February 1, 2011 - No problem after all. There was a simple administrative error. Why the Stardot technician supported the theory of equipment failure is a mystery.

January 31, 2011 - The Coast Guard Beach cam has an internal problem and can no longer supply live images to the website. For the time being MoreBeach administrators can log in daily and view a live image for a couple of minutes before the cam shuts down. According to StarDot, the maker of the cam, the cam needs to be repaired or replaced to function properly again. We're working on that. We might even get a better cam that will enable us to provide a daily 30 second live video.

In the meantime we'll be loading one image a day for as long the cam allows us to... until we get a new cam.

If you're interested in sponsoring a new cam and reaching the best beach audience in North America, please contact mike@morebeach.com (or call 508-255-5227).

January 31, 2011 - The temperatures of water flowing north into the Arctic Ocean adjacent to Greenland are the warmest they have been in the last 2,000 years says a new international study led by Robert Spielhagen of the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature in Mainz, Germany. The study showed that water in the Fram Strait between Greenland and the northernmost part of Norway has warmed roughly 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past century. Fram Strait waters today are about 2.5F warmer than during the Medieval Warm Period (900-1300 AD).

Water enters the Fram Strait by way of the North Atlantic Current which is fed by the Gulf Stream. The North Atlantic Current provides ice-free conditions adjacent to Svalbard even in winter. But now, according to study co-author Thomas Marchitto (a fellow at Colorado University-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research), the rate of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be accelerating due to positive feedbacks between the ice, the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere. As Arctic temperatures rise, summer ice cover declines, more solar heat is absorbed by the ocean and additional ice melts. Warmer water may delay freezing in the fall, leading to thinner ice cover in winter and spring, making the sea ice more vulnerable to melting during the next summer.

Air temperatures in Greenland have risen roughly 7 degrees F in the past several decades, thought to be due primarily to an increase in Earth's greenhouse gases, according to CU-Boulder scientists.

According to NYTimes some scientists say the study is another validation of the controversial “hockey stick” graph that shows a steep rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.

Here's more at University of Colorado at Boulder News Center.

 

January 24, 2011 - Watching surfers walk across snow to ride waves in nearly frozen water, in sub freezing air, first time observers typically have two thoughts: 1) "Those guys are nuts" followed by, 2) "Aren't they cold?" On the first point most surfers would agree. There's a level of passion that surfers have for their sport that can border on insanity. Surprisingly, despite ocean water temperatures that commonly reach 38F in early February, winter surfing in New England can be a relatively warm and comfortable experience - with one big exception.

Modern wetsuits use neoprene of varying thicknesses to maximize warmth and provide effort-reducing stretchiness. Chest areas may have 5,6 and even 7mm of neoprene while material in arms and legs may thin out to 2, 3 and 4mm.   An integral hood is preferred but some surfers use a secondary vest with a hood in conjunction with a non-hooded thinner spring wetsuit. In addition to a wetsuit that covers legs, arms, torso and head, winter surfers also wear neoprene booties and gloves (lobster-claw style for extreme cold). The only thing exposed directly to the elements is the central portion of the face, from just above the chin to the forehead.

Now to that exception. Remember, the face is exposed. This is necessary so the surfer can see and breathe. When a surfer ducks under or falls off a wave, the exposed face comes into contact with water that's about to undergo a cold induced phase change from liquid to solid.  The ice water jets past the face and into the wetsuit hood and torso area where it assaults blissfully toasty skin on scalp, neck, chest and back. It feels like a hard smack from an open palm. When ice water meets head a few times in succession - common when surfing in bigger waves - "ice cream headaches" can occur.  In some cases this cold water immersion brings on nausea and even vomiting.

One "secret" surfers use to stay warm in winter water is to drive to and from the beach dressed in the wetsuit - with the heat on full blast and a thermos full of hot coffee. Another technique is to wear additional layers of neoprene inside and outside their wetsuits

Each surfer has his or her own rule on when air and water is too cold or waves too big. Generally speaking you'll rarely see anyone in the water if the wind chill drops below zero.

Winter wetsuits with integral hoods are available from Billabong, Hotline, Hurley, Matuse, O'Neill, Patagonia and Rip Curl for prices ranging between $350 to $600.  Booties cost around $50 and gloves/mittens around $35.

"Semper Tepidus!"

Image above by Tina Spadafora of surfer Chris Kelly - Honorable mention in 2006 MoreBeach Winter Surfing Photo Contest

 

 

 

 

 January 22, 2011 - Andrew Revkin writes the Dot Earth blog for the NY Times. Last Thursday he posted an anylsis of projections recently released by BP and Exxon regarding the correlation of future energy consumption, economic growth (GDP) and C02 emissions.

Here’s a core graph from the BP analysis, which the company says is not the result of a scenario, but of its judgment based on history, trends in energy and environmental policies (or the lack thereof), markets and supplies. The moral of the story, in essence, is that “future energy” — at least through the next couple of decades — is largely the same as current energy, with gains in efficiency and growth in adoption of renewable sources and nuclear power still not substantially blunting growth in the combustion of fossil fuels.

The implication may be that CO2 output and concomitant global warming will proceed to unacceptable levels for another generation regardless of how much progress the people of planet earth make in deploying alternative energy solutions - unless - we also deploy global engineering solutions that remove C02.The one piece of good news shown in the graph is that BP foresees GDP continuing to grow hyperbolically even as energy usage tapers off.

Here's Revkin's full post.