Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

8 hours ago, The Other Tom said:

Oh boy, another Youtube rabbit hole to go down.  I'll never get anything done!.  (Thanks for the link)

Oh yes, went down it after watching the Wuppertal one for the sixth(?) time (in a year). And that one about the Berlin railway yard is a good one I had not seen yet and the one about... snip!

 

Kaub gauge at 90cm (well I got that one wrong yesterday and so did the forecast, oops.)

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[SGinNE]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Kaub gauge at 90cm (well I got that one wrong yesterday and so did the forecast, oops.)

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Oops, but not really. You do a great job, @notamermaid! We really appreciate all the info you share. 

 

Now that we're home after an amazing trip on the Rhine and Switzerland, we reflect back on how wonderful it all was. And for the record, when we got into the Rhine gorge, I waved in your general direction. I wasn't sure which direction that was, so I gave a "Queen's Wave" in a 360 degree circle to make sure the wave got to you 😊

 

Cheers, kiddo! 🍻

[notamermaid]

Thank you very much, I am touched. Good to read you enjoyed your trip so much.

3 hours ago, SGinNE said:

Cheers, kiddo! 🍻

Cheers to you with a Tempranillo red wine aimed in a wide angle (the raised glass) to make sure it reaches across the pond to you. 🍷

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The brief 89cm at Kaub gauge yesterday was the bottom (for now) and we see a nice jump has happened overnight. 103cm now and it is cool and rainy.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Back to Wuppertal, see post #424. Wuppertal is not only known for being associated with steel and the heavy industry of the Ruhr valley, it was also a centre for the textile industry. If you are into the early industrial revolution you will want to spend quite a bit of time in the town's museums. How about this one (unfortunately limited opening times): https://www.mi-wuppertal.de/en/museum/ribbon-weaving-museum

 

Yes, yes, you may say, but does a company do an excursion from a river cruise? Not that I know of, but it would be possible. It is 40 minutes by car from Düsseldorf, 50 minutes by car from Cologne and 40 minutes by car from Monheim. All times approximated. Hang on, Monheim?? If you have just stumbled over that place while reading, not to worry. I did not know that they have a dock for 135m river cruise ships until early this year. It is a town between Cologne and Düsseldorf on the right bank of the Rhine and I can honestly say that I have never been in the town itself. Photos look interesting. But that is for another day and possibly another thread.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

A German lesson (you are allowed to forget the words very quickly) : "Abladeverbesserung und Sohlstabilisierung" is what the authorities are doing on the Lower Rhine around Krefeld. This basically means dredging the river so the ships can load more - in maritime technical language. This is the German article with photo of the dredger: https://binnenschifffahrt-online.de/2023/07/featured/30515/niederrhein/

This is good but the more pressing area is Kaub. It is a slow process and admittedly not as easily accomplished as on the Lower Rhine. The authorities meaning the hydrology engineers and the administration are still working on the - paperwork which will give recommendations as how to proceed.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

"Abladeverbesserung und Sohlstabilisierung"

 

I just had that as a winning Scrabble play!  🤣

[CPT Trips]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

"Abladeverbesserung und Sohlstabilisierung"

 

I just had that as a winning Scrabble play!  🤣

I had the same thought, but when I tried to play it I ran out of squares. 😱🤓

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

18 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

I had the same thought, but when I tried to play it I ran out of squares. 😱🤓

 

You need a much bigger Scrabble board to play in German!!!

[gnome12]

7 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You need a much bigger Scrabble board to play in German!!!

and more tiles to play at a time; 8 letters don't go very far.

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

and more tiles to play at a time; 8 letters don't go very far.

It's like Bolivia – the 3-deck version of Canasta...

[rjp50]

I spoke with our captain about the water level in the Rhine Gorge when we passed through 5 days ago.  He said that there was 87 cm under the hull at the lowest point.  I don’t know what that translates to in actual water depth or how it relates to measurements at Kaub.  However, I asked him what the minimum amount of clearance that would be required and he said “zero”.  He said they have gone through when you can hear the sand on the hull of the ship.   So, based on that, the water level could drop another 87 cm before a ship with our characteristics would have a problem.

[notamermaid]

8 hours ago, gnome12 said:

and more tiles to play at a time; 8 letters don't go very far.

Fun fact: just two standard letters will not get you very far with many points but far on the geography nerd scale. "Aa" is both a river in Germany and in France. Crossed the Aa many times going to England thinking "what a weird name for a river". Imagine my surprise when I read that in Germany there is also one of the same name. Oops.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Kaub gauge at 117cm. Quite a bit of rain still forecast. Level to go up to over 150cm. All good.

