Sunday, September 7, 2014

Just for the fun of it: A List of 50 Fun & Amazing Places to "Fly To".

Site 1: Airplane Boneyard   (32 08’59.96″ N, 110 50’09.03″W)  Tucson, Arizona
Site 2: Mysterious Desert Pattern  (27°22’50.10″N, 33°37’54.62″E) Red Sea Governorate, Egypt
Site 3: Swastika-Shaped Building Complex (32°40’34.19″N 117° 9’27.58″W) Coronado, California, USA
Site 4: Buffalo Herd (4°17’21.49″ S 31°23’46.46″ E) Kigosi Game Reserve, Tanzania
Site 5: Giant Triangle (33.747252, -112.633853) Wittmann, Arizona, USA
Site 6: Shipwrecked SS Ayrfield with Trees (-33.836379, 151.080506) Homebush Bay, Sydney, Australia
Site 7: The Badlands Guardian (50° 0’38.20″N 110° 6’48.32″W) Walsh, Alberta, Canada
Site 8: Parking Lot for Fighter Jets (33.927911, -118.38069) El Segundo, California, USA
Site 9: Firefox Logo (45° 7’25.87″N 123° 6’48.97″W) Dayton, Oregon, USA
Site 10: Guitar-Shaped Forest (-33.867886, -63.987) Córdoba, Argentina
Site 11: Heart-Shaped Lake ( 41.303921, -81.901693) Columbia Station, Ohio, USA
Site 12: Mysterious Desert Pattern (40.452107, 93.742118) China
Site 13: Giant Target (37.563936, -116.85123) Nevada, USA
Site 14: World’s Biggest Pool (-33.350534, -71.653268) Algarrobo, Valparaíso, Chile
Site 15: Jesus Loves You ( 43.645074, -115.993081) Boise National Forest, Boise, Idaho, USA
Site 16: Lion King ( 51.848637, -0.55462) Dunstable LU6 2LD, UK   
Site 17: Turkish Flag (35.282902, 33.376891) Kyrenia, Cyprus
Site 18: Star Fort (  ) Schansdijk 5, 4655 De Heen, The Netherlands
Site 19: Potash Ponds (38°29’0.16″N 109°40’52.80″W) Moab, Utah, USA
Site 20: Mysterious Pattern (37.629562, -116.849556) Nevada, USA
Site 21: The Whampoa Boat-Shaped Shopping Centre (22°18’14.15″N, 114°11’24.66″E) Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Site 22: Russell Square (  ) Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom
Site 23: Coca Cola Logo (-18.529211, -70.249941) Arica, Arica y Parinacota, Chile
Site 24:  Concentric Cirlces (39.623119, -107.635353) New Castle, Colorado, USA
Site 25: Island in a Lake in an Island in a Lake (69.793° N, 108.241° W) Northern Canada
Site 26:  Flipped Car (51°19’18.13″N, 6°34’35.64″E) Krefeld, Germany
Site 27: Strange Symbol (37.401573, -116.867808) Nevada, USA
Site 28:  Monkey Face (65.476721, -173.511416) Russia
Site 29:  Big Swimming Pool (52°29’52.24″N 13°27’13.67″E) Berlin, Germany
Site 30: Interesting Building (41.84201, -89.485937) Dixon, Illinois, USA
Site 31: Big Friendly Giant (19°56’56.96″S 69°38’1.83″W) Huara, Tarapacá, Chile
Site  32: Another Jet in a Parking Lot (8.825183, 2.1985795) 92410 Ville-d’Avray, FranceSite 
Site 33: More Mysterious Desert Patterns (40.458148, 93.393145) China
Site 34  Shipwreck (30.541634, 47.825445) Basra, Iraq
Site 35: Multiple Landing Strips in the Desert (32.663367, -111.487618) Eloy, Arizona, USA
Site 36: Oil Fields (37°39’16.06″S 68°10’16.42″W) Rio Negro, Argentina
Site 37. Mattel Logo (33.921277, -118.391674) El Segundo, California
Site 38: Uluru / Ayers Rock (-25.344375, 131.034401) Northern Territory, Australia
Site 39: 1:20 Scale Model of Disputed Border Region between India and China (38.265652, 105.9517) Yong Ning Xian, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
Site 40: UTA Flight 772 Desert Memorial (16.864841, 11.953808) Sahara Desert, southern Ténéré of Niger
Site 41: Heart-Shaped Land Formation (20°56’15.47″S, 164°39’30.56″E) New Caledonia
Site 42: Rainbow Plane (  ) Cathy Terrace Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey , USA ‎
Site 43: Barringer Meteor Crater (35.027185, -111.022388) Winslow, Arizona
Site 44: Come Downtown and Play (35.141533, -90.052695) Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Site 45: Hippo Pool (6°53’53.00″ S 31°11’15.40″ E) Katavi National Park, Tanzania
Site 46: Solar Field (34.871778, -116.834192) Daggett, California
Site 47: Giant US Flag ( ) 7300 Airport Blvd, Houston, TX 77061, USA
Site 48: Big Red Lips in the Desert (12°22’13.32″N, 23°19’20.18″E) Sudan
Site 49: Grand Prismatic Spring (44.525049, -110.83819) Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
Site 50: Batman Symbol (26.357896, 127.783809) Okinawa, Japan

