Kurt's Weblog

Enviromagnetic Fingerprints Recovered From Modern Sediments (GP06)
.
Modern sediments are valuable enviromagnetic archives. The session
will focus on the ability of enviromagnetic parameters (e.g. low field
susceptibility, frequency-dependent susceptibility, anhysteretic
remanent susceptibility, bivariate ratios, bivariate plots) to
differentiate sedimentary environments. Environmental magnetism is
able to characterize processes in modern fluvial, deltaic, lacustrine
and marine environments, as well as in modern soils. Case studies
concerning aquatic systems are particularly welcomed. Presentations on
the modified magnetic signatures recorded in ecosystems under natural
and/or anthropogenic pressure are strongly encouraged. Calibration of
sediments, e.g. by magnetic susceptibility, and correlation with
geochemical and/or geoecological data are also topics of interest.
.
Convener: Sorin-Corneliu Radan
Co-Convener: Ann M. Hirt
.
We will have invited talks given by: 
.
Christoph Geiss (Trinity College, USA), 
Kenneth Kodama (Lehigh University, USA), 
Barbara Maher (Lancaster University, United Kingdom), 
Daniel Rey (Universidad de Vigo, Spain), 
Andrew Roberts (University of Southampton, United Kingdom). 

% gdal_translate > formats-fink
% /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Versions/1.4/Programs/gdal_translate > formats-chaos
% diff formats-fink formats-chaos
15a16,17
>   FITS: Flexible Image Transport System
>   HDF4Image: HDF4 Dataset
27d28
<   FITS: Flexible Image Transport System
30a32
>   PCRaster: PCRaster Raster File
31a34
>   Terragen: Terragen heightfield
41a45
>   JPEG2000: JPEG-2000 part 1 (ISO/IEC 15444-1)

August 29, 2007 - For the first time, researchers have recorded
"megapclicks" - a series of clicks and buzzes from humpback whales
apparently associated with nighttime feeding behaviors - in and around
NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. As detailed in the
most recent issue of the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, this
study offers the first documentation that baleen whales produce this
type of sound, normally associated with toothed whales and
echolocation.

Abstract - Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
exhibit a variety of foraging behaviours, but neither they nor any
baleen whale are known to produce broadband clicks in association with
feeding, as do many odontocetes. We recorded underwater behaviour of
humpback whales in a northwest Atlantic feeding area using suction-cup
attached, multi-sensor, acoustic tags (DTAGs). Here we describe the
first recordings of click production associated with underwater lunges
from baleen whales. Recordings of over 34000 'megapclicks' from two
whales indicated relatively low received levels at the tag (between
143 and 154dB re 1microPa pp), most energy below 2kHz, and interclick
intervals often decreasing towards the end of click trains to form a
buzz. All clicks were recorded during night-time hours. Sharp body
rolls also occurred at the end of click bouts containing buzzes,
suggesting feeding events. This acoustic behaviour seems to form part
of a night-time feeding tactic for humpbacks and also expands the
known acoustic repertoire of baleen whales in general.

A. Harati-Mokhtari, A. Wall, P. Brooks, J. Wang, J., "Automatic
Identification System (AIS): Data Reliability and Human Error
Implications," The Journal of Navigation, vol. 60:3, pp. 373-389,
2007.

