Dave Interviews the Experts

Posted on June 6, 2014 by oceanexplorer

During my time here in Florida, I’ve been able to get some important repairs done to the boat’s mast. I also caught up with some old friends that live down this way and I delved into the endless well of photos and videos I’ve accumulated in the last 25,000 miles. But now it’s time to depart and to sail the last 1000 miles home to Jamestown, RI.

Last week, just after arriving here in U.S. waters, I met up with an old friend Tim Kent. Back in 2002, Tim competed with his Open 50 in the “Around Alone” race, sailing the world singlehanded. Part of our discussion centered on the tools and technologies that I used to make a journey similar to the one he made 12 years earlier. He told me that from his boat at that time, he was able to send off daily email reports, which was fairly recent technology back then. Now – depending of course on the connectivity (which is pretty darn spotty in the more remote parts of the ocean) – I was able to send videos and photos off the boat. One day before long, it will no doubt be possible for sailors like Tim or myself to stream HD color video and high-quality audio from anywhere in the world. Imagine the windows on the world that will open!

Changes in technology always bring with them very interesting shifts in how we carry on with our daily routines. How I use electronic navigation hardware and software today is quite different than it was for Tim in 2002. The types of rigging we use on today’s boats are a world away from the heavier and more quickly worn lines that were around in the last century. Perhaps most dramatically, how boats today are constructed and of what type of new materials… is pure progress in action.

Why not I thought, for the sake of our BDX Learning and Discovery agenda, interview some of my friends who are more knowledgeable than I in specific areas of new sailing-related technologies. So, that’s what I did … and I must say I was knocked out by the results. I would like to share with you here all three of the interviews that I conducted recently with a group of the most skilled folks I know, in the areas of Navigation, Rigging and Composite Technology.

I asked each of them to share with us how recent changes in technology are being applied to and altering ancient methods.

If you are at all interested in the finer points of sailing, I highly encourage you to check out these interviews. Here’s who and what we have.

1) John Hoskins and Matt Scharl each tell us about advancements in sailing navigation systems

JH: “The GPS of course is tied into a host of things… a chart plotter, (this is a computer-like monitor with nautical charts imbedded in it), the wind instruments, sea temperatures, an automatic identification system (AIS), expedition navigation software, and the uplink Sailor 250 satellite for access to the Internet for GRIB files, that store tide and weather information.”

2) Alan Veenstra catches us up on new rigging technology, and how the principles of old are being modified by new lighter and stronger fibers and materials.

AV: “Modern cordage is so strong that it has made traditional hardware nearly obsolete on high-performance sailboats. The current technological revolution is in creating strong, light hardware from composites of carbon, ceramics, and epoxy.”

3) Finally, and in the longest interview, my good friend and chief builder of Bodacious Dream, Lapo Ancillotti takes us on a journey through composite materials technology, from the early days and how advances in that field have brought us to a world where “carbon fiber” is a commonly used term for anything light, strong and amazing.

LA: “3D printing is a suitable technology for light articles and prototype production only, at least until new material like “printed carbon fiber” become available – which might be happening soon… as experiments are already under way!”

So, as I take off here on Saturday, sailing the last 1000 mile up the Eastern Seaboard to Jamestown, RI, I’ll have a lot to think about and reflect upon.

I will follow up here soon with some interesting perspectives of my own. In the mean time, here’s one more video clip of a pod of False Killer Whales that came across my path just north of Cuba. Quite graciously, (though it may be hard for you to see) one of them flaps their tail a bit in what I understood to be a gesture of good luck for these final miles of my journey.

False Killer Whales

More soon,

– Dave, Bodacious Dream and (the compositely constructed) Franklin

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Tegan’s Science Notes #10 – Protecting Marine Biodiversity

Posted on May 30, 2014 by oceanexplorer

This is the tenth in a series of “Science Notes” from from our ocean scientist colleague, Tegan Mortimer, who works with Earthwatch Institute. These postings follow from encounters with nature that I have on the water. Links to all her Science Notes can be on our Citizen-Science Resource Page. – DR

Like gigantic conveyor belts, the tropical oceans span the areas closer to the equator where water temperatures are over 75°. These warm and clear waters tend to have low levels of oxygen and nutrients, the opposite of the cold, nutrient rich waters I’ve written about in earlier Science Notes. This means that though tropical areas in general have low productivity, there are distinct ecosystems in tropical areas like coral reefs and mangroves that have very high productivity and are in fact, some of the most bio-diverse habitats on earth.

:: Coral Reefs: Gardens Under Siege

Despite the lack of nutrients and oxygen present in these warm waters, tropical areas play host to one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth: coral reefs.

Screen Shot 2014-05-30 at 11.59.50 AM A coral reef is made up of many colonies of coral polyps which build the reef structure out of calcium carbonate. Tropical corals contain zooxanthellae, which is tiny algae that lives inside the coral where it photosynthesizes, creating food from sunlight. These algae are also what gives coral its brilliant and diverse colors. This means that coral can only occur in the “photic” zone, where sunlight penetrates the water. Corals polyps feed by extending stinging tentacles outwards to capture small prey and particles in the water column. Corals are related to other stinging animals including sea anemones and jellyfish.

The complex physical structure of a coral reef, some of which are thousands of years old, creates an ideal habitat of many other animals to thrive – from small invertebrates to large animals like sea turtles and sharks. The productivity of many tropical marine areas as well as the related economic activities that center around fishing and tourism are highly dependent on the health of coral reefs.

In today’s changing ocean, coral reefs are under siege. Sea surface temperatures are increasing, atmospheric carbon dioxide is driving up ocean acidity, and overfishing is removing critical fish and invertebrate species at the same time that coastal land development is increasing in many coral reef areas. All of these pressures are contributing to the unprecedented and rapid collapse of coral reefs along with the loss of the unique ecosystem that goes with them. Scientists are racing to learn more about how these ecosystems are functioning under speedily changing conditions and how we might increase the resilience of corals, and help them cope better under a variety of different stressors.

Dr. Carrie Manfrino is an Earthwatch scientist studying just this area, but with an exciting twist called “coral gardening.” A great obstacle to coral resilience is that when large areas of corals disappear, it greatly reduces the ability of larvae to successfully settle in to form new baby corals in new areas. Staghorn and Elkhorn corals are branching corals which are a critical part of the coral ecosystem, but in the Caribbean these corals have decreased by as much as 90% in some areas, due to climate change and development pressures.

In the Cayman Islands, where Dr. Manfrino works, these corals are showing some very promising recovery, and her team is working to find out what characterizes sites where these corals are doing well. Once new sites are identified that match these characteristics, scientists and volunteers transfer baby corals that have been grown in a special coral “nursery” to these new sites. The idea behind this method is to both increase coral cover as well as to maintain islands of coral that are better connected with each other which help increase the production of new coral naturally. This is super exciting science, which is using a variety of new technologies to better understand and manage our impacts on the natural environment. (Here’s a video w/ Dr. Manfrino and her colleagues.)

:: Protecting Special Places

Just like anywhere on earth, special places need special protection. The unique biodiversities supported in tropical areas means that there are many special places in need of protection. This process is usually achieved through the creation of multi-nationally supported Marine Protected Areas or MPA. An MPA usually has one of two purposes, to protect an area that supports rare or important species, or to provide a refuge for animals from fishing. MPAs can vary in size from very small local protected areas to vast areas like those in the map below. The most important thing is that an MPA is large enough to matter and located in the right place so that it can provide the most benefit and achieve its purpose. The idea of designating marine areas to be protected is a relatively new one (2000) when compared to the creation of national parks, which started as early as 1872 with the creation of Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.

Currently just 1% of the ocean is fully protected.

So that the right places can be protected, scientists are studying how different animals use their habitat. It is important to be able to know what places are used for feeding, breeding, and resting so that these important functions can be maintained.

On the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, in an area called Gulfo Dulche, Lenin Oviedo, an Earthwatch scientist, is conducting a research project to study how this pristine area is important to resident and migratory species of dolphins and whales. Bottlenose dolphins, Pantropical spotted dolphins, and humpback whales use this area either as their permanent home or as a way stop during larger migrations. Along with mapping how these different species use the gulf, the research team is interested in how boat traffic and boat noise overlaps with important whale and dolphin areas.

It is common that special places for animals are usually special places for humans too. Healthier ecosystems support the wildlife, which also benefits economic activities like fishing and tourism. It is important to understand how these activities impact the environment to see how they might be better managed.

