Area lake study, need help

[josh b.]

Josh here, now an Undergraduate Research Scientist at NDSU.

I will be conducting a lake study covering Minnesota lakes this summer.  In the meantime, I would like some assistance from you scuba divers.  Here's what I need:

Log book pages, and lots of them!  (Minnesota only)

Can be mines, Superior, any lake, etc

Please include as much information as you can...in short, what you are "supposed" to be filling out anyways

Please arrange log book pages by lake and date.  If not, I can do it, but it just makes things easier for me if they are already like that.

Please put your name and phone number on the copied pages for proper citing purposes

Purpose:  To create a lake study model for display, prediction, and water variance studies.  Including: Clarity, fish present, animal/plant relationships, etc

Please turn in all log book pages to Going Under Dive Center in Maple Grove!

Thanks guys and gals!

Josh

[josh b.]

Just got a heads up: 

Would like the pages to be turned in by January 10th if that isn't too much to ask for.

Thanks again,

Josh

[DetectorGuy]

This is a good idea. Can I scan them in to my computer and turn them into a PDF file and e-mail the PDF file to you? This way I think you will get more responses from the out state area divers. If possible I would also be interested in having a page in MNscuba where divers could log their dives in their books like they normally do... and have these logs available for other divers to see.  The format for entering these dive logs would need to be simple enough so that it is not a burden for that diver to enter it. I have found that you can lay any sheet of paper (or an open log book) on a flatbed scanner and instead of making a copy, scan it to your computer. This will save it as a PDF file and then you can electronically zoom it around the world. I dont think the MNscuba forum has the ability to attach PDF files to posts yet. Maybe a person could save the scanned copies of the logbook as a jpeg but the clarity and readability might not be there.

[josh b.]

Sounds like a great idea---especially in the ways of saving paper.  But, considering the use for science, hard copies of material is preferred.  I will have a lot of material regardless, and with my other projects, it is far easier for me to organize hard copy pages than it is to mess with e-mails and computer files.  So, if the people out of state want to  send in pages, then they can PM me and I will give them an address to send to.  Otherwise, GUDC is a great place for people to drop off those pages and take a look at some cool gear while they're at it.

Once again, thanks, I look forward to looking at all of your dives!

Josh

[DetectorGuy]

Josh,
  Lets try to kill two birds with one stone. If you get a ton of dive log pages for your project, could you try to organize an effort to get copies somehow to this group of divers that visit MNscuba through this website or a link to a different website? I think it would be an excellent way to learn from other divers actual dive logs about what worked well for them and what did not. People then could pull what ever info they are looking for from these pages and make their own statistics. In construction we fill out these "Near Miss Reports" when ever something could have hurt someone but didn't. We emphasize that these are not to point blame, but to be used as a learning tool to prevent injuries. We then circulate the reports through the job site first, and then through our companies other job sites.
By having the ability to read other peoples log book pages we can learn a lot from the "near misses" and hopefully prevent diving injuries. We can also gather up info about trends in where others are diving, what are they wearing for thermal protection at a given date to be used for planning future dive trips. We can figure what SAC rates different divers have, and possibly use that info when pairing off on group dives (we need to do more group dives). Plus it will give us all something to do this winter!

We also should get a public show of hands from people reading this to show if there is an interest in this effort. Also chime in as to how this could be enhanced somehow to make it more use full to the the general public.

Wow, I must have had some strong coffee... I am really excited to see this data!

[josh b.]

ALthough, that really does sound very interesting, and very applicable for divers, the research I am doing primarily concerns water clarity, temp, air temp, air conditions, water conditions (choppy, calm, etc) time of year, fish and plants (although not many people know different plant species) and maybe depth if I see anything interesting. In order to find specific relations between each (basics of ecology).

Unfortunately, I am not going to go through and calculate everybody's SAC rates, or what works for them or not.  I am collecting these pages for data with an associated journal.  Yes, you will all see the results, they will be mostly in graphs, but there should be a poster made that could possibly be at GUDC, depending on what I find. 

My purpose, is to graph all of this data, and interpret it to make specific lake models that may help determine water quality, and predict future lake changes.  My abstract is not quite written yet, so this may seem confusing, but the log book page data will greatly help my efforts.  The DNR also has information like this, but not consistent year-to-year collections, and especially not month-to-month, or week-to-week, like some of these lakes may be. 

Look forward to a graphical illustration of the information, and the results will be posted on here, as well as the thanks to the many divers' log book pages that will help in my efforts.  I don't see why a copy of my poster can't be put up at GUDC, so that, too, may be another area to see the results first hand...and maybe determine your next dive!

Josh

[DetectorGuy]

I e-mailed you a PDF format of my dive log. I put my name and number on each page. If it makes the "best seller" list would I still need to pay full price at Barnes and Noble?
Let me know if you have any questions.

[josh b.]

hahaha, thank you.

Well, scientific publications are not "books," per say---they are journals.  And, published journals are mostly found online or through a credited agency/organization.  If mine is published, then it will hopefully be through the Society of Wetland Scientists, and other associated organizations.

But like I said, I will post when everything is made, and the location of my findings if/when it is published.