February 19, 2016

Full Moon Tide: August 28 2015

The tide under a full moon, August 28 2015.

via GIPHY

My original intention here was to capture the tide at its main intervals, to create a place-based schematic of the intertidal for a field guide I was working on. So I divided up my day and the tide into four intervals, defining the lower lowtide line, the upper lowtide line, the midtide line, and upper tide line.

With these photos I was able to create a schematic of the cove, divided into the lowtide, midtide and hightide zones. I chose a good day for it! The tide ranged from 0.6 m to 3.1 m (2.5m).

It was fun scheduling my field work around the tide, playing in tide pools and going for hikes, then hurrying back to be sure I was there at the right time to snap the photo.

On Galiano there is a semi-diurnal tidal cycle with two high tides and two low tides occurring every ~25 hours. Those who know tides will know that the greatest volume of water (1/2 the total tidal flux) comes in during the middle 1/3 interval, according to the Rule of Twelfths. The pattern is perfectly evident in this time-lapse series.

Posted on February 19, 2016 07:30 AM by chlorophilia chlorophilia | 1 comment | Leave a comment

February 18, 2016

One year on Galiano Island: Timelapse Series 2015

I put this series together from a vantage looking northwest up the coastline of Galiano Island, on the Trincomali side.

via GIPHY

There are a few gaps in the series—notably July, the driest month on island, as well as December, one of the wettest!

This series nevertheless captures well the spectrum of change that happens over the course of the year here.

People have remarked that the landscape changes very little—which partly owes to the dominance of coniferous forests and, here on the shoreline, the evergreen deciduous tree Arbutus. The vegetation reflects the mediterranean sub-climate of the island, which provides for mild, wet winters and cool, dry summers.

Still there are a couple of changes to note, which will also give some sense of the timeline:

1) Watch as the Ocean spray, the dominant shrub in the background of the shoreline, leafs out beginning in March and flowers from May–June. Its inflorescences go to seed, becoming sere and turning red in the July heat. Finally by September, leaf-fall begins. The leaves have all fallen by late November.

2) Notice also the brief snowfall in November. This frame is intercalated from 2014 (we didn't get snow in 2015); I took the liberty to include it just to add to the contrast of the series.

Posted on February 18, 2016 08:20 PM by chlorophilia chlorophilia | 6 comments | Leave a comment

January 31, 2016

Bigleaf maple leaf-fall: 2015

Last year on Galiano Island, the leaves of bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) began to turn in early August.

via GIPHY

This series begins August 05 and ends October 24. By late September half the leaves had fallen, and by late October, more than two months after the leaves first began to change colour, only few golden leaves remained.

80 days elapsed as the chlorophyll broke down and the leaves perished, to be blown away by autumn winds.

Can you see any patterns in the succession of change?

Posted on January 31, 2016 06:58 AM by chlorophilia chlorophilia | 6 observations | 2 comments | Leave a comment

January 29, 2016

Flowering of red huckleberry: Galiano Island 2015

The flowering of red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) was my first—and perhaps my favourite— phenological series from 2015. I would have followed up on this individual into its fruiting cycle, but unfortunately a certain small animal plucked the branch off the plant!

The series elapses from February 20 to March 17—so as you can see the flowering cycle of this particular plant happened over the course of about a month, during which time its leafs opened up too. Enclosed in the urn-shaped flowers are ten stamens occurring in two whorls of five each.

When the flowers fall off, the central style remains. The fruit matured in June and was picked clean by birds by July.

Posted on January 29, 2016 08:16 PM by chlorophilia chlorophilia | 9 observations | 6 comments | Leave a comment

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