Arriving at St Helier harbour

Commodore Clipper arriving at St Helier harbour and berthing on the Elizabeth Harbour west berth.

Condor Rapide arriving into St Helier harbour and berthing onto the Elizabeth Harbour east berth

 Saint Hélier harbour, Jersey with the Marine GeoGarage

World Oceans Day

The World Oceans Day 2013 & 2014 theme is "Together we have the power to protect the ocean".


Planet Ocean [UK]- the film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Links :

• UN : 8 June -  World Oceans Day
• GeoGarage blog : Planet Ocean : revealing marine majesty / Ocean planet, the movie

Robby Naish surfing on the Amazon

Robby Naish conquers a record surfing on the Amazon from SUPJournal.com

From GuinnessBook

The famed Pororoca tidal bore on Brazil's Amazon River is no easy beast to tame.
When the tide hits the confluence of the Amazon and the Atlantic Ocean just right, it results in waves up to 4 m (13 ft) high that can travel for hundreds of kilometers.
This tidal bore has earned a reputation as a surfing hotspot, drawing some of the world's best to ride the Pororoca for some length.
But anybody can ride waves downstream.
Robby Naish prefers going against the grain.

"Five hour flight to LA, 11 hour flight to Sao Paolo, 3 hour flight to Sao Luis, then a three hour drive to a river 80 kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast to SUP a Pororoca tidal bore wave!Only one wave per day for three days, but the longest rides I have ever had."

The famed water sports athlete, with the backing of Red Bull, recently broke the record for the widest ride of a river bore on a stand-up paddleboard (SUP).
Cutting across the daunting tide, Naish paddled 450 meters (1,476 ft 4 in) over the Arari Pororoca, crossing from bank to bank.
Naish has enjoyed a long and storied career on the water.
A 24-time world windsurfing champion -- winning his first world title at age 13 in 1976 -- Naish has also branched out to kitesurfing and now SUP since retiring from competition.

Due to its tidal dependency, the bore appeared at a different hour each day, with Naish beginning his daily preparations at 6 a.m. across three days of attempts.
“The main challenge with the width record was trying to get from one side to the other as the bore tide wave shifts, because it is never connected all the way across at once," Naish said afterward.
"You weren’t just standing there riding one peak for ages. You had to look at the contour of the side of the river and figure out what to do to follow the wave."

Naish completed his 450-m crossing in just under 10 minutes.
He caught his record-breaking wave at 8:38 a.m.
Many times an unofficial world record holder for high speeds and other categories in his windsurfing days, this successful attempt marks Naish's first fully authenticated Guinness World Records achievement.

"This was the first time anyone has organized an actual challenge and record that we were trying to achieve," Naish said. "It was neat and exciting, sort of opens the door for opportunities to think about more things that could be attacked from that perspective."

And, if you ask the 51-year-old, he isn't done breaking records yet.

Whether or not they have anything to do with board sports is a different story.

"There are definitely possibilities out there with all the things that I do, so I’m going to have a look," Naish concluded.

"I’m definitely going to pull the Guinness World Records book out again and look at what the options are. Grow a big beard or something."

"A lot of people call me ‘Waterman’," Naish said.
"But I see myself as a 'board' person. It doesn't matter if it's surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, stand-up paddle, skate, or snowboard. I love the feeling of gliding, whether on water or some other surface."
Having competed around the globe in his career, Naish received a unique challenge on the Amazon, as the combination of river movements, heat, and the particularities of the massive ecosystem made the attempt a tall task.
The fickleness of the bore itself played a major role, for instance.

Mapping out a vital part of D-Day history

From the June 19, 1944, issue of TIME. (TIME Magazine)

From Wilts&GloustershireStandard by Brendan McFadden

ON June 6, 1944, Operation Neptune marked the beginning of the invasion of German occupied Europe by the Allied Forces under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Second World War invasion on the Normandy coast of France became commonly known as D-Day, and was the largest amphibious assault ever executed, involving five army divisions supported by over 7,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft.

