Ballard's Telepresence Project to Unlock
Undersea Secrets of Gulf Marine Sanctuary
Early this month, ocean explorer Dr. Robert Ballard and an interdisciplinary team of scientists will explore the undersea landscape of NOAA's Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. One of the 13 U.S. national marine sanctuaries, the sanctuary is located approximately 115 miles off the Texas/Louisiana coast. Named for its colorful corals and sponges, it was targeted for exploration because of its unique geology and biology. The sanctuary's geological history also makes it a viable location to search for signs of early human habitation that could predate current evidence of North America's first inhabitants.
This expedition represents a collaboration between the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Institute for Exploration (IFE), Immersion Presents, the University of Rhode Island and the U.S. Navy. During the week-long expedition, a team of geologists, biologists and marine archaeologists will use two ships, a nuclear-powered research submarine, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and scuba divers to explore coral reefs, brine seeps, mud volcanoes and ancient shorelines.
"This will be an important and exciting expedition to a little known area in the Gulf with unique biological and geological features - an area that we hope will reveal details about human habitation on ancient shorelines thousands of years ago when sea level was much lower due to the ice age," said Ballard, professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island and president of the Institute for Exploration at the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Connecticut.
Researchers will also explore the physical connections that provide protective cover for animals traveling between individual geologic features. "This is a rare opportunity to explore the system of 'hidden highways' that connects the Flower Garden Banks ecosystem with other reefs and banks in the area," stated George Schmahl, superintendent of the sanctuary.
Deep-water exploration of the sanctuary will be made possible by the U.S. Navy's NR-1 - the nation's only nuclear-powered submarine dedicated to underwater research. Supported by the 238-foot SSV Carolyn Chouest, the NR-1 carries video cameras, sample-collection equipment and tools to map the sea floor.
The expedition team will employ state-of-the-art "telepresence" technology to enable students, educators, scientists and the general public to follow the Secrets of the Gulf expedition 24/7 in real-time. Principal investigators Ballard and McBride will use this same telepresence technology to lead the expedition from a remote science console based at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. (For more information: www.oceanslive.org or www.immersionpresents.org).
Bancroft Jumps on Global Warming Bandwagon
Will Steger dedicates his Baffin expedition to global warming (see related story), and now former Steger teammate Ann Bancroft is co-leading her own global warming expedition. Minnesota explorer Ann Bancroft, 51, and Norwegian explorer Liv Arnesen, 53, are once again preparing for a grueling polar expedition. The project departs this month on a 530-mi. journey from Canada's Ward Hunt Island to the North Pole, traveling on foot, towing sleds and occasionally swimming.
When they reach the North Pole 60 days in, they will reportedly become the first women to reach both poles without re-supply. From there, Bancroft and Arnesen will ski another two weeks to the TARA, a French research vessel drifting in the Arctic pack ice.
They're calling this trip "Explore Arctic Warming 2007." It's designed to help students understand how the Arctic climate is changing and what effect global warming is having on the area and its wildlife.
Last month, dozens of volunteers and supporters gathered to pack the food the two will need for their 75-day expedition. Among the items being packed: 90 cans of Pringles, 180 energy and breakfast bars, 12 cans of hot chocolate, 190 bags of soup, 25 lbs. of nuts, coffee, sugar, toilet paper and batteries.
During their expedition, each woman will need to eat between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day just to maintain their energy while cross-country skiing 12-16 hours a day in the arctic cold. (For more information: www.BancroftArnesenExplore.com).
Climb for Peace Film Seeks Sponsor
Last year, The Everest Peace Project conducted a history-making Everest expedition, a "Climb for Peace" that was comprised of people of different faiths and cultures, including Palestinian and Israeli men (See EN, September 2006). The most touching part of the climb, in which 10 summitted, was when Israeli Dudu Yifrah unfolded a joint Palestinian/Israeli flag on the summit of Everest and dedicated his ascent to his friend and Palestinian climbing partner, Ali Bushnaq.
This moment and indeed the entire expedition was captured on film. An award-winning filmmaker is currently producing the documentary, and recently His Holiness the Dalai Lama endorsed the expedition and the film calling it a "tremendous achievement." Filmed on location in seven different countries, including Palestine and Israel, the filmmaker, founder and executive director of the Everest Peace Project is currently beating the bushes for "finishing funds" to complete the project. (For more information: 503 547 3089; www.EverestPeaceProject.org).
