Government Twists Science of 9/11

Anyone who paid any attention to the claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the Gulf oil spill or the Fukushima nuclear accident knows that the government often twists science to promote certain policy objectives, such as drumming up support for the invasion of Iraq or becoming a booster for nuclear power and big oil (and thus downplaying the damage from nuclear accidents and oil spills).
President’s National Medal of Science winner Lynn Margulis notes that the scientific method is to follow the facts where they lead, to adopt the theory which has themost proof, and to discard theories which are contradicted by the facts.
Margulis says that – in the case of 9/11 – the government has adopted theories which are backed by very little evidence, and refused to look at the most likely theory – the one backed by overwhelming evidence.

New Theory on Towers’ Collapse

Live Science reported last week:

A materials scientist has come up with a more scientific explanation for the mystery booms, and says his model of the Twin Towers collapse leaves no room for conspiracies. “My model explains all the observed features on 11th September: the explosions, molten metal coming out of the window, the time passing between the crash and the collapse, the fact that the explosions took place in a floor below the place it was burning, and the rapid collapse,” Christen Simensen of SINTEF, a research organization in Norway, told Life’s Little Mysteries.
As detailed in the new issue of Aluminum International Today, Simensen argues that molten aluminum from the airplane bodies chemically reacted with water in the buildings’ sprinkler systems, setting off the explosions that felled the Twin Towers. [Did Nostradamus Really Predict the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks?]

When each jet cut its way into a building, it took with it parts of walls and ceilings, Simensen said. Steel bars in those walls would have gashed its fuel tanks, which would have caught fire. With the plane positioned somewhere in the middle of the building, blanketed in debris and with no route for heat to escape, the temperature would have rapidly escalated, reaching 660 degrees Celsius (1,220 degrees Fahrenheit), the melting point of aluminum — of which there was 30 tons in each plane fuselage — within an hour. The molten aluminum would then have heated up further to between 800 and 850 C (1,470 and 1,560 F).
“Then molten aluminum becomes [as liquid as] water and has so much heat that it will flow through cracks in the floor and down to the next floor,” Simensen explained in an email. There was an automatic sprinkler system installed in each ceiling, and it was filled with water. “When huge amount of molten aluminum gets in contact with water, a fierce exothermic reaction will take place, enormous amount of hydrogen is formed and the temperature is locally raised to 1,200 to 1,500 C,” or 2,200 to 2,700 F.
Chaos rapidly ensues: “A series of explosions will take place and a whole floor will be blown to pieces,” he wrote. “Then the top part of the building will fall on the bottom part, and the tower will collapse within seconds.” This is what Simensen believes happened in the two World Trade Center towers.
This isn’t obscure chemistry, Simensen says; the U.S. Aluminum Association has recorded 250 accidental molten aluminum/water explosions worldwide since 1980. “Alcoa in Pittsburgh [the worldwide leader in aluminum production] has done a series of such explosions in special laboratory in order to understand what can prevent such explosions and what are the most dangerous situations,” he wrote. “For instance they let 30 kilograms [66 pounds] of aluminum react with 20 liters [5.3 gallons] of water, which resulted in a large hole 30 meters [98 feet] in diameter, and nothing left of the laboratory.”

Why Do We Need a New Theory?

Simensen’s theory has received wide-spread media attention.
Most of the coverage focuses on the theory having the potential to explain the explosions and sudden collapse of the Twin Towers, and thus to debunk the conspiracy theories that the Twin Towers and World Trade Center Building 7 were brought down by controlled demolition.
But this means that the official explanation for why the trade centers collapsed on 9/11 is inadequate … and doesn’t take into account the explosions or sudden collapse of the 3 buildings. In other words, the very fact that there is such a buzz about this theory shows that many don’t believe the “official” explanation really explains the collapse of the 3 buildings.

The New Theory Contradicts the “Official” Explanation

The “official” explanation assumes that the aluminum from the airplanes which crashed into the Twin Towers formed hundreds of thousands of shotgun-like blasts, pointed in all directions, to which sheared off all the fireproofing in a broad section on several floors.
That would have to happen quickly – before the metal was heated. Instead, Simensen’s theory hinges on the assumption that the aluminum from the planes cascaded down all at once – causing explosions when it hit water.

Not the First Novel Theory

As I noted in 2008, this is not the first novel theory about the collapse:

First it was the “new phenomenon” of “thermal expansion”.
Now, Sergei Dudarev, of the UK Atomic Energy Agency, says the Twin Towers collapsed due to “unusual magnetic forces“.
Specifically, as described by the BBC, Mr. Dudarev argues that:

“The peak in this pliability is at 911.5C, but begins at much lower temperatures, at around 500C (932F) - a temperature often reached during building fires.
The steel backbone of the Twin Towers was probably exposed to temperatures close to this, when insulating panels – meant to protect the buildings’ structural frame – were dislodged by the impacts of the hijacked planes.
The roaring fire mid-way up the building heated the steel struts, and once temperatures rose above 500C the structure became elastic, and collapsed under the force of the floors above.”

Is he right?
Well, as noted in Appendix A of The World Trade Center Building Performance Study:

In the mid-1990s British Steel and the Building Research Establishment performed a series of six experiments at Cardington to investigate the behavior of steel-framed buildings. These experiments were conducted in a simulated, eight-story building. Secondary steel beams were not protected. Despite the temperature of the steel beams reaching 800-900 C (1,500-1,700 F) in three of the tests (well above the traditionally assumed critical temperature of 600 C (1,100 F), no collapse was observed in any of the six experiments.

And Underwriters Laboratories tested the steel components at the Twin Towers and found they could withstand fires for hours without failure:

“NIST contracted with Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. to conduct tests to obtain information on the fire endurance of trusses like those in the WTC towers…. All four test specimens sustained the maximum design load for approximately 2 hours without collapsing… The Investigation Team was cautious about using these results directly in the formulation of collapse hypotheses. In addition to the scaling issues raised by the test results, the fires in the towers on September 11, and the resulting exposure of the floor systems, were substantially different from the conditions in the test furnaces. Nonetheless, the [empirical test] results established that this type of assembly was capable of sustaining a large gravity load, without collapsing, for a substantial period of time relative to the duration of the fires in any given location on September 11.” (NIST, 2005, p. 140).

Other fire tests have also failed to cause failures, collapses or “unusual magnetic forces” at high temperatures.
[And no previous office fires - even ones which burned much hotter and much longer - caused the collapse of a modern steel-framed building]
The 2005 Madrid skyscraper fire “reached 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 F), said Javier Sanz, head of Madrid firefighter” (see pictures here), and lasted some 20 hours. Indeed, the fires in the Twin Towers were much cooler than many office fires, as indicated by the color of the flames and the black smoke pouring out of the windows.
As Steve Watson notes:

We have previously pointed to the innumerable number of buildings that have suffered roaring fires across the majority of their floors for hours and remained standing. Seemingly the steel beams in these buildings were not subjected to the same “unusual magnetic forces”.

Furthermore, a far more extensive fire occurred in WTC 1 itself, prior to enhanced fireproofing of the building, on February 13, 1975. The fire burned at much higher temperatures for three hours and spread over six floors, including 65% of the 11th floor and the building core, yet it caused no significant damage to the steel structure and no trusses had to be replaced. There were no “unusual magnetic forces” present on that day.

***

Furthermore, referring to the collapses, the original NIST report concluded that ‘the existing condition of the fireproofing prior to aircraft impact and the fireproofing thickness on the WTC floor system did not play a significant role’”.

Any “thermal expansion” at the World Trade Center was not a new phenomenon, but something that building designers and fire safety engineers have taken into account for decades if not hundreds of years.
Likewise, any “magnetic forces” at the WTC should have been less severe than those present in fire safety tests and actual office building fires, which have never before led to complete collapses. Indeed, despite the apparently advanced science which Mr. Dudarev hints at, he actually admits this is nothing new:

“He said blacksmiths had exploited this property for hundreds of years”.22*

Is the New Theory Right?

So the previous “novel” theories didn’t pan out. But what about Simensen’s new theory?
Initially, Simensen admits that the new theory doesn’t explain the destruction of World Trade Center building 7, which wasn’t hit by an airplane and which suffered only minor fires before mysteriously falling on 9/11.
And the above-quoted Live Science article notes:

Simensen’s new collapse model has not gained immediate acceptance by proponents of earlier models.
“Occam’s Razor says that the simplest explanation is usually the best,” said Thomas Eagar, a materials scientist at MIT who has also studied the fall of the towers. “I do not see any merit to this new, more-complex explanation.
***
Eagar also objects to the notion that the aluminum, if it did melt, would definitely have reacted with the water it encountered. Most of the time when water is sprayed on molten aluminum, “there is no explosion because the water turns to steam and excludes the oxygen, preventing the growth of the combustion,” he said.
***
Roughly 1,600 architects and structural engineers across the country, who have banded together in a group called “Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth,” say it does not fully account for the buildings’ collapses. With so many people looking for answers, Simensen’s alternative theory is likely to receive further attention and study.

Moreover, while Simensen talks about explosions at or below the level of the planes, there is credible eyewitness testimony of explosives well above the floor hit by the planes:

• The Chief of NY Fire Department (Citywide Tour Commander) said “there was what appeared to be at first an explosion. It appeared at the very top, simultaneously from all four sides, materials shot out horizontally. And then there seemed to be a momentary delay before you could see the beginning of the collapse” (page 4)

• A police officer stated “you would hear a loud boom go off at the top of tower one. As the building continued to burn and emergency equipment kept on responding stirring up the dust and debris in the streets. After approximately 15 minutes suddenly there was another loud boom at the upper floors, then there was a series of smaller explosions which appeared to go completely around the building at the upper floors. And another loud earth-shattering blast with a large fire ball which blew out more debris and at that point everyone began to run north on West Broad Street.” (page 5, which is page 2 of a hand-written memorandum)(

• The Chief of the NY Fire Department (Citywide Tour Commander) said “there was what appeared to be at first an explosion. It appeared at the very top, simultaneously from all four sides, materials shot out horizontally. And then there seemed to be a momentary delay before you could see the beginning of the collapse” (page 4)

• A paramedic captain stated “somewhere around the middle of the world trade center there was this orange and red flash coming out initially it was just one flash then this flash just kept popping all the way around the building and that building had started to explode the popping sound and with each popping sound it was initially an orange and then red flash came out of the building and then it would just go all around the building on both sides as far as could see these popping sounds and the explosions were getting bigger going both up and down and then all around the building”

Simensen’s theory can’t explain these explosions. (See hundreds of extra eyewitness statements here and here)
In addition, scientists say that the lower section of the Twin Towers was designed to support several times the weight of the upper block, that the upper section of the North Tower did not, in fact, crush the lower portion, and that the crushing theory is even more improbable with the South Tower.
And peer-reviewed scientific papers claim that military-grade explosive materials known as nano-thermate were found in the rubble and dust from the World Trade Center. See this and this.
Michael Rivero argues:

“The reaction [Simensen] is talking about is one in which hot aluminum will ‘steal’ oxygen from water, leaving hydrogen gas. There are two problems with this theory, of course.