Farther east in the Bahamas, Annabelle Brooks is another Earthwatch scientist whose research is in studying the spatial movements of juvenile green and hawksbill sea turtles. All species of sea turtle are endangered, so it is very important to protect areas, which are crucial for feeding. This research also allows the team to understand naturally occurring cycles of abundance and movement. As impacts from human activities and climate change become more widespread, this research allows scientists to spot disruptions, which are outside the naturally occurring changes in populations.

Researchers like Oviedo and Brooks use the power of computer modeling to better understand natural change and movement in populations. By combining observations of animals with data about the environment, they create a computer model that tells them which areas are important for specific animals or animal activities based on the environmental characteristics. Then the research team goes back into the field and collects more data which is used to validate the models, to see how good the models are at predicting observations in real life. This technique is very useful for pinpointing large areas that are important for specific animals. The aim of both these projects and many others like them is to better understand essential habitats for these important species so that we can better protect them in a changing ocean.

– Tegan Mortimer <teg.mortimerATgmailDOTcom>

Harmonics of the Great Gyres

Posted on May 22, 2014 by oceanexplorer

Approaching the end of a week in Panama that saw Bodacious Dream transiting the Panama Canal… from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in just 12 hours!

6013_panama_300 It’s early morning on Thursday and I’m heading down to the marina to put final provisions and water onto the boat and hopefully, by the time you read this, I will have departed. Our course will take us north towards the Yucatan passage that runs between Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and western tip of Cuba. From there, I’ll cross the Gulf Stream and skirt the Florida coast as I head to a stop-over in West Palm Beach.

The time here in Panama City has been fascinating. The city is lively and full of folks from all over the world. There is a great rejuvenation going on in the old part of the city where fine old buildings are being restored and renovated to accommodate stylish shops and fancy restaurants. The feel around here is vibrant. However, as all good journeys must continue, so must this one as well.

I expect the next few thousand miles will unleash a rush of memories that have stored up inside me since I departed Jamestown, RI on October 2nd of last year. I have no doubt that among those thoughts will be some more philosophical in nature … reflections on our amazing oceans and planet Earth. The time left on the voyage will pass quickly, but the memories I am sure will remain with me for many years to come – so I will try to share them with you here as they arise.

:: Marine Debris

One of the questions I get asked often is how much debris I see out on the water. I have to say that for most of the voyage and especially in my crossing of the desolate Southern Ocean, I didn’t see that much debris. Remember though, my course has taken me very far from land … except when arriving or departing from my scheduled stops.

Recently however, as I got to about 150 miles from Panama, I began to see floating debris everywhere. I would no sooner spot a floating piece of plastic and watch it trail off behind me, then I’d see another in front of me. One night on the approach to Panama, I heard the sound of something hard hitting the deck. I was below and suspected a piece of mast hardware had come loose and fallen. With flashlight in hand, I scanned around and found an old plastic cigarette lighter that had somehow been tossed up across the bow. I picked it up, and thought to myself …”This is not supposed to be here.”

As I learned on this trip, there is quite a field of scientific study that has built up around how man-made debris moves around in the ocean. Some special learnings for me came from a book I read called, Flotsometrics, written by Curtis Ebbesmeyers and Eric Scigliano.

Curtis spent his life as an engineer and oceanographer, first working on important issues with oil platforms: wave heights, sewage disposal and things of that nature. But along the way, as he studied the waters of Puget Sound in the northwest corner of the U.S., he became more and more fascinated with the general drift of ocean waters and what are known these days as the great “Gyres.” At present, oceanographers have identified five of these great gyres and 5 more minor ones.

Click here to get a larger version.

The book was one of a selection given to me, just before I departed by Tegan Mortimer, our scientist colleague from Earthwatch, who thought I might find it intriguing. The book explains how through the centuries “drifters” (items tossed into the sea to see where they would end up, like notes in a bottle, etc.) have been used to satisfy people’s wide-ranging curiosities about the world. From Columbus, who in observing various items floating in the sea and washing up on the shore, took it as evidence that there were other continents not that far away, to ancient peoples who commonly gravitated to specific beaches that collected the flotsam of the ocean. In many cases, these items helped provide these people with some of the necessities to help grow their civilizations. I found this book just fascinating, and especially how it was told in such a wondrous and whimsical way.

As Curtis’ lifetime unfolded, he became more and more focused on these floating objects, and with the help of another software engineer friend, he began to use computers to model and predict the travels of the “drifters.”

Imagine the fun he had following and logging data on the 80,00 pairs of Nike shoes lost when a container ripped open off the coast of California, or that other famous lost container full of 28,800 actual yellow rubber ducky bath toys! Along the way, he also tries to solving the mystery of those duckies that floated upright, guided more by the wind, as opposed to those that floated upside down, more directed by the water.

This is truly a book that I can see reading and sharing with kids, as it inspires one to think and imagine more grandly the many interesting and serendipitous ways the oceans of the world interact with each other.

The part that especially captured my imagination and provoked me to write this came in the final chapter, Harmonics of the Gyres. With the sun setting into the western sea, I squinted to keep reading about how after years of study, he came to see that these gyres spin in predictable revolving patterns – revolutions that could be measured in years, and he saw how each gyre when compared to one another were separated by factors of two.

As he thought about it, it occurred to him that this was also the basis for our typical musical octave – our common scale – do, re, me, fa, so, la, te, do. So he saw that potentially, though far below the audible range of human beings, the earth’s oceans may have a similarly harmonic scale to them; a rhythm by which the watery worlds vibrate and sing to us, even if it is only our subconscious that hears it.

It caused me to wonder in new ways about why it is I’ve always been so pulled to the waters of the world. How can I sit on the shore and stare off to the horizon for such long lengths of time? Why am I drawn to do what I’m doing, sailing across the oceans totally immersed in the environment, the boat, the sea and the weather? Perhaps this theory helps explain why some very basic part of me has always been so entranced by the music of the sea.

If you can find the time, grab this book and a map of the world and sit down with your children and explore the world with this whimsical oceanographer as your guide. In fact, I think when I grow up; I want to be an oceanographer too!

– Dave, Bodacious Dream and Franklin (who really liked the rubber ducky part)

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Our Panama Canal Adventure!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by oceanexplorer

Wow… what a day!! Saturday we watched the sun rise in the Pacific and set in the Atlantic! Across Central America we traveled, from the sea to shining sea all in about 12 hours… via the 48-mile Panama Canal of course!

Rob, Pierce, Joe, Bruce – my crew of trusted old friends who had traveled here to be my required crewmates for the crossing joined me Saturday morning at 5 AM CDT, so that we could pick up our pilot at 6:30 close to the Canal’s Pacific entrance. Tito, a local line handler recommended by our agent, Francis from the Panama Agency, also joined us. Tito had taken a night bus from the Atlantic side of the isthmus and was waiting for us at the boat when we arrived.

pan_am_bridge_550 Under the Pan-American bridge on the way to meet our convoy mates …

We were soon loaded and ready-to-go, when we got a delay notice. We’d pick up the pilot at 7:30 instead of 6:30. But then, right at 7:30, the pilot boat approached and Raphael, our pilot, hopped onboard and began giving us our orientation on how we would proceed through the canal.

Rafael (pictured to the right getting acquainted with Franklin) informed us we would be traveling through the first two sets of locks as a convoy with two other ships; one was a large (over 500 feet long) cargo ship from Singapore and the second, a smaller 95-foot passenger tour vessel named Islamorada, which by the way, originally belonged to the Chicago gangster Al Capone!

With much anticipation, we proceeded slowly up the channel, en route to meet the “big” ship and Islamorada.

No question which of us was going to get the big bunk …

The term “lock” refers to these various sub-divisions of the canal through which you must pass. Each lock has chambers, which are like steps. So, the first lock (Miraflores) has two chambers. The big ship entered the chamber first, then Islamorada and then Bodacious Dream came in and tied alongside the Islamorada.

A bit of turbulence as the water floods in …

At that point, the gates closed and the chamber filled with 100 million liters (26.4 million gallons) of water, which had the effect of lifting all our vessels up to the level of the next chamber.

This process was repeated with the second chamber. There are two locks on the Pacific side; each with two chambers, which take you up to at 85 feet above sea level and release you into Lake Gatun – an artificial body of water in the middle of the isthmus. We then motored 21 miles across it. Once across it, we entered the single Pacific-side lock (which has three chambers) – which resulted in our descent to the Atlantic coast.