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Searching for the Evidence of Our Dynamic Earth

The Earth's crust provides clues about the processes happening above our heads and below our feet which shape the surface of the planet we call home. Do you know where to look for those clues? Hitch a ride using GE to any one of the following locations. Once there, use your prior knowledge to name the components of the physical geography that you see, the process(es) that led up to their creation, and suggest what might happen next as the dynamic processes that has been shaping the Earth continue their seemingly tireless work.

As always, start your trip in the AAE's backyard, the Mojave Desert. Assuming that you have opened GE and made the changes addressed above, find the Search arrow in the upper left corner of the GE window and open it by clicking on it. Once open click on the "Fly To" option. To travel on GE to AAE's campus in the middle of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, copy and paste the following latitude and longitude (lat, long) of 34°31'58.81"N, 117°16'44.16"W into the text box in GE's Fly To search engine (click on the magnifying glass/or tap the enter key to activate your search... hop). You will be "flown" to the middle of the our Mojave River Campus. Zoom out using the "-" minus key (zoom in using the "+" key) and explore around the campuses environs, getting close enough to see some of its surface features and plant life. The arrow keys will also help you navigate in any compass direction (ie. NEWS). Use some of the features of GE to "mess around" a bit and see what GE can add to your experience before leaving the campus and visiting examples of how humans have used our planet' resources.

[COOL HINT: Once you have "flown to" one of the sites below, go up to the GE's toolbar, find "View" and scroll down the drop-down menu and "check" Historical Imagery" to view a image of your selection from the past. This is a good way to track "change over time".]


On a piece of lined paper, (1) number it for the number of sites below. Next, use GE to "Fly to each site. Once at the designated location, move around the site and "take in" the geologic landscape. Now, for the processes that you observe direct evidence for, (2) list those processes. Now, if you can, (3) provide a place name for the site that those living in the area would recognize.

Site 1 ( 35° 7'53.27"N, 119°39'53.69"W )
Site 2 ( 41°24'15.54"N, 122°11'52.88"W )
Site 3 ( 34°44'7.58"N, 116°21'53.84"W )
Site 4 ( 34°54'42.67"N, 115°43'35.17"W )
Site 5 ( 35°49'9.42"N, 113°38'3.82"W )
Site 6 ( 37°52'58.18"N, 119° 9'41.46"W )
Site 7
( 44°14'58.88"N, 120°47'5.97"W )
Site 8 ( 60° 4'12.55"N, 139°22'31.06"W )
Site 9 ( 53°46'37.69"N, 161°58'31.35"W )
Site 10 ( 23°21'19.77"N, 160°49'35.24"W )
Site 11 ( 49°50'24.78"N, 92°49'38.72"W )
Site 12 ( 43°14'14.98"N, 87° 1'30.85"W )
Site 13 ( 43° 4'58.93"N, 79° 4'18.52"W )
Site 14 ( 36°34'53.02"N, 118°17'55.45"W)
Site 15 ( 34°21'55.16"N, 119°26'39.84"W)
Site 16 ( 36°34'53.02"N, 118°17'55.45"W)
Site 14 ( 36°34'53.02"N, 118°17'55.45"W)