Plans for D-Day were underway months in advance.

It is a little known fact that American regiment, the 654th Engineer Topographic Battalion, which was based in Tetbury (UK), had a key role in the success of the invasion, which was a major turning point of the war.

As part of a top secret project, the Tetbury-based troops devised a 3D map of Omaha Beach which became a vitally important tool used to capture the beach and move inland.

Troops with the 3D map of Omaha beach which they made at the Old Malthouse in Tetbury

Tetbury historian, Merlin Fraser has researched the work of the 300-man regiment, uncovering how they produced eight million ordinance maps, which helped American troops plot their route to Germany following D-Day.

 Omaha beach detailed

(other : Utah beach)

Merlin is documenting his findings in a book called the Americans in Tetbury and together with Tetbury Town Council he has worked to install a plaque in the town to commemorate both the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the GI’s work in the town.

“In the grand scheme of all things historical what happened in the small Cotswold market town of Tetbury during the six months prior to those landings paled into obscurity overshadowed by the true horrors of war and what happened on those beaches that day,” Merlin said.
“The American soldiers stationed here were not front line troops and they were not part of that first day, however the work they did was of vital importance to the preparation, planning and execution of both Operation Neptune and Overlord.
“In a nutshell I guess you could say that these troops were part of the ‘Back Room Boys’ of Military Intelligence.”

 Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard: Soldiers from the battalion assemble maps
in a trailer in Berlin as part of the American’s march to Germany

The plaque, in the north-east corner of the Chipping car park, will look towards the old Malt House, where the 3D model of Omaha was created.

It is being unveiled on Friday, June 6 at 11am by Tetbury mayor Sandra Ball.

Aerial photo shows troops landing on D-Day at Sword Beach, France on June 6, 1944.

(British Ministry of Defense)

The battalion was split into three sections.

Company A, was based in and around the town, including the Old Malt House and was responsible for turning aerial reconnaissance into maps.
Company B was based at nearby Chavenage House and printed the maps.

Headquarters and the battalion’s officers were also based there.

Left : weather maps for 1,2,3 June 1944 at 1300GMT

Right : weather maps for 4 June 1300 GMT and 6 June 0600 GMT

(History of meteorology, James Fleming)

Chris Tubbs Deputy Chief Forecasters at the Met Office UK uses original weather charts for the day of the invasion, Tuesday the 6th of June.

He shows how there were brisk, north westerly winds coming across the country.

However some shelter from the wind and waves was provided in the Channel, enabling the allied, invasion troops to land successfully in Normandy.

In total, 75,215 British and Canadian troops and 57,500 US troops stormed the beaches on D-Day. with 23,400 landing from air by parachute or glider.

Prepared by the Commander Task Force 122, April 21, 1944.

"Map from GSGS 4490 Sheets 79 and 80 and air photo examination. Grid square equals 1 kilometer (1000 meters)."

Original scale 1:7,920.

"TOP SECRET - BIGOT Until Departure for Combat Operations -- Then This Sheet Becomes RESTRICTED".

After the Normandy Beaches success, the 654th Battalion followed the army across Europe, taking their survey, mapping and printing skills with them.

 'Approaches to Arromanches les Bains'.  A chart produced by the UK Hydrographic Department in July 1944 showing the layout of the harbour and soundings collected by HM Motor Launch 1001, the inshore survey vessel assigned to Mulberry B.

A photo mosaic from August 1944 showing an overview of Mulberry B as it was when in service.
(UKHO)

Merlin explained: “Omaha was the kick-off point but the maps were basically used for any theatre as they advanced." They resurveyed the area as they were advancing.”

