Field trip to Yanba Dam – Day 1

By Liu Chang

Hello everyone, this is Liu Chang writing about our field trip to Yanba Dam from 3^rd September to 4^th September. Just for your information, Yanba Dam is a dam project that is under construction in Naganohara, Agatsuma District, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The project is currently under construction, with completion slated for 2019. Planning for the dam began in 1947, and it was planned to be completed by 2015. The dam is famous for its construction causing local opposition and ballooning budget.

Trip Map from Google Map: https://maps.google.co.jp/

As we can see from the trip map above, we get together at 8:30 at Ikebukuro station. After taking some more members at Takazaki station, we finally arrived at Hometown Hotel (八ッ場ダムふるさと館). There we have an interesting lunch which is known as Dam Curry (ダムカレー). The name was from its special shape imitating Yanba Dam.

Dam Curry

After having lunch, we find some interesting posters in the hotel which describes the history of construction of Yanba Dam. As it shows below, it has taken a lot of time discussing and communicating with residents, which makes it one of the most time-consuming dams.

Posters about construction history

When we drive to the dam site, we see Yanba Dam from the windows.

Then we get to the Construction Office, where a brief introduction was given. Yanba Dam is built to be a gravity dam. A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by primarily using the weight of the material alone to resist the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. With a height of 116 m, Yanba Dam is the 50^th highest dam in Japan. And it will be designed to apply 11,700 kw electricity with controlling a discharge range from 3,000 to 200 m³/s. A lot of techniques are being used to complete the construction, one of the most impressive is the Cruise RCD (巡航RCD工法). This technique built the stone in the middle first and then cover it with concrete.

Cruise RCD from Iwakigawa Dam Integrated Management Office:  http://www.thr.mlit.go.jp/tugaru/specifi/rcd3.html

Later, we get another chance to go near to the construction site and see the details. From the detailed trip we see that to facilitate the construction, a long rail was built to transport the aggregate. And the rock was taken from a small mountain nearby. After one or multiple times of comminution, the rock was departure due to different size. Because of classification reason, we are not supposed to post any photos.

Then we finally get to the Kusatsu Hotel. Before dinner we have a small group work on three themes about the usage and future of Yanba Dam. Our group chose to discuss about how to arrange some activities of Yanba Dam. Finally, Haga-san gave a fascinating presentation about 1) some boat sightseeing on dam river; 2) project mapping on dam; 3) climbing activity on dam.

Discussion on group work

Finally, we had a relaxing party with members and staffs. The food is so delicious. Although we must stop for a while for digest and some brief introduction about our lab.

Introduction of REEL

One more interesting thing is at the ending of party, Kawasaki-sensei taught us a new style of Banzai. It is some gestures imitating a strong dam trying to lift some heavy water. And by the way, the hot spring is really hot for a foreigner like me!

Myanmar Maintenance Field Trip Diary 20180325-0330

20180325

By Liu Chang

Today is the first day traveling to Myanmar. Ralph-san, Sam-san, Haga-san and me come to Myanmar for the maintenance of weather station along Bago River. The flight take off at 11.25 am and arrive at Yangon at 16.00 pm.

Although the weather is really hot (37 °C), I’m still excited about the coming trip in an unacquainted country. After arriving, we take a taxi to YTU (Yangon Technical University). Here we make our acquaintance with Okazaki-san, Nakamura-san and Tin Aye from JICA. After printing the manual and preparing the equipment, we drive to our hotel.

Interior of SATERAPS office in YTU

Leaving for Aroma Rose Hotel

One more thing to mention is that the food in Myanmar is really delicious. Thanks to Nakamura-san’s recommendation, we enjoy a great dinner.

20180326

By Liu Chang

Today is the first day for a real field trip. The plan is to go to Salu Dam for maintenance. Apart from the four of us, Chit Bo Bo Win, San Win Maung from YTU and Aung Myat Lin from IWUMD (Irrigation and Water Utility Management Department) also join to learn about the technique of maintenance.

Our group at the weather station

The weather is sunny and hot just like yesterday. We have to use umbrella to keep out the ultraviolet radiation. The maintenance procedure including downloading the data, updating program and software and changing the antenna.

Instruction of the maintenance by Ralph-san

After two-hours’ hard work, the maintenance is completed. But we still have to check if the data transfer between weather station and UTokyo & YTU server is working properly. Because of the data transferring occurs at the first ten minutes of every hour, we decide to have lunch first.

When we get to the resting place nearby, everyone is sweating heavily. But it worth the effort when you taste the delicacy. The goat soup is spicy and sour, the shrimp is sweet, all the cuisine plays a symphony on your tongue.

