Translation Script
for
The GLOBE Program
"Protocol Series: Soil Infiltration"
March 22, 2001
Music up. Opening sequence and title slate appears: Protocol Series: Soil Infiltration. Spinning globe, The Globe Program. Effect to a close up shot of rain hitting the ground.
Cut to a sound-up of a teacher and students.
Teacher: "Why would it be important to know how quickly water flows through soil?"
Female Student: "When we put in a septic tank, we had to do a test to see how quickly water flows through our property."
Female Student: "Soils that do not hold water are bad places to grow some crops."
Female teacher " That was great."
Cut to Dr. Elissa Levine, Soil Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Center, on camera. Cover some of the soundbite with shots of scientist in the field.
SOT: "Soil infiltration data tells us how fast water moves through the soil so in that way, we can understand better how wet or how dry the soil is at any given time or at a given location. With that information, we know something about how the ecosystem functions in response to that wetness or dryness, and we also can tell what the best use of that soil would be for that particular site."
Music sting and graphic bumper: Getting Started
Cut to a wide shot of students doing infiltration protocol.
1. SOIL'S ABILITY TO SOAK UP WATER DEPENDS, IN PART, ON THE PRECIPITATION RATE AND THE TIME IT TAKES FOR A GIVEN DEPTH OF WATER TO SOAK INTO THE GROUND. THIS IS KNOWN AS THE INFILTRATION RATE.
Music sting. Dictionary graphic with text (Definition: Infiltration rate. The time it takes dor a given depth of water to soak into the ground.)
2. DEFINITION: INFILTRATION RATE. The time it takes for a given depth of water to soak into the ground.
Cut to shots of students at their soil moisture study site. Cut to students at a soil characterization site.
3. YOU SHOULD MEASURE SOIL INFILTRATION AT LEAST THREE TIMES A YEAR AT YOUR SOIL MOISTURE STUDY SITE AND ONCE AT EACH SOIL CHARACTERIZATION SAMPLE SITE.
Cut to shots of students placing dual-ring infiltrometer on ground.
4. THE FIRST THING YOU'LL NEED FOR THE SOIL INFILTRATION PROTOCOL IS A DUAL RING INFILTROMETER.
Dissolve from live shot to graphic showing cutaway view of the inner ring.
5. LET'S LOOK AT HOW THE DUAL RING INFILTROMETER WORKS. WATER POURED INTO A SINGLE RING FLOWS DOWN AND ALSO MOVES SIDEWAYS INTO THE SOIL.
Infiltrometer graphic.
6. NOW, WE’LL ADD AN OUTER RING. THE WATER FLOWING BETWEEN THE TWO RINGS CAN ALSO FLOW BOTH DOWN AND SIDEWAYS IN THE SOIL. NOTICE HERE THE WATER FLOWS BOTH INWARD AND OUTWARD. IF THE HEIGHT OF THE WATER IN THE TWO RINGS IS THE SAME, THE SIDEWAYS FLOW OF WATER FROM THE OUTER RING INWARD WILL BALANCE ANY SIDEWAYS FLOW OF WATER FROM THE INNER RING OUTWARD. BECAUSE THE SIDEWAYS FLOW IS BALANCED OUT WHEN THE WATER LEVEL IN THE INNER RING DROPS IT IS DUE SOLELY TO THE DOWNWARD FLOW OF THE WATER. THE RATE OF THIS DOWNWARD FLOW IS WHAT WE WANT TO MEASURE.
Dissolve to shot of the individual cans together and then how the large can fits around the small can. Overhead shot to show relationship. Cut to shots of marker and ruler.
7. TO MAKE YOUR INFILTROMETER, YOU'LL NEED TWO METAL RINGS -- ONE WITH A DIAMETER OF 10 TO 20 CENTIMETERS AND ANOTHER WITH A DIAMETER FIVE TO 10 CENTIMETERS LARGER THAN THE FIRST. LARGE COFFEE AND JUICE CANS WORK NICELY. YOU'LL ALSO NEED A WATERPROOF MARKER AND A RULER.
Live shot of student making a can. Dissolve to live shot at end. Graphic arrows indicate the open bottoms and the reference make and the width, the distance the mark is from the can.
8. YOU’LL NEED TO CUT THE BOTTOMS OUT OF YOUR CANS MAKING SURE NOT TO LEAVE ANY SHARP EDGES. THEN, USE A PERMANENT MARKER OR PAINT TO SHADE A RING ON THE INSIDE OF THE SMALLER CAN TO USE AS A TIMING REFERENCE MARK. THE WIDTH OF THE BAND OR RING SHOULD BE 20 TO 40 MILLIMETERS AND CENTERED ROUGHLY NINE CENTIMETERS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE CAN. EVEN IF YOUR CAN HAS RIBS, YOU STILL NEED TO MARK THEM FOR GOOD VISIBILITY.
Cut to shot of students measuring the width of the reference band and the widths of the inner and outer rings.
9. FINALLY, MEASURE AND RECORD THE WIDTH OF YOUR REFERENCE BAND, IN MILLIMETERS, AND THE DIAMETERS OF YOUR INNER AND OUTER RINGS, IN CENTIMETERS.
Cut to individual shots of the materials used in the protocol.
10. THE OTHER MATERIALS YOU'LL NEED FOR THE PROTOCOL ARE BUCKETS TO TRANSPORT A TOTAL OF AT LEAST EIGHT LITERS OF WATER TO YOUR SITE, A RULER, A WATCH OR STOPWATCH, A BLOCK OF WOOD, A HAMMER, THREE SOIL SAMPLE CONTAINERS, GRASS CLIPPERS AND A FUNNEL.
Cut to shot of students practicing the protocol or doing it in the field.
11. IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO PRACTICE THE SOIL INFILTRATION PROTOCOL SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE ACTUALLY DOING IT AT YOUR SAMPLE SITE.
Music sting and graphic bumper: Step By Step
Begin with sound-up and wide establishing shot of students at site, then cut to shots of students clipping grass and brushing away leaves, etc. Show students comparing can diameter to area they are clipping.
12. OUT IN THE FIELD, STUDENTS BEGIN BY CLIPPING THE VEGETATION AND REMOVING ANY LOOSE ORGANIC COVER OVER AN AREA JUST LARGER THAN THE LARGEST CAN.
Cut to shot of student twisting the smaller can 2 - 5 cm into the soil, using a hammer and wood block if necessary, then doing the same thing to the larger can.
When the v/o starts, cut to shot of students measuring the height from ground level to the line on the inside of the smaller can.
13. AFTER THE CANS HAVE BEEN PLACED TWO TO FIVE CENTIMETERS INTO THE SOIL, YOU NEED TO MEASURE THE HEIGHT ABOVE GROUND LEVEL OF THE BOTTOM AND TOP OF THE BAND YOU MARKED ON THE INSIDE OF THE SMALLER CAN.
Female student: " OK, bottom of the band is 80 mm, and the top of the band is 120 mm.
Cut to shot of team of students pouring water into both rings.
14. NOW, IT'S TIME TO ADD THE WATER. THIS PART NEEDS TO BE DONE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
Cut to students pouring water and other students looking at their watches.
15. THE STOPWATCH IS STARTED AS SOON AS THE STUDENTS BEGIN POURING WATER INTO THE INFILTROMETER.
Cut to shot of student filling the water just above the upper reference line of the inner can.
16. THE WATER IS FILLED JUST ABOVE THE UPPER REFERENCE MAKE ON THE INNER RING, AND TO APPROXIMATELY. THE SAME LEVEL IN THE OUTER RING.
Students pouring water to the top line and timing this. Cut top shot of students adding more water to outside ring using funnel. Students continue this process and watch the time.
17. THIS PROCESS IS REPEATED FOR 45 MINUTES, OR UNTIL TWO CONSECUTIVE INTERVAL TIMES ARE WITHIN TEN SECONDS OF ONE ANOTHER, INDICATING THAT YOU HAVE A SATURATED FLOW.
Female student: "OK, it's at the top of the line. David what's the time.?"
Male student: "The time is 15:13."
Music sting and graphic bumper: A Closer Look
Cut to shots of students using hammer and wood block to push infiltrometer into ground.
18. SOMETIMES YOUR INFILTROMETER CAN BE PUSHED INTO THE GROUND EASILY. IF NOT, PLACE A WOOD BLOCK OVER YOUR CANS TO KEEP THEM FROM CRUMPLING, AND USE A HAMMER TO POUND THEM INTO THE GROUND.
Cut to shots of students using a funnel to add water to the outside ring. Freeze shot and cut to graphic of arrow pointing to funnel.
19. WHILE YOU'RE TIMING THE INTERVAL, YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE WATER LEVEL IN THE OUTER RING APPROXIMATELY EQUAL TO THE LEVEL IN THE INNER RING, BEING CAREFUL NOT TO POUR ANY WATER INTO THE INNER RING.
Cut to shots of students watching water line. Video of stopwatch showing first timing is cut out and graphically supered over video. Then video of stopwatch showing start time is cut out and supered over video, next to first stopwatch. Finally, video of stopwatch showing end time is supered on, next to the other two stopwatches. Subtraction is supered over video.
20. DON'T STOP YOUR STOP WATCH; LET IT RUN CONTINUOUSLY WHILE YOU'RE TAKING MEASUREMENTS. WHEN YOU REFILL THE INNER RING, POUR THE WATER TO JUST ABOVE THE UPPER REFERENCE LINE. THEN, WHEN THE WATER LEVEL IN THE INSIDE CAN HITS THE UPPER REFERENCE LINE, READ THE STOP WATCH AND WRITE THAT DOWN AS YOUR "START TIME." AS SOON AS THE WATER LEVEL IN THE INNER CAN REACHES THE LOWER REFERENCE MARK, READ YOUR STOPWATCH AND NOTE THIS IS THE "END TIME". SUBTRACT THE START TIME FROM THIS END TIME TO FIGURE OUT THE TIME INTERVAL.
Cut back to live shot of infiltration being measured, then super the calculations, starting by graphically pointing out the width of the reference can on the video, indicating the value and then showing a division sign and the time interval and the resulting rate.
21. THE INFILTRATION RATE IS EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE THAT THE WATER LEVEL DECREASED DIVIDED BY THE TIME REQUIRED FOR THIS DECREASE -- IN THIS CASE, THAT'S THE WIDTH OF YOUR REFERENCE BAND DIVIDED BY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE START AND END TIMES FOR AN INTERVAL. STUDENTS CAN FIND THE INTERVAL TIME IN SECONDS OR MINUTES. THE FINAL RATE SHOULD BE STATED IN MILLIMETERS PER MINUTE.
Cut to shot of new group of students picking up an infiltrometer that is full of water, letting the water flow out. Freeze shot. Graphic clock shows 5 minutes passing. Cut back to live video as students take out a soil container and fill it with soil from the top five centimeters just beneath where the inner can was.
22. EACH TIME YOU FINISH MEASURING SOIL INFILTRATION, YOU’LL ALSO NEED TO MEASURE SOIL MOISTURE. LIFT THE INFILTROMETER AND LET THE WATER FLOW OUT. WAIT FIVE MINUTES. THEN COLLECT A SAMPLE FROM THE TOP FIVE CENTIMETERS OF SOIL – JUST BENEATH WHERE THE INNER RING OF THE INFILTROMETER WAS. MEASURE THE SOIL MOISTURE FOLLOWING THE STEPS IN THE SOIL MOISTURE PROTOCOL AND REPORT THESE DATA WITH YOUR INFILTRATION MEASUREMENTS.
