Jules Verne Trophy : French crew set round-the-world record

6 days out from the Canary islands on "Happy Cat" a Lagoon 421
(Mid Atlantic ARC2011) "buzzed" by the Trimaran "Banque Populaire V" at 30 Knots in the Atlantic
(same scene viewed from Banque Populaire)

From YachtPals

Big, Big, Big news!
The world's largest sailing trimaran has sailed around the planet to achieve the most sought after of ocean records - the Jules Verne Trophy.

BP V track in pink (former record Castorama in green)

Once again, history has been made, and once again the world record is back into the hands of the Peyron sailing dynasty.
Under the command of Loick Peyron (brother of Bruno, who made the same record in 1994, 2002, and 2005), and through the skill and determination of a very talented crew including Brian Thompson (who earned the record with Steve Fossett in 2004), Banque Populaire V has conquered the world, and sailed non-stop around the globe in a total time of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds for a new world sailing record.

Banque Populaire V crew : Loïck Peyron, Brian Thompson, Juan Vila (navigator), Yvan Ravussin, Pierre Yves Moreau, Thierry Chabagny, Frédéric Le Peutrec, Emmanuel Le Borgne, Thierry Duprey Du Vorsent, Ronan Lucas, Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant, Kevin Escoffier, Xavier Revil, Florent Chastel, and Marcel Van Triest (onshore router).

Clearly, size does matter, as the world-record-holding boats are getting bigger and bigger.
The record had been set just 2 years ago by the massive Groupama 3, with a time of 48 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes.
However, big, bad Banque Populaire - a gargantuan boat by any standards - successfully trotted around the record antipodal route, and by her giant strides now stands atop the podium as the fastest globe-girdling boat mankind has ever produced.

When Banque Populaire V was launched, some speculated that it was too big - that her bulk would be her downfall, and that the enormous stresses would cause the gigantic craft to simply crumble in big seas.

Banque Populaire V Launched: 2008
Banque Populaire V Designers: Pascal Bidégorry, VPLP Banque Populaire V
Builder: CDK Technologies
Length of central hull: 40 meters (131 feet)
Length of float: 37 meters (121 feet)
Width: 23 meters (75 feet)
Displacement: 23 tons
Draft: 5.80 meters (19 feet)
Height: 47 meters (154 feet)
Mainsail: 450 m2 / Gennaker: 610 m2 / Solent: 270 m2

Last year's attempt by the massive multihull ended in calamity, as the boat struck a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) at speed, which caused enough damage to a daggerboard (retractable fins that protrude from the bottom of the hulls) to scrub the attempt.

Now, however, there is no doubt: Bigger is better when it comes to ocean racing, and one would imagine that there are a number of designs being drawn up at this moment for would-be successors to Banque Populaire's new crown, many of which may dwarf even this incredible sailing ship.
We can only wait in anticipation to see which of the designs make it to the boatyard, and which of those may take a try at the record.

And what a record it is: What many people don't realize is that with the exception of flight, there is no faster way around the planet these days than by wind power.
There are faster power boats, and there are nuclear powered ships that don't require refueling for the journey, but there are none that have come close to achieving what today's sailboats can on a non-stop spin around the globe.
A century after the "death" of the age of sail, and here we are again with wind power ruling the seas.

Congratulations to the skipper and crew of the mighty Banque Populaire V, and to her designers and engineers as well.
You have advanced the sport and science of sailing, and have breathed new life into the old idea of harnessing the forces of nature rather than conquering them.

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!
A special thought to Pascal Bidégorry the designer and former skipper of the boat at the origin of the project.

Links :

• TheTelegraph : How the Jules Verne Trophy was won
  

Titanic items to be sold 100 years after sinking

The bow of the RMS Titanic is seen on the ocean floor

From AP

Items as small as a hairpin and as big as a chunk of the Titanic's hull are among 5000 artefacts from the world's most famous shipwreck that are to be auctioned in April, close to the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

A scale model of the RMS Titanic on display at the Titanic Auction preview at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City

Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey's Auctioneers & Brokers.

That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling off such historical curiosities as prized Beatles photos, famous jewels of the late Princess Diana, beloved Jerry Garcia guitars and a police motorcycle used in the Texas motorcade when John F. Kennedy was slain.
But nothing as titanic as the so-called Titanic collection.

The 17-ton portion of the hull of the RMS Titanic is lifted to the surface

On April 11, all of the salvaged items are to be sold as one lot in what Guernsey's President Arlan Ettinger describes as the most significant auction ever handled by that house.
"Who on this planet doesn't know the story of the Titanic and isn't fascinated by it?" he asked. "Could Hollywood have scripted a more tragic or goose-bump-raising story than what actually happened on that ship?"
"It is as poignant to my 12-year-old son as it is to me and generations before me. There's no end to the fascination about it."