Delicacy at Salu Dam

The data transferring seems to be unsuccessful after checking. This made us really frustrated. But we have to double-check the updating and setting all over again. Even after that, the server still can’t get the data. We start to examine every detail setting including junction of cables. And luckily that’s where we find the problem. It turns out that one red cable has poor connect to relay. After reconnect that one everything works out fine~

After that, we went to another weather station which is at the downstream of Salu dam. This one is constructed with an old version of logger, so it’s more stable and doesn’t take too much time. We take this one more like a training course.

Discussion within the group

By the way, the landscape is also very fascinating, it reminds me of my hometown. And I would like to swim in the river if only I get my trunks.

20180327

By Liu Chang

Today is still a hard-working day. We went to Shwelaung Dam for maintenance. Everything seems to be fine except there being some insects in the sensor box. So, we have to take it out and clean it again.

Sensor Box with Excrement

But when we set the antenna, it turns out at the top of the steel pipe will the signal stronger. And it takes us a long time to DIY a holder for the antenna. And we have to go back to Salu Dam to enhance the antenna.

We discover some trouble of transferring data again in Salu Dam. When we at last tackled the problem, it was already at night.

Ralph working at night

antenna setted successfully

Thanks to the hard work of Ralph-san. All day hard-work is worth of a great dinner~

20180328

By Liu Chang

Today we go to Zaungdu Dam for maintenance. This is the last station and I kind of miss the day standing in the sunshine. The maintenance work turns out to be quite smooth, it takes shorter time than we expected. We had the lunch together, and I hope we can work together soon.

We by accident witness a beautiful blue bird, and it shall bring luck to all of us.

Model of the dam

Practice of Maintenance

Group Photo

Myanmar Field Trip Part 7: YTU & UTokyo

皆さん こんにちは イジャです。
今日は最後のミャンマー記事を書きます〜
Hello, I'm Yi-Chia. This is the last part of Myanmar Field Trip series!

During previous articles, you may wonder: "where has Kawasaki sensei been?" To be honest, I have no idea. But, I have some clues.
Actually, Kawasaki sensei was too busy to enjoy the field trip with us. The first news I got was this picture:

source: 東京大学工学系研究 トピックス
http://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/soe/topics/setnws_201802231444032534644842.html

 Yangon Technological University signed the memorandum of understanding with The University of Tokyo School of Engineering. It's said that UTokyo will have more frequent academic cooperation with YTU in the future.

Besides the ceremony, Kawasaki sensei also joined lots of meeting. For example, the meeting with YTU chief of academics:

source: 東京大学工学系研究 トピックス
http://www.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/soe/topics/setnws_201802261613474563952387.html

I finally met Kawasaki sensei again in YTU after few days. I guess you may already know, we met in the meeting. It was a meeting with YTU professors, JICA coordinators, UTokyo professors, and related stakeholders.

After countless meetings, Ralph sensei was still energetic to teach students how to perform precipitation data processing using GrADs.

The YTU student is eager to learn more flood-related research to improve Myanmar's disaster management.

Fun

In the last day of Myanmar field trip, Shelly and Hnin Thiri Myo showed us the beautiful pagoda near YTU. There is a huge Buddha sculpture made from one huge stone. Very impressive!

Yangon International Airport Departure

Saying goodbye to Myanmar is tough. It is a place full of culture and religion that may bring me peace and quiet. In addition, I made many great Myanmar friends!
Thanks to Kawasaki sensei's encouragement, I could have a chance to visit Myanmar and learned so much from the country both in science and culture.

Thanks, all readers finishing Myanmar Field Trip series. I appreciate your time and attention. Hope you enjoy it!




Fun facts: Many buses, trucks, and small vehicles in Myanmar have Japanese characters written on them.

Myanmar Field Trip Part 6: Get Your Hands Dirty

大家好，我是益嘉
Good morning, I am Yi-Chia.

Installation

After Ralph’s step by step instruction of weather station installation, it is time for YTU students to lead the whole installation process! YTU members include Prof. Win Win Zin, Prof. Zin Marlar Tin San and Ph.D. students Shelly Win, San Win Mng and Hnin Thiri Myo. Also, two IWUMD representative engineers joined the installation assistance.

The empty site before installation

Everybody starts installing weather station!

Enabling modem for data transfer

First, we installed the solar panel and navigate sunlight direction to gain maximum solar power. Then, the weather sensor was installed.

Secondly, the weather box was installed. To finish the installation of weather box, it’s necessary to match all cables to specific slots to connect weather sensor to the data logger. It is especially essential to activate data logger, sensors, solar panel and wireless modem in weather box.

Lastly, data logger and modem are required to connect a computer to enable data transfer. This step is mostly software manipulation and it ensures that automatic data transfer is successful.

Upper: weather sensor
Lower: solar panel 

Finally, after one hour straight under 35-degree celsius sunlight at noon, we successfully installed Tarwa automatic weather station and data started transferring after one hour. Hopefully, with more weather data from Bago river basin, it will be helpful to conduct more scientific research and solve flood/drought problems.