Monday, January 11, 2010

Natural Capital Degredation: Find Examples of Major Human Impacts in Marine Ecosystems Across the Globe Using GE


In this installment, you will be able to use Google Earth (GE) to "fly to" examples of how humans have degraded Marine ecosystems across the surface of the earth. The point of this exercise is to visually and spatially connect to the concept of how humans (terrestrial dwellers) have heavily altered 41% of the worlds oceans (leaving virtually no area completely untouched) decreasing the natural capital of the habitable space that covers 71% of the earth surface, thereby decreasing the planet's carrying capacity (k) for all the organisms that its supports.

The two divisions of our ocean's ecosystems used here are listed below (
marine, which includes open sea and ocean bottom life zones, and coral reefs) along with the major human induced impacts common to each kind of ecosystem. After using GE to visit examples of each kind of impact, use the comments feature of this blog to either suggest additional examples of impacts that have been overlooked, the coordinates for additional example of the impacts already listed or, provide the coordinates for locations where humans have reversed or mitigated former impacts.

As always, lets start our trip in the AAE's backyard, the Mojave Desert, a temperate desert. Assuming that you have opened GE and made the changes addressed above, find the Search arrow in the upper left corner of the GE window and open it by clicking on it. Once open click on the "Fly To" option. To travel on GE to AAE's campus in the middle of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, copy and paste the following latitude and longitude (lat, long) of34°31'58.81"N, 117°16'44.16"W into the text box in GE's Fly To search engine (click on the magnifying glass/or tap the enter key to activate your search... hop). You will be "flown" to the middle of the our Mojave River Campus. Zoom out using the "-" minus key (zoom in using the "+" key) and explore around the campuses environs, getting close enough to see some of its surface features and plant life. The arrow keys will also help you navigate in any compass direction (ie. NEWS). Use some of the features of GE to "mess around" a bit and see what GE can add to your experience before leaving the campus and visiting examples of marine degradation.

Coral Reefs

  • Study Sites
  1. Virtual Stations (NOAA)
  • Ocean warming
  1. Sea Surface Temperatures (NOAA)
  • Soil Erosion

  • Algae growth and fertilizer runoff

  • Bleaching
  1. Satellite Coral Bleaching Monitoring Datasets  (Google Earth Format)
  2. Bleaching Alert Areas (NOAA
  3. Coral Bleaching Hotspots (NOAA
  • Rising Sea Levels
  1. Sea Level Rise Explorer
  • Increased UV Exposure

  • Damage from anchors

  • Damage from Fishing and diving




Marine Ecosystems
  • Half of coastal wetlands lost to agriculture and urban development (2008)

  • Over 1/5 of mangrove forests lost to agriculture, development and shrimp farms since 1980 (2008)

  • Beaches eroding because of coastal development and rising sea levels

  • Ocean bottom habitats degraded by dredging and trawlers fishing

  • At least 20% of coral reefs severely damaged and 25-30% more threatened (2008)

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Natural Capital Degradation: Find Examples of Major Human Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems Across the Globe Using GE

In this installment, you will be able to use Google Earth (GE) to "fly to" examples of how humans have degraded terrestrial ecosystems across the surface of the earth. The point of this exercise is to visually and spatially connect to the concept of how humans have decreased the natural capital of their habitable space, thereby decreasing the planet's carrying capacity (k) for all the organisms that its supports.

The four common flavors of terrestrial ecosystems are listed below along with the major human induced impacts common to each kind of ecosystem. After using GE to visit examples of each kind of impact, use the comments feature of this blog to either suggest additional examples of impacts that have been overlooked, the coordinates for additional example of the impacts already listed or, provide the coordinates for locations where humans have reversed or
mitigated former impacts.

