Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Ancient documents suggest Italian sailors knew of America 150 years before Christopher Columbus
From ScitecDaily by Taylor & Francis Group
Ahead of Columbus Day, findings pose further questions of what the explorer really expected to find on his voyage.
New analysis of ancient writings suggests that sailors from the Italian hometown of Christopher Columbus knew of America 150 years before its renowned ‘discovery.’
Transcribing and detailing a, circa, 1345 document by a Milanese friar, Galvaneus Flamma, Medieval Latin literature expert Professor Paolo Chiesa has made an “astonishing” discovery of an “exceptional” passage referring to an area we know today as North America.
According to Chiesa, the ancient essay – first discovered in 2013 – suggests that sailors from Genoa were already aware of this land, recognizable as ‘Markland’/ ‘Marckalada’ – mentioned by some Icelandic sources and identified by scholars as part of the Atlantic coast of North America (usually assumed to be Labrador or Newfoundland).
Supposed portrait of Christopher Columbus, by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Terrae Incognitae, the discovery comes ahead of Columbus Day 2021, alternatively celebrated as Indigenous Peoples’ Day across many states in the US.
The findings add more fuel to the fire for the continuing question of ‘what, exactly, did Columbus expect to find when he set out across the ocean?’ and come following a period in which his statues have been beheaded, covered with red paint, lassoed around the head and pulled down, set on fire and thrown into a lake.
“We are in the presence of the first reference to the American continent, albeit in an embryonic form, in the Mediterranean area,” states Professor Chiesa, from the Department of Literary Studies, Philology and Linguistics at the University of Milan.
Galvaneus was a Dominican friar who lived in Milan and was connected to a family which held at the lordship of the city.
“We are in the presence of the first reference to the American continent, albeit in an embryonic form, in the Mediterranean area,” states Professor Chiesa, from the Department of Literary Studies, Philology and Linguistics at the University of Milan.
Galvaneus was a Dominican friar who lived in Milan and was connected to a family which held at the lordship of the city.
This 1558 map by Sebastian Münster shows what most of the world knew of the Americas by then.
This map was made just some 50 years after Columbus’ last voyage in 1502-1504, and some 200 years after Galvaneus Flamma’s accounts.
(Geographicus/Wikimedia Commons)
He wrote several literary works in Latin, mainly on historical subjects.
His testimony is valuable for information on Milanese contemporary facts, about which he has first-hand knowledge.
Cronica universalis, which is analyzed here by Chiesa, is thought to be one of his later works – perhaps the last one – and was left unfinished and unperfected.It aims to detail the history of the whole world, from ‘Creation’ to when it was published.
In translating and analyzing the document, Professor Chiesa demonstrates how Genoa would have been a “gateway” for news, and how Galvaneus appears to hear, informally, of seafarers’ rumors about lands to the extreme north-west for eventual commercial benefit – as well as information about Greenland, which he details accurately (for knowledge of the time).
“These rumors were too vague to find consistency in cartographic or scholarly representations,” the professor states, as he explains why Marckalada wasn’t classified as a new land at the time.
“These rumors were too vague to find consistency in cartographic or scholarly representations,” the professor states, as he explains why Marckalada wasn’t classified as a new land at the time.
Regardless though, Chiesa states, Cronica universalis “brings unprecedented evidence to the speculation that news about the American continent, derived from Nordic sources, circulated in Italy one and half centuries before Columbus.”
He adds: “What makes the passage (about Marckalada) exceptional is its geographical provenance: not the Nordic area, as in the case of the other mentions, but northern Italy.
“The Marckalada described by Galvaneus is ‘rich in trees’, not unlike the wooded Markland of the Grœnlendinga Saga, and animals live there.
“These details could be standard, as distinctive of any good land; but they are not trivial, because the common feature of northern regions is to be bleak and barren, as actually Greenland is in Galvaneus’s account, or as Iceland is described by Adam of Bremen.”
He adds: “What makes the passage (about Marckalada) exceptional is its geographical provenance: not the Nordic area, as in the case of the other mentions, but northern Italy.
“The Marckalada described by Galvaneus is ‘rich in trees’, not unlike the wooded Markland of the Grœnlendinga Saga, and animals live there.
“These details could be standard, as distinctive of any good land; but they are not trivial, because the common feature of northern regions is to be bleak and barren, as actually Greenland is in Galvaneus’s account, or as Iceland is described by Adam of Bremen.”
Overall, Professor Chiesa says, we should “trust” Cronica universalis as throughout the document Galvaneus declares where he has heard of oral stories, and backs his claims with elements drawn from accounts (legendary or real) belonging to previous traditions on different lands, blended together and reassigned to a specific place.
Planisphere made by Rumold Mercator, 1587.“I do not see any reason to disbelieve him,” states Professor Chiesa, who adds, “it has long been noticed that the fourteenth-century portolan (nautical) charts drawn in Genoa and in Catalonia offer a more advanced geographical representation of the north, which could be achieved through direct contacts with those regions.
“These notions about the north-west are likely to have come to Genoa through the shipping routes to the British Isles and to the continental coasts of the North Sea.
“We have no evidence that Italian or Catalan seafarers ever reached Iceland or Greenland at that time, but they were certainly able to acquire from northern European merchant goods of that origin to be transported to the Mediterranean area.
