Alex Gray chasing giants

Other video (Teahupoo)

This is a fresh look at Alex Gray and his exploits from the last year.
Putting Alex Gray into words is a difficult thing because words can’t even describe who Alex is.
Alex Gray is one of the most unique people on the planet.
He is a pro surfer, world traveler, comedian, ladies man, nudist, lobster diver, yoga god, paddler, and inspiration to many.
He grew up in the South Bay of Los Angeles and still loves to come home and spend time with his family after long trips around the world.
He is one of the stars of The Drop Zone and has even co hosted the Surfer Poll Awards.
He has a heart of gold, balls of steel and the summer of 2011 was the Summer of Alex Gray scoring some of the biggest, heaviest and best waves on the planet.

Glaciers calving : cause for worry ?

The Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan, scientists say.
Images from a NASA satellite show the island breaking off a tongue of ice that extends at the end of the glacier.

From BBC

The increasingly detailed and immediate pictures that we get of vast movements of ice at the Earth's poles make for a dramatic sight.

 Polar explorer Eric Philips looks down into one of the 'cracks' in the Petermann Glacier last year

But whether that drama is cause for worry is an open question.

Floating "tongues" of ice, like the one that has broken off the Petermann glacier reported on Thursday, extend beyond the glaciers, and are constantly fed by ice pouring off the ice sheet.
Eventually parts of these tongues break off under the forces surrounding them and become free-floating icebergs.

 >>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

Thousands of these "calving events" happen in Greenland each year, ranging from the unremarkable to the striking.

On August 5, 2010, an enormous chunk of ice, roughly 97 square miles in size, broke off the Petermann Glacier, along the northwestern coast of Greenland. The glacier lost about one-quarter of its 40-mile long floating ice shelf, the Northern Hemisphere's largest. It's not unusual for large icebergs to calve off the Petermann Glacier, but this new one is the largest to form in the Arctic since 1962. 

This most recent calving is neither of the two in terms of size; with an area of roughly 120 sq km (46 sq mi), it is about half the size of the iceberg that broke off the same glacier in 2010.
Looming larger in the future is the breakup of the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica - which already shows a 30km-long crack - which could happen any day.
And they get far, far bigger than that.

Northern exposure

It is important to keep in mind that this is a natural and periodic process that has been going on since long before we were here to snap satellite photos.
What is at issue is whether or not the frequency of the events is changing, and why.

In the debate surrounding those questions, there are facts, educated guesses, and worrying trends.
The truth is that the questions are devilishly difficult to answer - the stability of ice sheets at both the Earth's poles depends on a wide range of factors: atmospheric temperatures, the temperatures of the surface of the sea, and the degree of sea ice cover, to name just a few.

The Pine Island glacier will eventually cut loose an 800sq km iceberg

One fact is that the Petermann glacier's margins have now retreated to a point not seen in the last 150 years.

Another is that Greenland has over the last two decades experienced a significantly higher atmospheric warming than the global average.
Yet another is that over that same period, the south of Greenland has seen "mass loss" - both the kind of calving seen at Petermann and simple melting of surface ice - increasing year on year.
And levels of Arctic sea ice cover - which can literally shore up some of Greenland's ice sheet - are on track to be among the lowest ever recorded.

But from there, it becomes educated guesses.

Estimates of the speed of mass loss, for example, have gone back and forth among groups of scientists (and the 2011 edition of the revered Times Atlas got it wrong altogether).

And it remains guesswork to determine whether that worrying mass-loss trend is making its way northward.
"To date, we've not really seen such a strong signal in northern Greenland - and Petermann is right at the northern limit of the ice sheet," said Jonathan Bamber, director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre at the University of Bristol.
"I think it's too early to say that this is the start of increased mass loss from northern Greenland - but it's certainly not good news," Prof Bamber told BBC News.
"Whether it's news that we should be particularly concerned about I think is difficult to answer at this stage."

'Not surprising'

In truth, the buildup and breakup of glaciers can change over timescales ranging from months to millennia, and scientists simply haven't been watching this closely for very long.

As is so often the case in science, what is needed are more observations.
"If we start seeing patterns of the calving front retreating over a range of quite a few glaciers in northern Greenland in the same sector, then we would be quite concerned - and that would be a strong indicator that there's a change taking place, related to either atmospheric warming or ocean warming," Prof Bamber said.

For now, glaciologists - working with Earth and climate scientists of every stripe - are loath to make an explicit connection between iceberg formation and the broader debate around climate change, and this is where worrying trends come in again.
"I can't say that yes, this calving event is a consequence of the marked atmospheric warming that's been taking place over Greenland in the recent decades, but it is certainly more likely to take place as a consequence of that warming," Prof Bamber said.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise that in a warming world, ice is going to melt - so it's not surprising that Greenland is responding."

Links :

• TheGuardian : Greenland glacier calves iceberg twice the size of Manhattan
• ESA : Earth from Space: Pine Island cracked
• UDEL : Greenland glacier loses ice
• Icy Seas :  New Petermann Ice Island forming July-16, 2012

Rip currents: the ocean's deadliest trick

From LiveScience

Year after year, the ocean's most successful killer is not the great white shark.
It's not the deadly jellyfish.
Not even monster waves or hurricane-force winds.
Your worst ocean nightmare during a day at the beach is more likely to be a rip current, experts say.

Every year more than 100 beachgoers drown in these strong rushes of water that pull swimmers away from the shore.
And that's just in the United States.
Nearly half of all rescues made by lifeguards at ocean beaches are related to rip currents, according to the United States Lifesaving Association.
Sharks typically kill about 6 people a year globally.

A common perception is that rip currents pull you underwater, but in reality they're roughly horizontal currents that gradually suck you further and further from the beach.

A rip current near Melbourne, Fla., after Hurricane Jeanne (NOAA)

Here's how they originate: Waves break differently at different parts of a shore — in some places the waves are strong and in others they are weak.
These differing conditions carve out channels in sand bars that lie just off the beach.
When water returns to the ocean, it follows the path of least resistance, which is typically through these channels.

This creates a strong and often very localized current capable of sweeping unsuspecting swimmers out to sea.
The currents usually move at one to two feet per second but stronger ones can pull at up to eight feet per second. (On a track, Olympic sprinters cover about 34 feet per second.)

Heavy breaking waves can trigger a sudden rip current, but rip currents are most hazardous around low tide, when water is already pulling away from the beach.

Hurricanes, widely spaced swells, and long periods of onshore wind flow can also drum up stronger than normal currents.
These conditions also create larger waves, which sometimes draw more people into the water.

What to do

It is easy to be caught in a rip current.
Most often it happens in waist deep water, experts say.
A person will dive under a wave, but when they resurface they find they are much further from the beach and still being pulled away.

What they do next can decide their fate.

Those who understand the dynamics of rip currents advise remaining calm.
Conserve energy.
A rip current is like a giant water treadmill that you can't turn off, so it does no good to try and swim against it.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) suggest trying to swim parallel to the shore and out of the current. Once you've gotten out of the current, you can begin swimming back to shore.

However, if it is too difficult to swim sideways out of the current, try floating or treading water and let nature do its thing.
You'll wash out of the current at some point and can then make your way back to shore.

If neither of these options seems to be working for you, continue treading water and try to get the attention of someone on shore, hopefully a lifeguard.

The NOAA also emphasizes anyone planning to swim in the ocean should learn to swim well and never swim alone.
Pick a beach with a lifeguard if you don't feel comfortable with your swimming abilities but still want to enjoy the surf.
And finally, take a look at the water -- if it looks dangerous, don't even try it.

News from Google Maps

Ferry routes display improved for Europe in Google Maps (from Google blog)

Calais/Dunkerque to Dover on the Marine GeoGarage (with SHOM overlay)

Calais harbour (France) with Google Earth

 

Ferry routes are also more clearly labelled than before, and Google Maps will estimate a ferry time  based on its timetables if users try planning a route for their journey.
(example in Italy with the Marine GeoGarage)

We’ve also added better and more clearly labelled ferry routes in many places, such as the area below surrounding Naples, Italy.
Traveling by ferry is one of my favorite ways to explore a city—I love looking back from the water at the cityscapes—and this improvement will help you find the ferry routes you need to do the same. You can even use Google Maps to get transit-based directions for ferries.
We take into account ferry timetables to route you over water just easily as you might follow our driving directions over land.


Become an Antarctic explorer with panoramic imagery (from Google LatLong)

In the winter of 1913, a British newspaper ran an advertisement to promote the latest imperial expedition to Antarctica, apparently placed by polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.
It read, "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."
While the ad appears apocryphal, the dangerous nature of the journey to the South Pole is certainly not—as explorers like Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott and Shackleton himself discovered as they tried to become the first men to reach it.

Back in September 2010, we launched the first Street View imagery of the Antarctic, enabling people from more habitable lands to see penguins in Antarctica for the first time.
Today we’re bringing you additional panoramic imagery of historic Antarctic locations that you can view from the comfort of your homes.
We’ll be posting this special collection to our World Wonders site, where you can learn more about the history of South Pole exploration.

With the help of the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, we’ve added 360-imagery of many important spots, inside and out, such as the South Pole Telescope, Shackleton's hut, Scott’s hut, Cape Royds Adélie Penguin Rookery and the Ceremonial South Pole.

The ceremonial South Pole - View Larger Map

Garbage-eating drone destroys ocean pollution

From EarthTechling

Drones have been a hot topic in the media lately.
Whether they’re for surveillance or combat, the idea of drones patrolling our airspace is one that’s not taken lightly by the public.
As we struggle to work out the ethics and legalities of military drones, it’s important to remember that not all autonomous robots are designed for violence or espionage.

Many of us enjoy the work of drones in our daily lives, like the Roomba vacuum, BUFO pool cleaner, or Bosch Indego autonomous lawn mower.
These self-sufficient robots perform routine tasks that normally take a lot of time away from our daily lives.
They also make it possible to conduct tasks that would be costly or dangerous if carried out by a human.
The Marine Drone concept created by Elie Ahovi and his team of collaborators, is a perfect example of a way drone technology can have a positive impact on our world.

Unlike the drones that have been causing so much controversy, this robot is designed to operate underwater, and instead of seeking out enemy targets, it will search for and destroy something equally sinister–ocean garbage.
Horrified by the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and its identical twins forming in oceans all over the world, Ahovi and his classmates from the French International School of Design decided to come up with a simple-yet-sophisticated solution.

As this review points out, the Marine Drone would patrol the oceans autonomously, sucking plastic bottles and garbage into its maw like a butterfly net.
Powered by water-proof batteries, the Drone would employ an electric motor to move silently through the water.

Like these pollution-seeking robot fish, the Drone’s sonic emitter would send out an irritating signal to deter aquatic life, ensuring that only trash goes into the net.
When it’s collection area is full of junk, the Drone would dock with a nearby mothership, where a crew would crane the garbage up for disposal.