Canadian Geopub Quiz

[+shearzone]

Staying with satellites.....

 

Once launched, regardless of orbit dynamics, satellites must be managed and operated from the ground. All kinds of monitoring and telemtery goes on, and just about every parameter you can think of is measured and recorded. (You would expect this to be the case, when you have a $100M asset zipping around up there.)

 

Satellites are designed for a given on-orbit life, typically measured in years. The Anik F2 bird mentioned above has a predicted on-orbit life of 15 years.

 

Q: what is the limiting factor to a satellite's on-orbit life?

 

electrical circuit breakdown due to the bombardment of cosmic rays

[+shearzone]

TOMTEC is right.

 

For a GEO satellite, the on-orbit life is simply a matter of how much fuel is left in the tanks for stationkeeping once the bird reaches it final orbit position. It is then a question of watching the "fuel gauge" for the next 15 years and de-orbiting the satellite (or parking it in a different plane) just before the tank runs dry. (Remember, for commercial satellites, they are up there to make money, so the longer the better.)

 

The launch vehicle first throws the satellite into an elliptical orbit around the equator (called the Transfer Orbit), and then the ground controllers take over and fire the satellite's on-board kick motors to "circularize" the orbit. This "orbit insertion" process can take some time, and if the launch and insertion has all gone well, you will have 15 good years of service..... if all goes well!

 

The fuel used is called Hydrazine, rhymes with magazine.

 

I see that someone beat me to the punch...and my answer was incorrect

[+TOMTEC]

Alright, let’s go hide a cache in the Minas Basin near Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia… home of the highest tides ever recorded with an average change of approximately 17 meters. You want to hide a cache, to be accessible by boat, but you don’t want it to be carried away, even during the most extreme conditions. How high above the low tide mark must you place the cache so it will stay dry?

Round your guess up to the nearest meter… no Googling now!

 

TOMTEC

[+Couparangus]

I'm wondering if this is a question with an easy answer, such as 18m?

[+TOMTEC]

I'm wondering if this is a question with an easy answer, such as 18m?

Not quite that easy... but atleast you chose a number Higher than the average!

 

Just think what might happen with high tides meet a hurricane... though, now that I think about it, the cache better be anchored to the rock with some sort of chain to sustain that force!

 

TOMTEC

[+Landsharkz]

21m-22m

[+TOMTEC]

21m-22m

That's right, back in 1869 a hurricane blew through the area producing a tide height of 21.6 meters... that's the highest recoded reading to date. Hopefully any caches above that level will be safe for years to come... Landsharkz, you're next!

 

TOMTEC

[+Landsharkz]

Woo Hoo! Thanks TOMTEC!

 

While hiking for a couple of mountain caches in the Chilliwack river area last week, we were blessed with some outstanding views of the local mountains and features of the Fraser valley.

We saw tarns, roche moutonnee, and lots of till. Tell me what these three things are and you go next .

[+shearzone]

Woo Hoo! Thanks TOMTEC!

 

While hiking for a couple of mountain caches in the Chilliwack river area last week, we were blessed with some outstanding views of the local mountains and features of the Fraser valley.

We saw tarns, roche moutonnee, and lots of till. Tell me what these three things are and you go next .

 

Evidence of a glacier

Edited August 31, 2006 by shearzone

[+Landsharkz]

Woo Hoo! Thanks TOMTEC!

 

While hiking for a couple of mountain caches in the Chilliwack river area last week, we were blessed with some outstanding views of the local mountains and features of the Fraser valley.

We saw tarns, roche moutonnee, and lots of till. Tell me what these three things are and you go next .

 

Evidence of a glacier

Yes... but please define the three individual features.

[+shearzone]

Woo Hoo! Thanks TOMTEC!

 

While hiking for a couple of mountain caches in the Chilliwack river area last week, we were blessed with some outstanding views of the local mountains and features of the Fraser valley.

We saw tarns, roche moutonnee, and lots of till. Tell me what these three things are and you go next .

 

Evidence of a glacier

Yes... but please define the three individual features.

 

I could, but considering I'm leading a helicopter-supported geology field trip into the Cariboo Mountains starting tomorrow, where we won't have internet access (or any nearby caches to find for that matter), I'll leave it to someone else . BTW, we'll see lots of the second and third features there. I haven't seen the first feature around where we'll be.

Edited August 31, 2006 by shearzone

[+Landsharkz]

WOW! That sounds like a lot of fun - can you come by Victoria and pick us up!

 

Feel free to answer when you get back if nobody else has .

[CharlieZulu]

Let's see now....

 

tarn: In Newfoundland, something that happens to your pants when you catch them on barbed wire while geocaching.