The auction will be conducted 100 years plus a day after the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, embarking on the ill-fated maiden voyage that had New York as its destination.

The collection was appraised in 2007 at US$189 million (NZ$241m), including some intellectual property alongside the myriad items plucked by remote controlled probes from the pitch-black depths, some 4km below the ocean's surface.

A ship's telegraph from the RMS Titanic which was recovered from the ocean floor

Those artefacts include the massive hull section called "The Big Piece" as well as personal belongings of passengers and crew, such as a mesh purse and eyeglasses.
A bronze cherub that once adorned the Grand Staircase is also among the collection, as are fine china, table settings, bottles and ship fittings - even the stand upon which the ship's wheel stood.

By court order, the items cannot be sold individually and must go to a buyer who agrees to properly maintain the collection and make it available for occasional public viewing.
The sale is subject to court approval.

Ettinger and officials with RMS Titanic Inc., which salvaged the artefacts from the Titanic wreck, spoke to The Associated Press in advance of a media preview Thursday in New York.

The planned sale also could include a trove of archaeological data and visuals of the wreck, as well as the only detailed map of the vast ocean floor where all the artefacts were scattered after the Titanic's sinking.


The Titanic's sinking claimed the lives of more than 1500 of the 2228 passengers and crew. An international team led by oceanographer Robert Ballard located the wreckage in 1985, about 650km off Newfoundland, Canada.

The research materials could be a road map to future salvage expeditions because of the new information they provide on the wreck site.

"We are opening the door of opportunity for the future of the Titanic," said Brian Wainger, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc., of which RMS Titanic is a division.


But the clock is ticking on thousands of additional artefacts embedded in a 3-by-5-mile section of ocean floor around the wreck, an area subject to a century of extreme ocean conditions such as cold temperatures and treacherous currents.

"I think it's fair to say that we have only touched the surface," Wainger said.

The deteriorating hulk of the Titanic is off limits to salvage.

The auction is subject to approval by a federal judge in Virginia whose jurisdiction for years has given oversight to legal issues governing the salvage of the Titanic. The Titanic treasures were amassed during seven risky and expensive trips to the wreck.

US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, who has overseen the case from her Norfolk courtroom, has called the Titanic an "international treasure." She has approved covenants and conditions that the company previously worked out with the federal government, including a prohibition against selling the collection piecemeal.

The court conditions also require subsequent owners to make the artefacts available "to present and future generations for public display and exhibition, historical review, scientific and scholarly research, and educational purposes."

A porthole from the RMS Titanic

Wainger and Ettinger declined to speculate on who might bid on the collection.

"You hate to be in the position of being a fortune teller or clairvoyant," Ettinger said. "I, for one, would be very surprised if there wasn't international interest."
Wainger said, "Any individual can fall in love with any of the different artefacts because so many of them are personal. When you read the personal stories you recognize the tragedy."

Premier Exhibitions has been displaying the Titanic artefacts in exhibitions worldwide. The items were recovered from the shipwreck in expeditions in 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004.

RMS Titanic, which has overseen the artefacts for 18 years, said the public company decided to auction the collection in response to shareholders' wishes that the "company go out and make money."
"It's better to be in the hands of a private institution that doesn't have the same short-term profit obligations that a public company has," he said.

In 2010, RMS Titanic collaborated with some of the world's leading experts in the most technologically advanced expedition to the Titanic, undertaking the first comprehensive mapping survey of the vessel with 3-D imagery from bow to stern.
The most striking images involved the 3-D tour of the Titanic's stern, which lies 609 metres from the bow.

A camera in a remote-controlled submersible vehicle skimmed over the stern, seemingly transporting viewers through scenes of jagged rusticles sprouting from the deck, a length of chain, the captain's bathtub, and wooden elements that scientists had previously believed had disappeared in the harsh, deep ocean environment.

The expedition fully mapped the wreck site, documenting the entire debris field for the first time.
"Titanic" director James Cameron also has led teams to the wreck to record the bow and the stern.

The Titanic exhibit is among several operated by Premier Exhibitions, which bills itself as "a major provider of museum-quality touring exhibitions."
Its offerings have included sports memorabilia, a traveling Star Trek homage and "Bodies," an anatomy exhibit featuring preserved human cadavers.

Yeti crabs & ghost octopus! Unique life found at 1st Antarctic deep-sea vents

Scientists have discovered what they call a "lost world" more than 2,000 metres below the surface in the Southern Ocean, near Antarctica.

From LiveSciences

Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs.

It was "almost like a sight from another planet," said expedition leader Alex Rogers, a professor of zoology at Oxford University.