Female student: "It's been 5 minutes, let's take a sample."
Cut to shots of a different group of students doing the protocol and recording the data.
23. FOR QUALITY CONTROL, YOU SHOULD MAKE TWO OTHER INFILTRATION MEASUREMENTS WITHIN A FIVE METER DIAMETER AREA. THESE MEASUREMENTS CAN BE DONE BY OTHER GROUPS OF STUDENTS AT THE SAME TIME, OR THEY CAN BE DONE OVER SEVERAL DAYS. IF IT DOESN'T RAIN, DATA TAKEN WITHIN A FEW DAYS SHOULD BE SIMILAR. IF IT RAINS, THE DATA ARE STILL INTERESTING. BE SURE TO REPORT THE ACTUAL DATE EACH INFILTRATION MEASUREMENT WAS MADE.
Cut to shot of students recording the measurements.
24. IT'S OK IF THE THREE INFILTRATION MEASUREMENTS DON'T HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF INTERVALS. IF YOU TAKE MORE THAN THREE SETS OF MEASUREMENTS, YOU MAY REPORT THEM ALL, BUT REPORTING THREE SETS EACH TIME IS ENOUGH.
Cut to shot of students pouring more water, cut to graphic of graph.
25. YOU SHOULD RECORD YOUR VALUES ON A CHART AND THEN PLOT THEM ON A GRAPH. SINCE THE FLOW RATE OBSERVED FOR EACH INTERVAL IS REALLY THE AVERAGE VALUE BETWEEN THE START AND END TIMES, IT IS BEST TO PLOT THE FLOW RATES AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE INTERVAL TIMES. THIS IS WHY KEEPING A RUNNING TOTAL OF THE TIME BY NOT RESTARTING YOUR STOPWATCH IS IMPORTANT.
26. ALSO, THE CONDITIONS IN THE SOIL BEGIN TO CHANGE WHEN YOU POUR THE FIRST WATER INTO THE INFILTROMETER.
Music sting and graphic bumper: Oops!
Shot of students in the midst of protocol, camera zooms in to show outer ring leaking water to the surface around its bottom rim. Universal "no" sign moves on.
27. THE OUTER RING SHOULD NOT BE LEAKING WATER ONTO THE SURFACE. IF THIS HAPPENS, BEGIN AGAIN IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION. PUSH THE OUTER CAN DEEPER INTO THE SOIL AND PACK MUD AROUND THE BASE.
Overhead shot of outer can with no water in it. Universal "no" sign moves in on it.
28. DO NOT LET THE OUTER RING GO DRY. IF THIS HAPPENS, YOU MUST START YOUR TIMING AND RECORDING OF THE MEASUREMENTS IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION.
Music sting and graphic bumper: Let’s Learn
Cut to shot of rainfall.
29. SCIENTISTS DEFINE THREE DIFFERENT CONDITIONS FOR WATER FLOW INTO THE GROUND.
Cut to an animated graphic illustrating unsaturated flow. With a super of unsaturated flow. Soil pores should fill up from the bottom to top.
30. WHEN THE DRY SOIL PORES FILL WITH WATER, AND THE INITIAL FLOW RATE IS HIGH, THAT IS CALLED UNSATURATED FLOW.
Cut to an animated graphic illustrating saturated flow. Soil pores should fill up from the bottom to top.
31. WHEN THE FLOW RATE IS STEADY AND WATER MOVES INTO THE SOIL AT A RATE DETERMINED BY SOIL TEXTURE AND STRUCTURE, THAT IS CALLED SATURATED FLOW.
Cut to an animated graphic illustrating ponding.
32. WHEN THE RAIN RATE EXCEEDS THE INFILTRATION RATE, PONDING OCCURS.
Cut to brief soundup of students in the field using infiltrometer, then go to Gary’s graphic #2—"cutaway view of a two-can infiltrometer" with water being poured in.