“The marinarii mentioned by Galvaneus can fit into this dynamic: the Genoese might have brought back to their city scattered news about these lands, some real and some fanciful, that they heard in the northern harbors from Scottish, British, Danish, Norwegian sailors with whom they were trading.”
Cronica universalis, written in Latin, is still unpublished; however, an edition is planned, in the context of a scholarly and educational program promoted by the University of Milan.
Links :
- Phys : Italian sailors knew of America 150 years before Christopher Columbus, new analysis of ancient documents suggests
- The Economist : A monk in 14th-century Italy wrote about the Americas
- QS Studt :Word of Viking Settlements in North America Reached Italy 150 Years before Columbus
- Medievalists : Italians knew about North America in the 14th century, historian finds
- Modern Science : A Friar Wrote About North America 150 Years Before Columbus Got Ther
- Reference: “Marckalada: The First Mention of America in the Mediterranean Area (c. 1340)” by Paolo Chiesa, 16 July 2021, Terrae Incognitae. DOI: 10.1080/00822884.2021.1943792
- DailyMail : Italian sailors knew about North America 150 years BEFORE Christopher Columbus discovered the continent, researchers claim
- GeoGarage blog : How a faulty map led to the discovery of America / Martin Behaim's Erdapfel, 1492 / A map that may have led Columbus to America is finally being ... / Map Lab uncovering hidden text on a 500-year-old map that ... / Did Marco Polo "discover" America?
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Everything you ever wanted to know about SAR satellite data and the ecosystem but were afraid to ask
On March 9th, 2020, ICEYE is publishing the first in-orbit demonstration of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) videos, acquired with ICEYE SAR satellites. In these scenes, you can detect and analyse movement in a new way, giving insights into what is happening on the ground during a single SAR satellite pass over the location.
From GeoAwesomeness by Nianhua Liu
The adoption of Earth Observation satellite technologies is accelerating.
More and more companies and institutions are using satellite imagery to better understand the world and more closely observe relevant changes.
However, those actors are also coming to the realization that optical satellite systems have their limitations.
The biggest barriers to the use of satellite imagery are cloud cover and limited usability of the data at night—of course, earthquakes or floods can happen at any time, regardless of the weather or time of the day.
Fortunately, optical images are not the only way to visualize the earth’s surface from a satellite. Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, is a completely different way of generating a picture, actively ‘illuminating’ the ground rather than utilizing the light from the sun (as with optical images).
SAR satellites beam radar waves to the surface of the earth and map the reflected signal.
The system can penetrate clouds, see beneath tree canopies, and work in all weather conditions.
The technology is attracting more interest—and with it, more finance.
Finnish startup ICEYE has raised a total of $304 million so far and received Series D funding of $136 million in February 2022.
Capella Space, a company in the United States, has raised a total of $80 million; and Spacety in China has also completed Series C financing recently.
The New Space movement is also accelerating the access and availability of SAR data and analytics that can be built on the top with companies like UP42 among others pushing the industry forward.
Comparison between Optical and SAR (credited to Ursa Space) 
SAR raw data from ERS-1 satellite (credited to ESA)
If users hope to obtain detailed information from SAR data, they need professional processing tools and knowledge.
One of the limitations of working with SAR data is the tedious preprocessing, which can include: applying the orbit file, radiometric calibration, de-bursting, ‘multilooking’, speckle filtering, and terrain correction.
After a long series of mathematical calculations and processing, a final image will float up to the surface.
Since the data is so hard to process and interpret, lots of SAR companies don’t even provide the raw data to clients.
Some of them, like ICEYE, only provide useful information from the interpreted results—flooding information, for example, as an Excel Sheet or Shapefile.
SAR market and demand
In recent years, SAR images have played an increasingly important role in international emergency events, such as the drone attacks against Saudi oil installations in 2019 and the Ever Given ship blocking the Suez Canal in 2021.
SAR market and demand
In recent years, SAR images have played an increasingly important role in international emergency events, such as the drone attacks against Saudi oil installations in 2019 and the Ever Given ship blocking the Suez Canal in 2021.
Events like these have a massive effect on the global financial market, and it is intolerable for customers if the satellite images are not instantly available due to weather.
In these cases, more and more satellite solution providers are using SAR data in addition to traditional satellite images, to provide a better service.
According to the market report from Mordor Intelligence, the Global SAR Market was valued at $3,3 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach $6,5 billion by 2026—representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% during the period of 2021–2026.
The 11th Edition of NSR’s Satellite-Based Earth Observation reports that the sale of SAR data and derived products is going to see significant growth in annual global revenues, from $700M in 2018 to over $1.7B by 2028.
Imagery sales and information products are predicted to dominate, responsible for 63% of SAR revenues in this timeframe.
Very-high-resolution imagery (<0.5m) has become the fastest developing market, while high-resolution (0.5-1m) occupies the biggest part of the current market.
However, not all the SAR satellites are able to follow this wave of growth.
According to NSR’s report, medium resolution (1-5m) market share began to decrease after 2017.
Low resolution, meanwhile, presents limited commercial value.
It seems that the providers of low-resolution SAR data will need to adapt as high-resolution commercial data brings much more value to clients.
Market demand
The largest demand for SAR satellite images comes from the Military and Defense Sector.
It’s estimated that the government and military currently constitutes 70% of the market in SAR.
It’s no wonder, as there are myriad military applications for SAR, such as detecting surface features like building complexes, missile sites, and topographical features of the surrounding terrain.