A new species of yeti crab piles around the hydrothermal vents in Antarctica.
The vents may be a safe haven for crabs, which typically can't tolerate cold waters. (c) NERC ChEsSo Consortium

Even in the eye-popping world of deep-sea vents, the Antarctic discoveries stand out, with the unfamiliar species of crabs found crowded in piles around the warm waters emanating from the seafloor.
Many of the animals found at the vents have never been found at hydrothermal vents in other oceans, Rogers said. "To see these animals in such huge densities was just amazing," Rogers told LiveScience.

In the dayless world of deep-sea vents, energy comes not from the sun but from the hydrothermal energy generated in the oceanic crust.

A first glimpse at black smokers on the Antarctic sea floor. These hydrothermal vents contain compounds that make the ultra-heated water they spew out smoke-colored.

Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs.

A large sea anemone seen through the ROV cameras.

It was "almost like a sight from another planet," said expedition leader Alex Rogers, a professor of zoology at Oxford University.

Even in the eye-popping world of deep-sea vents, the Antarctic discoveries stand out, with the unfamiliar species of crabs found crowded in piles around the warm waters emanating from the seafloor.
Many of the animals found at the vents have never been found at hydrothermal vents in other oceans, Rogers said.
"To see these animals in such huge densities was just amazing," Rogers told LiveScience.

In the dayless world of deep-sea vents, energy comes not from the sun but from the hydrothermal energy generated in the oceanic crust.

The yeti crabs seem to cultivate "gardens" of bacteria on their chests, which are covered with hairy tendrils.
These bacterial mats almost certainly provides the crabs with sustenance, Rogers said.
In turn, predatory seven-armed sea stars stalk the periphery of the vents, snacking on unfortunate crabs. [See video and photos from the vents]

"We were absolutely stunned to see the animal communities, because they were so different from the hydrothermal vents seen elsewhere," Rogers told LiveScience.
He and his colleagues reported their results (Jan. 3) in the journal PLoS Biology.

Discovery in the deep sea

Weird life flourishes at deep-sea vents the world over, but no one had ever found hydrothermal vents in Antarctica, explained Jon Copley, a professor of earth and ocean science at the University of Southampton who also participated in the research.
That's largely because it's more difficult to do research in the harsh Southern Ocean than in temperate climes. [Extremophiles: World's Weirdest Life]

"It's only quite recently that we've been able to be bold enough, really, to head to the poles," Copley told LiveScience.

In 1999, Antarctic mapping surveys turned up hints of hydrothermal vent output in the water column over the East Scotia Ridge in the Atlantic section of the Southern Ocean, between Antarctica and South America and eastward.
It took 10 years for researchers to get back for a full-blown expedition, during which they lowered cameras to two areas, 8,530 feet (2,600 meters) and 7,874 feet (2,400 m) deep, catching the first glimpses of Antarctic hydrothermal vents.
Among them were "black smokers," chimney-like vents that emit dark-hued, superheated water.

Although the background temperature of the Southern Ocean in the area is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), the black smokers gushed water as hot as 721 degrees F (382 degrees C).

The Isis remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in an Antarctic snowstorm. The ROV brought back video and samples from the vents.

In 2010, the researchers returned with a remote-operated submersible vehicle (ROV) called Isis.

Researchers in the ROV control room peer at undersea images sent up by Isis.

The sub took close-up photos of the amazing vent fauna and collected samples of organisms for identification.

A crinoid clings to an area dubbed "Devil's Punchbowl" near a hydrothermal vent. Crinoids are filter-feeding marine animals.

New world

Among the new species were the yeti crabs, crowded around the vents up to 600 per square meter.


"They're literally, in places, heaped up upon each other," Rogers said.
Crabs normally don't tolerate cold temperatures well, so the vents may be a warm haven for these crabs, Copley said.

Unlike vents in other oceans, the Antarctic vents lack tube worms, mussels and shrimp.
Instead they harbor new species of barnacles and anemones, as well as a large brown spiral-shelled snail.

The researchers even saw ghost-pale octopuses, which seemed drawn to the lights of the ROV.

The vents host an astounding amount of life, including bacterial mats, anemones and barnacles not known to science.

"We were completely blown away by what we found," Copley said.
"I've worked at vents in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, but these are the lushest, richest vents, in terms of life, that I've come across."

The discovery helps fill a gap in researchers' understanding of how deep-sea life disperses around the oceans, Rogers said.
They had expected that the Southern Ocean would be a historical gateway for vent species to travel between the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and there do seem to be some species, such as the yeti crab, that are related to species found at other vents.
Those relationships seem to reach back into geological history, Copley said, when there was a connection between the Antarctic and the eastern Pacific.