33. LET’S LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU USE THE INFILTROMETER AND A LOT OF WATER IS ADDED TO THE SOIL IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
Gary’s graphic #3—"Cut-away view of soil infiltrometers—unsaturated soil"
34. IF THE SOIL IS UNSATURATED BEFORE YOU BEGIN, THE WATER WILL QUICKLY FLOW INTO THE SOIL AND THE TIME INTERVAL YOU MEASURE WILL BE SHORT.
Gary’s graphic #4—"Unsaturated soil, becoming saturated" and Gary’s graphic #5—"Saturated soil"
35. AS THE SOIL BECOMES SATURATED AND WATER FILLS UP THE AIR SPACES IN THE SOIL, THE WATER FLOW INTO THE SOIL SLOWS DOWN AND THE TIME INTERVAL YOU MEASURE BECOMES LONGER.
Gary’s graphic #6—"ponding"
36. IF THE SOIL BECOMES COMPLETELY FULL OF WATER – THE CONDITION WHERE PONDING WOULD OCCUR – THEN THE FLOW OF WATER INTO THE SOIL WILL STOP AND THE LEVEL WON’T DROP. IN TENS OF MINUTES THE WATER LEVEL IN THE INNER RING WILL ONLY DROP A FEW MILLIMETERS, AND YOUR INFILTRATION RATE WILL APPROACH ZERO.
Cut to Dixon’s infiltration rate line graph. Highlight the LINE, moving from the highest rate to the lowest.
37. LET'S LOOK AT THIS ON A GRAPH. AT FIRST THE INFILTRATION RATE IS LARGE. THEN THE VALUE DROPS. FINALLY THE RATE APPROACHES ZERO.
Cut back to students in field doing protocol. Dissolve line graph back in at the end.
38. IT MAY TAKE HOURS FOR A DRY SOIL TO SATURATE AND THEN BECOME SO FULL OF WATER THAT PONDING OCCURS. SO, DURING 45 MINUTES YOU MAY ONLY MEASURE A PART OF THIS CURVE.
Highlight line from approximately 40 – 85 minutes
39. FOR INSTANCE, IF THE SOIL IS ALREADY SATURATED BEFORE YOU START YOUR MEASUREMENT, YOU MAY MEASURE THIS PORTION OF THE CURVE.
Highlight line from approximately 0 – 20 minutes
40. IF THE SOIL IS DRY YOU MAY MEASURE NINE INTERVALS BOFORE YOU EVEN REACH SATURATED CONDITIONS AND YOUR MEASUREMENTS WILL ONLY COVER THIS PART OF THE CURVE.
Effect to student/teacher conversation.
Male Teacher says: "Now that we've done a soil infiltration assessment, what questions might you have now about this particular aspect of soil?"
Female Student 1 says: "I wonder how vegetation and other materials at the surface of the soil effect infiltration. And how much would mulch effect it?"
Female Student 2 says: "I've noticed that it takes water less time to sink in when it hasn't rained for a long time. I'd like to know if there is a direct relationship between the amount of rainfall and the soil infiltration rates."
Cut to Dr. Levine on camera, with part of soundbite covered with footage of scientist and Izolda working in the field.
SOT: "Specifically, I use the GLOBE student data for soil infiltration to validate the model that I'm using. What I do is compare the results of my model, which predicts the movement of water through the soil over time, to what the GLOBE student data has, and if they match up pretty well, then I know that I have confidence in my model and I can use it for making predictions in doing other types of simulations."
Dissolve slowly to a shot of the same activity that opens the piece. Affect to a close up shot of rain hitting the ground. Fade to a shot of the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. Have the GLOBE web site supered below the teachers guide. www.globe.gov
41. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND MORE DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO THIS PROTOCOL, PLEASE REFER TO THE GLOBE PROGRAM TEACHER'S GUIDE.
SLATE: Produced for The GLOBE Program® by DWJ Television.