The biggest individual buyer of SAR satellite image also comes from the Military and Defense Sector: the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
Until 2019, the NGA had a $10 million contract with MDA for SAR satellite images.
The agency renewed that contract in 2019 and now pays four image providers a total of $85 million dollars per year.
Besides the Military and Defense Sector, the Financial and Insurance Sectors are also rapidly growing markets, with a CAGR of 14%.
It seems that enterprises in this business area are slowly starting to realize the value of SAR data (e.g., flood monitoring in insurance), but such a market requires many years to reach maturity and shift from traditional methods of doing business.
Traditionally, SAR satellite constellations are based on government programs building large, heavy, and costly satellite units and sensors, offering fairly low revisit rates and requiring significant investment—such as the Sentinel-1 mission.
But just like the optical imagery sector, startups such as ICEYE and Capella have challenged the traditional model of building microsatellite constellations.
These startups believe that the lack of available SAR satellite imagery is the only reason why SAR applications are not more widely used.
As more and more SAR satellite images become available, new applications will be explored—and will prove to deliver high-quality data at a fraction of the price.
The history and development of SAR
SAR is not a new technology; it started in the US nearly 70 years ago. However, the application of SAR has only become popular over the past decade.
So, why has the development taken such a long time?
And what are the critical acceleration factors?
1951–2000: Limited technology in Defense sector
Radar has a history stretching back nearly 100 years.
The traditional application of radar is to display the position and motion of highly reflective objects (such as aircraft or ships) by sending out a radio wave signal and then detecting the direction and delay of the reflected signal.
Imaging radar, meanwhile, attempts to form an image of such an object.
Imaging radar, meanwhile, attempts to form an image of such an object.
The origin of the technology dates back to 1951, when Carl Wiley from Goodyear Aircraft Company had a new idea based on the Doppler effect.
He realized that if radar pulses were coherent and consistent, users could process the pulses and create two-dimensional imagery with improved resolution.
The more observations, the better spatial resolution of the object. These assumptions were the beginning of SAR technology.
In 1960, the first SAR experiment was successfully completed in Washington, and in 1978, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched the first SAR satellite (SEASAT-1).
In 1960, the first SAR experiment was successfully completed in Washington, and in 1978, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched the first SAR satellite (SEASAT-1).
Until 1990, the research of SAR technology was concentrated in the US.
However, from 1990 to 2000, SAR technology started to come out from the laboratory, and Europe, Canada, Russia, Japan, and many other countries started to build SAR satellites.
However, from 1990 to 2000, SAR technology started to come out from the laboratory, and Europe, Canada, Russia, Japan, and many other countries started to build SAR satellites.
They were quickly followed by China, South Korea and India, and other countries with developing space industries. However, the high-resolution SAR technology was still limited to the Military and Defense sectors due to its high cost.
1995–2013: Rapid development of technology and the beginning of commercial applications
For years, SAR technology has been limited to military and research domains, but the first country to commercialize SAR satellite imagery was Canada.
In 1995, RADARSAT-1 was launched, using a C-band sensor at a single microwave frequency of 5.3 GHz.
RADARSAT-1 was Canada’s very first commercial Earth observation satellite.
Although the resolution of RADARSAT-1 was far from adequate for most industrial applications, the project marked the beginning of the commercial SAR era.
The first sub-meter radar imagery for commercial applications was launched in 2007.
The first sub-meter radar imagery for commercial applications was launched in 2007.
Both TerraSAR-X, launched by Germany, and COSMO-SkyMed, used X-band wavelengths.
However, at this point, SAR satellites were still large units.
The overall number of satellites was insufficient and the data was very expensive.
The price of an image could be three times that of optical satellite images at the same resolution.
2014–: Sentinel-1 providing free images
While the commercialization of SAR satellites developed slowly, a breakthrough occurred in 2014, when the European Space Agency launched the first of its Sentinel-1 satellites, as the first part of the Copernicus satellite constellation.
This first mission was composed of a constellation of two C-band satellites, Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B (the latter launched in 2016).
The ESA and European Commission’s policies make it easy to acquire Sentinel-1’s data and use it for public, scientific, or commercial purposes, for free.
At the same time, the ESA Technology Transfer and Business Incubation Office initiated its ESA Business Incubation Centres (ESA BICs) to turn space-connected business ideas into startups.
Over 700 startups have been fostered throughout Europe to date—and more than 180 new startups are taken in by the ESA BICs every year.
In addition, various startup competitions and accelerators—such as Copernicus Master and Copernicus Accelerator—also push forward the application of SAR satellite images.
With the policy of free data and support, many SAR startups grew rapidly in this period, especially those using InSAR technology.
After five years of development, almost all InSAR companies were using Sentinel-1 images.
Sentinel-1’s freely available 10m imagery, with its 6–12-day revisit, proved quite satisfactory for the existing ecosystem of SAR data users.
However, while this helped to grow the downstream application by lowering the barrier to entry, it limited the data sale opportunities and therefore piled tremendous pressure on upstream SAR satellite manufacturers.
Medium resolution (1m-5m) satellites are now gradually declining, and low-resolution SAR satellites have already lost their market.
The new era of SAR satellites
Around 2015, the new era of the space sector started to emerge with the development of microsatellite constellations.
This was triggered by the reduction in launch costs, significantly lowering the entry barrier for startups.
As the launch cost dropped—from several dozen million dollars to about $100k—the satellite startups could refocus the approach to building satellites.