Joe keeping an eye on a long ship …

The canal is active 24 hours a day, during which time from 33 to 42 ships pass in both directions… every single day of the year! An astonishing volume of commerce and traffic from all around the world goes through these narrow 110-foot wide canals!

Every moment of the trip had us wide-eyed and excited as kids, as we watched the passing of huge freighters and listened to Raphael and Tito tell stories from some of their past trips. We also saw and heard about the construction for the new expansion of the canal which, when open in 2015, will allow much larger ships to make the passage.

Bruce balancing as we motor across Lake Gatun …

Our crossing of Lake Gatun in the middle of the trip also gave us a beautiful view of the interior of the country of Panama. We even saw a crocodile, though it took me too long to locate it in the camouflage to get a decent photograph of it!

Pushing as hard as we could to keep on schedule against an often strong wind, we were running 30 minutes behind in reaching our appointed time at the Atlantic side locks, but somehow Raphael and our agent Francis worked it out so that the authorities waited for us to arrive. At that point, we passed through and gently down the three chamber steps to where the final gates opened up at the level of the Atlantic Ocean, thus delivering Bodacious Dream back into her home waters, after six months of circumnavigating adventure.

Tonnage before beauty …

There is SO much history in the 100 years of the operation of the canal that it’s hard to know just where you might start to tell the story. The displays at the Visitor’s Center Museum do a fine job of depicting the enormous task of cutting a channel through the country from one ocean to another, all the while being forced to invent new construction machinery and new engineering techniques to make that possible.

One of the Wonders of the World … I believe it …

The task at that time was so enormous and so full of unforeseeable challenges, that the greatest obstacle was lack of imagination, which could only be overcome by extending the reach of the builders’ imaginations into new and uncharted territory.

The US took over construction of the canal from France in 1904, and it would be a decade before it opened. From that time on, the U.S. was the administrator of the Canal Zone. In the late 1970’s, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, a treaty was signed which turned operations of the canal over to the Panamanian government by the end of the century.

Since that time, Panama has operated the canal, maintaining it and making improvements to increase it capacities… including the new larger canal I mentioned, which will make it possible for more and larger ships to traverse the Isthmus. This has also spurred much new development and economic rejuvenation in Panama City and the surrounding areas, making Panama an increasingly attractive and popular travel destination. I was also surprised to learn that the Chinese were planning to construct a new competing canal passage through Nicaragua!

Well, as there’s quite a few more photos, we put together a few slideshows on the page here with photos of our day travelling through the Canal. You can also view it in a bigger format as a photo album on our BDX FACEBOOK page … http://on.fb.me/1lBIbz3

SLIDESHOW #1

#1 – Click arrows to advance! Scroll over to read descriptions.

SLIDESHOW #2

In the chamber with the rest of the boats

Crew Member Pierce taking a break as we await the opening of the chamber

Heading out of the cut…. Rob on the lookout

Big freighter passing ...

The chart plotter indicating the ships in the area … this is called a crowd.

Crew member Bruce hanging out with Franklin

Crew Member Joe, giving Franklin a look at what he’d be like with hair

Raphael and Franklin catch up ...

Through the first locks and looking aft at the beautiful interior of Panama

Joe and Pilot Raphael

Bruce retaking it in ...

Channel marker along the shore of Lake Gatun

A passing freighter on Lake Gatun

Our rather imposing convoy mate … Tightly wedged into the chamber

Close to our big chamber mate

The big one passes through … we’re next!

At the east –side of the canal looking towards the Atlantic Ocean

For the big boys, things can get very tight!

The doors to the new, larger Canal … yet to be installed

Back in Atlantic Waters … Rob at the helm …

Sunrise in the Pacific, Sunset in the Atlantic!

#2 – Click arrows to advance! Scroll over to read descriptions.

Now that we’re through, I’m collecting my thoughts and catching my breath, before I resume the final leg of this amazing circumnavigation later this week.

From all of us on Bodacious Dream… Joe, Rob, Pierce, Bruce, Tito, Raphael, and Franklin, who had some great fun rolling with all those new people… thanks for following along. Back soon with more!

– Dave

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Tegan’s Science Notes #9: The Galápagos

Posted on May 13, 2014 by oceanexplorer

As I write this, I am less than 100 miles from Panama where I will commence a whole new adventure by traversing the Panama Canal.

I do have a few more observations to share about my time in the Galapagos, but while I write those up, I’d like to hand-off here to our ocean scientist colleague Tegan Mortimer, who will share with us yet another in her wondrous series of “Science Notes” (See them all here!) – this new one on the Galapagos, naturally… as seen through the awesome lens of science! Take it away Tegan!

________________________________________________________________________
:: Tegan’s Science Notes #9 – The Galapagos

Sailors called them the Enchanted Isles because strong currents and swirling mists could cause the islands to disappear and reappear right before their eyes. The Galápagos were made famous by Charles Darwin’s visit in 1835 during his voyage on board the HMS Beagle. The observations Darwin made on the islands had a direct impact on the development of his theory of evolution. Today these islands are still an unmatched source of biological wonder and continue to contribute to our study and understanding of the process of evolution.

Despite straddling the equator, the Galápagos do not have a tropical feel. In fact this archipelago is home to the northernmost penguin colony in the world, the only native penguins to be found in the Northern Hemisphere (though the penguins do spend most their time in the Southern Hemisphere, as only the most northern island is above the equator). You’ll remember from my African Penguins post (again, they are all listed on the Citizen Science page) that the KEY is in the water: cold, nutrient-rich water.

Source: http://cmi2.yale.edu/galapagos_public/data.html

The Galápagos Islands are located in a unique area in which can be found the convergence of several currents of tropical and subtropical waters that upwell around the islands. For a long time oceanographers thought that the cold waters surrounding the Galápagos came from the Humboldt Current (also known as the Peru Coastal Current) which runs along the western coast of South America carrying cold Antarctic water northward. However another type of current, called an undercurrent, which runs below and opposite to a surface current, was discovered in 1956. This current, called the Equatorial Undercurrent or Cromwell Current after its discoverer, is now seen as the reason for the island’s cool waters. The Cromwell Current flows eastward the entire length of the equator in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of about 100 meters below the westward flowing surface currents. As the current approaches the Galápagos, it is forced upwards by underwater seamounts forming an upwelling system. The waters then flow westward again as part of the South Equatorial Current.

There is a reason why Darwin’s visit to the Galápagos (as well as other islands) had such an effect on his ideas about evolution and natural selection. Islands often have a large number of endemic species, i.e., those that are found nowhere else. The Galápagos are no exception to this. But why do islands have so many unique animals? Geologically, the Galápagos are fairly young, they are volcanic islands formed sometime between 80 and 90 million years ago. In that time animals had to colonize the newly formed islands from the closest landmass, which is the mainland of South America, over 500 miles away. Of all the animal colonizers that reached the Galápagos, only a few would be able to survive and establish populations, which are the animals that still survive today – many of which Dave talked about in his updates.

When animals colonize islands, a few things often happen. These animals have been ‘released’ from pressures like competition and predation that they were under in their original locale. so they can quickly diversify to take advantage of the many different ecological niches that are available in their new home. These animals often don’t have to worry about predators any longer so they lose many of their anti-predator behaviors. Dave’s story about the baby sea lion illustrates this very point. The parent seals can leave the babies alone while they go hunting, knowing that no predator will attack the vulnerable babies. It may also help explain why the baby sea lion in Dave’s story came right up to the tour group without any hesitation. Among birds, this absence of predators can account for why birds may become flightless (like the cormorant) or lay their eggs on the ground, just as the blue-footed booby does.

These traits make islands very susceptible to the effects that follow from introducing animals like cats, dogs and rats which can easily prey on native animals. Humans too have had a heavy impact on island populations by hunting some animals to extinction. Luckily, today we have come to realize just how fragile these ecosystems are, which has caused many people and organizations to take up the work of protecting such special and “endangered” places… including the Galápagos.

Darwin’s Finches

There’s one group of animals from the Galápagos that needs a special mention. Darwin’s finches are a group of 15 species of birds found throughout the islands which Darwin specifically mentions in his Origin of Species. In this way, these birds became an important part of the scientific history of evolutionary thought, and as I will explain still maintain an important role in our modern understanding of evolution and the ways humans can impact it.

These birds are the classic example the adaptive radiation I mentioned earlier. A colonizer species to the island, the finches diversified into these 15 species all of which have different shaped beaks, each of which is related to what type of food that particular species eats. These birds are thought to be the fastest evolving animals on earth, which means that researchers can follow them, year to year, and track the natural selection pressures which define which species thrive and which do not.