But the vast differences between Antarctic vents and vents found elsewhere suggest that the area is not a gateway but a biological region in its own right, Rogers said.
The cold Antarctic waters may act as a barrier to species that start their lives as swimming, feeding larvae, he said.
On the other hand, larvae that carry their own food supply with them in eggs — known as lecithotrophic larvae — may be able to survive and disperse in the chilly Southern Ocean.

As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said.

"Until we understand what governs the patterns of life at deep-sea vents, how interconnected their populations, how well life disperses from vent to vent, we can't make responsible decisions about how to manage these deep-ocean resources."

Links :

• NationalGeographic : "Lost World" of Odd Species Found Off Antarctica (Pictures)
• TheGuardian : Pale octopus, hairy-chested yeti crab and other new species found
  

Sharp-eyed Pleiades returns first pictures

The "Paris of the West". A view of the Bay Bridge heading out of San Francisco

From BBC

Just days after its launch on a Soyuz rocket, the new French high-resolution Pleiades imaging satellite has sent down its first pictures.

One of the shots released by the French space agency (Cnes) is of central Paris, showing the Louvre and the Place De La Concorde - "naturellement".

The Pleiades project has been in development for the best part of a decade.
It will produce pictures that have a resolution of 50cm after processing.
That is - details on the ground as small as half a metre are discernable.


The spacecraft will give Europe a high performance capability to rival that of the Americans.
The market for sub one metre satellite imagery has become dominated in recent years by two US companies - DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.
Many of the pictures you see on Google and Bing maps, and indeed on the BBC News website, are sourced from these two operators.

Pleiades will go head-to-head with the Americans and has a number of clever tricks that should enable it to win a sizeable market share.
One of these tricks is the ability to swivel its instrument in quick time to acquire a strip, or mosaic, of images around its target in a single pass overhead.
So whereas the nominal maximum width in an image is 20km, Pleiades can scan the ground rapidly to effectively build up a much wider swath at any given point.


"Pleiades is equipped with control moment gyros," explained Charlotte Gabriel Robez, the Pleiades project manager with Astrium Geo-information Services.
"These devices allow Pleiades to slew very fast from a point A to a point B," she told me.
"Imagine there is 200 km between those two locations - if you have these control moment gyros, you only need 11 seconds to switch. If you do not have them, you need around 20 seconds. This means that when you fly over a given area, you can acquire double the number of images than would normally be the case.
"So, we can collect either plenty of different images over a narrow area, or we can 'paint' a large area 100km by 100km.
"We can even acquire several images of the same place in the very same pass, meaning that we can build up 3D models of the ground thanks to the different viewing angles."

Pléiades : 3D images for the Tarso Toussidé volcan by CNES

A second satellite will launch in 2013 and its orbit around the globe will be off set from the first by 180 degrees.
This will then allow the Pleiades system to take a picture of any place on Earth every day…assuming there's no cloud over the target.
Expect Pleiades pictures to become a common feature in newspapers and on websites like this one in the years ahead.

The satellites have been assembled by Astrium, Europe's largest space company, with their sharp-eyed instruments supplied by Thales Alenia Space (France).
Although a French national programme, Pleiades has drawn funding from a number of other European nations.

The UK is not involved programmatically but one of its companies, e2v, has sold some critical technology into the project - the Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) on the imaging instruments.
CCDs are the camera sensors.
They turn the light falling on their surface into an electronic signal that can be transmitted to the ground where they are turned back into an image on a computer screen.
"We developed a new CCD image sensor here in the UK for the Pleiades panchromatic channel - the high resolution part of the imaging system. It's called a time delay and integration device," e2v's chief engineer, Dave Morris, told me.
"It has 10 outputs and 6,000 pixels in a line, and they use five of them to cover the whole swath of a Pleiades image.
"I did the initial design study in 2001 and we started the development in 2002. We did a vast amount of qualification work. You have to remember that this is a nationally significant mission for France and the CCDs absolutely had to work.
"We delivered the final flight models in 2007. It was a challenging specification and we took a major technological step forward with these CCDs, and it's worked out really well as you can see from the new pictures."
It's been a noteworthy couple of months for e2v, who are based in Chelmsford in the East of England.
In November, their sensors were launched on Nasa's Mars Science Laboratory, the next big thing at the Red Planet.
The sensors will be used on a couple of MSL's instruments, including one that can identify the chemistry of rocks from a distance simply by firing a laser at them.

Links :

• CNES : Pleiades, dual optical system for metric resolution observations
  

Understanding noise pollution in the oceans

Canada's Ocean Observatory from Ocean Networks Canada
This 5 minute video introduces Ocean Networks Canada and its ocean observatory consisting of VENUS, the coastal network and NEPTUNE Canada, the regional network.
The observatory is a world-class facility enabling researchers in Canada and around the world to conduct transformative ocean research using innovative and disruptive technologies

From TheWorld

Sound travels much faster in water than in air, and thus plays an enormous role in the lives of marine species.
Reef fish rely on sounds to communicate.
So do whales and dolphins.