 

notamermaid

 

[sharkster77]

54 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Fun fact: just two standard letters will not get you very far with many points but far on the geography nerd scale. "Aa" is both a river in Germany and in France. Crossed the Aa many times going to England thinking "what a weird name for a river". Imagine my surprise when I read that in Germany there is also one of the same name. Oops.

 

notamermaid

 

The standard rules of Scrabble do not allow proper nouns, if I recall.  So unless playing under "house rules",  "Aa" or "Po" would not be allowed.

[Saberk9]

On 7/18/2023 at 12:56 PM, notamermaid said:

Kaub gauge better than had been forecast - it is at 139cm.

[Saberk9]

Leaving tonight from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland on Viking. First thing Captain says “if you heard about low water, don’t worry about it. No issues” 

[gnome12]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Fun fact: just two standard letters will not get you very far with many points but far on the geography nerd scale. "Aa" is both a river in Germany and in France. Crossed the Aa many times going to England thinking "what a weird name for a river". Imagine my surprise when I read that in Germany there is also one of the same name. Oops.

 

notamermaid

 

Actually, 2 letter words are extremely important in Scrabble tournament play. Unlike those of us who play for fun, tournament players try to maximize points by getting credit for multiple words in one play.

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

The standard rules of Scrabble do not allow proper nouns, if I recall.  So unless playing under "house rules",  "Aa" or "Po" would not be allowed.

Thanks. What a disappointment. Tells you that I do not play scrabble. Then as two-letter words we can only use the mundane ones like "an", "er", "es", "so", "tu", etc. The supposedly most points under a specific circumstance you can get with the word "enzyklopädische" in German, Google tells me. Y and ä are certainly good letters to have in a word. Y is much less frequent in German than in English. Fun fact: contrary to this the mountain and lady are called Loreley in German usually but Lorelei in English usually. Ley (or lay, or lei) is an old word meaning rock.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

The linked article is a informative report from Reuters about water levels of the Rhine, the effect on industry, and how some industries are dealing with it. 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/german-industry-changes-tack-river-rhine-runs-drier-2023-07-26/

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Saberk9 said:

Leaving tonight from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland on Viking. First thing Captain says “if you heard about low water, don’t worry about it. No issues” 

Yes, all so much better now. Nice of the captain to react so quickly and get rid of the worries passengers may have. Have a great cruise.

 

Sorry about the 139cm I posted earlier - a typo. It is 123cm now but the way things are looking we will get to 139cm and above that. With a bit of luck the level will stay above 150cm for a while. Plenty of water for river cruise ships.

 

7 hours ago, rjp50 said:

However, I asked him what the minimum amount of clearance that would be required and he said “zero”.

Sorry, I cannot figure this one out. But I am not discussing with a captain in his absence of course. Hope you had a great cruise.

 

7 hours ago, rjp50 said:

He said that there was 87 cm under the hull at the lowest point.  I don’t know what that translates to in actual water depth or how it relates to measurements at Kaub.

87cm means the depth of the navigation channel at Kaub area is 200cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Just now, RDVIK2016 said:

The linked article is a informative report from Reuters about water levels of the Rhine, the effect on industry, and how some industries are dealing with it. 

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/german-industry-changes-tack-river-rhine-runs-drier-2023-07-26/

Thank you, I like this article. Good research and no dramatic headline. It is fascinating for me still to see what is transported on the river. I have seen almost everything from space ship and army vehicles to scrap metal. Of course there are the barges that have closed hulls so you cannot see the bulk cargo. Tankers, container barges with unknown contents. The Viking Orva pulling a landing stage. Barges pulling hulls of river cruise ships alongside are my highlight of course. So rare for me to spot them.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[MamaMags123]

18 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 It is fascinating for me still to see what is transported on the river.

Where about on the Rhine do you live?

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, MamaMags123 said:

Where about on the Rhine do you live?

North of Worms and South of Cologne. Hence the fact that I have very little experience of the Canal d'Alsace or the other lock controlled stretches of the Rhine. Not sure that I have mentioned this in this thread, my current avatar photo was taken in the Upper Rhine valley at Rhinau.

The view is from the ferry looking upstream. That was a short trip quite a few years ago.

 

 

New developments in the "tragic soap opera" of the excursion ship that is still to feature in the last part of my trip to Linz. Must really get those photos sorted...

 

A cool and drab day on the Rhine today. Is it July?   Was going to go to the river proper for a trip out with shopping and café visit but I think there are better days for photo ops. My holiday is coming to an end so no furiously waving at a river cruise ship from an excursion boat for a while. Just has not worked out.

 

notamermaid

 

[SGinNE]

20 hours ago, notamermaid said:

My holiday is coming to an end so no furiously waving at a river cruise ship from an excursion boat for a while. Just has not worked out.

 

 

 

With all the hard work you do here on this topic, I think you should extend your holiday for another month! You've earned it. 😉