As always, lets start our trip in the AAE's backyard, the Mojave Desert, a temperate desert. Assuming that you have opened GE and made the changes addressed above, find the Search arrow in the upper left corner of the GE window and open it by clicking on it. Once open click on the "Fly To" option. To travel on GE to AAE's campus in the middle of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, copy and paste the following latitude and longitude (lat, long) of 34°31'58.81"N, 117°16'44.16"W into the text box in GE's Fly To search engine (click on the magnifying glass/or tap the enter key to activate your search... hop). You will be "flown" to the middle of the our Mojave River Campus. Zoom out using the "-" minus key (zoom in using the "+" key) and explore around the campuses environs, getting close enough to see some of its surface features and plant life. The arrow keys will also help you navigate in any compass direction (ie. NEWS). Use some of the features of GE to "mess around" a bit and see what GE can add to your experience before leaving the campus and visiting examples of terrestrial degradation.

Deserts
  • Large Desert Cities
  1. Dubai, Uniited Arab Emirates ( 25° 6'41.23"N, 55°17'37.79"E )
  • Soil Destruction by Off-Road Vehicles
  1. Johnson Valley, California, USA ( 34°26'27.92"N, 116°41'7.69"W )
  • Soil Salinization from Irrigation
  1. Central Valley, California, USA ( 35°27'15.56"N,119°24'2.83"W )
  • Depletion of Groundwater
  1. Rogers Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, California, ( 34°50'41.88"N, 117°52'14.08"W ) The fissure has been attributed to land subsidence related to ground-water pumping in the Antelope Valley
  • Land Disturbance and Pollution from Mineral Extraction
  1. Limestone & Cement mining and manufacturing, Victorville, CA, USA ( 34°36'0.02"N, 117°17'58.64"W )
Grasslands
  • Conversion to Croplands
  1. Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas, USA ( 38°26'13.39"N, 96°35'40.87"W )
  • Release of CO2 to Atmosphere from Burning Grasslands

  • Overgrazing by Livestock
  1. Fort Pierre National Grassland, South Dakota, USA ( 44° 7'43.04"N, 100°16'37.32"W )
  • Oil Production and Off Road Vehicle use in Arctic Tundra
  1. Center of North Slope oil productions, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska ( 70°13'53.92"N, 148°24'12.79"W )
Forests
  • Clearing for Agriculture, livestock grazing, timber, and Urban Development
  1. Brazilian agriculture, rainforest deforestation, Para Brazil ( 4° 6'26.67"S, 54°22'4.63"W )
  • Conversion of Dense Forest to Tree Plantations
  1. Eucalyptus Plantation, Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo State, Brazil (21°22'22.20"S, 47°33'29.28"W )
  • Damage from Off-Road Vehicles
  1. Cleghorn Canyon Area, San Bernardino National Forest, CA, USA (34°18'47.81", 117°26'23.67"W )
  • Pollution of Forest Streams
  1. Iron Mountain Mine, Redding California,USA ( 40°39'26.57"N, 122°29'8.53"W )
  2. Leviathan Mine, Sierra Nevada, Alpine County, California, USA ( 38°42'20.40"N, 119°39'15.00"W )
Mountains
  • Agriculture
  1. Nepal, Nuwakot District ( 27°53'13.26"N, 85°14'39.50"E )
  • Timber Extraction
  1. Placer and El Dorado Counties, High Sierra, California, USA ( 38°55'5.47"N, 120°32'0.06"W )
  • Mineral Extraction
  1. Iron Mountain Mine, Redding California,USA ( 40°39'26.57"N, 122°29'8.53"W )
  • Hydroelectric Dam and Reservoirs
  1. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, California, USA ( 37°56'46.64"N, 119°44'15.69"W )
  • Increasing Tourism
  1. South Lake Tahoe, California, USA ( 38°54'57.33"N, 119°58'25.67"W )
  • Urban Air Pollution
  1. San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA ( 34°18'49.71"N, 117°57'34.44"W )
  • Increased Ultraviolet Radiation from Ozone Depletion

  • Soil Damage from Off-Road Vehicles
  1. Páramo de Piedras Blancas, Venezuelan Andes ( 8°50'32.60"N, 70°57'41.99"W )

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Tracking the Elusive Rain Shadow

Living on the leeward side of Southern California's Transverse Mountain Range, for almost twenty years now has made me well aware of the geoclimographical reality known as a rain shadow. The Goal of this virtual field trip is to provide sets of points between which lay some of the most influential and unequal distributions of annual precipitation measurements our planet has to offer as examples of this phenomenon.