However, another pressure is being placed on them as well. Human foods, like rice, are now widely available in much of these finches’ range. Birds that feed on human foods can lose the characteristics that make them evolutionary ‘fit,’ as earlier selection pressures are no longer being placed on them. The loss of these characteristics can erode the differences between the various species of finches leading to a loss of biodiversity. So instead of 15 different species, which are highly evolved to eat different food sources, it’s possible we may end up with just a few species that feed on human scraps. It would be tragic loss of such an amazing group of birds.

This study of the finches is actually a research project that my colleagues at Earthwatch are conducting in the Galapagos not far from where Dave moored Bodacious Dream. You can find out more about their project called Following Darwin’s Finches in the Galapagos at the link.

– Tegan

:: For more exciting science insights and opportunities, please check out our BDX Explorer Guides or stop by our Citizen Science Resources page, where you can also find all of Tegan’s previous Science Notes, Also, we welcome your input or participation to our BDX Learning and Discovery efforts. You can always reach us at … <oceanexplorer@bodaciousdreamexpeditions.com>

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Stalking the Wild Galapagos #3

Posted on May 10, 2014 by oceanexplorer

It seems to me that there are three things that people most immediately associate with the Galapagos Islands; 1) Charles Darwin, 2) Giant Tortoises and 3) Blue-footed Boobies!

Since I’d already made my pilgrimage to the Charles Darwin Research Station to meet the giant tortoises (and land iguanas,) the next stop on my tour was to track down the blue-footed boobies!

At 8AM last Tuesday morning, I (kinda sorta) sprang from bed to meet the bus that would take a number of us visitors on a day-long excursion to North Seymour Island, one of the more ecologically-important islands north of the central island of Santa Cruz. Sparsely populated as it is, North Seymour is famous for its many blue-footed boobies along with its equally legendary frigate birds, land iguanas, marine iguanas and sea lions. We would also have a chance to snorkel along the shoreline. Needless to say, I was pretty excited at what the day would bring.

My fellow touristas on the bus seemed to be from everywhere in the world – South Africa, Holland, New Zealand, France, Texas, London and Indiana (no, not me, someone else!) – all of us equally intent on spotting a blue-footed booby. George was our guide and the boat; the Galapagos Shark would be our vessel.

The Galapagos Shark

The bus ride to the north end of Santa Cruz Island took about 30 minutes. As we drove up and over the center of the island, we rose up to a height of 1600 feet… from which we could see across the tops of the ancient volcano craters out of which the island had originally formed. Then we headed back down to the shore on the north end where we left the bus and jumped into a small inflatable dingy that took us out to the awaiting Galapagos Shark. Once on board, we were given a brief safety talk and description of our day. We learned that the trip to North Seymour would be another 40 minutes passage along a beautiful shoreline pocked with small sandy beaches. Let me tell you, I made the most of my time having someone else drive the boat, by just riding along, sitting on the bow and watching the world roll by!

At first look, North Seymour looked none too inviting. Dark reddish brown lava rock met us at the difficult landing spot. Once on land, we were introduced to an array of scruffy trees, all about five feet tall… that looked next to dead. We were told that the environment this time of year is very dry and desert-like, and that this is as tall as the trees grow. It was good to know that they weren’t dead at least, but simply in a state of “summer hibernation.”

Once we were all regrouped on shore, we were in short order greeted by a small and precocious baby sea lion, barking as if insisting that we all come and play with him – right now! Our guide George explained to us that mother and father sea lions travel long distances out to sea during the day to feed and to bring food back for the little ones who stay behind on the island were there (lucky for them) there was an absence of predators.

Soon after commencing our walk, we began to see frigate birds – another iconic species of the Galapagos. These birds are known for their exceptional ability to float and soar for long periods of time, as well as their unique mating habits, all of which are observable there on North Seymour.

4941_frigate_550
A fully inflated frigate bird …

One fun thing about the frigate birds is that the male bird has this bright reddish-orange sac under its chin which once engaged in its mating rituals, he inflates to a disproportionate size all in the hope of attracting a female, while they in the meantime, are soaring overhead scanning the group of puffed-up male birds looking for the one it finds the most attractive. Once paired off, the male presents the female with a stick as a sort “down payment” gesture to signal his readiness to begin nesting and breeding.

At this time of year, you can see a number of young in the nests who wait for the mother to bring food back to them. At the same time, other frigate birds were just initiating new mating cycles. So, there was quite a visual and sound mix of bloated red chins and chirping baby frigates going on as we tramped about the island.

Towards the northern side of the island, we at last happened into a blue-footed booby neighborhood. I am happy to report that these birds do indeed have very blue feet. I mean it … really blue! I’m not talking blue-ish or fill-in-the-blank blue, but blue like a robin’s egg blue!

A blue-footed boogie avec œufs …

We walked through their nesting area and among the many nests, there were a number of birds actively incubating their eggs. The boobies use their blue feet to roll the eggs directly beneath them and then cradling them with those big blue feet, they lower themselves right down onto the eggs to warm them and so incubate them to hatching.

While the frigate bird nests up in the trees, the blue-footed booby nests on the ground. As we walked along and encountered both species, it was hard not to see them as eco-friendly collaborators, what with the boobies nesting on rocks just a foot or two off the ground and the frigates nesting in those tress, closer to five feet off the ground!

While it was fascinating to see the bright red necks of the frigate birds and the bright blue feet of the boobies, it was extra exciting to see these fairly substantial creatures ascend to the sky and fly with such grace and power over our heads in ballet-like formations of ten to twelve.

For these formidable aviarians, the sky’s the limit …

As if the blue-footed boobies and red-necked frigate birds weren’t enough, from time to time, we’d see large land iguanas as well, moving around under cactuses. As you can see, these creatures are vibrantly colored yellow and orange to blend in with their surroundings. Many of these iguanas live to over 40 years old!

Having had my curiosity about the blue-footed boobies satisfied, it was time to head back to the boat and see about doing some snorkeling along the shore of the island.

While the past several years, I never seem to be far from the ocean, the fact is that it has been many years since I’ve snorkeled – and this didn’t look to me to be a very inviting area to make my underwater comeback. But what the heck… ever the good sport, I donned my mask and flippers and slipped into the warm waters along with everyone else.

Starting in about 25 feet of water, I could see below me some rays slipping along the bottom. As I swam closer towards the rocks nearer to the shore, the water got shallower, and as it did, more and more different kinds of fish started to appear. From tiny darting fish to bigger, slower moving and more brightly colored fish – it was quite the sight to be down there swimming right alongside them. Darn! I’d forgotten how much fun snorkeling was!

We had been snorkeling for half an hour or so when out of the corner of my eye I saw something large coming up right alongside me. Suddenly there appeared a rather large and very beautiful Eagle Ray propelling itself along so very gracefully – as if it were a bird in the air. So mesmerizing it was – its body black with white spots on the top and lightly colored underneath. I just floated and let it swim around me, as if I wasn’t even there! Alas, I had decided earlier not to risk bringing my camera … but that was at the cost of not having any photographs to show you of that magical Eagle Ray – except the one above, graciously provided by our dear been-everywhere seen-everything friend, the Internet.

As if this wasn’t enough, and after a great lunch of grilled fresh fish onboard the Galapagos Shark, the Captain steered us towards a sandy beach where we landed and began to investigate the lagoon just inside the shore. On our way there, we saw the remains of a sea turtle nest. These were fairly large craters dug into the sand – some maybe 5 feet in diameter. This is where the sea turtles lay their eggs and from where new hatchlings scurry (if turtles can be said to scurry) across the beach and out to sea.

At the lagoon, we were also treated to the sight of two pink flamingos. Elegant and long-legged, with one leg artfully pulled up under its body; they rested and preened their feathers, as all in our tour group fell over each other in the rush to take photographs.

The Galapagos is such a unique marine environment that I would have to say that just showing up by boat on a random Tuesday without some kind of plan in place is not exactly the best way to take in all that’s there. As it was, by the time I began to call, many of the tours were booked and I was lucky to get on the one I did. Should I return, I’ll be sure to plan ahead so that I can catch even more of the deep-in-time experience that awaits you there.