National and international trade via shipping is already significant,
and expected to continue increasing rapidly over the next decade.
Both more ships and larger ships will contribute to this trade,
including ships from countries with less rigorous shipping maintenance
and inspection standards than the United States, and less strict
pollution monitoring regulations.  Changes in ship traffic management
protocols have been implemented in recent years in the U.S. to
minimize damage to coastlines, particularly near sensitive or
protected marine environments.  For example, to reduce risk to coastal
resources off central California, shipping lanes for larger vessels
were moved further offshore to allow for additional response time in
case of accidents before such vessels might drift into coastal areas.
Similarly, ships are now routed via specific approach channels when
entering Boston Harbor to reduce impacts within adjacent National
Marine Sanctuary resources.  Several recent high profile cases have
occurred where 'mystery' oil spills were found near shipping channels,
but no vessel could be readily identified as their source.  These
incidents lead to extensive and expensive efforts to attempt to
identify the ships responsible.  As time passes in responding to these
incidents, the likelihood of confirming the identity of the ships
diminishes.  Unfortunately, reports of vessels engaging in illegal
oily waste discharge to reduce fees for offloading the waste in port
are ongoing.  We here discuss use of improved capabilities of
near-continuous real-time position location monitoring of shipping
traffic using marine Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) for ships
that would facilitate identification of ships responsible for illegal
oily waste discharge. The next phase of the National AIS, N-AIS
Increment 2, can supply additional spatial coverage not currently
included in the N-AIS Increment 1, which can provide an enhanced
capability for monitoring shipping and improving management of coastal
ship traffic and response to pollution incidents.  These methods will
not only improve response time, but reduce cost of response as well.

fink install apache2
fink install libapache2-mod-python-py25 
sudo a2enmod python2.5
sudo emacs /sw/etc/apache2/apache2.conf

<Location /mpinfo>
    SetHandler mod_python
    PythonInterpreter main_interpreter
    PythonHandler mod_python.testhandler
</Location>

sudo apache2ctl restart
open http://localhost/mpinfo

General information

/sw/lib/python25.zip
/sw/lib/python2.5
/sw/lib/python2.5/plat-darwin
/sw/lib/python2.5/plat-mac
/sw/lib/python2.5/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages
/sw/lib/python2.5/lib-tk
/sw/lib/python2.5/lib-dynload
/sw/lib/python2.5/site-packages
/sw/lib/python2.5/site-packages/Numeric
/sw/lib/python2.5/site-packages/PIL
/sw/lib/python2.5/site-packages/ellipt2d
/sw/lib/python2.5/site-packages/gtk-2.0

Suez Energy North America received the last few state permits it needs
to begin construction on its deepwater liquefied natural gas port
proposed about 10 miles southeast of Gloucester, company executives
said yesterday.
.
The project received a water quality certification from the state
Department of Environmental Protection and coastal zone management
consistency certification from the Massachusetts Coastal Zone
Management Office.
.
Clay Harris, president and CEO of Suez North America, said in a
statement that the company still plans to begin operations of its
liquefied natural gas terminal by the end of 2009.
...

One of the companies building a liquefied natural gas terminal off
Gloucester is paying for a new system that will help detect whales and
avoid strikes by its massive tankers.
.
Environmentalists and marine biologists hope it could dramatically
reduce the number of whales killed by vessel strikes. Two whales that
washed up dead on Cape Ann shores this summer died as a result of
being hit by large vessels, officials from the New England Aquarium
determined.
.
Six buoys, which each have a microphone tied to it 50 feet below the
surface and an antenna to transmit data and sound, surround the
construction site of one liquefied natural gas terminal 13 miles
southeast of Gloucester. Excelerate Energy LLC, based in The
Woodlands, Texas, is building the Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge and
paid for the whale monitoring system as part of a mitigation package
the state ordered when approving the terminals.
.
The buoys will help monitor whales in the main shipping route from the
LNG site to Boston.
.
"A company wanted to build these (LNG terminals) a mile away from a
marine sanctuary, and we wanted to find ways to mitigate their
impact," said Leila Hatch, a regional coordinator for marine
bioacoustics with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
...

fink selfupdate && fink install pylint-py25-bin

Eclipse - Preferences
   Pydev
     Interpreter - Python
       "New..." to the right of Python interpreters
           Harddisk /sw/bin/python2.5
     Pylint
         check use pylint
	 location of pylint (lint.py)
             /sw/bin/pylint
   OK... takes about 30 seconds

Window - Open Perspective
  SVN Repository Exploring
Right click in the SVN Repository
   New - Repository Location
      Url: https://cowfish.unh.edu/projects/schwehr/trunk/src/noaadata/

