News from America's Cup defender and challenger

Starfighter ops... foils locked in attack position for Defiant (America Magic)

How not to do it… (Team NZ)

Te Aihe had a slow speed capsize on the Auckland Harbour today.

When it goes over it’s best to get back on the horse (or dolphin) and back into testing.

Earth's magnetic North Pole has officially moved

This map shows the new location of the magnetic North Pole (the white star).
NOAA NCEI/CIRES

From Forbes by Trevor Nace

Earth's magnetic North Pole has drifted so fast that authorities have had to officially redefine the location of the magnetic North Pole.
The extreme wandering of the North Pole caused increasing concerns over navigation, especially in high latitudes.

Earth's magnetic field is known to have wandered and flipped in the geologic past. Earth's magnetic field is a result of spinning molten iron and nickel 1,800 miles below the surface.
As the constant flow of molten metals in the outer core changes over time, it alters the external magnetic field.

What we've seen in the past hundred years is that the location of the magnetic North Pole has moved northward. That migration of the magnetic North Pole was switched into overdrive in the past few years, causing the pole to rapidly move. The increased speed with which the magnetic North Pole has moved prompted authorities to officially update its location. The official location of the magnetic poles is specified by the World Magnetic Model, which acts as the basis for navigation, communication, GPS, etc. around the globe.

The New Location Of Earth's Magnetic North Pole

On Monday, the World Magnetic Model updated their official location of the magnetic north.
The model is typically updated every five years and was last updated in 2015.
However, the recent rapid movement of the magnetic north prompted scientists to update the model early. In the recent past, the magnetic North Pole has moved 34 miles a year toward Russia.
Just a half-century ago, the magnetic North Pole was wandering about 7 miles each year.

Movement of Earth's magnetic pole over time

source : NOAA

Earth's magnetic North Pole is quickly moving from the Canadian Arctic toward Russia.
The model update ensures the accuracy of work in governmental agencies around the world.
Specifically, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Forest Service use the magnetic poles in their daily operations from mapping to air traffic control.
On a more individual level, smartphones use the magnetic north for GPS location and compass apps.

Is Earth's Magnetic Field About To Flip?

While the rapid movement of Earth's magnetic North Pole may cause concern over the potential flip of magnetic poles, there is no evidence that such a flip is imminent.
Geologists can interpret magnetic minerals in rocks around the world to reveal the history of magnetic reversals on Earth.

Earth's magnetic poles have flipped many times in its history, with the latest reversal occurring 780,000 years ago and 183 times in the past 83 million years.
When Earth's magnetic poles do flip, it won't be a catastrophic "end of the world" scenario.
From examining fossil records, there is no evidence that a magnetic field reversal causes increased extinctions, volcanic activity, etc.

However, one big issue will lie in the extensive use our technology relies on the magnetic poles.
A reversal would upend navigation and communication systems around the globe.
Thankfully, a pole reversal in the past typically takes thousands of years to flip.
This will give us ample time to develop mitigating plans.
In reality, when Earth's magnetic field does flip, who knows what planet our descendants will be living on?

Links :

• Interesting Engineering : Earth's Magnetic North Pole Is Hightailing It Toward Siberia
• IBTimes : Magnetic Pole Shift: Research Says Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Moving Toward Russia
• The Verge : The magnetic field near the Arctic is acting weird
• Smithsonian : Magnetic North Is Cruising Toward Siberia, Puzzling Scientists
• GeoGarage blog : World Magnetic Model 2020 / Earth's magnetic field is acting up and ... /
  Earth's magnetic declination / World Magnetic Model updated / Earth's magnetic field shifts / ESA scientists celebrate discovery of weird ... / Magnetic anomalies of the world's largest ... / Earth's magnetic field : lesson from ESA / Turtles use the Earth's magnetic field as a ... /
  Magnetic memories may guide salmon home / Learn to use nautical charts and compass ...

Ancient seawall shows how ancestors tried to cope with rising seas

This village fought sea-level rise 7,000 years ago.

The sea won.

From Reuters by Rami Amichay and Ari Rabinovitch, with additional reporting by Matthew Green

An ancient seawall erected thousands of years ago along the Mediterranean coast at the end of an ice age is the oldest evidence of civilization trying to defend itself against rising sea levels, a team of researchers said on Wednesday.

The 100-meter (yard) wall, built 7,000 years ago out of boulders in what is now northern Israel, was an early attempt by villagers to fend off the perils of a changing climate.

In this case it was in vain.
The Neolithic village was long ago overtaken by the sea as it swelled from glacial melting at the end of the last ice age.
Today the shoreline is much higher and the research was conducted under water.

A map showing the location of the defense wall in Tel Hreiz.

(photo credit: Flinders University)

 

 geolocalization with the GeoGarage platform (NGA nautical raster charts)

All that remains of the wall are some of the boulders, brought by ancient settlers from a riverbed more than a kilometer away, lining the seabed in a pattern that would fit a coastal defense.
“The environmental changes would have been noticeable to people during the lifetime of a settlement across several centuries,” said marine archaeologist Ehud Galili of the University of Haifa.
“Eventually, the accumulating yearly sea level necessitated a human response involving the construction of a coastal protection wall similar to what we’re seeing around the world now,” he said.

