidal Turbine Generator

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Connor Scheu and Wouter Zwart April 2, 2009 . Race Rocks Tidal Turbine GeneratorUWCpearsoncollegeicon

Background:

Ed note: Connor communicated with Russ Stothers of Clean Current for his project;

“Here is a simple synopsis of the project I will be doing this week. It is called a group four project (which pertains to the experimental science department here at the college), and the theme for everyones project is resource allocation/sustainability. Every student has to decide upon a project in which they will research something in this area. This usually involves the identification of a question, and then variables, presented in a lab format and accompanied by a presentation, but not overly formal. Continue reading →

Redeployment of the Tidal Energy Turbine

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On October 17, 2008, Clean Current reinstalled the tidal energy turbine at Race Rocks. Timing of the operation had to be around a slack tide, and its always a problem to have enough time for completion of the basic underwater installation work before the tide starts running again. Students and staff of Pearson College will now work in the next few weeks using the 20 minute window of some slack tides to complete several aspects of the installation to prepare the unit for full operation again.

The turbine now has several upgrades developed on the basis of the experience of the first installation. Stainless Steel bearings have now been installed, and a new lubricating system with environmentally friendly lubricant was added. A new electrical wire protection system was added, and the augmenter duct around the outside was replaced with stronger reinforced fibreglass with a reinforced outer ring. The struts holding the central ring were also reinforced, and the blade configuration was modified.

This new deployment will enable a further test of the seaworthiness of the turbine. Perfecting the structure and its operation in these difficult ocean conditions is the goal of the experimental phase of the project.

Erik Schauff of Pearson College took the following pictures of the redeployment and the Pearson College Divers inspecting the apparatus underwater after the professional divers had completed their work.

Carter (PC year 34) inspects the newly reinstalled turbine

College Divers Adam and Martin (PC year 34) diving near the installed turbine

Other pictures of the turbine in various stages of the re-installation can be found captured on the remote control camera 5 on the October Photo Gallery by PB