Wave vortex

Wave vortex from Clark Little 

 

Praise The Wave from Dan Bennington

Petra storm in aerial pictures

Philip Plisson (Pêcheur d'images)

"Yesterday, with my trusty pilot Thierry Leygnac and Christophe Potter, my assistant with me for 16 years, we had the deep feeling of never having experimented so many emotions flying in a storm on our shores !" 

Other pictures of the storm with Benoit Stichelbaut

 Storm Petra, February 5th, Pointe du Raz, France. 
Erik Brin

 Ar Men by Charles Marion

 Petra (February 5th) in the fishing harbour of Porthleven (Cornwall)
photo Bernie Pettersen

Links :

• Vimeo : Petra storm, port Coton Belle-Ile (02/2014) by Louis-Alban Kim
• Vimeo : shooting helico by Valery Joncheray
• YouTube : Ruth storm (8 au 9 février 2014) by Nefertiti Productions

Climate change is here now and it could lead to global conflict

Satellite image shows scale of storm that hit the UK.

(see NASA : extratropical cyclone over the UK)

From The Guardian by Nicolas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the LSE and president of the British Academy.

Extreme weather events in the UK and overseas are part of a growing pattern that it would be very unwise for us, or our leaders, to ignore, writes the author of the influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change

The record rainfall and storm surges that have brought flooding across the UK are a clear sign that we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
Many commentators have suggested that we are suffering from unprecedented extreme weather. There are powerful grounds for arguing that this is part of a trend.
Four of the five wettest years recorded in the UK have occurred from the year 2000 onwards.
Over that same period, we have also had the seven warmest years.
That is not a coincidence.
There is an increasing body of evidence that extreme daily rainfall rates are becoming more intense, in line with what is expected from fundamental physics, as the Met Office pointed out earlier this week.
A warmer atmosphere holds more water.
Add to this the increase in sea level, particularly along the English Channel, which is making storm surges bigger, and it is clear why the risk of flooding in the UK is rising.

Infra-red satellite animation from EUMETSAT showing a series of storms which have affected the United Kingdom and Ireland over the past two weeks.

But it is not just here that the impacts of climate change have been felt through extreme weather events over the past few months.
Australia has just had its hottest year on record, during which it suffered record-breaking heatwaves and severe bushfires in many parts of the country.
And there has been more extreme heat over the past few weeks.
Argentina had one of its worst heatwaves in late December, while parts of Brazil were struck by floods and landslides following record rainfall.

 

A ship washed ashore by typhoon Haiyan at Anibong in Tacloban, Philippines, 5 February 2014. Photograph: Mark Tran for The Guardian 

 
And very warm surface waters in the north-west Pacific during November fuelled Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall anywhere in the world, which killed more than 5,700 people in the Philippines.

This is a pattern of global change that it would be very unwise to ignore.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last September pointed to a changing pattern of extreme weather since 1950, with more heatwaves and downpours in many parts of the world, as the Earth has warmed by about 0.7C.
The IPCC has concluded from all of the available scientific evidence that it is 95% likely that most of the rise in global average temperature since the middle of the 20th century is due to emissions of greenhouse gases, deforestation and other human activities.

 

Sussex police search and rescue officers evacute residents through a flooded street in Egham, Surrey.
Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

The upward trend in temperature is undeniable, despite the effects of natural variability in the climate which causes the rate of warming to temporarily accelerate or slow for short periods, as we have seen over the past 15 years.
If we do not cut emissions, we face even more devastating consequences, as unchecked they could raise global average temperature to 4C or more above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
This would be far above the threshold warming of 2C that countries have already agreed that it would be dangerous to breach.
The average temperature has not been 2C above pre-industrial levels for about 115,000 years, when the ice-caps were smaller and global sea level was at least five metres higher than today.
The shift to such a world could cause mass migrations of hundreds of millions of people away from the worst-affected areas.
That would lead to conflict and war, not peace and prosperity.

 

Satellite photos of the river Parrett on the Somerset Levels
taken before the recent flooding and on 8 February.

Photograph: UK Space Agency/SWNS.com 

 
In fact, the risks are even bigger than I realised when I was working on the review of the economics of climate change for the UK government in 2006.
Since then, annual greenhouse gas emissions have increased steeply and some of the impacts, such as the decline of Arctic sea ice, have started to happen much more quickly.

We also underestimated the potential importance of strong feedbacks, such as the thawing of the permafrost to release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as well as tipping points beyond which some changes in the climate may become effectively irreversible.
What we have experienced so far is surely small relative to what could happen in the future.
We should remember that the last time global temperature was 5C different from today, the Earth was gripped by an ice age.
So the risks are immense and can only be sensibly managed by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which will require a new low-carbon industrial revolution.
History teaches us how quickly industrial transformations can occur through waves of technological development, such as the introduction of electricity, based on innovation and discovery.
We are already seeing low-carbon technologies being deployed across the world, but further progress will require investment and facing up to the real prices of energy, including the very damaging emissions from fossil fuels.