But over the last century, we humans have filled the oceans with noise.
Most of our commerce happens through ships which are noisy.
We’re increasingly exploring the marine environment for oil, using airguns and underwater explosions.

So, how is this noise pollution affecting marine animals?
That’s what Michel André has been trying to answer for most of his career.
He’s a bioacoustics expert at the Technical University of Catalonia, in Barcelona.
I first spoke with André back in April this year, when I blogged about his study showing human-made noises in the ocean may be hurting giant squids.

An octopus sits on a drillhead used by scientists at the University of Victoria.
The drillhead’s named Cork, and hence it’s inhabitant, this octopus was nicknamed Corky.
(Photo: NEPTUNE Canada)

Until recently, Andre had limited access to sounds in the seas.
He could only work with sounds recorded over brief periods of time from a boat out in sea.

So “the dream was to have the (acoustic) data flowing to our desks,” says Andre.

Recent technological developments have helped make that dream come true.
Now, scientists all over the world are putting underwater microphones in our oceans and connecting them to satellites or to the Internet.
So researchers like Andre can continuously monitor the marine soundscape and do so in real time.

Spider crabs (Macroregonia macrochira) were frequent visitors as NEPTUNE Canada installed instruments and tested communications at various Endeavour Ridge sites. This crab extended a leg to touch the gear. (Photo: NEPTUNE Canada)

That’s why a few years ago, he launched an ambitious global project called Listening to the Deep Ocean.
It connects existing deep sea microphones (they were put in place mostly by geologists interested in studying under water seismic activities) to a website.
You can learn more about his project in my story which aired on The World today.

The website allows anyone to listen to sounds in the deep ocean.
You can click below to hear some of the sounds these underwater microphones are recording.
They include sounds of ships, under water explosions, humpback whales and dolphins.



It is still early days for Andre’s project.
So we’ll have to wait to see what he learns about the impacts of noise pollution in the oceans.
In the meantime though, he thinks he’s on the verge of a major discovery from analyzing sounds from a network of microphones off Vancouver Island, in Canada.
“We are suspecting that we might detect the presence of the right whale,” says Andre.

That’s the North Pacific right whale, which hasn’t been seen in the region for some 30 years.

Links :

• Neptune Canada :Fishing in a digital ocean
  

NZ Linz update in the Marine GeoGarage

NZ5323 Auckland Harbour West

3 charts have been updated in the Marine GeoGarage

(Linz November update published December 8, 2011) :

• NZ62 Cape Palliser to Kaikoura Peninsula
  
• NZ5323 Auckland Harbour West
  
• NZ14909 Cape Hooker to Coulman Island
  

Today NZ Linz charts (178 charts / 340 including sub-charts) are displayed in the Marine GeoGarage.

Note : LINZ produces official nautical charts to aid safe navigation in New Zealand waters and certain areas of Antarctica and the South-West Pacific.

Using charts safely involves keeping them up-to-date using Notices to Mariners

Argentina SHN update in the Marine GeoGarage

74 charts (96 including sub-charts whose 6 added) have been updated by SHN (Servicio de Hidrografía Naval de Argentina) (Corregidas hasta el 30 de Septiembre de 2011)

• PUERTO INGENIERO ACEVEDO
• MUELLES EN PUNTA ALVEAR
• MUELLES EN ARROYO ASECO
• PUERTO BUNGE-RAMALLO Y MARTINS
• PUERTO CAMPANA
• MUELLE CELULOSA
• ZONA DE CRUCE. FONDEO Y ESPERA POZOS DE SAN JUAN
• ISLA MARTIN GARCIA
• H1 ACCESO AL RIO DE LA PLATA
• H1001 CANAL EMILIO MITRE - RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 41,5 A KM 55,5)
• H1002 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 53,2 A KM 69,1)
• H1003 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 67,7 A KM 85)
• H1004 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 83,2 A KM 105)
• H1005 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 102,5 A KM 119,2)
• H1006 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 117,1 A KM 136)
• H1007 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 131,4 A KM 150,9)
• H1008 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 150,2 A KM 166,9) / RIO PARANA GUAZU (DE KM 214,1 A KM 220,8) / PASAJE TALAVERIA (DE KM 210,5 A KM 217,7)
• H1009 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 166,2 A KM 180,5) / RIO PARANA GUAZU (DE KM 220 A KM 234) / RIO PARANA (DE KM 234 A KM 240,6)
• H1010 RIO PARANA (DE KM 236,8 A KM 254,3)
• H1011 RIO PARANA (DE KM 250,4 A KM 273,4)
• H1012 RIO PARANA (DE KM 271,1 A KM 278,4)
• H1013 RIO PARANA (DE KM 276 A KM 296,4)
• H1014 RIO PARANA (DE KM 295,3 A KM 308,6)
• H1015 RIO PARANA (DE KM 304,6 A KM 323,2)
• H1016 RIO PARANA (DE KM 320,8 A KM 334,5)
• H1017 RIO PARANA (DE KM 333,1 A KM 344,4)
• H1018 RIO PARANA (DE KM 341,7 A KM 355,1)
• H1018A RIO PARANA (PUERTOS EN RAMALLO - SAN NICOLAS)
• H1019 RIO PARANA (DE KM 353,5 A KM 368,6)
• H1020 RIO PARANA (DE KM 366,9 A KM 388,6)
• H1021 RIO PARANA (DE KM 381,5 A KM 399,8) (MUELLES EN ARROYO SECO)
  
