Field Operations, Day 1: Return to Quitor

Today, we had our first day in the field. Despite a steep learning curb on low tech anti-theft devices on one of our trucks, we had an incredibly productive day.

Image: Tim and I preparing to depart for the day. Standing within the sinkhole entrance of Quitor. Credit: Dan Ruby.

The sensor and data management team successfully pulled data off all remaining sensors in Caverna de Quitor. Unfortunately, one of our sensors was stolen. The sensor location was a concern to me last year, but we felt it was the best location at the time.

On the side, we also learned our data loggers are incredibly power efficient. We’ve been collecting data for the past 11 months and still had 95% battery power remaining on several of our data loggers.

Image: Christina and Denise taking a break from mapping Quitor. Credit: Dan Ruby.

The cartography team was also successful today. For the most part, they completely mapped Quitor; however, they do have some concerns regarding magnetic anomalies within the cave that may be affecting their measurements. Tomorrow, they will be conducting some tests at the house to see if they can resolve these problems. They may ultimately learn they have to return to Quitor for a half day to mop up some of these problems. However, this shouldn’t be a problem. Although this is our first day of field operations, we are maintaining our schedule.

Image: Dan, Lynn, Christina and a stray dog at the entrance of Quitor. Dogs are pervasive in San Pedro. At any given time, there are likely more dogs than tourists in this town!