Project progress: All the sensors are working: pH, temperature, nitrate, flow rate, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity! I am working toward a final version to show at a private performance event at EAWAG scheduled for December 16, 2004.

Event: On Tuesday, December 7, I attended a fascinating lecture at ETH's Geobotanical Institute. Dr. Nelton Friedrich gave a lecture about the Sustainable Community Development Projects of the ITAIPU Binational Dam Enterprise in Brazil.

About the image transformation: Here I am working with the simplest geometric form: the circle. The only form that is utilized in the animation is a generic vector circle with white fill. The level of dissolved oxygen affects the complexity of the shape. If the dissolved oxygen level increases by 1 mg/L, an additional vertex point is added to the shape at a distance determined also by the concentration of dissolved oxygen. The width, height, and location of the form is determined by the dissolved oxygen level. For example, if the oxygen concentration is low (0-3 mg/L) the shapes are quite small and stay primarily in the grid at the lower portion of the screen.

If the nitrate level goes above 1 mg/L the color fill shifts to artificial highly saturated hues. When the temperature level is too high, the color fill shifts to red. If the ph level is too basic, the colors shift to saturated blues, while if the ph is too acidic for life the colors turn red. If the color of the shapes are in the blue-green range; that indicates that the water parameters are good. The blue-green color palette is being computed in real time at random from a close up picture of the River Limmat. (See link for Sketch 8 to see Limmat photos).