The Israeli coast has been populated by a myriad of civilizations over the millennia, many of whose remains are now under water. Marine archaeologists have uncovered countless treasures, including shipwrecks, harbors and dwellings.

The work was conducted by researchers from the University of Haifa, Flinders University in Australia, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University.
It was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

A rocky sea wall meant to protect an ancient farming village now lies drowned off the coast of Israel. E. Galili & J. McCarthy

According to the researchers, sea levels were rising faster when the Neolithic village existed around the end of the Stone Age, up to 7 millimeters a year, than they have so far under contemporary climate change.
“This rate of sea-level rise means the frequency of destructive storms damaging the village would have risen significantly,” said Galili.

 Artifacts from Tel Hreiz. and (B) Stone features in shallow water. (C) Wood posts dug into the seabed. (D) A stone blade. (E) A bowl made of sandstone. (F) A basalt grounding stone. (G) Burial remains. (H) A stone grave. (I) An antler of Mesopotamian fallow deer. (E. Galili/V. Eshed) (Artifacts from Tel Hreiz. A and B Stone features in shallow water. C Wood posts dug into the seabed. D A stone blade. E A bowl made of sandstone. F A basalt grounding stone. G Burial remains. H A stone grave. I An antler of Mesopotamian fallow deer. E. Galili/V. Eshed)

Climate experts say sea levels are rising around 3 millimeters per year now, and the rate is accelerating as global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels causes seas to expand and ice sheets to melt.

A landmark report on oceans by the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found in September that sea levels could rise by one meter (3.3 feet) by 2100 - 10 times the rate in the 20th century - if greenhouse gas emissions keep climbing.
The rise could exceed five meters by 2300.

Links :

• ScienceMag : This 7000-year-old wall was the earliest known defense against rising seas. It failed
• Motherboard : Ancient Humans Tried to Defend Against Rising Seas. They Failed
• JerusalemPost : 7,000-year-old wall against sea level rise uncovered on Carmel Coast  
• Wasgington Post : This village fought sea-level rise 7,000 years ago. The sea won.
• DailyMail : Neolithic seawall constructed 7,000 years ago in Israel is the 'oldest known coastal defence system' against rising sea levels anywhere in the world - and it failed
• Newsweek : Ancient wall to protect neolithic village from sea-level rise 7000 years ago discovered by archaeologists

World Magnetic Model 2020

The World Magnetic Model 2020 (WMM2020) was released December 2019 and can be downloaded.

The file contains the necessary coefficients to upload into systems that require the update.

A full report with more information about the WMM and this update will be published by NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information on their website in early 2020.

The WMM is a joint product of the United States' National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the United Kingdom's Defence Geographic Centre developed jointly by the National Centers for Environmental Information and the British Geological Survey.

The WMM is the standard model used by DoD, NATO, and IHO for a wide range of positional and navigation systems. WMM2020 is valid from December 10, 2019 through December 31, 2024.

From NGA

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey, released the World Magnetic Model 2020 update Dec.10, providing more precise navigational data for all military and civilian planes, ships, submarines and GPS units.

“With the 2020 update to the WMM, we’ve provided significantly better guidance to navigators regarding blackout zones so they know where they can trust their compass and where they should not,” said Mike Paniccia, a geodetic earth scientist and NGA’s WMM program manager.

A compass becomes increasingly unreliable as it gets closer to Earth’s magnetic poles, so NGA has released a new set of blackout zones to aid navigators near the poles.
NGA included shape files of these small regions near the Poles in the WMM 2020 release, so the information can be automatically loaded into navigational systems.
“The Earth’s magnetic field lines become vertical as you approach the poles, so if you were to stand on the magnetic north pole, your compass needle would be trying to break out of your compass and point vertically,” said Paniccia.
“Where this vertical intensity starts to overwhelm the horizontal intensity is where we have drawn the new blackout zones. This gives navigators a clear picture of where on Earth it is safe to trust a compass.”

A compass becomes increasingly unreliable when navigating closer to Earth’s magnetic poles?

The 2020 WMM update displays blackout zones to aid navigators as they near the poles, which can be automatically loaded into navigational systems, providing more precise navigational data for all military and civilian planes, ships, submarines and GPS units.

The WMM is necessary because the Earth’s geographic and magnetic poles do not align, so geomagnetic models like the WMM correct for this difference.

As the Earth’s magnetic field is constantly changing, the difference between geographic and magnetic north also changes, requiring the WMM to be updated every years or as necessary.
If you use GPS to navigate or have ever flown on an airplane, you’re reliant on the World Magnetic Model, said Paniccia.​

1840    

Canada (CHS) layer update in the GeoGarage platform

60 nautical raster charts updated & 2 charts replaced

see GeoGarage news