• H1022 RIO PARANA (DE KM 398,5 A KM 411,4) (PUERTO ALVEAR)
  
• H1023 RIO PARANA (DE KM 410,1 A KM 420,8) (MUELLE SWIFT / ROSARIO PUERTO NORTE, CENTRO Y SUR)
  
• H1024 RIO PARANA (DE KM 419,2 A KM 437,1) (PUENTE ROSARIO - VICTORIA / MUELLE CELLULOSA)
  
• H1025 RIO PARANA (DE KM 435,5 A KM 452)(MUELLE SULFACID / VICENTIN / DE MUELLE A.C.A A MUELLE NIDERA)
  
• H1026 RIO PARANA (DE KM 452 A KM 467,2)
• H1026A RIO PARANA (DE KM 452 A KM 458,6)
• H1027 RIO PARANA (DE KM 466,3 A KM 484,1)
• H1028 RIO PARANA (DE KM 481,8 A KM 503,3)
• H1029 RIO PARANA (DE KM 496,1 A KM 515,2)
• H1030 RIO PARANA (DE KM 513,6 A KM 531,3)
• H1031 RIO PARANA (DE KM 529,6 A KM 549,4)
• H1032 RIO PARANA (DE KM 546,7 A KM 568,6)
• H1033 RIO PARANA (DE KM 566,7 A KM 591)
• H1034 RIO PARANA (DE KM 581 A KM 591,2) CANAL DE ACCESO A PUERTO DE SANTA FE
• H1035 RIO PARANA (DE KM 588,8 A KM 605,8)
• H1110 RIO PARANA GUAZU (DE KM 211,5 A KM 217) / RIO IBICUY (DE KM 212 A KM 223)
• H1111 RIO PARANA DE LAS PALMAS (DE KM 178,5 A KM 180,5) / RIO PARANA GUAZU (DE KM 227,5 A KM 234) / RIO IBICUY (DE KM 219,8 A KM 237,8)
• H113 RIO DE LA PLATA EXTERIOR
• H114 DE FARO SAN ANTONIO A FARO MIRAMAR
• H115 BAHIA SAMBOROMBON
• H116 RIO DE LA PLATA MEDIO Y SUPERIOR
• H117 RIO DE LA PLATA MEDIO : DE PUNTA PIEDRAS A LA PLATA Y COLONIA
• H118 RIO DE LA PLATA SUPERIOR
• H130 DELTA DEL PARANA
• H155A RIO DE LA PLATA : DE PUERTO DE TIGRE A DARSENA DE PROPANEROS
• H156 RIO DE LA PLATA : PUERTO DE BUENOS AIRES
• H157 RADA EXTERIOR DE BUENOS AIRES Y PUERTO LA PLATA
• H159 BAHIA SAMBOROMBON (FONDEADEROS BANCO SAN ANTONIO)
• H210 DE FARO PUNTA MOGOTES A FARO CLAROMECO
• H211A EL RINCON
• H212 BAHIA BLANCA : DE FARO RECALADA A FARO EL RICON
• H213 DE FARO EL RINCON A FARO SEGUNDA BARRANCA
• H250 RADA MAR DEL PLATA
• H251 PUERTO MAR DEL PLATA
• H252 RADA QUEQUEN
• H253 PUERTO QUEQUEN
• H310 GOLFO SAN JORGE
• H317 DE FARO CABO BLANCO A PUERTO SAN JULIAN
• H357A RADA COMODORO RIVADAVIA
• H357B PUERTO COMODORO RIVADAVIA
• H359 CALETA OLIVIA Y CALETA PAULA
• H413 DE PUETO SAN JULIAN A RIO GALLEGOS
• H451A PUERTO RIO GALLEGOS (BARRA EXTERIOR)
• H451B PUNTA LOYOLA (MUELLE PRESIDENTE ILLIA)
• H480 BAHIA USHUAIA (PUERTO)
• H50 MAR ARGENTINO, DE RIO DE LA PLATA AL PARALELO 57° SUR
• H5011 OCEAN ATLANTICO SUDOCCIDENTAL (DESDE EL RIO DE LA PLATA HASTA EL MAR DE WEDDELL)
• H60 PASAJE DRAKE Y MAR DE WEDDELL
• ISLA MARTIN GARCIA (MUELLE)
• PURTO DE OLIVOS Y CENTRO NAVAL
• PLANTA ORION (MUELLE DE COMBUSTIBLE)
• PUERTO DE PARANA
• PUERTO CALETA PAULA
• PUENTE ROSARIO-VICTORIA
• PUERTO RAMALLO
• ROSARIO (CENTRO)
• ROSARIO (PUERTO NORTE)
• ROSARIO (PUERTO SUR)
• SAN LORENZO (DE MUELLE A.C.A. A MUELLE NIDERA)
• PUERTO SAN PEDRO
• PUERTO DE SANTA FE
• MUELLE SULFACID
• PROXIMIDADES DE TIGRE
• MUELLE VICENTIN
• PUERTO ZARATE

