Biochemical Sine Field






A Biochemical Survey

Using data sets from a survey of a salt marsh in the Thames Estuary, UK, including Dissolved Oxygen, PH and Conductivity readings, the results were mapped and visualized across a geo-referenced sine wave field.

Each set of chemical readings is mapped across an individual sine wave field to show spatial intensity. The fields are then overlaid to compare and contrast.

The work was visualized in Processing.

Dissolved oxygen, PH and salinity measurements are used to indicate the general health of a marine environment in relation to the availability of nutrients. Nutrient availability is of interest as an integral aspect of the marine biochemical environment.

This field study was conceived in the context of other research and ideas relating to the role that biofilms play in shaping the geomorphology of the coastal landscape. Diatoms are nutrient dependent, and will flourish or die depending on the nutrients available. Mucus-secreting diatom colonies, referred to as biofilms, bind and stabilize sediment from the incoming tide, leading to the eventual evolution of saltmarshes. If nutrients are not available, the opposite effect can happen, and sediment is eroded.

The proposition here is that the diatom biofilm has architectural consequences for the design of the coastal landscape.