This is part of Jeppe Hein’s Bench Around the Lake which overlooks the White River. Just to the right, across from that stone pillar out in the river, is a USGS stream gauge. You can see the readings from this gauge on the IMA Dashboard. As of this morning, it’s reading about 14.3 feet, which is 2.3 feet above flood level (according to the National Weather Service). I walked down to the surface of the water, and if the river were about 6 feet higher it would come up to the bottom of the bench.

This is a bench that overlooks the lake, and Andrea Zittel’s Indianapolis Island. You can read Michael and Jessica’s take on the flood over at Give and Take. I went down to the water here, and it would reach the bench with another three feet of depth.

The lake is doing a great job showcasing the design of Kendall Buster’s Stratum Pier. When the water level was at its peak last night it was probably submerging the lowest platform. This morning it appeared to be resting right on top of the water.

The biggest surprise came when I glanced over at Tea Mäkipää’s Eden II. The lake had completely submerged the deck of the shack, which is usually accessible via a few stairs.  The water came almost all the way up to the placard. The relationship between Eden II, climate change, and flooding makes this situation poetic, in a wabi-sabi sort of way.

And finally, here’s a little reminder that the path around the lake is not always circumnavigable. Ahead in the water you can see another of the benches, which overlooks Eden II to the right. What you see here is the lake submerging the path. Further ahead there is an inlet which connects the river to the lake, but obviously I wasn’t able to check out the situation there with my bike in tow.

Photo by gullevek via Flickr

Coincidentally, I also recently came across the USA National Phenology Network. Phenology (not to be confused with phrenology), is the study of phenophases (recurring plant and animal life cycle events). Whereas Weathernews was running the “My Sakura” project to collect data from citizen scientists, the NPN collects data from the public on a variety of species through the “My NPN” project. They do have a preferred set of “calibration species”, but their database includes dozens of species that can be tracked using the system. Because phenophases are sensitive to changes in climate, recording and studying phenological observations can reveal the ways in which our ecosystems change in response to global warming.

In addition to creating a massive dataset, this project is great for another reason. Maybe it’s just the scientist in me, but I get excited about going out and making the observations. I have two of the calibration species in my yard, and I’m starting to think of them as amazing organic instruments. In addition to the foliage and blossoms, there is a beauty to the unfolding growth process that I’m appreciating more by learning about the phenophases and making observations over the long term.

The convergence of nature, technology, and research in these projects is really quite remarkable. I hope that we see many similar efforts in the future.