Links :

• Gigapan : D-Day map used by the allied forces to plan and execute the D-Day landings.
• AppStore : D-day Hour by Hour
• DailyMail : 'Port Winston' Mulberry harbour built off Normandy after D-Day is uncovered on the seabed 69 years later
• CCOM UNH : High-Resolution Multibeam Sonar as a Tool for Archaeological Investigations: An Example from the D-Day Beaches of Normandy
• UKHO : The Mulberry Harbours
• Dassault Systems : D-Day Landings in 3D Virtual Reality

USGS iCoast – Did the Coast Change?

iCoast: a new application from USGS to monitor coastal changes

From USGS by Ethan Alpern

Hurricane season starts again this June.
Do you know what happens to our coasts after these extreme storms?

The U.S. Geological Survey has launched a new crowdsourcing application called “iCoast – Did the Coast Change?” to show you these coastal changes from extreme storms.
iCoast allows citizen scientists to identify changes to the coast by comparing aerial photographs taken before and after storms.
Crowdsourced data from iCoast will help USGS improve predictive models of coastal change and educate the public about the vulnerability of coastal communities to extreme storms.


Aerial Imagery of the Coast Before and After Storms

Since 1995, the USGS has collected more than 140,000 aerial photographs of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts after 24 hurricanes and other extreme storms.
Just for Hurricane Sandy alone, more than 9,000 aerial photographs were taken a week after the storm.

USGS acquires high-resolution oblique aerial photography after extreme storms and compares them to imagery collected before the storms.
These aerial photographs are taken at a low altitude to capture a small area of the coast.
USGS collects aerial imagery to ground truth and improve the USGS coastal change probability models.

“Computers cannot yet automatically identify damages and geomorphic changes to the coast from the oblique aerial photographs,” said Sophia B. Liu, USGS Mendenhall Postdoc Fellow.
“Human intelligence is still needed to finish the job.”
Without the personnel or capacity to analyze all the photographs taken after every storm, the USGS decided to launch a citizen science project, asking citizens to help identify changes to the coast while also gaining knowledge about coastal hazards.

 USGS determines probabilities of hurricane-induced coastal change for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of our Nation to better inform evacuation, response, preparedness, and mitigation efforts.

The Power of Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing

Analyzing the aerial photographs to identify storm damage will help coastal scientists refine their predictive models of coastal erosion and damage caused by extreme storms.
Currently, these mathematical models are derived from dune elevation and predicted wave action during storms.
Adding the human observations will allow the scientists to validate the models and to provide better predictions of damage before storms occur.

“After an event like Hurricane Sandy there is always a great interest in our photographs,” said Barbara Poore, USGS Research Geographer.
“The USGS iCoast team hopes that people will learn about coastal change and about their personal vulnerabilities to extreme storms.”

 View of Mantoloking, NJ before and after hurricane Sandy
NOAA, Google Maps/Denny Gainer, USA TODAY

Integrating Citizen Science into the Model

Research on storm-induced coastal change hazards provides the data and modeling capabilities to allow the USGS to identify areas of the U.S. coastline that are likely to experience extreme and potentially hazardous erosion during hurricanes or other extreme storms.
To assess coastal vulnerability to extreme storms, the USGS has developed a Storm-Impact Scale to produce Coastal Change Probability estimates.
Hurricane-induced water levels, due to both storm surge and waves, are compared to beach and dune elevations to determine the probabilities of these types of coastal change processes:

1. Beach Erosion occurs when wave runup is confined to the beach.
2. Dune Erosion occurs when the base or toe of the dune is eroded by waves and storm surge.
3. Overwash occurs when sand is transported and deposited landward over the beach and dune by waves and storm surge.
4. Inundation occurs when the beach and dune are completely and continuously submerged by storm surge and wave runup.

Benefits of the USGS iCoast Project

There are scientific, technological, and societal benefits to the iCoast project.
The crowdsourced data from iCoast will enhance predictive modeling of coastal erosion to better inform emergency managers, planners, and residents of coastal vulnerabilities in their regions.

Citizen science projects like iCoast serve the cause of Open Government and Open Data, by sharing USGS aerial imagery with the public.
iCoast can also be a great tool for marine science educators to create interactive and fun lessons related to coastal hazards.

How to Use iCoast: