There are a few weeks of summer left it seems. In Sundre the temperature hit +2 degrees over night. You wouldn’t have to gain much elevation for freezing to occur. And that is what we depend upon to supply us for the water in the Red Deer River.
The river has become clear as the water is being supplied by the seepage of ground water and some runoff and melt. It gets plenty of filtering as it moves though the river bed, but not enough to stop some micro organisms such as Giardia.
Once the river has gone clear it is interesting to look through the water to see the features that cause the rapids in the river. The further from the surface the feature is the further downstream it’s effects are observed. This is a good study in perturbations and laminar flow.
This doesn’t necessarily hold true for earlier in the season. Early in the season the muddy waters causes the waves to change shape when there is variety of particle sizes suspended in the water and the density of the water changes. If you go back through the photos you should be able to see this difference.
Yes, lots happens in a flowing river but lets just say it’s fun to go white water rafting with family and friends and only consider that. It is a different experience every time that you are on the river.
Following are the river pictures taken last weekend and the pictures from the previous weekend for comparison. Again subtle changes can be seen.
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