Traditionally, the building costs of large satellites could easily reach hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure component stability.
The shift, enabled by Planet’s development of small, compact ‘CubeSats’, welcomed in a new paradigm.
Companies began getting space platforms ready for launch faster than ever by using commercial off-the-shelf components.
Supported by favorable policies and space agencies, the development of the sector accelerated.
In 2014, ICEYE was founded in Aalto University, Finland, and in 2018, the 70kg ICEYE-X1 was launched as the first satellite under 100 kg to carry a SAR sensor—as well as the first Finnish commercial satellite.
After eight years of development, the company became the best small satellite startup in Europe.
ICEYE has already launched 16 satellites into orbit, and they plan to launch a further 10 in 2022.
In the US, the SAR startup Capella Space was founded in 2016.
In 2018, the company launched their first commercial SAR satellite, Denali, as a test mission, and in 2020, launched the Sequoia satellite.
Capella Space has so far put 5 satellites into orbit, and the eventual plan is a 36-satellite constellation with hourly global revisits.
Applications
SAR has been used in a wide range of applications, from studying Antarctic icebergs and detecting changes in habitat, to mapping the effects of natural or human disturbance.
The applications are still being explored as the private sector and startups enter the market. ICEYE, for example, is today focusing nearly exclusively on flood monitoring, and attempting to disrupt the global insurance business.
Capella Space, meanwhile, concentrates on change detection monitoring, maritime, and disaster response applications.
The ICEYE synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation is already today providing data to organizations around the world.
The imaging and vessel detection data that is provided by this technology is a vital next leap in how nations can secure their maritime areas.
Here are some use cases of the SAR applications:
1. Emergencies:
On August 5th, 2020, a large explosion occurred in the Port of Beirut, equivalent to 100 tons of TNT.
Buildings and warehouses nearby were destroyed.
The initial destruction, resumption of activity, and reconstruction of the port are all monitored by SAR-based change detection.
SAR satellites can also detect flood and wildfire emergencies.
When Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas in 2019, SAR imagery played an important role in revealing the extent of flooding.
2. Maritime and coastal zone monitoring:
On July 25th, 2020, a ship ran aground south of Mauritius, and spilled at least 1,000 tons of oil into the Indian Ocean.
The progress of the leak as well as the rescue operations of firefighting vessels were all recorded by the Sentinel-1 satellite.
Nowadays, detection of oil spills, shallow water bathymetric mapping, ship detection in coastal regions, forecasting sea state for offshore operations and marine engineering, and marine gravity anomaly mapping for offshore hydrocarbon exploration are some examples of Maritime and Coastal zone
Monitoring.
3. Land monitoring:
A ground deformation analysis was conducted for approximately three years (July 2018 to June 2021) in Guatemala City and its suburbs by SAR startupSynspective.
In the past, the amount of ground deformation was seldom measured, and only when a landslide or other ground disaster occurred would the counterpart agency staff go to the site in response.
Thanks to SAR technology, localized subsidence phenomena and areas that show sinkage and landslide risks can be identified by characteristic fluctuation analysis.
4. Agriculture and vegetation:
In Peru, canopy formation, density, and the growth rate of asparagus crops have been monitored by Sentinel-1 satellite since 2019.
Differences in surface ‘roughness’ are indicative of field boundaries and sizes, as well as helping to detect planting and harvest events.
The assessment of crop damage caused by a natural disaster can also be detected.
Key players
There are two groups of key players in the SAR satellite industry: Governments and startups. However, they are playing different games.
Government groups tend to focus on large satellites.
Limited by the cost and competitive advantage, none of the startups dare to enter the game of large SAR satellites, and almost all large satellites are manufactured by government or state agencies.
As a result, the competition between large SAR satellites is actually a competition between countries.
The United States, the traditional top player in the aerospace industry, had a big advantage in SAR technology—until European players joined the game.
To ensure their advantage in the military, the US for a long time declined to share SAR technology with potential rivals.
The commercial SAR satellite waves therefore mainly came from Canada and European countries (particularly Germany and Italy). In the last ten years, Japan, Argentina, China, and India have also joined the competition.
Since Sentinel-1B stopped working at the end of 2021, faith in large satellites has also been lost to an extent. Pressure is also coming from the small satellite startups—ICEYE from Finland and Capella Space from the US are becoming the main players in this game.
Japan and China also have some startups which have successfully launched small SAR satellites into orbit.
SAR Dataset Singapore Strait 12/2021
source : Iceye
Future trends
Compared to the wide range of uses for optical data, there are still only a few applications of SAR data in the commercial space.
Thus, there is still a lot of work to be done to encourage adoption.
However, the growth in the number of small SAR satellites is likely to at least be maintained in the next five to ten years, and more startups will be keen to get involved.
For the industry, emergency response offers big opportunities for new startups.
Climate change is causing extreme weather events to occur with an increasingly alarming frequency. This trend will only increase over the next 50 years.
The safety of infrastructure, including buildings and transportation facilities, will have to be carefully monitored by multiple stakeholders.
At the same time, the international political atmosphere hasn’t been this tense for a long time.
It is pushing governments to gather better data and information for decision-making purposes regardless of weather conditions or time of the day. SAR satellite is the only tool that has this ability, so more funding will inevitably be pumped into the SAR industry, accelerating the R&D process.
However, the opportunities for new entrants in the space are decreasing.