 

roche moutonee: I believe this is an obscure rare French sheep's cheese. I believe the correct spelling is "moutonée".

 

till: Term used to denote anticipating the next cahing event as in: "I cain't hardly wait till GHAGAFAP V"

 

[+Juicepig]

Let's see now....

 

tarn: In Newfoundland, something that happens to your pants when you catch them on barbed wire while geocaching.

 

roche moutonee: I believe this is an obscure rare French sheep's cheese. I believe the correct spelling is "moutonée".

 

till: Term used to denote anticipating the next cahing event as in: "I cain't hardly wait till GHAGAFAP V"

 

Well it isn't wrong

[+Landsharkz]

Let's see now....

 

tarn: In Newfoundland, something that happens to your pants when you catch them on barbed wire while geocaching.

 

roche moutonee: I believe this is an obscure rare French sheep's cheese. I believe the correct spelling is "moutonée".

 

till: Term used to denote anticipating the next caching event as in: "I cain't hardly wait till GHAGAFAP V"

 

charliezulu, no correct marks for definitions, but we really liked them! You did offer the correct spelling for "moutonée"... late last night we didn't try to figure out the accent but knew it should be there.

[+Couparangus]

I think Roche Mountonee is "Rock Mound", no? This is an unfair question to us Southern Ontario cachers, due to lack of glaciers here, of course (ahem).

[+TOMTEC]

I think Roche Mountonee is "Rock Mound", no? This is an unfair question to us Southern Ontario cachers, due to lack of glaciers here, of course (ahem).

Says who? Where did you think that large "bump" north of Lake Ontario came from? The Oak Ridges Moraine was formed around 12,000 years ago by... no, not dump trucks, a glacier! (Actually where a couple glaciers met) But, I won't answer this question because I know absolutely nothing about glacial geology... he he

 

TOMTEC

[+Couparangus]

I say its not a glacier unless you can Xtreme-toboggan down it.

 

I guess I'm thinking that the terms apply to an active glacier and not the evidence of a past one.

 

I think I'll Google on it now and learn more about these things.

[+Landsharkz]

This is all evidence of past glaciers. Tarns you'll find in the mountains and the others you could even find in Ontario.

[+H.F.Reign]

don't know how specific you need this to be but I think of till as all the little chunky bits left behind (sorry but I haven't had to be too technical in many years). I like the rock "mound" idea and as for tarns being found in mountains....I would vote some sort of water body? Why can't you go with something like eskers and kettles and morraines?

[danoshimano]

Why can't you go with something like eskers and kettles and morraines?

 

...and drumlins.

[+bwmick]

Why can't you go with something like eskers and kettles and morraines?

 

...and drumlins.

 

Oh my!

[+Landsharkz]

don't know how specific you need this to be but I think of till as all the little chunky bits left behind (sorry but I haven't had to be too technical in many years). I like the rock "mound" idea and as for tarns being found in mountains....I would vote some sort of water body? Why can't you go with something like eskers and kettles and morraines?

We'll take these answers, since shearzone isn't around

 

Till is totally correct;

Roche moutonée is basically a hill of bedrock left behind after the glacier receeds - close enough HFR!

A tarn is a water body - its a small round lake left behind where the glacier originated high in the mountains.

 

Your turn H.F.Reign...

[+H.F.Reign]

whoo hoo

wasn't expecting to get in on such a, hm, generalized answer.

 

OK as I am a technoidiot...I will throw some simple biology at you folks out there.

 

Hf herself is a dobe with a great sniffer who goes tracking when she is not geocaching. What is the commonly tossed around minimal number of scent receptors in fido's nose?

 

love to know how they counted this one!

[+H.F.Reign]

No bites yet.

 

I guess I'll leave it as is until tonight or perhaps the morning and then toss up a question on cartography instead

[+Juicepig]

guessing 120,000?

[+AV Dezign]

I read that my cat has over 200 million receptors, I'll guess about the same for dogs!

[+Couparangus]

Hi HF R,

 

You may want to ask another question 'cuz I don't think yours falls into any of the loose groups (although I wonder if a dawg could be trained to sniff out tupperware, ammo cans and plastic containers:) ) ::

 

- Geocaching

- Navigation

- Geomatics/graphy/physics etc

- The Canadian hiking experience

- Cycling, Canoeing, Kayaking or any other means of arriving at a cache.

- Camping

 

Cheers!

Coupar Angus

[+northernpenguin]

(although I wonder if a dawg could be trained to sniff out tupperware, ammo cans and plastic containers:) ) ::

 

 

Hmmmm.....

 

In a word? SMUDGE !!!!!

[+Keith Watson]

(although I wonder if a dawg could be trained to sniff out tupperware, ammo cans and plastic containers:) ) ::

 

 

Hmmmm.....