 

Christian Gander makes his way through floodwater as he leaves his home on Waterworks Road in Worcester.

Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA 

 
Unfortunately, the current pace of progress is not nearly rapid enough, with many rich industrialised countries being slow to make the transition to cleaner and more efficient forms of economic growth.
The lack of vision and political will from the leaders of many developed countries is not just harming their long-term competitiveness, but is also endangering efforts to create international co-operation and reach a new agreement that should be signed in Paris in December 2015.

Delay is dangerous.
Inaction could be justified only if we could have great confidence that the risks posed by climate change are small.
But that is not what 200 years of climate science is telling us.
The risks are huge.

Fortunately poorer countries, such as China, are showing leadership and beginning to demonstrate to the world how to invest in low-carbon growth.
The UK must continue to set an example to other countries.
The 2008 Climate Change Act, which commits the UK to cut its emissions by at least 80% by 2050, is regarded around the world as a model for how politicians can create the kind of clear policy signal to the private sector which could generate billions of pounds of investment.
Weakening the Act would be a great mistake and would undermine a strong commitment made by all of the main political parties.
Squabbling and inconsistent messages from ministers, as well as uncertainty about the policies of possible future governments, are already eroding the confidence of businesses.
Government-induced policy risk has become a serious deterrent to private investment.
Instead, the UK should work with the rest of the European Union to create a unified and much better functioning energy market and power grid structure.
This would also increase energy security, lower costs and reduce emissions.
What better way is there to bring Europe together?

 

A car lies half submerged after the Thames flooded in Datchet, Berkshire. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images 

 
The government will also have to ensure the country becomes more resilient to those impacts of climate change that cannot now be avoided, including by investing greater sums in flood defences.
It should resist calls from some politicians and parts of media to fund adaptation to climate change by cutting overseas aid.
It would be deeply immoral to penalise the 1.2 billion people around the world who live in extreme poverty.
In fact, the UK should be increasing aid to poor countries to help them develop economically in a climate that is becoming more hostile largely because of past emissions by rich countries.
A much more sensible way to raise money would be to implement a strong price on greenhouse gas pollution across the economy, which would also help to reduce emissions.
It is essential that the government seizes this opportunity to foster the wave of low-carbon technological development and innovation that will drive economic growth and avoid the enormous risks of unmanaged climate change.

Canada CHS update in the Marine GeoGarage

As our public viewer is not yet available
(currently under construction, upgrading to Google Maps API v3 as v2 is officially no more supported),
this info is primarily intended to our B2B customers which use our nautical charts layers
in their own webmapping applications through our GeoGarage API.

41 charts have been updated (February 3, 2014) in the GeoGarage platform :

• 1202 CAP ÉTERNITÉ À/TO SAINT-FULGENCE
• 1209 SAINT-FULGENCE À / TO RIVIÈRE SHIPSHAW
• 1313 BATISCAN AU/TO LAC SAINT-PIERRE
• 3058A ARROWHEAD TO/À BLANKET CREEK
• 3058B BLANKET CREEK TO/À REVELSTOKE
• 3549 QUEEN CHARLOTTE STRAIT WESTERN PORTION/PARTIE QUEST
• 3550 APPROACHES TO/APPROCHES À SEYMOUR INLET AND/ET BELIZE INLET
• 3598 CAPE SCOTT TO CAPE CALVERT
• 3605 QUATSINO SOUND TO / À QUEEN CHARLOTTE STRAIT
• 3624 CAPE COOK TO CAPE SCOTT
• 3741 OTTER PASSAGE TO BONILLA ISLAND
• 4001 GULF OF MAINE TO STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE / AU DÉTROIT DE BELLE ISLE
• 4015 SYDNEY TO/À SAINT-PIERRE
• 4016 SAINT-PIERRE TO/À ST JOHN'S
• 4017 CAPE RACE TO / À CAPE FREELS
• 4023 NORTHUMBERLAND STRAIT / DÉTROIT DE NORTHUMBERLAND
• 4202 HALIFAX HARBOUR POINT PLEASANT TO/À BEDFORD BASIN
• 4203 HALIFAX HARBOUR BLACK POINT TO/À POINT PLEASANT
• 4237 APPROACHES TO / APPROCHES DE HALIFAX HARBOUR
• 4277 GREAT BRAS D'OR / ST. ANDREWS AND / ET ST. ANNS BAY
• 4278 GREAT BRAS D'OR AND / ET ST PATRICKS CHANNEL
• 4279 BRAS D'OR LAKE
• 4308 ST. PETERS BAY TO/À STRAIT OF CANSO
• 4340 GRAND MANAN
• 4422 CARDIGAN BAY
• 4593 SUNDAY COVE ISLAND TO\À THIMBLE TICKLES
• 4625 BURIN PENINSULA TO/À SAINT-PIERRE
• 4639 GARIA BAY AND/ET LE MOINE BAY
• 4641 PORT AUX BASQUES AND APPROACHES / ET LES APPROCHES
• 4667 SAVAGE COVE TO/À ST BARBE BAY
• 4679 HAWKES BAY \ PORT SAUNDERS\ BACK ARM
• 4826 BURGEO TO/À FRANÇOIS
• 4827 HARE BAY TO / À FORTUNE HEAD
• 4831 FORTUNE BAY NORTHERN PORTION/PARTIE NORD
• 4839 HEAD OF/FOND DE PLACENTIA BAY
• 4847 CONCEPTION BAY
• 4851 TRINITY BAY - SOUTHERN PORTION / PARTIE SUD
• 4855 BONAVISTA BAY SOUTHERN PORTION / PARTIE SUD
• 4864 BACK ISLAND TO/À LITTLE DENIER ISLAND
• 4906 WEST POINT À/TO BAIE DE TRACADIE
• 4911 ENTRÉE À/ENTRANCE TO MIRAMICHI RIVER

