A Series of Tubes

June 14, 2008 10:01 PM

What is this mysterious structure?

Tonight I was walking through Seward Park here in Seattle with my video camera, looking for the recently reported coyote. I didn't see any coyotes, but I did find this strange structure (Flickr video). I found three of these, just off the walking trail, all positioned under very large trees. A large funnel on top connects to a series of PVC tubes underneath. This is supported by metal stakes driven into the ground. I assume they are used to collect rainwater, perhaps for some sort of environmental quality testing. But is there some significance to their location under large trees? There were no containers found under these structures.

posted by Tube to science & nature (6 comments total)

Looks like a rain gauge.
posted by pzarquon at 10:24 PM on June 14

I would assume they were to collect rainwater under the tree, around the tree, and near the edge of its canopy and then compare.
posted by sanka at 10:39 PM on June 14

If not for collecting rain, they might be for collecting seeds or needles, or other stuff that might drop off there.
posted by pwb503 at 10:56 PM on June 14

Oh, I should add that the bottom of the funnel had a flat spot that had perforations, which I assume would be designed to keep needles and other debris out. If it was a simple rain gauge, I'm curious as to why the PVC pipe was included. Wouldn't it be easier to simply attach a flexible tube or rubber hose to a bottle underneath?
posted by Tube at 11:13 PM on June 14

could be a trap for some kind of insect?
posted by sergeant sandwich at 1:27 AM on June 15

My first thoughts were getting rainwater beneath the leaf litter to the roots, or an insect trap. If I were you I'd take a little piece of paper and a ziplock back and maybe a cable tie or piece of tape and write something like "This looks really interesting, I'd love to know what you're doing here! If you wouldn't mind, please email me a sentence or two at your leisure! Thanks so much!" and then attach it to a place on that stake where it can't possibly interfere with whatever they're doing.
posted by TomMelee at 7:38 AM on June 15