 

In a word? SMUDGE !!!!!

 

We call him Jimmy.

[+H.F.Reign]

well, in my experience, at least as many cachers are avec dog as bike or canoe so...

 

Oh well, so onto cartography...

 

while UTM is a projection that many cachers are familiar with, what made it's older brother, Mercator's Projection, so popular with nautical navigation?

[+H.F.Reign]

I think I may have messed this up as I just saw the change topic reply and didn't go all the way back.

 

AV dezign does have the correct answer though at over 200 million scent recpetors...these dogs certainly do smell tupperware we just haven't figured out how ask them nicely to tell us where it is

[+Landsharkz]

well, in my experience, at least as many cachers are avec dog as bike or canoe so...

 

Oh well, so onto cartography...

 

while UTM is a projection that many cachers are familiar with, what made it's older brother, Mercator's Projection, so popular with nautical navigation?

If memory serves me correctly, the shortest distance between any two points on a mercator projection is a straight line. Navigators did not have to calculate great circle routes.

If this is correct AV Design can take the next turn 'cause he knows fido's nose best!

[+H.F.Reign]

You are as correct as I was on the glacial stuff--

on mercators's projection, a great circle course can be approximated by a series of straight "rhumbs"

 

and so very gracious...sorry for screwing this up...I am new can ya tell!

 

off the hook for now..your turn again AV dezign

[+AV Dezign]

Wel I am way too busy right now to find a good one, I relenquish my turn to the first to post a question.

[+LeGodFather]

hehe.. I'll sneak in then!

 

How many geocachers have more than 10000 finds? No looking it up now!

 

Edit: Bonus for naming them..

Edited September 6, 2006 by GrosseFamille

[+Couparangus]

Oh! Oh! Oh! (said like that Horshack guy from WBK) I think I know this one!! I'll guess ONE.

[+LeGodFather]

Oh! Oh! Oh! (said like that Horshack guy from WBK) I think I know this one!! I'll guess ONE.

No..

[danoshimano]

Two.

[+H.F.Reign]

I'll take 3

[+Juicepig]

i guess that leaves me with 4

[+LeGodFather]

I'll take 3

 

Rank   Finds   Name
1  16553  CCCooperAgency
2  15896  TeamAlamo
3  10037  dgreno

Source: http://www.cacherstats.com/Rank1-125.html

 

H.F.Reign, you're next!

[+Juicepig]

dadgum, if only they had cached a little harder today

 

9980 - EMC of Northridge, CA

[+H.F.Reign]

luck can sometimes do what brains cannot!

 

Hmm, know nothing about bikes or vehicles or canoes, certified techno-idiot, caching newbie....

 

I will stretch the "guidelines" here a bit but it falls into camping and hiking as far as I am concerned.

 

This well-known lost proofing program was developed in the USA in 1981 after the death of a child.

[+AV Dezign]

dadgum, if only they had cached a little harder today

 

9980 - EMC of Northridge, CA

 

Yeah! what wimps!

[+Fish Below The Ice]

Woo hoo! I'm #13219! In your faces, everybody from 13220-36637!

 

dave.. all about the numbers

[VI Waypoint Hunters]

luck can sometimes do what brains cannot!

 

Hmm, know nothing about bikes or vehicles or canoes, certified techno-idiot, caching newbie....

 

I will stretch the "guidelines" here a bit but it falls into camping and hiking as far as I am concerned.

 

This well-known lost proofing program was developed in the USA in 1981 after the death of a child.

 

My guess "Hug a tree"

[+Couparangus]

I've heard that if lost in the woods you should keep walking until you find a river or stream and then follow it (downstream). Not sure if this is what you're looking for though.

[+H.F.Reign]

You are most correct VI Waypoint Hunters!

 

Hug-A-Tree is the lost-proofing program to help kids survive being lost in the wilderness and give them the best chances of being found. This program is offered in canada through the RCMP for those of you involved with youths.

 

As for following a river or stream... "HUG A TREE"

[VI Waypoint Hunters]

You are most correct VI Waypoint Hunters!

 

Hug-A-Tree is the lost-proofing program to help kids survive being lost in the wilderness and give them the best chances of being found. This program is offered in canada through the RCMP for those of you involved with youths.

 

As for following a river or stream... "HUG A TREE"

 

How about that, it was not a big guess as a few years ago the 4 wheel drive I belonged to was involved with the Nanaimo Search and Rescue. I attended several training days and the "Hug a Tree" program was explained. I just was not sure of where the program started.

 

OK going back to the picture theme, this is in what populated area (city) of BC and what cache is very close to it?

 

 

 

First part should be easy, second may be a little more difficult.....