On the bus ride back to town, we stopped for a moment at a huge sinkhole in the middle of the island. It was explained to us that this was not a volcanic crater, even though it looked like one. Nope, this was an actual sinkhole and it was no less than 1000 years old! The ground around it was a honeycomb of volcanic rock, and it was an earthquake that caused the ground to collapse. What a beautiful and amazing site it was.

So much to see on these islands that has remained largely undisturbed for thousands of years – an amazing place to explore… a place where you get the curious feeling that time has slowed down perhaps to better accommodate the great turtles.

Now that I’m back on the water and continuing my sail to Panama, I continue to reflect on the beauty that I witnessed on the Galapagos Islands. I hope that I’ll get the chance to visit once again and to see more of it all at a more leisurely pace. Until then, memories of blue-footed boobies, red-breasted frigate birds, eagle rays and giant tortoises will have to suffice.

– Dave, Bodacious Dream (and the sea lion) Franklin

3.67462N, 83.3392W

The 2014 Atlantic cUpdate

Posted on April 30, 2014 by oceanexplorer

The Galapagos Islands are almost in sight and though I’ll be there in less than a day, I’m going to take my time, so that I arrive in the morning hours of Thursday and thus have the day to make my way safely into the anchorage and secure Bodacious Dream for my stay.

Pretty close to land … 1.34389S , 90.88464W

Once I tie off, as always, I’ll have to take care of the customs and immigration paperwork and then … (hallelujah!) … head to the showers! Phew! Overall, it hasn’t been too bad, but the last few days have been quite warm and a cleansing shower will make a lot of things better. So, give me a couple of days to sleep and sort things out in the Galapagos and I’ll return with a game plan to share as to what interesting things I might get to explore.

In the meantime … it’s May 1st tomorrow, which means just 10 days until this year’s running of The Atlantic Cup Race. Read on below for my preview on this year’s race. If I wasn’t here, you can be sure I would be there! So, read on and then follow the action.

May of 2012, Matt Scharl and I co-skippering Bodacious Dream were jib reaching up the Eastern seaboard of the US from New York City past Long Island towards Newport, Rhode Island in the second running of the Atlantic Cup Race. We had just spotted Block Island and Matt went down below to check in and see where we stood on the leader board. Moments later, he came up with an exuberant smile exclaiming we were in the lead by several miles. It was an exciting night as we worked our way into Narragansett Bay and ultimately to first across the finish line at Ft. Adams, winning the second leg of the event. We placed second overall in 2012 after the three event legs were totaled. 2013 proved even better for us as Bodacious Dream, after winning both offshore legs and placing second in the inshore regatta, placed first overall in what many have claimed to be one of the best Class 40 events in the world!

Bodacious Dream/ 2013 Atlantic Cup – first across the finish line in NYC! (See Video Here!)

Those were exciting times, not only for us, but for many of you as well who followed the event with the great coverage provided by the event’s website @ www.AtlanticCup.org. The fun of all 7 boats arriving at the finish line in Newport Harbor within 45 minutes of each other, after 250 miles of ocean sailing … was hard to believe. I guess heart stopping awesome might say it best! Any one of those boats could have won that leg with just a wind shift of a few degrees.

As you know, I’m presently sailing Bodacious Dream back into the Northern Hemisphere and will miss the Atlantic Cup this year, but I know that Manuka Sports Event Management, energized by Julianna Barbieri and Hugh Piggin will once again be putting on a great event.

If I may, I’d like to take a few minutes to offer my own personal preview of the race and this year’s entrants, but before I do that, let me tell you a bit more about the event.

Three Legs of the Race – Two offshore and One inshore …

The Atlantic Cup, presented by 11th Hour Racing, is a multi-discipline event. As you can see in the map above, there are two offshore legs – the first from Charleston, SC to New York City and then from NYC to Newport, RI —both of these double handed. Once in Newport, a third event—a two-day course-racing regatta with a crew of six completes the entire race schedule.

Unlike the long distance and trans-oceanic races in and around Europe, where one bad tactical decision early in the race or one equipment problem can make for thousands of miles of disappointing sailing, The Atlantic Cup competitors get a fresh start with each new leg and the event is generally won by the most consistent competitors!

Another great attribute of the Atlantic Cup is its commitment to running a clean and carbon neutral event, which has earned the Atlantic Cup a Platinum Level Clean Regattas certification by Sailors for the Seas.

They have also worked hard at providing an educational platform for inner city kids and using their resources and website to promote direct experience learning initiatives. If you go to their Kids Page, you will see how they have taken a page from the Bodacious Dream playbook, and posted “educational guides.” You might even recognize that cartoon captain host … people tell me it’s a great likeness. Their work the past few years have allowed hundreds of kids to visit with skippers and tour the boats when they are docked in Charleston, New York City and Newport.

And although Bodacious Dream, sporting our FiSH-emblazoned spinnaker won’t be on the water this year, our sponsor of the past two years, Jamestown FiSH, the award-winning restaurant across the bay from Newport, will once again be sponsoring parts of the racecourse with a mark off Jamestown Harbor, the finish line for Leg 2 and the inshore course races as well as a skipper’s reception at their excellent restaurant! Jamestown Fish is co-owned and managed by John Recca and Cathy Squires, along with the sponsors and owners of Bodacious Dream. A must mention, head chef Matthew MacCartney was just named the “People’s Choice, Best Chef in New England” by Food and Wine Magazine! Put it on your list of places to visit this summer and come join in the festivities during the skipper’s reception on May 23rd!

The Competitors in this year’s Atlantic Cup …

Now, let me get back to my preview of this year’s competitors. This year’s lineup, in no particular order, so far is Gryphon Solo II, the former Icarus now being raced as JeffreyMacFarlane.com, Pleiad Racing, Dragon, and a new entry named Flatline.

Each one of these boats has proven worthy of winning major regattas. Gryphon Solo II placed 3rd in 2012’s Atlantic Cup, Icarus placed 2nd in 2013’s Atlantic Cup winning the inshore series, Dragon has a fresh new refit and new articulating bow sprit this year, Flatline has been resurrected after a major accident and is showing up in fine shape and the guys on Pleiad Racing have been refining their rocket ship all year!

But good boats alone don’t do it and the depth of talent this year is as deep as ever. Gryphon Solo II skippered by Joe Harris with Pat O’Connor, have been around and up and down the East Coast for many years; Joe has victories in Trans-Atlantic races and Newport-Bermuda Races. Jeffery MacFarlane.com (old Icarus), skippered by Jeffery MacFarlane, has spent the last couple of years racing around Europe in the Mini Class and was ranked no. 1 internationally last year! Pleiad Racing is skippered by Ed Cesare with Chad Corning … need more be said? Both these guys come from very extensive racing backgrounds; too many events to list here and they are back for the second year ready to take it on. Dragon will be skippered by Mike Hennessey and Rob Windsor. Mike is the North American Class 40 representative and has all the cards. Rob has sailed everywhere. He’s just now back from the latest Transat Jacques Vabre – a double handed Trans-Atlantic Race from France to Brazil. Flatline, skippered by Kyle Hubley with Frederic de Mesel are definitely the unknowns, but they have thousands of offshore miles between them, so experience is definitely not lacking.

Bodacious Dream w/ FiSH sail … Atlantic Cup 2013 – photo by Billy Black

So, pairing up these sailors with these boats, all the signs are that this is going to be one of the closest Atlantic Cup Events ever. If last year’s finishes were nail biters, this year could chew those fingers to the bone. I can only say I wish I could be there, as the competition and camaraderie are going to be something else. And just as an indicator of how American boats stack up against the French and European boats that tend to dominate European races – only one European boat has made it to the podium, the German boat Mare in 2012. None of the top French competitors who visited in 2012 and 2013 made it to the podium. Suppose we scared them off? Could be! Now there’s a challenge to my European friends and competitors!

So, it’s time to point your browsers to www.theatlanticcup.org and check out the stuff happening on the website, vote for your favorite team and introduce your kids to the great information and educational fun on the kid’s pages. After you check them out then mark your calendar to follow the event when it begins on May 10th … or even better, get on down to the docks, visit with the sailors and join in the fun. This is going to be a great year!

From the middle of the Southern Pacific Ocean …

– Dave, Bodacious Dream (and native east-coaster) Franklin
1.34389S , 90.88464W

Tegan’s Science Notes #8: Glaciers

Posted on April 24, 2014 by oceanexplorer

Dave Rearick: As promised, here’s the second half of our Glacier Report, the first part of which with my notes, photos and videos of my trip to Fox Glacier is viewable HERE!