--- END-USER RESPONSIBILITY ----------------------

As a Marine GeoGarage user, you hereby acknowledge that these charts issued from BSB charts material are only AN AID TO NAVIGATION, so they DO NOT REPLACE OFFICIAL AND UPDATED PAPER CHARTS since they are RASTER BSB Electronic charts.

"ESTAS CARTAS EN SOPORTE DIGITAL NO SUPLANTAN
EL USO DE LAS CARTAS OFICIALES EN SOPORTE PAPEL"

Mariners should keep nautical charts up-to-date by consulting the Notices to Mariners which are monthly edited :

• Monthly Bulletin
• Radio Warnings

Brazil DHN update in the Marine GeoGarage

3408 DO ESTIRÃO SUPERIOR DA BOCA DO CARÁ-CARÁ À CANCHA DO RONCADOR

12 charts have been added (DHN update October 22 & November 22) and 1 updated

• 3401 DE BELA VISTA DO NORTE À ILHA BOCA DA ANTA GRANDE
• 3403 DO ESTIRÃO DA PRAINHA À VOLTA DO BOI
• 3404 DA VOLTA DO ESTALEIRO OU JAPUIRA À BOCA DO FADIL
• 3405 DA VOLTA DA FIGUEIRA PRETA AO PORTO MACACO
• 3407 DA BOCA DO CARÁ-CARÁ AO ESTIRÃO SUPERIOR DA BOCA CARÁ-CARÁ
• 3408 DO ESTIRÃO SUPERIOR DA BOCA DO CARÁ-CARÁ À CANCHA DO RONCADOR
• 3409 ESTIRÃO DO RONCADOR (JUSANTE E MONTANTE)
• 3410 ESTIRÃO CAPITÃO FERNANDES E PASSO CAPITÃO FERNANDES
• 3411 DO PIQUITITO OU GRAMACHO À CANCHA DO JATOBEIRÃO
• 3412 DO JATOBEIRÃO AO MACHADINHO
• 3421 DA VOLTA DO JAÚ AO ESTIRÃO DA CAPIVARA
• 3422 DO ESTIRÃO DA CAPIVARA À VOLTA DA ANTA
• 3423 DA VOLTA E CAPÃO DA MUTUCA AO CASTELO DE AREIA

Today 278 charts (323 including sub-charts) from DHN are displayed in the Marine GeoGarage

USA NOAA update in the Marine GeoGarage

12256 Thimble Shoal Channel

34 charts have been updated in the Marine GeoGarage

(NOAA update October/November 2011)

• 11527 COOPER RIVER ABOVE GOOSE CREEK
  
• 12208 APPROACHES TO CHESAPEAKE BAY
  
• 12225 CHESAPEAKE BAY WOLF TRAP TO SMITH POINT
  
• 12353 SHINNECOCK LIGHT TO FIRE ISLAND LIGHT
  
• 13244 EASTERN ENTRANCE TO NANTUCKET SOUND
  
• 16645 GORE PT. TO ANCHOR PT.
  
