Cornell’s Ocean Atlas

New pilot charts for all oceans of the world

Jimmy Cornell, experienced sailor and bestselling author, has launched a new product that is already being greeted with great enthusiasm by sailors worldwide.

The founder of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, noonsite.com and author of the sailor’s bible World Cruising Routes (book) has teamed up with his son Ivan to produce Cornell’s Ocean Atlas, an atlas of 129 up-to-date pilot charts aimed at sailors planning offshore voyages.
The charts in Cornell’s Ocean Atlas are based on the most recent weather data gathered by meteorological satellites over the last twenty years.

60 monthly pilot charts of all oceans for the world show wind speed and direction, current speed and direction, approximate extent of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the most common tracks of tropical storms, and the mean location of high pressure cells for each hemisphere.

69 detailed charts of the most commonly sailed transoceanic routes make it easier for cruising sailors to plan a route that takes best advantage of the prevailing weather conditions at that time of year.
Sidebars with tactical suggestions have been added to the months when most passages are undertaken.
The comments and tips on tactics, as well as weather overviews for each ocean, were contributed by meteorologists and routers specializing in those oceanic areas.

Cornell’s Ocean Atlas will be available in the US in January 2012 from this website (www.cornellsailing.com), Cruising World magazine, Paradise Cay Publications, and at Sail America’s Strictly Sail boat shows in Chicago in January, Miami in February, and Oakland, CA in April, 2012.
The atlas will be officially launched at Strictly Sail Chicago in January 2012 where Jimmy Cornell will offer his popular Long Distance Cruising Seminar plus shorter seminars on a broad range of cruising topics.

More information on Cornell’s Ocean Atlas

Pilot charts, also referred to as routing charts, have been the most important passage planning tool since the middle of the nineteenth century.
The first systematic study of ships’ sailing routes, and the weather conditions that affect them, was undertaken in the 19th century by Lieutenant Maury of the US Navy with the aid of shipmasters’ logbooks.
Much of the information contained in the pilot charts that are in use today is still based on those observations and, although they have been updated at regular intervals, the scarcity of reliable sources, inaccuracy of the observations, or the climate changes that have occurred over the years, have rendered some of the information shown on those charts to be now inaccurate.

To present as true a picture as possible of the actual conditions which prevail in today’s oceans, the charts in Cornell’s Ocean Atlas are based on extensive data collected by meteorological satellites from 1987 to the present.
This data was processed by Ivan Cornell, whose programming experience has made both noonsite.com and this atlas possible.

Sailors who have consulted advance copies of the atlas are describing it as ground-breaking for its content, but also for its organization and layout, which reflect Jimmy Cornell’s unmatched world voyaging experience.
The scale and range of charts are carefully chosen so that sailors can see all the relevant information and plan their passages on a single chart.
As one world cruiser stated, on seeing the format and detail of the atlas “This is a game-changer. It should be hidden away and kept a secret so that it is as hard for future cruisers as it was for us.”

As Jimmy Cornell says “Our main objective has been to create the kind of publication we would have greatly appreciated if it had been available when we sailed on any of the five circumnavigations of the globe which we share between us.”

Links :

• NGA : Atlas of Pilot Charts

Squid and octopus switch on camouflage

The little Japetella heathi octopus can switch from transparent to opaque in an instant, enabling it to hide from bioluminescent predators.

From BBC

Scientists have discovered how two marine creatures are able to rapidly "switch" their colours - from transparent to reddish brown.

The species, an octopus and a squid, use their adaptable camouflage to cope with changing light conditions in the deep ocean.
The creatures' skins respond light that deep-sea predators produce to illuminate their prey.

The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology.

Sarah Zylinski and Sonke Johnsen from Duke University in North Carolina, US, carried out the research.
They say this switchable camouflage allows the animals to hide more effectively in their uniquely gloomy marine environment.

When sunlight diffuses evenly through the water, it passes through transparent animals too, rendering them almost invisible.
But, as Dr Zylinski explained, "transparent tissues are actually quite visible when you shine a light directly on them".
And this is exactly what many deep-ocean predators do.

LED lights similar to predator's bioluminescent "spotlights" trigger red pigment.