In-orbit verification, financial support, and customer recognition are the three big challenges for startups.
New startups will be obsolete quickly if they cannot verify in-orbit within three years.
The high risk involved in the commercial satellite industry has resulted in an extreme Matthew Effect (accumulated advantage) from venture capital.
More financial support is most likely to be provided for those startups completing in-orbit verification and building constellations progressively—while the ones that fail to verify in time will just be kicked out of the market.
One of the key barriers in working with SAR data is access to high-resolution commercial datasets as well as for analytics.
Recently for the first time, Capella Space data has been made publically available on satellite data marketplace UP42.
With easier access, the data analysis methods and algorithms will follow.
Today working with SAR data requires significant remote sensing experience and using complex tools.
Democratisation of SAR data access will also accelerate the ease of use and will make analytical models more available to the general public.
The key characteristics of the future development of the entire industry are as follows:
- Smaller and lighter: The R&D and investment costs of large and medium-sized satellites are prohibitive for a startup. Therefore, the only opportunities left for startups are small satellites (under 200kg).
- Constellations: Every startup has a plan to build a large satellite constellation. But the one who makes it will be the final winner. Talk is cheap; show me the satellite!
- Easier analysis, simpler processing: Analysis of SAR data requires a lot of time, expertise, and computational tools. Industrial image organizing and processing software was originally developed for the human eye—for optical not radar—leaving SAR lagging behind and more expensive. Making analysis easier and simplifying the processing chain will attract more students and players to the SAR industry.
- From upstream to downstream: Increasingly, satellite manufacturers hope to do more in downstream applications—and vice versa.
Conclusions
“A picture is worth a thousand words”, and it is certainly the case for satellite data.
However, sometimes these pictures are worth nothing at all if covered by clouds or captured at night.
These limitations pushed scientists to create a need for new types of sensor technologies like Synthetic Aperture Radar.
The SAR industry is still in the early stage of development but with increasing demand to better understand our environment and changing planet, space is wide open for more New Space companies to emerge and disrupt the sector with new applications of SAR data.
Links :
- BAIR : Accelerating Ukraine Intelligence Analysis with Computer Vision on Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery
- Reuters : Canada's MDA providing Ukraine with satellite imagery to fight Russia
- GeoGarage blog : maritime activity from Sentinel-1 SAR instrument / This radar image highlights the growth of the small satellite ... / Iceye releases dark vessel detection product / Visualizing shipping lanes from Sentinel-1 / Iceye releases dark vessel detection product
Monday, March 21, 2022
It’s 70 degrees warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
Simulation of temperature differences from normal centered over Antarctica
from the American (GFS) model.
(WeatherBell)
‘This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,’ one expert said
![]()
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal.
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal.
The warmth has smashed records and shocked scientists.
“This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system,” said Jonathan Wille, a researcher studying polar meteorology at Université Grenoble Alpes in France, in an email.
“Antarctic climatology has been rewritten,” tweeted Stefano Di Battista, a researcher who has published studies on Antarctic temperatures. He added that such temperature anomalies would have been considered “impossible” and “unthinkable” before they actually occurred.
courtesy of Ventusky (18/03/2022)
Parts of eastern Antarctica have seen temperatures hover 70 degrees (40 Celsius) above normal for three days and counting, Wille said.
Helikened the event to the June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, which scientists concluded would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
What is considered “warm” over the frozen, barren confines of eastern Antarctica is, of course, relative. Instead of temperatures being minus-50 or minus-60 degrees (minus-45 or minus-51 Celsius), they’ve been closer to zero or 10 degrees (minus-18 Celsius or minus-12 Celsius) — but that’s a massive heat wave by Antarctic standards.
The average high temperature in Vostok — at the center of the eastern ice sheet — is around minus-63 (minus-53 Celsius) in March. But on Friday, the temperature leaped to zero (minus-17.7 Celsius), the warmest it’s been there during March since record keeping began 65 years ago. It broke the previous monthly record by a staggering 27 degrees (15 Celsius).
“In about 65 record years in Vostok, between March and October, values above -30°C were never observed,” wrote Di Battista in an email.
Vostok, a Russian meteorological observatory, is about 808 miles from the South Pole and sits 11,444 feet above sea level. It’s famous for holding the lowest temperature ever observed on Earth: minus-128.6 degrees (minus-89.2 Celsius), set on July 21, 1983.
Temperatures running at least 50 degrees (32 Celsius) above normal have expanded over vast portions of eastern Antarctica from the Adélie Coast through much of the eastern ice sheet’s interior.
What is considered “warm” over the frozen, barren confines of eastern Antarctica is, of course, relative. Instead of temperatures being minus-50 or minus-60 degrees (minus-45 or minus-51 Celsius), they’ve been closer to zero or 10 degrees (minus-18 Celsius or minus-12 Celsius) — but that’s a massive heat wave by Antarctic standards.
The average high temperature in Vostok — at the center of the eastern ice sheet — is around minus-63 (minus-53 Celsius) in March. But on Friday, the temperature leaped to zero (minus-17.7 Celsius), the warmest it’s been there during March since record keeping began 65 years ago. It broke the previous monthly record by a staggering 27 degrees (15 Celsius).
“In about 65 record years in Vostok, between March and October, values above -30°C were never observed,” wrote Di Battista in an email.