Each of the lat/long pairings that follow are preceded by a name that will give some idea as to where Google Earth (GE) will fly you to. The first datum of the pairing will designate a windward point (wet side), the second a leeward point (dry side) of the rain shadow's transect being traced between the parings. The first pairing creates my desert home.

As always, lets start our trip in the AAE's backyard, the Mojave Desert, a temperate desert formed by the rain shadow cast by Southern California's Transverse Coastal Mountain Range . Assuming that you have opened GE and made the changes addressed above, find the Search arrow in the upper left corner of the GE window and open it by clicking on it. Once open click on the "Fly To" option. To travel on GE to AAE's campus in the middle of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, copy and paste the following latitude and longitude (lat, long) of 34°31'58.81"N, 117°16'44.16"W into the text box in GE's Fly To search engine (click on the magnifying glass/or tap the enter key to activate your search... hop). You will be "flown" to the middle of the our Mojave River Campus. Zoom out using the "-" minus key (zoom in using the "+" key) and explore around the campuses environs, getting close enough to see some of its surface features and plant life. The arrow keys will also help you navigate in any compass direction (ie. NEWS). Use some of the features of GE to "mess around" a bit and see what GE can add to your experience before leaving the campus and visiting examples of our planet's rain shadowed lands.

North America
  • Pacific Coast, Mojave Desert Paring; ( 33°40'26.44"N, 118° 7'3.15"W ) & ( 34°52'57.56"N, 117°27'51.13"W )
  • San Joaquin-Sierra Nevada, Death Valley Paring; ( 35°59'47.13"N, 118°45'32.66"W ) & (36° 5'8.57"N, 117°16'31.26"W )
  • Olympic Peninsula, Columbia Plateau Paring; ( 46°58'46.17"N, 124°46'15.16"W) & ( 46°23'46.71"N, 118°52'41.71"W )
South America
  • Amazon, Atacama-Sechura Desert Paring; ( 9°48'52.13"S, 54°28'45.29"W) & ( 7°27'29.43"S, 79°33'27.19"W )
  • Andes, Patagonia Paring; ( 37°37'3.49"S, 78°18'48.06"W) & ( 39°12'24.95"S, 68°35'59.57"W )
Africa
  • Madagascar East, Madagascar West Paring; ( 19°28'8.18"S, 7 51°45'16.93"E) & ( 20°20'42.68"S, 46°22'41.38"E )
Asia
  • Indian Sub-continent, Tibetan Plateau Paring; ( 20°35'37.26"N, 78°57'46.37"E) & ( 32°27'14.52"N, 86°50'50.39"E )
  • Deccan Plateau, Thar Desert Paring; ( 21°51'57.73"N, 78°35'37.04"E) & ( 27°30'10.56"N, 72°27'47.60"E )
  • Great Khingan Mountains, Ordos Desert Paring; ( 45°11'25.77"N, 100°14'46.50"E) & ( 37°15'5.90"N, 108° 8'11.05"E )
Eurasia
  • Caucasus Mountains, Karakum and Kyzyl Kum Deserts Paring; ( 41°22'45.69"N, 42°18'19.93"E ) & ( 44°15'54.22"N, 62°46'12.26"E )
  • Elburz and Zagros Mountains, Dasht-i-Lut Desert Paring; (37°28'8.27"N, 52°17'57.78"E ) & ( 30°23'39.39"N, 63°25'9.13"E )

Oceania
  • Tasman Sea, East of the Southern Alps Paring; ( 42°28'0.69"S, 167°32'31.98"E ) & ( 44° 6'16.91"S, 171°22'33.11"E )