"Mars With Snow" - Steger Baffin Island Expedition Heads to Pangnirtung
At press time, the Global Warming 101 Expedition was northeast of Iqaluit, Nunavut, approximately 40 miles headed toward Pangnirtung (see EN, June 2006). In an audio dispatch from the trail, team leader Will Steger reports the scene is like "Mars with snow."
New to the team is Sir Richard Branson, the world adventurer and outspoken environmentalist, who is accompanied by his son Sam as Steger leads a dog team across 1,200 miles of the island's scenery to five remote villages: living among the Inuit natives, tracking weather patterns, and filming the profound changes that warming has wrought upon the local environment and wildlife. The expedition culminates in May 2007 in the town of Iglulik with a finale featuring "unplugged" performances by major musical artists, to be announced. (See related story below).
Commenting on the journey, Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson said, "My son, Sam, and I are very much looking forward to the project and will both learn a lot as well as having a fantastic adventure at the same time. Through our interest in the environment and space we have seen the frightening satellite images from NASA of the rapid decline in the arctic ice cover over the last decade and hope that the journey will contribute something to raising awareness of the uncertainties, risks and effects of climate change ..."
New Species Exposed by Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelves - An expedition under the collapsed Larsen ice shelves in Antarctica has revealed the impact of climate change on one of the Earth's most pristine areas. A marine habitat previously protected for thousands of years by a roof of ice had been bombarded with giant icebergs that scour the sea floor, scientists found. Deep-sea species of sea squirts and sponges have begun to colonize the region since the shelves disintegrated in 1995 and 2002.
The 10-week expedition, part of the international Census of Marine Life (www.coml.org), discovered new species in the icy waters, including a giant crustacean. The census manager, Victoria Wadley of the Australian Government Antarctic Division, said the polar regions were experiencing a greater rate of climate change than elsewhere on the planet.
"There is an urgent need to establish the state of the marine communities and their biodiversity now, so we can understand the impact of future change," Dr Wadley said.
Thirteen more voyages are planned as part of the project during International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, the largest internationally coordinated scientific research effort in 50 years, which officially got underway on March 1.
More than 10,000 square kilometers of sea floor have been exposed by the collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves after a 2.5 degree rise in the local temperature since the 1940s.
The census leader, Michael Stoddart of the Antarctic division, said the loss of sea ice had reduced the amount of algae growing underneath it, which fed the krill that sustained larger animals such as penguins, whales and seals.
"Algae is utterly central to the health of the whole ecosystem," Professor Stoddart said.
The survey was conducted by an international team of 52 scientists aboard a German research vessel between November and the end of January. They filmed the sea floor using a remotely operated submersible and collected more than 1,000 species from sediments up to 850 meters below the surface.
"We were in the unique position to sample wherever we wanted in a marine ecosystem considered one of the least disturbed by humankind," said the expedition's chief scientist, Julian Gutt. "Until now scientists have glimpsed life under Antarctica's ice shelves only through drill holes."
They found lots of sea lilies and their relatives, sea cucumbers and sea urchins, in the shallower waters. Another find was a sea anemone that lives on the back of a snail.
Minke whales had also taken advantage of the breakup of the shelves to move into new habitat, the team said.
Mugs Stump Award Winners Announced - Five climbing teams are recipients of the Mugs Stump Award. Created in 1992 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America's most visionary climbers, the award annually grants $12,000 to small teams pursuing climbing objectives that exemplify light, fast and clean alpinism.?? This year's winners are:
?• Colin Haley and Jed Brown who propose a first ascent of the Hidden Pillar (Southwest Pillar) of Ultar Sar (7388m), located in the Hunsa Valley of Pakistan. The pillar, which rises 3200m from base to summit, has been attempted three times before, all well short of the summit. ?
• Maxime Turgeon and Louis-Philippe Menard will use their award money to fund a proposed first ascent of the North Face of K6 to its west summit. K6 (7281m) is located in the Charakusa Valley of Pakistan and has been climbed twice before, but no attempts have been made on its North Face.?
• Josh Wharton and Bean Bowers won Stump funding with a proposed first ascent of the North Ridge of Latok 1 (7145m), located between the Choktoi and Biafo Glaciers, Pakistan. The 2450m ridge of snow, ice, and rock has been attempted more than 20 times since 1979, and remains one of the great prizes of the Karakoram.
• Cory Richards and Ammon Walsh propose a first ascent of the Southeast Face of Huantsan (6369m), located in Peru's Cordillera Blanca. ?