Vostok, a Russian meteorological observatory, is about 808 miles from the South Pole and sits 11,444 feet above sea level. It’s famous for holding the lowest temperature ever observed on Earth: minus-128.6 degrees (minus-89.2 Celsius), set on July 21, 1983.
Temperatures running at least 50 degrees (32 Celsius) above normal have expanded over vast portions of eastern Antarctica from the Adélie Coast through much of the eastern ice sheet’s interior.
Some computer model simulations and observations suggest temperatures may have even climbed up to 90 degrees (50 Celsius) above normal in a few areas.
Extraordinary anomalies in #Antarctica lead to historic records today:
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) March 18, 2022
-Vostok 3489m -17.7C,monthly record beaten by nearly 15C !
-Concordia 3234m -12.2C,highest Temp. on records and about 40C above average !
-Dome C II 3250m -10.1C
-D-47 1560m -3.3C
-Terra Nova Base 74S +7.0C pic.twitter.com/w6Ry4Dy4wz
Eastern Antarctica’s Concordia research station, operated by France and Italy and about 350 miles from Vostok, climbed to 10 degrees (minus-12.2 Celsius), its highest temperature on record for any month of the year. Average high temperatures in March are around minus-56 (minus-48.7 Celsius).
At a nearby weather station, the temperature reached 13.6 degrees (minus-10.2 Celsius) about 67 degrees (37 Celsius) above average, according to University of Wisconsin Antarctic researchers Linda Keller and Matt Lazzara.
Keller and Lazzara said in an email that such a high temperature is particularly noteworthy since March marks the beginning of autumn in Antarctica, rather than January, when there is more sunlight. At this time of year, Antarctica is losing about 25 minutes of sunlight each day.
Wille said the warm conditions over Antarctica were spurred by an extreme atmospheric river, or a narrow corridor of water vapor in the sky, on its east coast. According to computer models, the atmospheric river made landfall on Tuesday between the Dumont d’Urville and Casey Stations and dropped an intense amount of rainfall, potentially causing a significant melt event in the area.
And just to leave this satellite image from today of the atmospheric river spreading clouds over East Antarctica pic.twitter.com/OdAy1Li6sS
— Dr. Jonathan Wille (@JonathanWille) March 17, 2022
The moisture from the storm diffused and spread over the interior of the continent.
However, a strong blocking high pressure system or “heat dome,” moved in over east Antarctica, preventing the moisture from escaping.
The heat dome was exceptionally intense, five standard deviations above normal.
The excessive moisture from the atmospheric river was able to retain large amounts of heat, while the liquid-rich clouds radiated the heat down to the surface — known as downward long-wave radiation.
Wille explained warm air is often transported over the Antarctic interior this way but not to this extent or intensity.
The excessive moisture from the atmospheric river was able to retain large amounts of heat, while the liquid-rich clouds radiated the heat down to the surface — known as downward long-wave radiation.
Wille explained warm air is often transported over the Antarctic interior this way but not to this extent or intensity.
“[T]his is not something we’ve seen before,” he said.
“This moisture is the reason why the temperatures have gotten just so high.”
Models show the atmospheric river will exit the continent around Saturday, but the moisture will take longer to dissipate.
Models show the atmospheric river will exit the continent around Saturday, but the moisture will take longer to dissipate.
Abnormally high temperatures in the region could last through the weekend.
Heat wave in Antarctica, +38 °C (+68 °F) above normal.
That's not an error, or a typo.
The remote research station at Dome C recorded a temperature nearly 40 °C above normal for this time of year, beating the previous March record by a startling 20 °C.
see WMO
The abnormally high temperatures have caused some melting in the region according to models, which is unusual as this part of Antarctica doesn’t experience much melt often.
This one melt event won’t affect the stability of the glaciers in that area though.
“This event happened in a location that doesn’t often have melt. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that from now on we’re worried that melting will happen,” Wille said.
“It’s more of like, ‘Oh, that is weird, that could happen more in the future and then this could be bad.’”
Wille said it’s difficult to attribute this one event to climate change at the moment, but he does think rising temperatures helped prime conditions for such an event.
Wille said it’s difficult to attribute this one event to climate change at the moment, but he does think rising temperatures helped prime conditions for such an event.
Climate change is “loading the dice” for more situations like this, he said.
Wille and his colleagues are studying how climate change will affect the circulation patterns around Antarctica and whether atmospheric rivers will become more common or more intense.
“We do believe they will become more intense because it just simple physics … but the details, we’re still trying to figure that out. It would be very difficult to say that there’s not a climate change fingerprint on an event like this,” he said.
Keller and Lazzara suggested more study is needed on the climate change connection.
“[W]e can’t tell whether this is going to be a new trend or is just an oddity that occurs occasionally on a most fascinating continent,” they wrote.
Temperatures are known to vary wildly over Antarctica, and massive swings are common.
Wille and his colleagues are studying how climate change will affect the circulation patterns around Antarctica and whether atmospheric rivers will become more common or more intense.
“We do believe they will become more intense because it just simple physics … but the details, we’re still trying to figure that out. It would be very difficult to say that there’s not a climate change fingerprint on an event like this,” he said.
Keller and Lazzara suggested more study is needed on the climate change connection.
“[W]e can’t tell whether this is going to be a new trend or is just an oddity that occurs occasionally on a most fascinating continent,” they wrote.
Temperatures are known to vary wildly over Antarctica, and massive swings are common.
Contrasting with this warm spell over eastern Antarctica, the South Pole observed just observed its coldest April to September period on record last year, with an average temperature of minus-78 degrees (minus-61 Celsius).
But shortly after that historic bout of cold, the sea ice extent surrounding the continent shrunk to its smallest extent just last month.
Amid all of the variability in Antarctica, fingerprints of human-caused climate change are still evident. Its western ice sheet is losing mass while western parts of the continent and the peninsula are among the fastest-warming regions on Earth.
Warm ocean temperatures threaten to destabilize Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, a slab the size of Florida that contributes about 4 percent of annual global sea level rise.
But shortly after that historic bout of cold, the sea ice extent surrounding the continent shrunk to its smallest extent just last month.
Amid all of the variability in Antarctica, fingerprints of human-caused climate change are still evident. Its western ice sheet is losing mass while western parts of the continent and the peninsula are among the fastest-warming regions on Earth.
Warm ocean temperatures threaten to destabilize Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, a slab the size of Florida that contributes about 4 percent of annual global sea level rise.
Temperature differences from normal over the Arctic and Antarctic in recent days. (ClimateReanalyzer.org)
The historically high temperatures in Antarctica follow a pulse of exceptional warmth on the planet’s opposite end.
On Wednesday, temperatures near the North Pole catapulted 50 degrees above normal, close to the melting point.
Links :
Links :
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Antoine Albeau: the life and career of a windsurfing legend
ZephirProject : the limits of windfoil pushed by Antoine Albeau
From SurferToday
He is arguably one of the most successful competitive windsurfers on the planet.
Meet Antoine Albeau, the man who breathes trophies and records.
There is small yet prestigious room for sportspeople with over 20 world titles, and the most successful French sportsman in history has a seat in that reserved space.
He hates missing and losing races but is a huge fan of obstacles and beach starts in slalom windsurfing.
Antoine Albeau was born June 17, 1972, in La Rochelle, France.
Antoine Albeau was born June 17, 1972, in La Rochelle, France.
His father opened École de Voile de La Couarde, a surfing and sailing school on the south coast of La Couarde-Sur-Mer in Île de Ré, where he learned to windsurf at the age of five.
Located off the west coast of France, Île de Ré is an island known for its stunning dunes, gorgeous beaches, imposing pine trees, exotic salt marshes, and checkered-like square waves.
By the time Antoine hit 11, he was already competing, and when he turned 19, guided by his father, he became a professional windsurfer.
Around 18 years old, Albeau actually sailed 315 times in a single year.
By the time Antoine hit 11, he was already competing, and when he turned 19, guided by his father, he became a professional windsurfer.
Around 18 years old, Albeau actually sailed 315 times in a single year.
"My dad told me: 'OK. Now, you have to sail the maximum you can.' And so I was noting down every session of over half an hour," revealed Albeau.
"At the time, it was super hard because Windguru didn't exist, and no one was calling the weather forecast. So, you were going to the beach, and then you waited. It was way more difficult."
"At the time, it was super hard because Windguru didn't exist, and no one was calling the weather forecast. So, you were going to the beach, and then you waited. It was way more difficult."
King of PWA World Tour
In 1994, Albeau made his debut in the PWA World Tour, even though he didn't do all the events until 1994.
For the first time, Antoine met the sport's stars, and he was in awe - Anders Bringdal, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Robby Naish, and others were sailing side-by-side with the rookie.
"I didn't start early enough, and I didn't get the experience and maturity needed, but I had very good boards, and my dad was getting the best fins," recalls Albeau.
In 2001, the French won his first world title - curiously, a PWA Freestyle World Tour title.
"I was really good in freestyle because I was good standing on the board, less heavy than now, and I knew how to play with the sail."
"I was also doing all the maneuvers on both tacks and getting a lot of points. I remember an amazing final with Matt Pritchard in Pozo."
The path to success was no less than glorious.
Albeau went on to conquer 25 world windsurfing titles across nearly all disciplines: slalom, super x, freestyle, speed, and foil.
In his home country, the French won ten national titles.
Albeau has always been a fierce competitor and, at the beginning of his sailing career, he believed he crossed the line.
"I remember that when I was winning, I was mean. A guy once told me one day I was aggressive to people," reveals Albeau.
"And I said to myself: 'It is true.' So, I think I changed the way I sailed and was more respectful to the other riders."
Adventures and Stunts
On October 20, 2008, Albeau and multiple-time British windsurfing champion Guy Cribb crossed the English Channel.
On October 20, 2008, Albeau and multiple-time British windsurfing champion Guy Cribb crossed the English Channel.
The sailboarding duo spent nearly six hours battling raging winds and stormy seas before completing the 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) from Cherbourg (France) to Poole (England).Albeau and Cribb had to face 13-foot (four meters) waves and swells and dodged large chunks of wooden planks floating in the water.
Despite the cramps and exhaustion, the windsurfers were able to sail at speeds of up to 30 knots and raise funds for a children's charity.
In 2010, Antoine Albeau was nominated for Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year.
On January 7, 2014, Belharra saw the world's best big wave surfers riding giant walls of salted water.
One windsurfer left his comfort zone and his sail to do the same on a surfboard because he never misses an opportunity to explore uncharted territories.
In 2010, Antoine Albeau was nominated for Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year.
On January 7, 2014, Belharra saw the world's best big wave surfers riding giant walls of salted water.
One windsurfer left his comfort zone and his sail to do the same on a surfboard because he never misses an opportunity to explore uncharted territories.
