Scientists associated with the Silesian Water Centre of the University of Silesia in Katowice can conduct research using the newly purchased research boat – UŚKA II.
‘For many years we sailed the Troll Master 800 boat, which was called UŚKA. However, we could only use in the Goczałkowice water reservoir, where we have conducted various scientific projects. The research results and tools developed by us can also be used in other water regions, so we needed equipment that would be more modern and adjusted to our needs’, explains Prof. Andrzej Woźnica, Director of the Silesian Water Centre of the University of Silesia in Katowice, who has steered the boat since the very beginning with a lot of pleasure.
First of all, UŚKA II is lighter, thanks to which it may be transported to every place where the scientists will perform the measurements of different water reservoirs. It is equipped e.g. with special extension arms that allow for bringing various measuring devices, such as acoustic Doppler flow meter, outside the boat area. The scientists also have at their disposal sonars for bathymetric measurements, based on which the bottom shape of the examined water reservoir can be projected. Moreover, they can use a special crane for collecting water or sediment samples.
Also important is the possibility to roof the boat, which significantly improves the comfort of conducting research by the scientists, who often spend many hours on the water to collect the material for analyses.
‘We are currently handling the formalities, learning to use the equipment and testing its possibilities’, says Prof. Andrzej Woźnica.
‘I must admit that after several months of remote work I cannot wait to sit at the controls of the boat and set off to study new water reservoirs again’, he adds.
In the near future, the scientists are planning to continue the research on the Pogoria water reservoirs. They will mainly carry out multi-parameter measurements of water quality, based on which they will prepare the mathematical model for a specific reservoir. Thanks to this, they will assess its condition, define the potential risks, develop the recultivation plan and, most importantly, prepare materials to help its reasonable management.
‘For example, we prepare water chemical maps and reservoir bathymetric maps. We are interested in its catchment, because what happens there later affects the functioning of the examined reservoir’, explains the scientist from the University of Silesia.
‘The effects of our research performed for years in the reservoir in Goczałkowice using UŚKA may support the protection of other reservoirs in Poland and abroad, the only difference being that we are now using a new research boat – UŚKA II’, he sums up.
UŚKA II – new research boat of the University of Silesia in Katowice | photo by Bartosz Łozowski