Right click on the url in "SVN Repository..."
   Checkout
       Wizard
          pydev
	      pydev project
	          project name: noaadata
       		  Choose project type: python 2.5
		  Uncheck create default src

Science Daily - Using a novel underwater robot, University of Delaware
marine scientists will help reveal the mysteries of the Black Sea's
geology and maritime history, including ages-old shipwrecks, during an
international expedition that is now underway.
.
The Institute for Exploration and the Institute for Archaeological
Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of
Oceanography are leading the mission, which will conduct geological
and archaeological research in the Aegean and Black Seas--waterways
that have served as major trade routes for centuries.
...
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Delaware.

   $ mv trac.db trac2.db
   $ sqlite trac2.db .dump | sqlite3 trac.db

...
Our friends at Ordia Solutions are making news around just such an
application, their Virtual Earth powered Mobile Tactical Collaboration
System. The system is a map driven solution that allows collaboration
between multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary first responders
such as police, fire and rescue, and other emergency managers to
visualize and analyze critical situations and to coordinate command
and control. MTCS integrates Virtual Earth maps with collaborative
software tools, advanced GIS tools and voice-over-IP for real-time
incident reporting, communications, the sharing of photos and videos,
and map annotations through shared workspaces. Like most Virtual Earth
applications, it is delivered via a web browser and MTCS runs on
mobile wireless information devices mounted inside emergency
vehicles. Screenshot of the application below.
...

GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutTabletMotionFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int x, int y));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutTabletButtonFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int button, int state, int x, int y));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutStylusMotionFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int x, int y, int p));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutStylusButtonFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int button, int state, int x, int y));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutEraserMotionFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int x, int y, int p));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutEraserButtonFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int button, int state, int x, int y));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutCursorMotionFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int x, int y, int p));
GLUTAPI void APIENTRY glutCursorButtonFunc(void (GLUTCALLBACK *func)(int button, int state, int x, int y));

• geoweb 2007 presentations
• VesselTracker GoogleEarth

You mean, there are errors in AIS data!???
OH NO!

Abstract
This paper examines the recent introduction of the AIS to the ship's
bridge and its potential impact on the safety of marine
navigation. Research has shown that 80 to 85% of all recorded maritime
accidents are directly due to human error or associated with human
error. Safety is an important element of marine navigation and many
people at different levels are involved in its management. The safe
and efficient performance of joint systems, is heavily dependent upon
how functions are allocated between the human and the machine. This
paper investigates different regulations, supervision for proper use,
training, and management of AIS users. It uses previous research and
three separate AIS studies to identify problems. The potential of the
AIS to cause problems is analysed. The classic human factor "Swiss
Cheese" Model of system failure has been modified for the AIS to
investigate a possible accident trajectory. The paper then concludes
with recommendations and suggestions for improvements and further
work.

"All AIS is good; and Class B is going to give people a better picture
of what's going on out there, no question about it, but my problem
with it is that update rate of just once every 30 seconds," said
former tanker captain and current Penobscot Bay pilot Capt. Skip
Strong. And he's just one of several AIS experts who say that Class B
transponders, the just-about-to-arrive third phase of the AIS marine
safety revolution, will take some getting used to.

...
This is the third such U.S. Arctic mapping cruise -- others were in
2003 and 2004 -- and is not a response to a Russian mission this month
to place a flag at the North Pole seabed, or a newly announced
Canadian plan for an Arctic port, U.S. scientists said.
.
"This cruise was planned for three years and we've had the earlier
cruises; this is part of a long and ongoing program, not at all a
direct response," said Larry Mayer of the University of New Hampshire,
who will be on the voyage.
...

