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Old November 14th 10, 07:21 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Andy[_10_]
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Default EPH Contest 2010 time elapsed grid and launch

On Nov 13, 9:35*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Nov 13, 3:17*pm, Andy wrote:

I thought it was really interesting and educational to watch the cus
form and decay and sometimes reform over the course of the launch. In
real time it usually happens too slowly to really appreciate.


9B


Good catch. *In the UK on a good thermal day, I expected 5-6 cycles
with cloud base jumping 700-1000ft each cycle. *Early in the day, it
paid to be high during the first couple. *We'd head off XC with cloud
base 1800agl or so and tip toe club to club in case a re-light was
needed.

Frank Whiteley


The cycles in the video seemed exceptionally short - 5-10 minutes if I
estimated the time-lapse compression correctly at about 10:1-15:1. Of
course, it was the very beginning of the day. It would be fun to set
this up on a good day with cu and watch what happens over the course
of the entire day.

The main lesson for me is that thermals regularly and pretty quickly
reform in the same location. You might expect this in an area with
strong geographic features, by the area immediately around Ephrata is
reasonably uniform if memory serves.

9B