• 16646 PORT OF SOUTHEASTERN COOK INLET
  
• 16647 COOK INLET
  
• 16665 COOK INLET ANCHORAGE
  
• 17326 CRAWFISH INLET TO SITKA
  
• 17328 BARANOF ISLAND SNIPE BAY TO CRAWFISH INLET
  
• 17335 PATTERSON BAY AND DEEP COVE
  
• 25645 CHRISTIANSTED HARBOR
  
• 25664 PASAJE DE VIEQUES AND RADAS ROOSEVELT
  
• 11462 FOWEY ROCKS TO ALLIGATOR REEF
  
• 11502 DOBOY SOUND TO FERNANDINA
  
• 12222 CHESAPEAKE BAY CAPE CHARLES TO NORFOLK HARBOR
  
• 12228 CHESAPEAKE BAY POCOMOKE AND TANGIER SOUNDS
  
• 12230 CHESAPEAKE BAY SMITH POINT TO COVE POINT
  
• 12231 TANGIER SOUND - NORTHERN PART
  
• 12244 PAMUNKEY AND MATTAPONI RIVERS
  
• 12256 THIMBLE SHOAL CHANNEL
  
• 12286 POTOMAC RIVER PINEY POINT TO LOWER CEDAR POINT
  
• 12401 NEW YORK LOWER BAY-SOUTHERN PART
  
• 14965 LAKE SUPERIOR REDRIDGE MICH TO SAXON HARBOR WIS
  
• 16640 COOK INLET SOUTHERN PART
  
• 18423 BELLINGHAM TO EVERETT INC SAN JAUN ISLANDS ROSARIO STRAIT
  
• 18452 SINCLAIR INLET
  
• 18465 STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA EASTERN PART
  
• 18581 YAQUINA BAY AND RIVER
  
• 18583 SIUSLAW RIVER
  
• 18628 ALBION TO CASPAR
  
• 25669 APPROACHES TO SAN JUAN HARBOR
  
• 25675 BAHIA DE BOQUERON
  

Today 1020 NOAA raster charts (2166 including sub-charts) are included in the Marine GeoGarage viewer.

Note : NOAA updates their nautical charts with corrections published in:

• U.S. Coast Guard Local Notices to Mariners (LNMs),
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Notices to Mariners (NMs), and
• Canadian Coast Guard Notices to Mariners (CNMs)

While information provided by this Web site is intended to provide updated nautical charts, it must not be used as a substitute for the United States Coast Guard, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or Canadian Coast Guard Notice to Mariner publications

Please visit the NOAA's chart update service for more info.

Canada CHS update in the Marine GeoGarage

2204 Byng Inlet to Killarney

29 charts have been updated (November 28) :

• 1220 BAIE DES SEPT ILES
• 1230 PLANS PENINSULE DE LA GASPESIE
• 1509A RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES/ ILE BIZARD TO PONT-VIAU
• 1509B RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES PONT-VIAU TO ILE BOURDON
• 2204A BYNG INLET TO KILLARNEY
• 2204B BYNG INLET TO KILLARNEY
• 2204C BYNG INLET TO KILLARNEY
• 2204D BEAVERSTONE BAY TO KILLARNEY
• 2303 JACKFISH BAY TO ST. IGNACE ISLAND
• 3462 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT TO STRAIT OF GEORGIA
• 4012 YARMOUTH TO HALIFAX
• 4013 HALIFAX TO SYDNEY
• 4020 STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE
• 4026 HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE AND CAP DES ROSIERS TO POINTE DES MONTS
• 4116 APPROACHES TO SAINT JOHN
• 4230 LITTLE HOPE ISLAND TO CAPE ST MARYS
• 4237 APPROACHES TO HALIFAX HARBOUR
• 4243 TUSKET ISLANDS TO CAPE ST MARYS
• 4308 ST. PETERS BAY TO STRAIT OF CANSO
• 4320 EGG ISLAND TO WEST IRONBOUND ISLAND
• 4363 CAPE SMOKEY TO ST PAUL ISLAND
• 4365 INGONISH HARBOUR AND APPROACHES
• 4367 FLINT ISLAND TO CAPE SMOKEY
• 4384 PEARL ISLAND TO CAPE LA HAVE
• 4385 CHEBUCTO HEAD TO BETTY ISLAND
• 4419 SOURIS HARBOUR AND APPROACHES
• 4470 BLANC-SABLON TO MIDDLE-BAY
• 4485 CAP DES ROSIERS TO CHANDLER
• 4745 WHITE POINT TO SANDY ISLAND
• 4839 HEAD OF PLACENTIA BAY
• 4956 CAP-AUX-MEULES
• 5134 APPROACHES TO CARTWRIGHT-BLACK ISLAND TO TUMBLEDOWN DICK ISLAND
• 5138 SANDWICH BAY

So 790 charts (1677 including sub-charts) are available in the Canada CHS layer. (see coverage)

Note : don't forget to visit 'Notices to Mariners' published monthly and available from the Canadian Coast Guard both online or through a free hardcopy subscription service.
This essential publication provides the latest information on changes to the aids to navigation system, as well as updates from CHS regarding CHS charts and publications.
See also written Notices to Shipping and Navarea warnings : NOTSHIP