Prof Michael Land, a biologist from the UK's University of Sussex explained that by a depth of 600m, sunlight fizzles out, and hiding becomes much trickier for prey animals.
This is the depth at which the octopus Japetella heathi and the squid Onychoteuthis banksii live.
Prof Land told BBC Nature: "[At that depth], you have all these nasty fish that are trying to illuminate you, so it's best to be a dark colour."
These "nasty" predatory fish are equipped with light-producing organs that function as biological headlamps.

To cope with this, the two creatures the scientists examined have evolved a clever way to hide.
Having already seen the two creatures in their two different colour states, Dr Zylinski and Dr Johnsen wanted find out how they switched between the two.

To do this, they had to examine the animals more closely, so they set out to capture them from deep-ocean trenches in the Pacific.
With special nets that held the animals in the cold water from the deep, the team managed to bring the two species on board their research vessel.
To test the animals' camouflage, the scientists simply shone a blue light onto them and watched their reactions.

Most of the time, the Japetella heathi octopus is transparent.

"The really striking thing was the speed of their response," said Dr Zylinski.
"We shone a light on them and they would immediately switch from transparent to pigmented."

The animals' skins contain light-sensitive cells called chromatophores, which contain pigments.
When these cells detected the blue light of a bioluminescent predator, they immediately expanded, "dyeing" the animal a deep brown colour.

Dr Zylinski said the this dramatic colour change showed just how important camouflage was "in a habitat where there is nowhere to hide".
Neither transparency nor pigmentation is a complete solution to the hunting strategies used by predators in the deep ocean, she explained.
"By switching between these two forms, these cephalopods are able to optimise their camouflage in response to the optical conditions at that moment in time."

Dr Zylinski said studying camouflage gave a wonderful insight into how animals perceive their world very differently from humans.

Links :

• LiveScience : Transparent octopus goes opaque in blink of an eye

Rosenfeld collection

The Rosenfeld Collection, acquired in 1984 by Mystic Seaport, is one of the largest archives of maritime photographs in the United States.
This Collection of nearly one million pieces documents the period from 1881 to the present.
Images are captured in a variety of formats, from glass plate negatives to color transparencies, and from glossy prints to photographic murals.
The Collection represents the evolution of photographic technology and developments in the maritime industry over the last century.

M-boats

The Rosenfeld Collection is built on the inventory of the Morris Rosenfeld & Sons photographic business, which was located in New York City from 1910 until the late 1970s.
The firm grew as Morris' sons David, Stanley, and William joined the business. Although they became famous as yachting photographers, the early work of the Rosenfelds included assignments for such firms as the New York-based entities of the Bell System (currently known as AT&T, Western Electric, and Bell Telephone Laboratories) from the 1910's through the 1940's.

Even though the Rosenfelds maintained a busy schedule, they always made time for yachting photography.
As a result, the America's Cup Races are fully represented from 1885 to 1992.
The early America's Cup images, from 1885 to 1910, are from separate collections acquired by Morris Rosenfeld.

Cornell crew (1930)

These collections of remarkable glass plate images are the work of Arthur F. Aldridge, Charles Edwin Bolles, James Burton and Edwin J. Carpenter.
It should be noted that these collections also contain images of subjects as varied as socialites participating in leisure activities, steam yachts, battleships, and riverboats on the Ohio River.

Flying spinnakers

The America's Cup races, starting in 1920, were exhaustively covered by the Rosenfelds themselves.
As a family of photographers, they quickly became a part of the America's Cup tradition.

Magic Carpet

The respect they received from some of the greatest yachtsmen of the day gave them unusually close access to races, and the result is a remarkably dynamic and often intimate view of the sport.

Bolero, large modern ocean racer (Sparkman and Stephens Design), Heading East, 1954

A broad spectrum of competitive sailing is also reflected in the Rosenfeld Collection.
Images of children participating in sailing lessons are housed next to views of maxi-boats competing on the international circuit.

The world of powerboating, both competitive and recreational, received equal attention from the Rosenfelds.
The development of powerboat racing in America is chronicled in the Collection.
Of particular interest to powerboat historians is the Collection's extensive coverage of early Gold Cup and Harmsworth Trophy Races.

River of silk

Due to the chronological arrangement of the negatives in the Collection, the evolution of sail, hull and engine design across the span of more than a century can be observed by the researcher.