The first is the hydrogen gas is very light and floats upward even faster than helium. The ruins of the World Trade Towers were ‘porous’ and as the smoke trails prove, there was a strong wind from the side. This means that hydrogen could not collect together anywhere in any amounts enough to cause an explosion, certainly not down in the basements, where some explosions were reported.
Second, even under the most ideal of circumstances of perfect mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, impossible in the natural atmosphere and under those conditions, hydrogen may burn fast but does not detonate. Recall the destruction of the Hindenburg. Huge fire, no ‘bang.’
So this latest official ‘explanation’ is a desperate attempt to reconcile eyewitness reports and video recordings of explosions (like the one that initiates the collapse of building 7) with the rapidly collapsing official story.
***
Finally, given that aluminum is a rather common building material, why have we not seen such water and aluminum explosions before or since 9-11?”

And officials admit that the fires in the Twin Towers were not very hot, and yet dozens of firemen, structural engineers and emergency responders say that they saw molten steel in the rubble of the World Trade Center for months after 9/11, even though it was sprayed with enormous quantities of water. Steel melts at a much higher temperature than aluminum, and the government admits that the fires were not hot enough to have melted the steel (and a professor emeritus of physics has shown that the collapss of the buildings could not have melted the steel).
So how does a government spokesman explain the molten steel? He denies its existence:


This shows once again that the government is twisting the science around 9/11 to meet it s policy objectives.
The introduction of novel theory after novel theory to explain what many top structural engineers, mechanical engineers, architects and physicists say can only be a controlled demolition shows the desperation of the government to explain away the most probable hypothesis.
And see this.
Note: This essay is not necessarily arguing that controlled demolition brought down 3 buildings on 9/11. It is, however, arguing that – just as with Iraq, the Gulf oil spill, and Fukushima, wild-eyed scientific theories are being promoted which have no basis in fact, and the most likely hypotheses are not being examined by the govern

Coast Guard honors Sitka woman for 1950 sea rescue

More than 60 years after helping rescue a shipwreck survivor in stormy seas, a Sitka woman was honored this month by the U.S. Coast Guardand Alaska State Troopers.

Marie Laws received the commendations in a Sept. 9 ceremony at Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. The two other participants in the 1950 rescue, Laws' sister Betty Mork and rescue boat skipper Thomas Allain, were honored posthumously.

Laws, whose maiden name is Mork, and the two others received the Meritorious Service Award, the second highest honor bestowed on civilians by the U.S. Coast Guard. It is given for showing "unusual courage in advancing a Coast Guard mission," individual accomplishments that benefit the public, or a contribution that produces tangible results.

Laws was 13, living in Pelican with her family, at the time of the rescue Nov. 17 and 18, 1950. She said she never expected to receive any recognition for the trio's rescue of Helvig "Chris" Christensen, a hunter who had been stranded on Yakobi Rock for two days when found.

"We went to help our neighbors," Laws said at the ceremony. "Who knew 60 years later someone would make such a fuss?"

Norm Carson, a retired Alaska State Trooper living in Pelican, tells the story in a book he published earlier this year, "Courage & Death on the Gulf of Alaska: Saga of the F/V Dixie." After finishing the book Carson brought the dramatic story to the attention of the Coast Guard and the Troopers, suggesting awards by those agencies to recognize the rescuers' courage.

The author's son, Kyle Carson, also a state trooper, presented the state citation to Laws at the Friday ceremony. It is signed by Commissioner of Public Safety Joseph Masters.

The Coast Guard citation recounts the rescue story, starting on Nov. 15, 1950, when Christensen, Fred Wetche and Wetche's 14-year-old son Fred Jr. were returning to their home in Pelican after a hunting trip aboard Wetche's 40-foot troller Dixie.

The boat lost power in stormy seas as it attempted to round Cape Bingham on the north end of Yakobi Island. The boat was swept onto the rocks and broke up.

Of the three, only Christensen survived, by clinging to a handhold on Yakobi Rock.

On the night of Nov. 17, another Pelican resident, Tom Allain, 34, learned that the Dixie was overdue and invited Betty and Marie Mork, 15 and 13 at the time, to help search for the missing hunters. The Mork sisters, who were related to Allain's wife, had accepted a ride with Allain on his boat from Pelican to the tiny settlement of Sunnyside, a couple of miles north of Pelican, where they planned to visit their sister's family.

"The unlikely rescue party set off in a 32-foot fishing boat to an area where the Dixie was known to have been operating north of Pelican ..." the citation said. In the early hours of Nov. 18 they searched around the north end of Yakobi Island, without the aid of communications or modern navigation equipment, using a signal whistle to alert possible survivors.

Before reaching the rescue site, Allain's boat struck a submerged reef, "putting two holes in the hull and causing significant mechanical damage," the citation said. But they continued their search.

"In close to impossible conditions, they heard a call for help from Helvig Christensen," the Coast Guard said. "Fighting freezing gale force winds, Tom Allain launched a skiff and rowed to recover Helvig, while Betty and Marie fought to keep the vessel afloat using the manual bilge pump and maneuvering the vessel in the steep swells to avoid the treacherous rocks."

Christensen was brought aboard Allain's boat, and Betty and Marie provided first aid while continuing to pump water from the damaged boat to stay afloat.

They arrived back in Pelican at daybreak Nov. 18. Christensen, who was in critical condition, was flown by Alaska Coastal Airlines to the hospital in Juneau.

"The actions of Tom Allain, Betty Mork and Marie Mork are heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard," the citation states.

The courage of the three rescuers was first recognized in 1951 when all three were awarded medals by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Marie was a student at Sheldon Jackson Schoolwhen she received her medal.

In "Courage & Death on the Gulf of Alaska," Carson writes that Laws did not know of the award before it was presented to her at a school assembly.

"Mr. Wooster, the principal, opened the assembly and announced, 'We have a hero in our midst,' ... I wanted to slide under a table or desk," Laws is quoted as saying in the book.

Carson writes that "true to her modest character, she was overwhelmed by the experience."

In Sitka, where Laws has lived for many years, she is well-known as an artist and weaver.

Carson's book is for sale at Murray Pacific and the Sitka Historical Society and Museum.

___

Information from: Daily Sitka Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/

Everest's ice is retreating as climate change grips the Himalayas

Glacier AX010 in Shorong, Nepali Himalayas. AX has shrunk by 0.81 metres respectively per year in the 2000s, up from 0.68 and 0.72 metres per year between 1970 and 1990, according to Koji Fujita at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies in Nagoya University in Japan. Photograph: Koji Fujita/Nagoya University


Climate change is altering the face of the Himalayas but research seeking to confirm this is yet to catch up with the mountain communities sounding the alarm. After an 18-day trek with scientists, Suzanne Goldenberg finds the warning signs hard to ignore

The climb to Everest base camp is a journey into a monochrome world, a landscape reduced to rock, ice and grey sky. The only spots of colour are the bright, domed tents of the few climbing teams willing to attempt the summit in the off-season.

There are no birds, no trees, just the occasional chunks of glacier splashing into pools of pale green meltwater like ice cubes in some giant exotic drink. The stillness suggests nothing has changed for decades, but Tshering Tenzing Sherpa, who has been in charge of rubbish collection at base camp for the past few years, remains uneasy. "Everything is changing with the glaciers. All these crevasses have appeared in the ice. Before, base camp was flat, and it was easy to walk," he said.

Climbers had reported that they barely needed crampons for the climb, there was so much bare rock, Tenzing said. That's not how it was in Edmund Hillary's day. Tenzing pointed towards the Khumbu ice fall – the start of the climb, and part of a 16km stretch of ice that forms the largest glacier in Nepal. "Before, when you looked out, it was totally blue ice, and now it is black rock on top," he said. He's convinced the changes have occurred in months – not years, or even decades, but during the brief interval of the summer monsoon. "This year it's totally changed," he said.

This much is known: climate change exists, it is man-made, and it is causing many glaciers to melt across the Himalayas. Beyond that, however, much is unclear or downright confusing.

For that, scientists blame a blunder in a United Nations report that was presented as the final word on climate change. The 2007 report – which included the false claim that the Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 – probably did more to set back science, and delay government action on climate change, than any other event. The scandal, known as Glaciergate or Himalayagate, was a gift to climate-change deniers when it came to light early last year, and a deep embarrassment to glaciologists. Now they are desperately trying to recover.

Mention melting and Himalayas to almost any glacier expert working in the region, and they will instantly plead for caution: please do not repeat the mistake of thinking all the ice will be gone in the next few decades. "It was just nonsense," said Alton Byers, the scientific director of the Mountain Institute. "It's absolutely staggering when you look at some of those high mountains. They are frozen solid, at minus 15 or 20 degrees, and they are going to remain that way."

At lower elevations, it's a different scenario, Byers acknowledged. Low-lying glaciers are melting, and far more rapidly in the past 10 or 15 years than in previous decades, scouring out new landscapes and creating a whole new realm of natural disasters for countries that are some of the poorest on Earth.

I accompanied the Mountain Institute and 32 scientists and engineers from more than 13 countries on an expedition looking into some of the new hazards.

After flying to the Nepali town of Lukla – landing in an airport partly built by Edmund Hillary – the 18-day trek took us to Everest base camp and to Imja lake to look at a prime potential danger of climate change in the mountains: catastrophic, high-altitude floods. Melting ice turns to glacial lakes which grow in size until – one day – they risk rupturing their banks, spewing out rocks and debris. Such outbursts can kill, and they almost always invariably destroy infrastructure and land, burying fields in several metres of rubble.

That's seen as the biggest potential hazard. There are more than 1,600 glacial lakes in Nepal alone, of which about a half dozen are considered very dangerous. But glacier loss could also destabilise mountainsides or devastate water supplies. Some of Asia's mightiest rivers – the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra – depend to some extent on seasonal glacier melt. In Pakistan, the Indus river system derives between 60% and 80% of its flow from summer melt, according to Amjad Masood of Islamabad's Global Change Impact Studies Centre. In Uzbekistan, half of the rivers in the Tashkent area rely on water from glaciers, said Maxim Petrov, head of glaciology at the Academy of Sciences.

The problem is people who live with the mountains are already convinced their landscape is changing, and have given up on waiting for scientists to confirm it. Local people say they can see evidence of climate change everywhere: trees growing higher up mountain slopes, houseflies buzzing at 5,000m, monsoon rains arriving at inconvenient times.

Some see the hand of divine retribution. Kancha Sherpa, the sole surviving member of Hillary's expedition, believes the melting glaciers are a punishment for defiling nature. Now 79, he spends his time in the main town of Namche Bazaar in a room painted pale pink and lined with pictures of past expeditions. "I believe the gods reside in the mountain, and now with all the mountains being climbed they have been polluted. I believe God is not happy with all the people climbing in the hundreds."

Birendra Kandel, a conservation officer at the Sagamartha national park, which includes Everest, argues that animals are already roaming beyond their typical ranges. A few years ago, on a field trip, he spotted a common leopard prowling well into snow leopard heights. He assumed it was climate change. "The species are on the move," he said.

Others are also convinced familiar landscapes are changing before their eyes, and that the cause is global warming. Not far from Everest, tucked into the mountains at about 5,050m, near the village of Lobuche, there's a three-storey glass pyramid that looks like it belongs on the set of an Austin Powers movie.

It's a high-altitude research station run by an Italian organisation dedicated to research on the Himalayas. Earlier this year, crews from the pyramid, as it is usually known, strapped on crampons and installed a weather station on the south col of Everest at about 8,000m. There are plans to go even higher next spring, placing a weather station on the summit itself.

The data from the south col, on temperature, air quality and ozone levels, has just started coming in. Ka Bista, a Nepali staffer who mans the pyramid when the Italians are back in Europe, says the changes are evident right now. "Since the last five or 10 years before and now, there are many differences in the glaciers. Before you could see ice," Bista said, pointing to the bare black rock visible through the pyramid. "Yearly the snow is melting and going further up the mountain, and the temperature is also going up." Winters have also grown milder, he said. In 2006, typical February temperatures were minus 23 or 24 celsius. This past February it was almost balmy in comparison, Bista said, at minus 17 or 18 degrees.

The changes are disorienting for local people, Bista said. "Ten years ago a trekking guide could tell you the name of every mountain, but now they are all completely black and the guides can't recognise their names."

What became clear on the Mountain Institute expedition, however, was the disconnection between such personal experiences and the scientific process. People living in the mountains say they can see signs of climate change. Climbers who have scaled Everest say they can see evidence of climate change.

The problem is that it is immeasurably harder to produce conclusive scientific documentation of those changes – which glaciers are melting and how fast? — and Himalayagate has made scientists especially cautious.

Put simply, the region is just too big, and too remote. Between them the mountains of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, Karakorams, Pamirs and Tien Shan store more ice than anywhere outside the north and south poles. There are believed to be about 15,000 glaciers across the Himalayas – 3,800 or so in Nepal alone, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in Kathmandu.

But even that number should not be taken as gospel, according to Dorothea Stumm, of Icimod. Scientists can't even agree on which mountain ranges should be included in the count. "Currently it is safer to talk about several tens of thousands of glaciers instead of a specific number," Stumm wrote in an email.

Then, there is the question of size. "How big does an ice patch need to be to be called a glacier?" said Stumm. Smaller ones might not even show up on low-resolution satellite images. And how do you count a bigger glacier that has split into two smaller blocks of ice? And it's not as if scientists can just pop out for an afternoon and measure some of the large glaciers in the Himalayas. The Khumbu glacier, which runs alongside Everest, is a good eight or nine days' walk from the nearest airport at Lukla. The glaciers of Bhutan are even further removed, and the Siachen glacier is an actual battlefield, with India and Pakistan maintaining troops there at 6,000m.

"Himalayan glaciers are much more remote," said Andreas Kaab of the University of Oslo, who was not on the expedition. "From Zurich you take the train a few hours, you take a cable car and there you are at the glacier and you take your measurements," he said.

The result, according to Byers, is a big knowledge gap. Scientists have access to satellite images of the Himalayas, but compared with other regions, such as the Andes or the Alps, there is relatively little on-the-ground research. Satellite imagery only gives a partial picture; it can reveal a glacier shrinking in length, but it gives little indication of whether the ice is thinning. In addition, record-keeping on glaciers and temperatures got under way relatively late in Nepal.

"It's pretty much a vacuum, the Himalayas," Byers said. "The Alps and Andes are well studied. I think they have a good database on glaciers there. The Himalayas, in terms of these sorts of studies – there are fewer than elsewhere In the Himalayas for reasons of logistics, hardship and altitude there still hasn't been a whole lot of detailed field work done, on-the-ground field work."

Nevertheless, some definitive patterns are emerging. In Nepal, south-facing glaciers, especially at lower elevations below about 5,000m, are thinning and growing shorter at a rapid rate. Some – especially the glaciers that are relatively clear of debris — have already disappeared.

Those glaciers covered in a sufficiently thick mask of grit and rock have a better chance. If the covering is thick enough, say greater than a metre, the layer of rocks and debris acts like an insulation blanket, preserving the glacier from more rapid warming. A thin coating seems to have the opposite effect, however, absorbing the sun's rays, and speeding the melting process.

But even the greatest glaciers, such as Khumbu, are in retreat. On the way up to base camp, the signs seem evident in the small ponds now forming on the surface. "There are a lot of things on the surface of the Khumbu glacier. It is a sign of degradation," said Petrov. "Of course, this glacier is not degrading so intensely as smaller glaciers, but if you compare the old glacier 40 or 50 years ago with the glaciers of today, then it is retreating."

So where does that leave the Himalayan glaciers? Will there still be glaciers in the big ice repository a generation from now? Probably, but don't count on it for much longer than that, Byers said. "Your grandkids are going to go up there and see glaciers. I just don't believe in this scenario of all that ice being gone in the next 30 years or so."

But he added: "If you are looking really long-term, say 100 or 200 years from now, at current warming trends I would say that the outlook is not good, not good at all."

King of kayaks marks 30 years

Brian Henry paddles in the waters near his store, Ocean River Sports. Henry says the paddlesports centre gets at least 1,000 new kayakers onto the water each year.

Brian Henry's Ocean River Sports brings legions to great outdoors

Over the last 30 years, Brian Henry has lost track of the number of people he's put on the water.

But the 59-year-old owner of Ocean River Sports has no intention of backing away from getting people hooked on water adventure anytime soon.

Sure, after three decades of outfitting the Lower Island with the gear and the boats to take on the Pacific Ocean, Henry is looking at spending more of his own time paddling and relaxing, but he's clearly as energized and enthusiastic about his business as he was when he started in 1981.

"I have always said if you live on Vancouver Island and don't own a kayak, well, it's like living on a ski hill and not owning skis," said Henry. "I mean look out your door, go for a drive, it's all right there."

Henry is as much an advocate for the great outdoors - the company tagline is "getting you out there since 1981" - as he is a businessman, and he loves the fact that at least 1,000 newbies get onto the water each year through his store, which not only offers the gear but also courses and tours.

"Our mission is to give people an extraordinary experience," he said.

That's what spurred him into action in the early 1980s.

Henry, a sheet-metal mechanic uninterested in returning to his apprenticeship and with a strong bent for adventure and travel, opened a tiny store in Market Square in 1981 selling kayaks sourced from Vancouver and Seattle.

As he looks back on that time now, it was about finding work that suited his passions. But it also turned into an outlet for the skills honed after nine years working with his hands.

Henry recalled thinking he could improve upon the quality of the boats they were bringing in to sell, and in 1982 he partnered with Campbell Black to start Current Designs, which soon took off as an entity with Black fabricating Henry's designs.

"Current Designs went crazy," said Henry of what drove the early growth of Ocean River. "We had 75 people working for us and we were producing more composite [fibreglass and kevlar sea kayaks] boats than any manufacturer in the world."

Current Designs operated at various locations in Victoria, including the building that now houses Canoe Brew Pub, and Henry said they were seeing growth between 30 and 40 per cent annually and having trouble keeping up with demand.

In 1999, Current Designs was sold to Minnesotabased Wenonah Canoe, and in 2004 it left Victoria, eliminating 70 jobs. "That broke my heart," said Henry, who understood the move, but still found it difficult to watch them load the truck and drive it off the Island.

As for selling, it gave Henry the chance to focus on Ocean River, which had "kind of idled and rumbled away in the background."

"It was a hard transition," he said, noting he went from playing on a global stage to focusing on a local specialty store.

But he brought his energy and enthusiasm to it and established a threepronged attack - retail, courses and tours. It has kept Ocean River vibrant and, in a unique twist, has allowed it to create its own market.

"We don't just hang a shingle and say 'come and buy our gear.' We kind of make our customers," he said. "And we become our own little nucleus if we do it right."

That is to say people taking an Ocean River kayak tour, often buy their gear from Ocean River and bone up on their skills by taking Ocean River courses.

"And we've built that up over a long period of time . it's been pretty slow growth, but good growth," said Henry.

The company, housed since 2001 in a 6,500-squarefoot waterfront building on Store Street with a dock, now has 26 employees.

He's also started to break down perceived barriers that the store is for kayak-

ers only by marketing products that suit the West Coast weather, lifestyle and anyone who lives or visits here.

The company has also been breaking down barriers that have kept people from trying kayaking or canoeing. "I think people think it will be more difficult than it is, and it's up to us to change that," he said.

Ocean River has all kinds of groups in for courses and all kinds of age groups, including kayakers and paddle-boarders in their 80s and 90s. "Who am I to say anyone is too old?" Henry said.

Still Henry is aware he is getting older and is starting to look at options.

"I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. I love partnering and maybe there's somebody that comes in with good, young energy to revitalize things," he said. "I have a lot of energy but I have lots of things [happening as well]."


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/travel/King+kayaks+marks+years/5453331/story.html#ixzz1YrwjnOE6

Findings Show Astronauts Likely To Go Blind On A Trip To Mars

A new report from NASA shows that astronauts on extended missions to the International Space Station are suffering seriously blurred vision.

The problem is so extreme that special eyeglasses have been installed on the station to help the afflicted.

One NASA survey says 30% of space shuttle astronauts on missions of two-weeks or less suffered blurred vision, while 60% of those on board the space station for six-months reported diminished sight.

The condition is thought to be caused by an increase of spinal-fluid pressure on the head and eyes during periods of little or no  gravity, but the exact cause remains unknown.

NASA is now forced to admit that a multi-year trip to Mars could blind astronauts, and it's treating the problem as one more very large obstacle to a manned Mars mission.

While improvement back on earth is reported by some, many never recover, and fail to re-qualify for subsequent flights.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/findings-show-astronauts-likely-to-go-blind-on-a-trip-to-mars-2011-9#ixzz1YajSrz7H

British adventurer Dave Cornthwaite completes record-breaking Mississippi River expedition

Dave Cornthwaite prepares to continue his journey from the under the Sunshine Bridge.

British adventurer Dave Cornthwaite, 31, has continued his record-breaking career with the first unsupported descent of the Mississippi by Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP). His 2404-mile journey is a new distance record by SUP, and it is the first time a non-American has held the record.

The 82-day journey, which began on the June 19, raised charitable funds for the AV Foundation and CoppaFeel, and widened awareness for water conservation through the Blue Climate and Oceans Project, for which Cornthwaite is an Ambassador. It is estimated that Cornthwaite took more than 1.3 million strokes this summer, in over 485 hours of paddling.

Cornthwaite, who crossed Australia on a skateboard in 2006, breaking the world record for the longest distance ever skated, has now completed four journeys in his Expedition1000 project. The author and motivational speaker from London, England, is attempting to raise £1,000,000 for charity by undertaking 25 separate journeys of 1,000 miles or more, each one using a different form of non-motorised transport.

Among his remaining 21 journeys is riding a horse across Mongolia, paragliding 1000 miles along the Himalayas in Nepal, a row from Perth to Mauritius across the Indian Ocean and a ski to the South Pole.

Cornthwaite became an unwitting media celebrity during his Mississippi journey, appearing on numerous newspaper front pages and several TV shows. His journey was likened to ‘Forrest Gump on a Stand Up Paddleboard’ as he was joined on the water by hundreds of locals, and he has earned the nickname ‘Stand Up Huck’, after the popular Mark Twain character, Huckleberry Finn.

Cornthwaite faced numerous challenges on his journey, including Tropical Storm Lee, alligators, bears, mosquitos, whirlpools, snakes, ocean-going ships and giant barges. His exploits have been chronicled online in videos, blogs and photographs on a daily basis, allowing tens of thousands of people to follow the journey from comfort of their own homes.

Cornthwaite said on completion of his paddle: “The Mississippi River is one of the most iconic waterways in the world, what an education to have seen every inch of it. The experience has helped me grow as much as the river did, and the wonderful generosity I’ve received from Americans on the way has made this 

journey what it is."

Photo by Michael Tortorich

Russian ship off for Pacific expedition

The Russian sailing ship Nadezhda has set sail from Vladivostok to San Francisco today for a one-year expedition across the Pacific Ocean in honor of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok in 2012.

The crew of the ship includes 90 students and a number of teachers.

During the expedition, the ship will call at 15 ports.

In November, it is expected in Honolulu for hosting a symbolic ceremony for Vladivostok to take over from Honolulu as the host city of the next Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Nadezhda has carried out dozens of expeditions and won several international regattas.

PROJECT SHIPHUNT - Oceans of Treasure Gameplay Video Trailer

http://www.Sony.com/Shiphunt

Project Shiphunt: Oceans of Treasure Gameplay Trailer

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BOOK - Essentials of Sea Survival by Michael Tipton, PhD

Each year, 140,000 water related deaths occur worldwide. These deaths are rarely true
“accidents,” because most maritime incidents are caused by lack of preparedness. If you
frequently participate in aquatic activities, have you stopped to consider the nature of the
threat confronting you? What steps can you take to improve your chances of surviving in the
water or on a survival craft? Is your knowledge of the basic principles sufficient to enable you
to adapt, improvise, and survive?

Reading Essentials of Sea Survival prepares you to avoid disaster, even in the worstcase
scenario. The book is a compelling, informative, and comprehensive guide to openwater
survival. Drawing on historical anecdotes as well as published scientific research, it
examines the nature of the many threats confronting the survivor at sea and outlines, in lay
terms, the methods you can use to prevent or minimize the dangers.

Authors Frank Golden and Michael Tipton are internationally recognized experts in coldwater
survival. In Essentials of Sea Survival they explain the scientific reasoning behind much of
the conventional teaching on openwater survival, dispel many misconceptions about how
and why people die at sea, and provide up to date information on sustained survival in cold
water. The lessons they teach are drawn from classic maritime disasters and personal
accounts of nearmiraculous survival, as well as carefully controlled laboratory experiments.

The first half of the book deals predominantly with the physiological and behavioral responses to cold, immersion, and drowning. The second half addresses techniques for survival and rescue, either in the water or in a lifeboat. You’ll find
• detailed explanations of hypothermia, cold shock, drowning, and near drowning;
• wellresearched information on the physiological responses to shortand long term immersion and exposure;
• a commonsense approach to life jacket, flotation device, and survival gear selection; and
• step-by-step explanations of how to safely abandon ship, board a life craft, dispense water and rations, divide duties, conserve energy and strength, and proceed with a successful rescue.

Essentials of Sea Survival is a fascinating blend of historical anecdote, scientific fact, and
practical application. Historical examples put the scientific content into real life context, making it understandable and memorable. You’ll also appreciate the easily accessible chapter summaries and recommendations, helpful glossary of terms, and list of references for those who want even more information on the subject.

No other book offers the scope and depth you’ll find in Essentials of Sea Survival. Scientists and academic audiences will find the technical research of interest, and recreational water sport participants will enjoy the real life scenarios as well as the practical advice on how to endure the elements at sea. Essentials of Sea Survival gives you a comprehensive and practical understanding of the dangers you face so that you can construct an informed survival strategy and maximize your chance of openwater survival should disaster strike.

Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction: A Catalogue of Disaster
Chapter 2 The Problems the Body Faces in a Survival
Chapter 3 Behavioural Thermoregulation
Chapter 4 Initial and Short term Immersion
Chapter 5 Drowning and Neardrowning
Chapter 6 Hypothermia
Chapter 7 Survival Time in Cold Water
Chapter 8 Necessities for Sustained Survival: Water and Food
Chapter 9 Castaways: Survival in an Open Boat or Lifecraft

August 31, 2011 - Paragliding the Outer Hebrides

http://www.offshoreodysseys.com/potw/?potw_id=88



Location: Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Photo by: Jody MacDonald

On one of our trips in the Outer Hebrides this July we had nearly perfect conditions for flying nearly every day. We kept going from one anchorage to the next, hiking up a few minutes and hucking off one insane spot after another, but this one was really over the top. In this photo near the north end of Barra, pilot Bruce Marks is flying Gavin's Niviuk Arctik 2 out over the ocean as Gavin and I were flying directly over him. To get paragliding shots it's easier for me to fly tandem rather than solo so I can focus on getting the composure right while Gavin focuses on keeping us aloft. This was a memorable flight!

Be First - Kitesurfing in Mozambique

http://www.offshoreodysseys.com/

Marad Advisory (2011-05) to Mariners: Risk to Vessels Transiting High Risk Waters

1. THIS MARAD ADVISORY PROVIDES INFORMATION ON THE RISK TO VESSELS TRANSITING THE HIGH RISK WATERS (HRW) OF THE GULF OF ADEN (GOA), RED SEA, INDIAN OCEAN, ARABIAN SEA AND WATERS OFF THE HORN OF AFRICA (SOMALIA).

2. THIS ADVISORY WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THE MARAD WEB SITE AT WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV UNDER THE HORN OF AFRICA PIRACY PORTAL AND ON THE US COAST GUARD HOMEPORT SITE AT HOMEPORT.USCG.MIL/PIRACY. OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION IS ALSO POSTED ON THESE WEB SITES.

3. U.S.-FLAG OPERATORS WITH SHIPS IN THE AFFECTED AREAS ARE REQUESTED TO FORWARD THIS ADVISORY TO THEIR SHIPS BY THE MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS.

4. U.S.- FLAG SHIPS OPERATING IN HRW ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLY WITH US COAST GUARD MARITIME SECURITY (MARSEC) DIRECTIVE 104-6 (CURRENT VERSION). POC IS LCDR JAMES FOGLE, US COAST GUARD, AT 202-372-1038 OR JAMES.T.FOGLE@USCG.MIL. NONE OF THE GUIDANCE IN THIS NOTICE IS MEANT TO SUPERSEDE MARSEC DIRECTIVE 104-6 (CURRENT VERSION) OR SUPPORTING PORT SECURITY ADVISORIES.

5. PIRATES ARE ATTACKING VESSELS, INCLUDING YACHTS AND OTHER NON COMMERCIAL VESSELS – SUCH AS SAILBOATS , IN THE GULF OF ADEN, ARABIAN SEA, INDIAN OCEAN, SOUTHERN RED SEA, AND MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL. PIRATES ARE FIRING AUTOMATIC WEAPONS AND ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADES (RPG) IN AN ATTEMPT TO BOARD AND HIJACK VESSELS. IF AN ATTACK IS SUCCESSFUL AND THE VESSEL IS HIJACKED, PIRATES DIRECT VESSELS TO THE SOMALI COAST AND THEREAFTER DEMAND RANSOM FOR THE SAFE RELEASE OF VESSELS AND CREW. PIRATES USE HIJACKED FISHING AND MERCHANT VESSELS TO CONDUCT PIRACY OPERATIONS AS MOTHER VESSELS TO SAIL FAR FROM THE SOMALI COAST TO ATTACK AND HIJACK VESSELS IN TRANSIT OR AT ANCHOR. SMALLER SKIFFS ARE LAUNCHED FROM THE PIRATE MOTHER VESSEL TO ATTACK TARGETED VESSELS.

6. RECENT ATTACKS IN THE SOUTHERN RED SEA AND TO A SHIP AT ANCHOR IN OMAN SHOULD SERVE TO WARN ALL VESSELS OPERATING IN THE HRW THAT THE PIRATES HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO ADAPT TO SHIP PROTECTION MEASURES. THE TRANSITION BETWEEN MONSOON SEASONS BETWEEN OCT THRU NOV WILL BE MORE FAVORABLE FOR PIRATE SKIFF ATTACKS. MASTERS AND OPERATORS SHOULD ANTICIPATE ATTACKS THAT MAY VARY FROM PAST TACTICS. IN LIGHT OF THE EXTENSION OF THE THREAT TO PORTS AND TERRITORIAL WATERS, MASTERS AND OPERATORS ARE ADVISED TO MAINTAIN ALL APPLICABLE DEFENSIVE AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES THAT ARE LEGALLY PERMISSIBLE DURING THE VESSEL’S TIME IN PORT OR AT ANCHOR.

7. TRANSIT BY YACHTS AND PRIVATELY OWNED SAILING VESSELS THROUGH HRW IS EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS AND MAY RESULT IN CAPTURE BY PIRATES. THE COAST GUARD ADVISES AGAINST ALL OPERATION OF OR TRAVEL BY YACHT AND PLEASURE CRAFT IN HRW. VESSELS THAT MAKE THIS PASSAGE DESPITE THIS WARNING SHOULD MAKE CONTACT IN ADVANCE WITH THE NAVAL AUTHORITIES. IN ADDITION, AMERICAN CITIZENS ABOARD SHOULD INFORM THE NEAREST U.S. EMBASSY OR CONSULATE OF THEIR PLANS TO TRANSIT THE AREA AND/OR UPDATE THEIR INFORMATION VIA THE SMART TRAVELER ENROLLMENT PROGRAM (STEP) ON WWW.TRAVEL.STATE.GOV. BASIC GUIDANCE FOR TRANSIT CAN BE FOUND AT HTTP://WWW.MSCHOA.ORG/YACHTINGGUIDANCE/PAGES/YACHTINGGUIDANCEONE.ASPX. IF YOU ARE DUE TO TRAVEL THE AREA OF HIGH THREAT, PLEASE INFORM MSC (HOA) BY EMAILING POSTMASTER@MSCHOA.ORG, WITH THE SUBJECT LINE 'YACHT VESSEL MOVEMENT'.

8. RELATED COAST GUARD NOTICE: THE U.S. COAST GUARD ISSUED A NOTICE TO MARINERS ADVISORY FOR YACHTS AND SAILING VESSELS. FOR THE TEXT OF THE COAST GUARD NOTICE, PLEASE GO TO HTTP://HOMEPORT.USCG.MIL/PIRACY.

9. ALL VESSELS SHOULD REGISTER FOR ACCESS TO MSCHOA WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.MSCHOA.ORG TO OBTAIN UP TO DATE INFORMATION OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDITIONS IN THE REGION.

10. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THIS ADVISORY, CONTACT CAPTAIN ROBERT FORD, MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF SECURITY, CODE: MAR-420, ROOM W25-308, 1200 NEW JERSEY AVE, S.E., WASHINGTON, DC 20590, TELEPHONE 202-366-0223, FACSIMILE 202-366-3954, TLX II 710.822.9426 (MARAD DOT WSH), OR EMAIL: MARADSECURITY@DOT.GOV.