Today’s follow-up post, from our Earthwatch Scientist, Tegan Mortimer summarizes much of what science has learned about glaciers. Tegan knows a lot about glaciers, so I encourage you to read on and learn more about this important subject.

And if you would like to share these learnings with those younger than yourself, be sure to check out our new (and easily printable) Explorer Guide on Glaciers – or engage Tegan or I with questions via email.

So, take it away, Tegan!

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1. The Power of Ice: Discovering the Glacial Landscape

Tegan Mortimer: Did you know that Charles Darwin was a geologist? Many of the thoughts in his most famous work, The Origin of Species were influenced by early discoveries in geomorphology – a field of science which tries to explain how landscapes change based on the pressures placed upon them. Ice is one of the greatest creators of landscapes. Just as Dave described the Great Lakes being carved out by glaciers in his previous post, in that same way was Cape Cod along with many other features of my native Massachusetts coastline also carved out by glaciers. When you really look closer, it’s possible to discover much of the history of a landscape by the way it looks today.

The photo below is of a place in North Wales called Cwm Idwal (in Welsh a “w” is a vowel and is pronounced like “oo”) in the Glyderau Mountains.

Cwm Idal in the Glyderai Mountains of North Wales

Charles Darwin visited Cwm Idwal in 1831 to study the many fossils of ancient marine life that were found in its rocks. What they showed was that this land was once the bottom of the sea! For Darwin and his fellow geologists who were trying to show that landscapes could be shaped and changed in this way, these findings were so exciting that they somehow missed something even bigger!

It was another 10 years before Darwin returned to Cwm Idwal and this time he noticed the very obvious evidence of glaciation on the landscape. Cwm Idwal is what geologists call a “hanging valley” (alternately called a cirque, or a corrie or a cwm), which is the area from which a mountain glacier originates. Below Cwm Idwal, stretches a wide glacial U-shaped valley, which reaches all the way to current sea level. Cwm Idwal and the surrounding area are a wonderful example of “typical” glacial features.

2. How glaciers change the landscape

Glaciers and ice sheets form landscapes through two methods. The first happens when glaciers erode the landscape by scraping up the soil and bedrock after which they then deposit this material in other places.

Depending on the type of rock that a glacier is moving over, different glacial features will be left behind. Soft rocks like sandstone or limestone are easily ground up by the pressure of the ice, while harder rocks like granite are usually eroded through a process called “plucking.” What happens here is that water from the glacier melts into cracks in the rocks which than refreezes. As the ice in the glacier moves, it plucks away pieces of rock which are then trapped in the ice. Water expands when it freezes and is capable of further breaking apart rocks in what is called “freeze-thaw weathering.”

(:: For a fun sidetrip, explore Fox Glacier via Google Earth by clicking on this link or the image above!)

The second method of erosion results in a roche moutonnée or a whaleback, which is an area of exposed bedrock, which has a smooth gently-sloped side and a steep vertical side. The photo below shows a few roche moutonnées which are only a few feet tall, though it is possible to see very large ones as well. Based on the direction of the sloping and angle of the sides you can tell which direction the glacier was moving. Remember that fact, as it will come up again later. The sloping side is the direction the glacier was coming from and the ice grinds down that side of the rock. The steeper sided angle is the direction the glacier was going and here is where that process called plucking happens. The tops of roche moutonnées often have scratches called striations which are horizontal scape marks from the rocks and debris in the ice.

Roche moutonnées

Another erosional feature is called a crag and tail which is a tall hill usually with exposed rock and a gently sloping tail of softer rock behind it. In this case, the steep side of the hill is the direction that the glacier came from. The most famous crag and tail is Edinburgh Castle (pictured to the left) in Edinburgh, Scotland. The crag in a crag and tail is an area of very hard rock, usually a volcanic plug which forms when magma cools inside the vent of a volcano creating a column of very hard rock. When the glacier hits this rock, it can’t erode it, so it is forced to flow around the plug like water flowing around rocks in a stream. The plug protects the softer rock behind it leading to the formation of the tail.

All that eroded material has to go somewhere, so it is that glaciers leave behind particular landforms made up of all that “stuff.” Sediment left behind by glaciers is usually called till, which is made up of sand and gravel and rocks of every size. Erratics are large rocks like the photo below which are left behind by a retreating glacier. Geologists study the mineral structure of erratics to learn where they come from and learn more about the behavior of glaciers and ice sheets.

An Erratic

Glaciers push up ridges of material which are called moraines. These ridges can be formed at the base of the glacier which are called terminal moraines or at the edges of the glacier which are called lateral moraines. Cape Cod and Long Island on the US east coast are areas which have a series of terminal moraines formed thousands of years ago by the Laurentide ice sheet. As a glacier retreats, it can leave behind a series of terminal moraines which reflect the extent of the ice at different periods. Sometimes meltwater from a glacier will be kept from exiting a valley by a terminal moraine and will form a lake.

3. Glaciers Today

So what exactly is a glacier? Dave explained it pretty well; a glacier is essentially a river of ice. A river of ice? Since you can’t see it moving, how can that be? The fact is that glaciers are always on the move. The immense weight of the ice in a glacier causes it to deform internally, which results in unstoppable movement. Gravity and meltwater underneath the glacier can also help it to move downslope. The areas at the edges of the glacier are under less pressure so this is where great cracks in the ice called crevasses form. When pieces of a glacier fall off the base of the glacier it is call calving – which is happening lately at a much increased rate. Here is an incredible high-def clip from a recent movie called “Chasing Ice” that records the longest and biggest calving ever recorded.

We know Fox Glacier is retreating, so how then is it moving downhill? The growth of a glacier is based on something called mass balance. Snow falls on the top of the glacier and freezes while ice from the bottom of the glacier melts or breaks off, a process that is called ablation. As long as the accumulation at the top outweighs the ablation at the bottom, the glacier will grow. However, if the ablation outweighs the accumulation, then the glacier will retreat. This is the case of the Fox Glacier, and unfortunately the case for many glaciers around the world.

4. Does it really matter if the glaciers disappear?

It would most certainly be a tragedy if alpine glaciers were to disappear due to the effects of human climate change. They are majestic places to behold and also provide revenue from tourism to areas in these regions. However, and more importantly, glaciers also provide huge stores of fresh water, which are released throughout the year. For example, about 1.3 billion people depend on Himalayan glaciers for drinking water and other water needs. If these resources were to disappear, it would have devastating effects on human populations.

5. Glaciers of the Past

At times throughout Earth’s history, huge swathes of the planet have been covered by ice. We know that some of these ice sheets covered thousands of miles and could be several miles thick. Such ice ages can last for millions of years and go through a series of glacial and interglacial periods where ice cover increases and decreases. The last ice age started 2.6 million years ago and is still ongoing today. We are currently in an interglacial period called the Holocene, which started 12,000 years ago. When people talk about the “Ice Age” they are usually talking about the previous glacial period, which occurred from 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. The ice was at its greatest expanse just 22,000 years ago when most of the northern half of North America and northern Europe and Asia were covered in ice. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Andes in South America and Southern Alps in New Zealand had large ice caps as well.

The glaciated landscapes of North America, Europe, South America, and New Zealand were formed during this Ice Age.

6. What happens when massive ice sheets disappear?

The most important thing to remember is that ice sheets (and glaciers) hold a huge amount of water. The sea level was about 120 meters lower during the last glacial period than it is today. We still have two major ice sheets on earth, the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet. If these were to melt – which they give every indication of doing, and quite rapidly, we would see increases to sea level, which would threaten many coastal cities and sea-dependent communities across the globe.

See all Dave’s photos and videos from Fox Glacier right HERE!

– Tegan

:: Tegan Mortimer is a scientist with Earthwatch Institute. For more exciting science insights, check out our BDX Explorer Guides or stop by our Citizen Science Resources page, where you can also find all of Tegan’s previous “Science Notes.”

We welcome your input or participation on our BDX Learning & Discovery efforts. You can always reach us here or via email.

Glaciers – Dave’s Full Story

Posted on April 23, 2014 by oceanexplorer

Fox Glacier – The Power of Ice

As some of you may recall, back in February on my layover in New Zealand, I visited Fox Glacier on the South Island. After so many years of being surrounded by water in its liquid form, the experience of being enveloped by frozen waves of water cracked open my curiosity in completely unexpected ways.

Seeing the power that glaciers had to literally move mountains and at the same time to witness firsthand the incredible speed with which they are disappearing right before our eyes was something I knew I had to further explore … both for myself, and for those of you who have engaged with us in the learning and discovery side of our adventure.