Today, the Rosenfeld Collection is stored in a climate-controlled vault in the new Mystic Seaport Collections Research Center.
Image content as well as photographers' notes from the prints and the negative sleeves are currently being catalogued and entered into the museum's computer data base.
Approximately ninety-seven thousand images have been catalogued by Rosenfeld Collection staff, assisted by volunteers.
Sixty-seven thousand images, captured from both prints and negatives, are available in video disc form for research purposes.

Currently the Rosenfeld Collection staff is involved in the preservation of negatives and prints.
The goal is to transfer all of the historic images, many of which are presently in acidic storage housing, into archival storage containers.
This task will help to retard the deterioration common to all photographic materials.

Mystic Seaport encourages the use of the Collection for research purposes.
Inquiries are handled through staff researchers by letter, fax, email, or scheduled office appointment.
Fees are charged for research services.

Reproductions of Rosenfeld images are available to the public, for both personal and commercial uses.
Prints generated by the Mystic Seaport Photography Department are used for a variety of purposes, including book illustrations, corporate brochures and promotions, exhibitions, and personal and scholarly research.
Print reproduction fees and image use fees for commercial uses, will be quoted upon request.

Rosenfeld Collection images are also available for exhibitions and permanent installations.
Selections from an inventory of over one hundred and forty 16" x 20" matted and framed photographs are available for exhibitions and traveling shows.

Please note that Rosenfeld Collection fees and reproduction revenue go into a Museum fund for the preservation of the existing collection.

Surfer rides 90 foot wave (World Record)

The Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara breaks the world record for the largest wave ever surfed navigating this 27-metre (90ft) wall of watery death. (in Nazaré Beach, in Portugal) other video
The previous record—77 feet monster at Cortez Bank in 2008—was set by Mike Parsons (the previous unofficial record for the biggest wave ever surfed was held by Ken Bradshaw who rode an 85-footer in Hawaii’s Waimea Bay in 1998.)
According to Geology.com, the biggest wave ever recorded was the result of a 1958 earthquake in Alaska and was estimated to be 1,720 feet.
The Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara catches the wave of a lifetime while tackling the Nazare Canyon off Portugal.
The 3-mile deep underwater canyon – which stretches for 105 miles – acts likes a funnel when it receives Atlantic swells, creating huge waves.

From SurfBang

The current official world record for largest wave ever surfed is held by Mike Parsons who tackled a 77 foot wave at Cortes Bank back in 2008.

Hawaiian big wave surfer, Garrett McNamara is looking to take that record from Parsons with, what is said to be, a 90 foot wave he rode last week in Portugal.

On November 1st, Garrett McNamara was out tow surfing with Al Mennie and Andrew Cotton in the waters off a small fishing town in Portugal. McNamara was in Portugal as part of the ZON North Canyon Project which was created by the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute to better understand the gigantic waves that are formed by the deep water canyons off the coast of Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal.

“I feel so blessed and honored to have been invited to explore this canyon and its special town. The waves here are such a mystery,” said McNamara.

Al Mennie who was sitting in the channel watching Garrett on this monster wave had this to say, “Everything was perfect, the weather, the waves. Cotty and I surfed two big waves of about 60 feet and then, when Garrett was ready, came a canyon wave of over 90 feet.”

“The jet ski was the best place to see him riding the biggest wave I’ve ever seen. It was amazing. Most people would be scared, but Garrett was controlling everything in the critical part of the wave. It was an inspiring ride by an inspiring surfer.”

Riding a wave of this size and magnitude is something that Garrett is never going to forget.

“As I rode this wave, it seemed pretty massive, but I couldn’t quite tell how big it was,” he said. “When I got to the bottom and turned and got around the wave and went to kick out, it landed on me and it felt like a ton of bricks. Probably one of the most powerful waves to ever land on me at the shoulder. It was pretty amazing.”