• Freddie Wilkinson, Kevin Mahoney and Ben Gilmore will receive funding for a planned first ascent of the South Face of The Fin (4000m), located on the remote Yetna Glacier, Alaska. The face is an estimated 1,500 meters of technical mixed climbing, and the peak itself, south of Mount Foraker in the Central Alaska Range, has only seen two recorded ascents since 1934.??
Stump was best known for his first ascent of the Emperor Face on Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies and a triptych of Alaskan climbs - the East Face of the Moose's Tooth, the Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter and a one-day solo of Denali's Cassin Ridge. He sought out striking and highly technical objectives, preferably first ascents, in some of the most remote mountains of the world. Stump viewed climbing as a celebration of boldness, purity and simplicity.??
Mugs Stump Award sponsors are Black Diamond Equipment, Climbing Magazine, Mountain Gear, Patagonia, and W.L. Gore and Associates. (For more information: www.mugsstumpaward.com). ??
Underground Railroad Route is Ready to Ride - Here's another route adventurers may soon try to bag: the newly completed 2,058-mi. Underground Railroad Bicycle Route (UGRR), considered by organizers "one of the most historically important bicycle journeys ever created."
It was established by the Adventure Cycling Association, North America's largest bicycling organization, and the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health.
Cyclists can ride from the Deep South all the way to Ontario, Canada ??" nearly 2,100 miles, or they can take short rides on any portion of the route, which is filled with historic Underground Railroad stops along the most fabled trek to freedom in American history. Starting in Mobile, Ala., the route winds north through river valleys and wildlife refuges to Kentucky and Ohio, before reaching Lake Erie, Niagara Falls, and its end-point in Owen Sound, Ontario on Lake Huron's Georgian Bay, the final destination for many freedom seekers.
The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route was created with financial support from Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), Bikes Belong, and the members of Adventure Cycling. (For more information: www.adventurecycling.org/ugrr).
Tibetan Art Project Volunteers Sought - Kham Aid Foundation is organizing a group of eight volunteers to help with conservation of Buddhist wall paintings in the Minyak region of Kham (eastern Tibet) in September - October, 2007. The trip will include five
days of hands-on volunteer work with the Italian, Nepali, and Tibetan team and 12 days travel across eastern Tibet visiting sites of art and architectural significance. No experience is necessary. Proceeds will go towards art conservation and restoration
of historic Tibetan buildings. (For more information: Pam Logan,
www.khamaid.org).
"I've reached the point where I am completely convinced that if NASA were to disappear tomorrow, if the American space program were to disappear tomorrow, if we never put up another Hubble, never put another human being in space, people would be profoundly distraught. Americans would feel less than themselves. They would feel that our best days are behind us. They would feel that we have lost something, something that matters. And yet they would not know why." - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin speaking at the Quasar Award dinner in Houston, Jan. 19.
Steger Announces New Global Warming Documentary - Last month, expedition leader Will Steger announced the start of production on the documentary Global Warming 101 Expedition, Baffin Island '07: The Explorers, with Sir Richard Branson and his son Sam, and famed Mount Everest mountaineer Ed Viesturs. The project marks the launch of "Global Warming 101," the first environmental education initiative of the newly established Will Steger Foundation.
Executive producers include Lloyd Philips (Zorro, Racing Stripes, Beyond Borders, Vertical Limit) and Monica Ord (who has applied her skills in marrying finance with crucial global issues, from a revolutionary AIDS treatment to global warming). Diane Isaacs, the long-time producing partner of Antonio Banderas, will produce the Baffin Island project in tandem with South African director Mickey Madoda Dube. Original music is being written by South African hip-hop recording star Zola, top Thailand recording group Silly Fools and others. The expedition is sponsored in part by Fagen, Inc., the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), as well as Shaklee Corporation and Gander Mountain. (For more information: (www.globalwarming101.com).
A Little Taste of the Arctic Close to Home - "Mount Washington's horrific weather is pretty much an accident of geography," writes Michael D. Lemonick in Time Magazine (Feb. 26). Site of the highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth (231 mph in 1934), Mt. Washington (6,288-ft.) is where if you plot the tracks of storms as they move across the U.S. from west to east, they all converge, thanks to prevailing winds, on northern New England.
"The White Mountains, meanwhile, focus things further, turning already bad weather to flat-out hellish. The range stretches from southwest to northeast, pretty much at a right angle to winds sweeping down from Canada. As they run into the solid wall of peaks, the winds stream up and over the top, accelerating all the while."
Lemonick spent $459 to ride a snow tractor to the summit and sleep in bunk beds for one of the two dozen or so overnight "Edu-Trips" sponsored by the Mount Washington Observatory.