During the lunch, I asked Shelly about her feeling building weather station from scratch by themselves. “I felt exhausted! My hands and body are burned so much by sunlight. But, I felt excited to finish weather station installation!”

Visit new water level station

After taking a break, we headed to nearby water level station to check data logger and condition of station. It was just built beside Tarwa river last week.

New water level station, shot with Phantom 4 Pro

During the installation process, I took high resolution land use map by using drone. Here is the video showing beauty of Bago.

I discussed with YTU Prof. Win Win Zin and Ph.D. student Ms. Hnin Thiri Myo about research interest and challenges in conducting future climate simulation. Ms. Hnin Thiri Myo loves to share knowledge of climate change and flood assessment. Therefore, her long-term goal is to be a professor in Myanmar. Ms. Hnin Thiri Myo has the strong interest in river runoff inundation model (RRI) to conduct flood assessment under future climate change. She also introduced the high-resolution Global Circulation Model (GCM), which has the 20km resolution. (normally GCM has the roughly 100km resolution).

Currently, Ms. Hnin Thiri Myo is doing bias correction and data processing for future hydrological simulation. Prof. Win Win Zin also showed strong interest in RRI and WEB-DHM application in Bago river basin and this may promote further cooperation between The University of Tokyo and Yangon Technological University. The specific challenges for Dr. Win Win Zin to use WEB-DHM were mostly input of high-resolution DEM to hydrological model. Those challenges may be further discussed with Kawasaki group research members. I also briefly introduced my research about the application of deep learning and downscaling methods. They also give me some feedback and encouragement to build the downscaling model.

Fun

When we were roasted under the sunlight during installation, what could be more relieving than a bowl of watermelon! It’s said that Bago river basin largely produces watermelons. It makes Bago have the abundant low price and good quality watermelon. Indeed, those watermelon slices are sweet. Everybody enjoyed eating watermelon and continued the work of installation!

美味しそう

楽しかった

Fun facts: In Myanmar, buses' doors are always open even vehicles are moving. When it's too crowded in the bus, somebody is half out of the bus with one hand grabbing the door handrail.

Myanmar Field Trip Part 5: Reunion

皆さんこんにちは イジャです。
Today's goal is the maintenance of automatic weather station in Zaung Tu area. We drove around 40 min from Aroma hotel to Zaung Tu. We met Prof. Win Win Zin, Prof. Zin Marlar Tin San. Also, Shelly, Hnin Thiri Myo, and San Win Mng after our arrival.

The discussion of server and data update system with Dr. Ralph, Prof. Win Win Zin, Prof. Zin Marlar Tin San, Mr. Okasaki and Dr. Aung Than Do

Long time no see Shelly! Shelly visited UTokyo River Environmental Engineering Lab as a short-term researcher in January 2018. It is especially a jubilant experience to meet REEL member again!

Ralph san started the installation of grounding cables for lightning protection

It’s especially impressive that all professors and students participate in all the processes of installation and maintenance. (It’s around 40 degree Celsius in the field)

Ralph san introduced detailed of the weather station

The green cable is the newly installed lightning cable

The cable is connected to the ground to protect weather station

After successful maintenance of weather station, we arrived ITC (Irrigation Technology Center) to hold training session of weather station installation. ITC is a beautiful research center for water-related research.

Ralph explained the comprehensive processes of weather station installation

After Ralph san's lecture, it's time for YTU Ph.D. students to practice on their own!

The hands-on experience for everyone to build weather station from scratch

Finally successful!

It's a great beginning of the training session! Tomorrow, all members will visit Tarwa, where we will build another weather station, and YTU students will build a real one station by themselves! Hopefully, YTU students could teach more locals to install and maintain weather stations in the future. Then, Myanmar could increase human capitals in water-related researches.

Fun fact: The popular sports (or street game) in Myanmar is called “Chinlone”. It's played by kicking a small ball

Myanmar Field Trip Part 4: Pagoda

Good morning! This is Yi-Chia Chang in Bago, Myanmar.

Day 4 is equipment preparation day! We will have gauge maintenance and training session for gauge installation tomorrow. After the equipment preparation, I have a free half day to go on a tour around Bago. Therefore, I visit some great places, such as famous pagoda and reclining Buddha.

The following picture shows Ralph san prepared the equipment and software testing all day in his room. Please forgive his little messy room. 

The box containing electronic devices is the most complicated part of gauge station. We will install all components in Tarwa and Zaung Tu in Bago.

This is the weather sensor, which could detect temperature, humidity, wind speed, and other atmospheric parameter values.

Kyaikpun Buddha

Shwemawdaw Pagoda

Shwethalyaung Reclining BuddhaKyaikpun Buddha

Fun facts: The yellow decoration that Myanmar locals put on their face is called “Thanaka”. It is the element from trees and mostly looks yellow. It's said that it can protect skins from sunlight and be used as cosmetic.