This time, he had to play the big wave game in home waters.
But Antoine was not new in Belharra.
He had been testing the French reef break, and he was more than prepared to ride it alongside the world's best big wave surfers.
Let's not forget that Albeau is a sports addict who excels in nearly all board sports, including stand-up paddleboarding, kiteboarding, and wakeboarding.
Speed Sailing Records
Albeau was the first windsurfer to exceed 100 kilometers per hour after sailing at 100.26 km/h (54.14 knots) in November 2012 at Luderitz, Namibia.
Antoine Albeau is the fastest windsurfer in the world.
On November 1, 2015, Antoine Albeau broke the windsurfing speed world record after sailing at 53.27 knots (98.65 km/h) in Namibia.
In only 48 hours, the champion windsurfer made 54 runs at the Luderitz Speed Challenge before setting a new mark later confirmed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC).
"I was like a machine. I remember Sophie from the organization asking me: 'Aren't you tired?' I end up going 15 times above 52 knots and nine above 53," recalls Albeau.
"I knew which fin, board, and sail I had to use. You could play a little bit with the stabilizing system, and I was confident with my gear."
In July 2020, Albeau broke windsurfing's nautical mile speed world record at Plage du Rouet in La Palme, France.
The French rode his windsurf board at 43.04 knots during the 2020 Prince of Speed, the speed sailing event organized by Principe Andrea Baldini.
At 48, he also broke the windfoil's nautical mile mark at 30.76 knots.
Simultaneously, Albeau announced he was working with Marc Amerigo to break the 500-meter speed sailing world record, currently in the hands of Paul Larsen and his Sailrocket 2 at 65.45 knots.
Is it possible? For sure - the goal is 66 knots.
"We have to understand that Sailrocket 2 is not that really powered by humans. There are cables and ropes. Kiters and windsurfers are different," explains Albeau.
"But we want to develop something that anyone can use at 40 knots - not just me."
Albeau was the first windsurfer to exceed 100 kilometers per hour after sailing at 100.26 km/h (54.14 knots) in November 2012 at Luderitz, Namibia.
Antoine Albeau is the fastest windsurfer in the world.
On November 1, 2015, Antoine Albeau broke the windsurfing speed world record after sailing at 53.27 knots (98.65 km/h) in Namibia.
In only 48 hours, the champion windsurfer made 54 runs at the Luderitz Speed Challenge before setting a new mark later confirmed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC).
"I was like a machine. I remember Sophie from the organization asking me: 'Aren't you tired?' I end up going 15 times above 52 knots and nine above 53," recalls Albeau.
"I knew which fin, board, and sail I had to use. You could play a little bit with the stabilizing system, and I was confident with my gear."
In July 2020, Albeau broke windsurfing's nautical mile speed world record at Plage du Rouet in La Palme, France.
The French rode his windsurf board at 43.04 knots during the 2020 Prince of Speed, the speed sailing event organized by Principe Andrea Baldini.
At 48, he also broke the windfoil's nautical mile mark at 30.76 knots.
Simultaneously, Albeau announced he was working with Marc Amerigo to break the 500-meter speed sailing world record, currently in the hands of Paul Larsen and his Sailrocket 2 at 65.45 knots.
Is it possible? For sure - the goal is 66 knots.
"We have to understand that Sailrocket 2 is not that really powered by humans. There are cables and ropes. Kiters and windsurfers are different," explains Albeau.
"But we want to develop something that anyone can use at 40 knots - not just me."
A French National Treasure
The French sailboarder is a three-time winner of Défi Wind (2005, 2006, and 2007), the long-distance windsurfing marathon that takes place in Gruissan, France.
Antoine Albeau's sail number is FRA-192.
He is the uncle of Julien Bouyer, a former two-time Techno 293 world windsurfing champion.
Antoine Albeau is married to Paola Green.
The French sailboarder is a three-time winner of Défi Wind (2005, 2006, and 2007), the long-distance windsurfing marathon that takes place in Gruissan, France.
Antoine Albeau's sail number is FRA-192.
He is the uncle of Julien Bouyer, a former two-time Techno 293 world windsurfing champion.
Antoine Albeau is married to Paola Green.
The couple has two sons: Alani and Adriel.
The windsurfer was awarded a medal by Académie des Sports in 2014 for his performances in 2013 and named Knight of the National Order of Merit in 2015.
Antoine Albeau's most popular nicknames are "Tonio," "T1000," "Tony Elbow," "A²," and "running elephant."
The windsurfer was awarded a medal by Académie des Sports in 2014 for his performances in 2013 and named Knight of the National Order of Merit in 2015.
Antoine Albeau's most popular nicknames are "Tonio," "T1000," "Tony Elbow," "A²," and "running elephant."
His net worth is approximately $1.5 million.
The man who dislikes wasting time on travel arrangements and anchovies has blue as his favorite color and Maui, New Caledonia, and Tahiti as his favorite windsurfing spots.
Antoine Albeau is on Facebook (@antoinealbeauf192) and Instagram (@antoinealbeau).
The man who dislikes wasting time on travel arrangements and anchovies has blue as his favorite color and Maui, New Caledonia, and Tahiti as his favorite windsurfing spots.
Antoine Albeau is on Facebook (@antoinealbeauf192) and Instagram (@antoinealbeau).
Links :
- GeoGarage blog : 60 knots sailboat and 50 knots windsurf smash the barriers in ...
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