Dave at Fox Glacier

Though I know that what follows here (broken into two installments) is a larger than usual amount of information for the narrow confines of a blog post or an email, here’s what we’d like to share with you today!

In addition to our six earlier Explorer Guides, with our scientist colleague Tegan Mortimer‘s help, we’ve gathered our essential learnings on glaciers and complied them into a newly designed and easily printable Explorer Guide on Glaciers! We encourage you to check it out – and to once again … share it with the younger people in your world.

Here’s our new Explorer Guide on “Glaciers – The Power of Ice”

Given some time to reflect, I include below some new reflections of my own on the whole glacier experience. (My earlier Fox Glacier post is HERE!)
In addition to the glacier photos – here in slideshow format, we’ve also added five new videos to our BDX YouTube Channel from that day – each one fairly short, but each also showing some unique aspect of the glacier.

:: As this is a long post, and as Tegan has such a passion for the subject of glaciers and has so many great science findings to share, we’re following this with – “Tegan’s Science Notes #8: Glaciers“ … which contains some very exciting and excellent insights on glaciers. She also includes a fun Google Earth Scavenger Hunt you can explore on your own!

We know it’s a lot of material … but there’s nothing small about glaciers … and as we are quickly learning, the fate of our planet is as much tied to the vitality of our glaciers as it is to that of our oceans.

So, ALL that said … let’s get rolling … !

Dave Rearick: Growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan, the second largest of the five Great Lakes, gave us every chance to learn about glaciers. Glaciers scoured out all five of the Great Lakes about 10,000 years ago. As they melted and retreated, they left distinctive land formations: great carved moraines, bogs, kettle lakes and wetlands, not to mention, the amazing fresh water lakes themselves.

Lake Michigan is over 300 miles long (483 km), 90 miles wide (145 km) and over 900 feet deep (275 meters) at the deepest point. What I learned in school about glaciers at the time just sounded like more ancient history and did little to prepare me for my recent visit to the Fox Glacier on the South Island of New Zealand.

For the past several years, we’ve all heard story after story about how human activity and global warming have affected glaciers around the world. Experiencing firsthand their amazing scale and force, as well as the incredible speed with which their dissolution is happening, brought those many stories to a very different level of reality for me. It also reinforced for me the amazing power and need for hands-on learning in and around nature, much like what we are trying to do through our Bodacious Dream Expedition updates that track my circumnavigation and by our now seven topic-specific Explorer Guides.

#1 – Click arrows to advance! Scroll over to read descriptions.

As you hike up the glacier, you can easily see the various markings that the receding glacier had left. Just five years earlier, in 2008, the glacier had scoured the hillsides to a height that was now clearly marked by a vegetation line, below which was barren rock, over two hundred feet above us!

The access paths to the glacier must be regularly reworked. Just a year earlier, the path was about 50 feet higher up the side of the canyon wall. We learned that the glacier was melting at the rate of 6 inches (15 cm) a day! That’s 3.5 feet a week, 15 feet a month, 180 feet a year! Glaciers don’t do anything quickly, but they sure do it steadily. They gather snowfall up in the mountains, compress it so that it must move with gravity, ever so slowly changing and sculpting the earth on its way. Natural history unfolds, and the story of the Earth is told by these slow moving rivers of ice. What looks to the casual eye to be a static natural wonder, is in fact a dynamic display of the forces of nature undergoing constant and rapid change.

The crystal like angles that the ice assumes under the powerful pressure

Exotic formations of the melting ice in the ice cave.

More shots up the glacier….just so much beauty to absorb at every moment.

A great shot of the exposed and barren faces of the canyon showing how much the glacier has melted in the past five years. The vegetation line is from 2008.

Jess, our guide gives us safety instruction as we hike up into more ice.

Off we go … hiking up into the ice

DSCN2351

Another good shot of the vegetation lines, near and in the distance, where the glacier was just five years ago.

Beautiful ice formations

I know I repeat myself … Beautiful ice formations

Rock, ice and mountains and a waterfall … surround the glacier.

#2 – Click arrows to advance! Scroll over to read descriptions.

Each step of the hike exposed us to more wonder and amazement. There is so much beauty in the color and shape of the ice, and in tracking the constant changes brought on by the ever-flowing ice and water.

Be sure to check out our Explorer Guide on Glaciers for more amazing learnings!

I hope you enjoy the videos taken while at the glacier. They may not be of a professional travel brochure quality, but I think they offer a true and authentic entry into the story and into what you yourself might experience on the glacier if you were to go there. The rains and fogs of the day certainly added their effects as well, but to me, they all combine to show the stark beauty and harsh contrasts of this hard yet fluid environment – much like my videos of the stormy tempests at sea revealed the powerful nature of the ocean.

I hope that if one day you have the chance, you will choose to experience a glacier firsthand. If you do, I would recommend you hike rather than take the helicopter ride. I am sure the helicopter ride is beautiful, but you will land on a very static snowfield up on the higher slopes of the glacier, and you might miss the story of these fascinating indicators of our environment, that are unfolding farther down towards the terminal face.

Of all the sights I witnessed that day, the one that stood out for me was the one about this enormous boulder, about the size of a small truck, tilted up on its edge as if it might at any moment fall over.

The Fox Glacier Guides have been keeping an eye on this boulder for five years, ever since it first appeared, after having been carried down by the glacier. In those five years, they have seen the boulder reposition itself in many different angles and positions, but no one has ever actually seen it move! That is the power of the earth and nature – the capability, one drop at a time (or one wave at a time) to move a boulder or wash away a shoreline. If you’ve ever wondered just how your single life could have an impact on the larger world, I think somewhere in such a truth might be your answer.

The ice is in constant motion …

The eye is in constant motion as well, trying to make sense of this otherworldly beauty

Dave in an ice cave … and one we could pass all the way through. We were one of the first groups to see this particular ice cave and go through it. Jess said it might well be closed up and gone in just a couple of days.

Another shot from inside that same cave looking out

The eternally contemporary art of ice … too too cool!

The dancing beauty of a hidden waterfall

The wet darkness of the earth, the frosty brightness of the ice, and the perfect fluidity of the water …

Up into an ice canyon … this shot gives you a sense of the scale of the glacier. Trust me, it’s humbling.

A melting black hole. Though there’s nothing to show the scale of it, this is probably about 10 feet across and it is there to feed a huge and fast growing break-off of more ice.

Back to the huge bolder the size of a truck … on the way … from a different angle

An ablation marker. These poles are driven level to the top of the ice. As the ice melts, they become exposed. This marker shows a meter or more of ice has vanished, and it only took a week to happen.

A parting shot of the beautiful surface of the ice. Do you think the early cave painters might have seen signs and symbols in these markings? I know I did.

An ablation marker. These poles are driven level to the top of the ice. As the ice melts, they become exposed. This marker shows a meter or more of ice has vanished, and it only took a week to happen.

Back to the huge bolder the size of a truck … on the way … from a different angle

A melting black hole. Though there’s nothing to show the scale of it, this is probably about 10 feet across and it is there to feed a huge and fast growing break-off of more ice.

Up into an ice canyon … this shot gives you a sense of the scale of the glacier. Trust me, it’s humbling.

The wet darkness of the earth, the frosty brightness of the ice, and the perfect fluidity of the water …

The dancing beauty of a hidden waterfall

The eternally contemporary art of ice … too too cool!

Another shot from inside that same cave looking out

Dave in an ice cave … and one we could pass all the way through. We were one of the first groups to see this particular ice cave and go through it. Jess said it might well be closed up and gone in just a couple of days.

The eye is in constant motion as well, trying to make sense of this otherworldly beauty

The ice is in constant motion …

Rock, ice and mountains and a waterfall … surround the glacier.

#3 – Click arrows to advance! Scroll over to read descriptions.

As I mentioned at the top, tomorrow we’ll follow up this post by publishing “Tegan’s Science Notes #8: Glaciers“ … so we hope you’ll look for and check that out!

Again, thanks so much for following along … and if you should have any questions – or suggestions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at oceanexplorer@bodaciousdreamexpeditions.com

– Dave
@ 21.85887S, 97.30453W

P.S. I just learned about this amazing set of photos from a photographer named James Balog who has spent years taking photos of vanishing glaciers … truly outstanding and sobering images … http://billmoyers.com/content/vanishing-glaciers-now-and-then/

Tegan’s Science Notes #6 – Seabirds

Posted on April 2, 2014 by oceanexplorer

Some days are made interesting merely by their simplicity. Today looks to be one of those. The last 36 hours have made for some demanding sailing. Even though we’ve made good time, it’s taken a lot of patience and effort as the wind has increased, decreased and repeatedly switched directions. Each one of these changes has required that I adjust the course or trim the sails.