Jackson Chadwick doing some towing on the Outer Reefs

Links :

• YouTube : Shane Dorian had an amazing ride with a 57-feet bomb at Jaws.
• YouTube : Giant wave 64 ft,Mike Parsons final part I Billabong Odyssey (part II)
  
• Wunderground meteorologist Jeff Masters describes the atmospheric setup:
  ...an approaching cold front extending southwards from a low pressure system centered just south of Iceland generated strong winds off the coast of Portugal, and a west-northwest swell of 8 meters (26’). The canyon generated three big waves in excess of 60 feet that day, and McNamara was able to catch the tallest, 90-foot wave.
• SurfayToday : Garrett McNamara rides the biggest wave of all time in Nazaré
• SurferVillage : North Canyon tow-in trials to roll in Nazaré...
• ABCNews : Hawaiian daredevil surfer survives 90-foot wave
  

East coast tsunami risk investigated with sonar

Idealized diagram of a continental margin, showing the shelf, slope, and rise.

From OurAmazingPlanet

The East Coast of the United States isn't the first place that comes to mind as being at risk of tsunamis, but new sonar maps are now helping to show that these risks do exist.

For about the past five years, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, along with other governmental and academic partners, have been gauging the potential for tsunamis generated by landslides in submarine canyons in the mid-Atlantic to strike the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

The investigation was requested by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is concerned about the potential impact tsunamis might have on new and existing nuclear power plants, especially in light of the devastating tsunami in Japan in March that sparked the greatest nuclear disaster in years.

The research identified landslides along the submerged margin of the North American continent as the leading potential source of dangerous tsunamis to the East Coast.
These landslides either originate in submarine canyons or on the continental slope.

Multibeam bathymetric data collected during the June 2011 Nancy Foster cruise (except for area around upper Norfolk Canyon, surrounded by dashed red line, where data are courtesy of Rod Mather, University of Rhode Island).

The gray shaded-relief data were compiled from existing bathymetric datasets produced by the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Mapping mission

Investigators set out to map key areas of the Atlantic continental margin in high resolution, work that could uncover more about these hazards.
Although this is one of the best-mapped continental margins in the world, significant gaps still remain along the upper slope and shelf where potentially dangerous submarine landslides might occur.

"Given the immense size of the regions in which we are working, it has taken many years of data collection and integration of existing data sets in order to produce seafloor maps with the resolution needed to identify all the features we are interested in," said U.S. Geological Survey research marine geologist Jason Chaytor.

A sonar mapping cruise taken in June to the Baltimore, Washington and Norfolk Canyons and selected regions of the continental shelf between the canyons marked the first field effort of the multiyear Deep-Water Mid-Atlantic Canyons Project.
Using echosounders installed on the hull of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Nancy Foster, the science team mapped canyons and shelf regions at high resolution over more than 380 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) of seafloor from south of Cape Hatteras to Baltimore Canyon, which runs from offshore North Carolina to the eastern tip of Long Island.

"Probably the biggest challenge we faced was avoiding the ever-present fishing gear deployed around the canyons while still collecting enough data to not leave any gaps in the final maps," Chaytor told OurAmazingPlanet.

High-resolution multibeam bathymetry collected in and between Baltimore and Accomac Canyons during the June 2011 cruise.

Color key at left shows depths (in meters).

Submarine canyons and landslides

The science team's preliminary analysis of these new data revealed the presence of steep, sharp, stepped escarpments, or slopes, rimming the upper parts of each of the mapped canyons.
These may be submerged ancient shorelines cut during times of lower sea level, "the most recent of which occurred during the last glacial period, which ended about 19,000 years ago," Chaytor said.
Although the researchers do not at this time feel there is any connection between these features and tsunami hazards, "they may provide important insights into the development of the canyons and help us understand the role of changing sea level in the evolution of the Atlantic coast," he said.

A number of submarine landslides, some previously unknown, were either partly or completely mapped.

"Having accurate information on the number of submarine landslides, in addition to their characteristics such as their size and the water depth they occur in, the style in which they fail, and the properties of the soil and rock involved in the landslide, are important in determining whether or not they might have generated a tsunami," Chaytor said.
"This information is often used in numerical modeling of landslide-generated tsunami waves."

The scientists have recently begun the difficult task of collecting long core samples of sediment from the sites of large landslides, a critical step in determining when they happened and how often they and their associated tsunamis are likely to occur.

"The evaluation of submarine landslides as potential tsunami sources along the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico and the investigation of submarine canyon systems in the Atlantic are ongoing projects," Chaytor said.

The scientists detailed their findings in the September/October issue of the U.S. Geological Survey newsletter Sound Waves.
They will present additional information at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco in December.