CONA under lockdown
It's usually about this time of year that we remember that we have this blog, and resolve that we really should be using it more.
But so much for "usually"!
We were scheduled to re-launch fieldwork on 29th March. Not only were we ready to install 70 ODINs in Arrowtown - our densest network ever (maybe the densest air sensor network in the world?), but this time we were about to recruit our first community volunteer force to co-manage the project.
As it turned out, 29th March was day 4 of New Zealand's COVID-19 "level-4" lockdown. In the run up we were getting advice not to host meetings, especially inviting members of the public to congregate with visitors (us) who had flown across the country.
So now we find ourselves stuck at home in Auckland and Christchurch, unable to access, never mind us, our fleet of sensors stuck in our Auckland office.
However, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening on the project.
Although we got very slack on the blog, 2019 was our most successful project year ever, and there's lots to report. We mainly focussed on the small Otago settlement of Arrowtown. We are currently finalising two technical reports which will be released via the NIWA website very soon. Part of that project involved working with year 8 schoolchildren at Arrowtown School to analyse the incoming data. That ended with 4 of the children co-presenting with me at the Clean Air Conference in Queenstown last year. Our work with the children has led to another webpage which will also be released very soon.
We also had spin-off projects in Motueka and Christchurch using just the ODINs.
Right now we're also trying to be as agile as we can in planning activities for 2020. Once we step down to level 3 fieldwork those parts of the project which don't involve direct contact with the community can re-start. We're also reviewing all of our methods and resources and seeing what can be delivered online so that community members can participate without direct contact. And then, hopefully, some sort of normality will be restored in the near future. And we are still trying to maintain our links with similar international studies, especially in Montana and Idaho.
This initiative remains one of our top, if not the number one priority for NIWA's air quality research programme, so there will be lots more to come. And meanwhile......
But so much for "usually"!
As it turned out, 29th March was day 4 of New Zealand's COVID-19 "level-4" lockdown. In the run up we were getting advice not to host meetings, especially inviting members of the public to congregate with visitors (us) who had flown across the country.
So now we find ourselves stuck at home in Auckland and Christchurch, unable to access, never mind us, our fleet of sensors stuck in our Auckland office.
However, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening on the project.
Although we got very slack on the blog, 2019 was our most successful project year ever, and there's lots to report. We mainly focussed on the small Otago settlement of Arrowtown. We are currently finalising two technical reports which will be released via the NIWA website very soon. Part of that project involved working with year 8 schoolchildren at Arrowtown School to analyse the incoming data. That ended with 4 of the children co-presenting with me at the Clean Air Conference in Queenstown last year. Our work with the children has led to another webpage which will also be released very soon.
We also had spin-off projects in Motueka and Christchurch using just the ODINs.
Right now we're also trying to be as agile as we can in planning activities for 2020. Once we step down to level 3 fieldwork those parts of the project which don't involve direct contact with the community can re-start. We're also reviewing all of our methods and resources and seeing what can be delivered online so that community members can participate without direct contact. And then, hopefully, some sort of normality will be restored in the near future. And we are still trying to maintain our links with similar international studies, especially in Montana and Idaho.
This initiative remains one of our top, if not the number one priority for NIWA's air quality research programme, so there will be lots more to come. And meanwhile......
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