So 690 charts (1665 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

This startup wants to reverse the tide on our overfished oceans

Fish being raised in protected farms.

Image credit : Bryce Groark

From Entrepreneur by Catherine Clifford

People are eating a lot of fish.
More than ever before.
Without some clever innovation, we may very well eat all the fish in the sea.
That’s hardly an exaggeration, either.
Where each person ate an average of 10 kilograms, or 22 pounds, of fish in 1960, the average person ate 19 kilograms, or almost 42 pounds, of fish in 2011, according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The report claims that about 85 percent of the world's oceans are at their fishing limits.
Which means that, if current rates continue, the oceans will be near barren in 35 years.

That’s where aquaculture comes in.
Aquaculture, or the breeding and harvesting of aquatic animals and plants, has become a growing practice and is seen as a solution to the fish consumption crisis.
In 1951, aquaculture netted 640,000 kilograms, or 1.4 million pounds, of fish around the world.
By 2011, aquaculture was bringing in 84 billion kilograms, or 185 billion pounds, of fish.

Image credit: Made by Aqua-Spark with data from a 2012 report released by
the Food and Agriculture Department of the United Nations.

“Beyond 2030, aquaculture will likely dominate future global fish supply. Consequently, ensuring successful and sustainable development of global aquaculture is an imperative agenda for the global economy,” says a report on the fish industry from the World Bank released this month.
Hoping to foster innovation in this space, two entrepreneurs, Amy Novogratz and Mike Velings, have launched an investment fund called Aqua-Spark.
The fund seeks out sustainable fish-farming techniques and innovations and invests in them.
In particular, the Netherlands-based investment fund will seek out best-in-class hatcheries to invest in, or new technologies to battle disease epidemics that fish battle in the fish farms.

Prior to founding Aqua-Spark last year, Novogratz was the director of the TED Prize, an award given to an individual who demonstrates extraordinary global vision.
Velings, meanwhile, is a serial entrepreneur and investor.
He started Connexie, a payroll service in the Netherlands, and A-Spark Good Ventures, a company that invests in entrepreneurs around the world.

Aquaculture farms.
Image credit: Bryce Groark.

Novogratz and Velings met on a boat trip in the Galapagos inspired by TED Prize winner Sylvia Earle, a life-long oceanographer and explorer.

Earle won the TED prize in 2009 and then took 100 people on the Galapagos voyage in 2010.
There, Novogratz and Velings determined that they would make preservation of the oceans their passion. They also fell in love and ended up getting married.
Aqua-Spark had raised $5 million in seed funding as of early February, but the goal is to raise at least 15 million euro to get started. In the next 10 years, Velings says he wants Aqua-Spark to be a 200 to 300 million euro fund (about $270 million to $410 million).
Unlike a venture capital company, Aqua-Spark does not expect to cash out of the investment.
So, while a VC will invest in a startup and then look for a return on that investment either by the entrepreneur selling the company or going public, Aqua-Spark does not look for entrepreneurs to cash out quickly.

 
That’s because aquaculture is a long-term cash-intensive business.
Building fish farms is expensive.
And the infrastructure required to build recirculating aquaculture systems, which are completely closed systems and entirely self-sustaining, is particularly expensive.
Initial investments in aquaculture businesses will run from 250,000 euros to 5 million euros (about $340,000 to $7 million), depending on the idea.
Rather than looking for a quick cash-out, Aqua-Spark will make money through dividend returns. And because of the steady nature of the industry, the company expects to make revenues from dividends of 12 percent per year after the first five to seven years.
Returns of 12 percent or higher are pretty impressive, and that’s exactly part of Aqua-Spark’s pitch to investors.
“This is one of the few places you can make an old-fashioned, handsome return combined with social and environmental good. You can feel good about it but you can also -- it is a very solid investment,” says Velings.