./ais_msg_1.py -d '!AIVDM,1,1,,A,15Mmkl0P03G?iwjEWG9ICgv606sd,0*3A,1183247946' -T kml-full > ship-position.kml

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, in partnership with the University of
New Hampshire's Joint Hydrographic Center and the National Science
Foundation, will embark on a four-week cruise to map a portion of the
Arctic sea floor starting Aug. 17.
.
This is the third expedition in a series of cruises aboard the
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy designed to map the sea floor on the
northern Chukchi Cap. Scientists will explore this poorly known region
to better understand its morphology and the potential for including
this area within the United States' extended continental shelf under
the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea.
.
The data collected during this cruise will also provide valuable
information for better understanding sea floor processes and fisheries
habitat, as well as provide input into climate and circulation models
that will help scientists predict future conditions in the Arctic.
.
Previous mapping cruises in this series were conducted in 2003 and
2004.
.
Healy is equipped with more than 4,200 square feet of scientific
laboratory space and a multibeam echo sounder, the primary tool that
is used to map the sea floor. The research has been funded through a
NOAA grant award to the University of New Hampshire and will be headed
by cruise chief scientist Larry Mayer at UNH with NOAA's Andy
Armstrong serving as co-chief scientist.
.
The northern Chukchi Cap is an ice-covered region of the Arctic Ocean
where little data about the sea floor is available. The cruise will
primarily be mapping the 2,500 meter (about 8,250 foot) depth contour
and the foot of the continental slope - the area where the continental
margin transitions into the deep sea floor.
.
The Administration is currently seeking Senate consent to
U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention as a priority
recommendation under the President's Ocean Action Plan. Accession
would allow full implement of the rights afforded to convention
parties to protect coastal and ocean resources.
.
Coastal states have sovereign rights over resources of the sea floor
and subsurface of their continental shelves. Under the Law of the Sea,
a country gets 200 nautical miles of continental shelf automatically,
but may extend its shelf beyond 200 nautical miles if it meets certain
geologic criteria. Under the Law of the Sea Convention, nations submit
scientific data on their continental shelves to a technical body
called the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. If a
country's claim meets Commission criteria, it strengthens the legal
certainty underlying the country's assertion of entitlement to the
extended shelf. (The United States is seeking to become a party to the
Convention in part to benefit from the legal certainty that comes with
this mechanism.)
.
Additional research, coordinated through the National Science
Foundation, includes the deployment of several Metocean
ice-beacons/buoys for the National Ice Center to collect information
on long-term ice drift, as well as the recovery, refurbishment and
redeployment of two high-frequency acoustic recording packages used to
record background acoustic noise. Scientist on the ship will conduct
sea ice analysis and routine collection of observations of sea ice
characteristics.
.
The partnership between NOAA's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping
and the Joint Hydrographic Center at the University of New Hampshire
in Durham, N.H., is intended to create a national center for expertise
in ocean mapping and hydrographic sciences. The centers focus their
activities on two major tasks. The first is an educational task to
create a learning center that promotes and fosters the education of a
new generation of hydrographers and ocean mapping scientists. The
second is a research task that develops and evaluates a wide range of
state-of-the-art hydrographic and ocean mapping technologies and
applications.
.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the
U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and
service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the
Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather
Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of
America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.
.
NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety
through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and information service delivery for transportation, and by
providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine
resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of
Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than
70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global
monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes,
predicts and protects.
.
On the Web:
.
NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov
.
NOAA National Ocean Service: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/
.
NOAA Office of Coast Survey: http://chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/
.
University of New Hampshire Joint Hydrographic Center:
http://www.ccom-jhc.unh.edu/http://www.ccom-jhc.unh.edu/

<

Document Type:	Presolicitation Notice
Solicitation Number:	NFFK0000-7-14972
Posted Date:	Aug 10, 2007
Original Response Date:	Aug 24, 2007
Current Response Date:	Aug 24, 2007
Original Archive Date:	Sep 08, 2007
Current Archive Date:	Sep 08, 2007
Classification Code:	A -- Research & Development
Set Aside:	Total Small Business
Naics Code:	541710 -- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office, SSMC4 - Room 7601/OFA61 1305 East West Highway, 7th Floor, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, UNITED STATES