Today by dawn, things had settled down and we are now sailing steadily on course, which both simplifies my life onboard and gives me a chance to catch up on other things.

It’s pretty desolate down here in the Southern Ocean. There appears to be little visible sea life other than the mysterious bioluminescence I see occasionally at night and the plethora of seabirds that accompany me on my journey. For the first few days, there were a dozen or so albatross around, floating like soft music in the wake of the boat. Yesterday, I sailed through a flock of smaller white seabirds, but there were many of them – maybe 100 or so, and they kept up with me for several hours.

Today, the crowd has moved on. In its place was one lone, dark brown bird, (I’m going to guess it’s a South Polar Skua) which circled us for quite a while. As if we had entered a courting dance, he would land on the boat, I would chase him with my camera and he would fly off … and shortly resume his same pattern – coming up from behind, drifting a bit, then swooping around behind the sails and stalling just in front of the boat before falling back along the weather side. I would follow him around the boat, probably a couple dozen times before I would give into dizziness and allow him another victory in our simple game.

The days move along out here. I sail, navigate, check systems, watch out for ships, eat, sleep … and repeat. I’m grateful for the routine, as it has given me time to digest some reading material … one of which has been Ernest Hemingway’s Moveable Feast, a selection of short stories of his days in Paris. Two years ago, I found myself in the Lilas Café in Paris that he mentions. I sat on his dedicated stool, watching the many comings and goings of interesting people, just as it happened back in the 1930’s.

In the meantime, our ocean scientist, Tegan Mortimer has another wonderful science note for you directly below here – this one appropriately on seabirds! I strongly encourage you to give it a read. As I watch the birds soar day in and day out, I stand amazed before their beauty and the skill they bring to their aquatic lives.

Sailing along here … oh, let’s see … at coordinates … 46.81776S, 161.104W

– Dave

Tegan’s Science Notes #6: Seabirds

Of about 9,700 species of birds on earth, only about 350 are considered seabirds. Think about that – 9,350 species occupy only 30% of the surface on the earth while those 350 species of sea bird ply the vast oceans which constitute 70% of the surface of the globe!

What is a seabird?

The definition of a seabird is a tricky one. Many people use the technical definition that a seabird is a bird which feeds in salt water. However, many coastal and wading birds feed in salt water, but aren’t considered seabirds because they don’t spend enough time at sea. However gulls are considered seabirds though they are strictly coastal and return to land regularly.

The majority of sea birds spend the bulk of their time at sea and only return to land to nest. Therefore they depend on the marine environment for their food and float on the ocean’s surface to rest. The enormous wandering albatross will spend the first seven years of its life at sea before returning to remote islands to breed for the first time.

Who are the seabirds?

I mentioned albatrosses, which are the quintessential seabirds, and gulls which many of us who visit the coast are familiar with. The seabirds also include the petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, auks, pelicans, gannets, boobies, skuas, cormorants, shags, frigatebirds, tropic birds and last but certainly not least the penguins.

Many seabirds like the albatrosses and gannets have evolved strong, long wings which allow them to fly long distances without expending much energy, while other seabirds like the auks and penguins have sacrificed flying ability in favor of evolving features which allow for strong swimming ability.

Auks: Razorbill and Puffin

So what birds has Dave seen so far?

Dave has had some fantastic bird sightings. Unfortunately, seabirds can be very difficult to identify, especially the albatrosses of which I am sure Dave has seen more than one species. But this is the list so far of what we’ve been able to identify.

Many of these seabirds are common and widespread in the oceans. In fact, the Wilson’s storm-petrel is believed to be the most numerous bird species in the world with around 12 to 30 million individuals! On the other hand, the gray-headed albatross, cape gannet, and African penguin are classed as endangered because they either have small geographic ranges, small populations or are experiencing significant population declines. So this makes a great list of both common and rare species. Dave spotted a white tern (actually it almost landed on his head!) off the coast of Brazil which is a very unusual sighting for that species in that area.

Dynamic Soaring

Albatross and some other seabirds use a peculiar flying pattern where they make large looping turns which take them up into the air and then they swoop down to almost touch the water and back up again. This is called “dynamic soaring” and it allows these birds to fly without expending much energy. These birds are using the difference in wind speed at different heights to soar. The wind is slower closer to the surface of the ocean due to friction and it becomes faster higher up. The bird starts by climbing up to higher wind speed, and then turns away from the wind and gains airspeed as it soars down the wind gradient. When it turns back into the wind at the water’s surface, the bird has extra energy which allows it to climb back up to higher windspeeds again. Birds which use dynamic soaring have evolved long, thin wings which they hold rigidly in the air as they soar a bit like the wings of a glider.

Additional Resources:

:: Source and good article: whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/a-robotic-albatross

:: Another interesting article: whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/of-wings–waves–and-winds

Seabird Conservation

While it may seem that seabirds that roam the vast oceans are less touched by human impacts that threaten other bird groups, the fact is that seabirds are the MOST threatened group of birds on earth! Of the 346 species of seabird, 101 species (that’s 29%!) are threatened globally and another 10% are classed as “Near Threatened.” And almost half of all seabirds are known or thought to be declining in population. The albatrosses in particular are the most threatened with 17 of 22 species classed as “Threatened by Extinction.” To put it into a little context, of the 10 species that Dave has seen, 30% are threatened and 70% have declining populations!

What’s happening here? Human activities are the greatest contributor. Historically, many seabirds breed on remote islands that are relatively free from land predators, so they often nest on the ground. When ships would occasionally land on these islands, pests like rats were unintentionally introduced. Rats are very destructive to ground nesting birds, eating both eggs and preying on chicks. Luckily, efforts have been made to eradicate such introduced pests from many of these islands.

Today however, other more menacing threats face seabirds. Drowning in fishing gear is one of the greatest threats to seabirds. In the open ocean, fishermen set long lines, miles of baited hooks, which unfortunately catch much more than the fish the fishermen want. Many seabirds hunt from the air, diving to catch prey they have spotted with their sharp eyes. When these baited hooks lay near the surface the birds take the bait, get hooked, and drown. This situation is bad for the birds, but the fishermen don’t want it either as that is a lost piece of bait. Organizations like Birdlife International are working with fishermen in the most affected areas to modify fishing practices to reduce this “bycatch.” The good news is that simple changes can dramatically reduce the number of birds being caught and lost in this manner.

Another threat to seabirds is marine pollution. Laysan albatross are particularly affected with 97% of chicks being found with plastic in their stomachs. The adults are attracted to plastic objects floating at the surface, likely mistaking them for fish eggs or squid. They carry them back to the colonies where they feed them to their chicks. Forty percent of chicks born each year will die due to plastic blocking their guts or other effects of consuming plastic objects. :

::The heavy cost of marine pollution: ocean.si.edu/laysan-albatross-plastic-problem

Seabirds are majestic, elusive and true ocean wanderers, the lone occupants of the air above the ocean, but they could all too easily disappear from these winds. We all have a role to play to protect the ocean and its life, whether it is learning more about marine debris, attending a beach clean up, buying seafood caught with sustainable practices or any other action which improves the ocean environment for all.

– Tegan

(Tegan Mortimer is a scientist with Earthwatch Institute. Contact Tegan directly at Tegan Mortimer <tmortimer (at) earthwatch (dot) org>)

:: For more great science insights and opportunities, please check out our BDX Explorer Guides or stop by our Citizen Science Resources page, where you can also find all of Tegan’s previous Science Notes. Also, we welcome your input or participation to our BDX Learning & Discovery efforts. You can always reach us at … <oceanexplorer@bodaciousdreamexpeditions.com>

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Ocean Learning Adventures

Category Archives: Education

Dave Interviews the Experts

Tegan’s Science Notes #10 – Protecting Marine Biodiversity

Harmonics of the Great Gyres

Our Panama Canal Adventure!

Tegan’s Science Notes #9: The Galápagos

Stalking the Wild Galapagos #3

The 2014 Atlantic cUpdate

Tegan’s Science Notes #8: Glaciers

Glaciers – Dave’s Full Story

Tegan’s Science Notes #6 – Seabirds