NOAA intends to monitor vessel compliance with ship strike reduction measures vis a vis threatened marine mammals. Initially NOAA wishes to explore the feasability of doing so through remote sensing, specifically AIS and related technologies.     Therefore, NOAA seeks to explore the feasibility of developing a unified network of receivers and centrally processed, parsed, stored, and relayed data.     As such, this call for proposals is about assessing existing U.S. east coast AIS capabilities and to the extent deficiencies exist, assessing the feasibility of developing an U.S. east coast-wide AIS network.     In addition, the contractor will prepare a draft plan for implementing such a system, identify any obstacles, identify the soft- and hard-ware and technical requirements, and assess the costs associated with creating such a system and implementing an AIS-based program. The p[eriod of performance for this initial phase shall not exceed one year.     Evaluation using simplified acquisition procedures shall utilize technical approach, past performance and price.     A time and materials order is contemplated.     This is a simplified acquisition under the SAT.

Donald Thompson, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-713-0820 x118, Fax 301-713-0806, Email don.thompson@noaa.gov

Address:	Silver Sp
Postal Code:	20910
Country:	UNITED STATES

"E-navigation is the harmonized creation, collection, integration,
exchange and presentation of maritime information on board and ashore
by electronic means to enhance berth-to-berth navigation and related
services, for safety and security at sea and protection of the marine
environment." - IMO's NAV subcommittee
.
This November, Pacific Maritime Magazine will present a conference
intended to explore how Electronic Navigation and information
technology can be applied in short sea shipping and waterborne
commerce.
.
eNav 2007 will explore how information technology can be used for
improved navigational safety, better governmental stewardship of the
environment, more effective law enforcement and security and greater
efficiency in the maritime links in national and global supply chains.
.
The target of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is to
develop the implementation strategy for e-Navigation by the end of
2008. As with our popular AIS conferences of which this is a natural
outgrowth, eNav 2007 will give vessel operators and marine cargo
terminal operators the opportunity to discuss information technology
application with federal and international regulators and
manufacturers in an interactive panel discussion format.

I guess 'officially' the ossimPlanet project got started at the UMN
Mapserver Users Meeting  in Ottowa Sept 2004 where Mark and I met
face to face for the first time and he also embraced the concept of
producing an OGC Standards enabled Interactive Widget
.
I had been givings demos of a non internet enabled interactive globe
for a year or so prior to that and Mark, Garrett and I had discussed
the idea of using OSSIM as the 'base platform' before then but that is
when we decided to "just do it".
.
At MUM the following year, June 2005, I gave a lightning talk about
'Planet' and how it had come to be and what could be accomplish using
OGC standards. This was probably the first 'public exposure' for the
project but IIRC we had working code before the first of the year in
the public CVS and I am sure we had given other demos before then
.
As the lead OSSIM developer Garrett has been leading the development
effort since the winter of 05 or so

... In the world of dredging and hydrographic survey the tide gauge
has largely been replaced by RTK GPS, giving high quality tidal Z
values local to the point of measurement, however, the relative low
cost and reliable logging tide gauge is nearly always deployed as a
backup device and also provides a gross check on the GPS values. For
Port and Harbour operations reliability and cost are the main
parameters of interest, an ideal scenario would be an RTK antenna
deployed on a buoy and to send real time height values back to the
port control via telemetry. In reality the cost of an RTK rover unit
with its associated base station and telemetry do not firmly represent
value when compared with a more conventional tide gauge. The
vulnerability of the rover system together with the fallibility of
radio telemetry are also a potential weakness when the system is
required to provide data even during storm and bad weather conditions.
...

...
Yet in the world of social science I have come up against a lot of
resistance and sometimes mirth at my blogging activities. Indeed one
colleague at a recent conference suggested that I had given up
academia for the last year because I run a blog.
.
So blogging is a tricky line to take, if even those involved in
internet based technologies frown upon virtual worlds and blogging
then what hope is there for the rest of the academic community? I
would be interested to know if any readers have set up a blog with
regular updates on their research and if so what the feedback has been
like from fellow academics?
...