tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73155187225312483982024-03-12T18:19:07.665-07:00From the Shadow of the TetonsAlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-20446149152305123882023-03-14T08:29:00.001-07:002023-03-14T08:36:04.344-07:00We are FINALLY turning the corner to Spring!<p>I don't know about you, but this winter has felt like it's gone on forever! Where I live in SE Idaho, it's been dark, gray and COLD! In fact, it's been so cold that the average high temperature in my town was 5o below normal, and the average low temperatures were even lower than that. And we've had snow, snow, SNOW! The snow at the top of my driveway (where snow gets tossed from the driveway and sidewalk) is nearly 6-feet tall! So, whenever there is a sign of Spring, or at least Spring to come, it's cause to celebrate! And that news came today from the far north...the Arctic Ocean. </p><p>According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, it looks like we have finally turned the corner from this year's maximum sea ice extent, and we <i>may </i>be headed back toward summer.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcIq-wV4mM30B-LenG7FRpCyMrf8QegLGIkGGmbW3q9pnhISJobutxVw0AAEkG1n8sBxW2BGYio-gnfB8a1rzUkb1AbTfDZDYOCO9Szl_RJa-2rRe0wf-MZ9Mt5JQjg2oAR6ZzPq1LZhmOm-zPvo3LJ35FWnnDB_Ksfoqurs6TNSGW_DaqosVlCnz/s1748/Screenshot%202023-03-14%20at%209.23.13%20AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1416" data-original-width="1748" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEcIq-wV4mM30B-LenG7FRpCyMrf8QegLGIkGGmbW3q9pnhISJobutxVw0AAEkG1n8sBxW2BGYio-gnfB8a1rzUkb1AbTfDZDYOCO9Szl_RJa-2rRe0wf-MZ9Mt5JQjg2oAR6ZzPq1LZhmOm-zPvo3LJ35FWnnDB_Ksfoqurs6TNSGW_DaqosVlCnz/w400-h324/Screenshot%202023-03-14%20at%209.23.13%20AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On top of that, I'm currently visiting family in Montana, and the melt here appears to be on! This doesn't mean that it won't snow again...it probably will...but it does my heart so much good to see temperatures above freezing, melt water dripping down icicles, and puddles of water here and there during midday. Plus, I've started hearing black-capped chickadees calling. These are non-migratory birds, but they don't start calling until they are ready to start seeking out mates...and this means Springtime!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I say bring it on! We have had snow on the ground constantly since before Thanksgiving where I live, and I'll be happy to see grass (albeit brown) again! </div><br /><p><br /></p>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-65290905447045585802015-05-28T11:40:00.000-07:002015-05-28T11:47:06.755-07:00NSIDC Reports The Smallest Maximum Arctic Sea Ice ExtentThe National Snow and Ice Data Center just announced a news release, that the winter of 2014-15 had the lowest maximum sea ice extent since satellite records were started in 1979. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_SqjVFYe0YPy-2VED2cTs1zLJVdwpmn1Rgx5s2TvcLejyyoU2nqLBb9XkiZ9gSAjbQBEZ7W5wjpiP3XdP5JC11CCscpuhsnTgDH-BdzhfQxEl7VbM3SWCgUohuy10ln_jvbwxPSyTIg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-28+at+12.33.06+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_SqjVFYe0YPy-2VED2cTs1zLJVdwpmn1Rgx5s2TvcLejyyoU2nqLBb9XkiZ9gSAjbQBEZ7W5wjpiP3XdP5JC11CCscpuhsnTgDH-BdzhfQxEl7VbM3SWCgUohuy10ln_jvbwxPSyTIg/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-05-28+at+12.33.06+PM.png" width="411" /></a></div>
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So what? This is yet another indicator of the effects of ongoing warming of the planet as part of the current trend in global climate change. If you look at the map above you may not think that the difference between the 1981-2010 average is that compelling, but the bottom line is that the winter maximum sea ice extents and the summer minimum sea ice extents in the Arctic continue to drop as the years go on. </div>
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This means that we continue to slide farther and farther down the climate change chute - impacts have always been predicted to be most extreme and obvious in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet. But if this is happening in the Arctic we should not be surprised to see other effects elsewhere...increasing temperatures, increasing intensities of storms, shifting weather and precipitation patterns, sea level rise, etc.</div>
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Oh, and a few more tidbits of information...the first time the Arctic maximum winter sea ice extent dropped below the 1981-2010 average was in 1995, and the last year the Arctic maximum sea ice extent matched or exceeded the 1981-2010 average was in 2003. Every year since 2004 has had Arctic maximum winter sea ice extents below the long-term average...that's 11 years running! </div>
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Click on the link below for more detailed information from the NSIDC:</div>
<a href="http://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/arctic-sea-ice-maximum-reaches-lowest-extent-record">Lowest Maximum Arctic Sea Ice Extent in Recorded History</a>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-59017489068120277442015-03-24T07:30:00.004-07:002015-03-24T07:35:52.977-07:00One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time - animation of the break up of PangeaTectonic forces (plate tectonics) move plates of Earth's crust around slowly but constantly. Occasionally all of the continents are shoved together forming a supercontinent. Earth scientists conclude that this has happened a handful of times throughout history, and the most recent supercontinent was called Pangea. It formed around 300 million years ago which geologically speaking was only just before the appearance of dinosaurs. The map below shows the relative positions of the modern continents within Pangea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7Wn5gklTRN-wO0IxTmVZ85tyu8_0w-I0SNbafhp6BEE4ObOg8pYCJ9QDPcX8FqWlHmn6saydrze1gHO8L6D9vEggZSBvi4LSK16yGSNwln7-GMdAMs9O6sqOoJq09njZRWWXFBCrjfY/s1600/Pangea.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7Wn5gklTRN-wO0IxTmVZ85tyu8_0w-I0SNbafhp6BEE4ObOg8pYCJ9QDPcX8FqWlHmn6saydrze1gHO8L6D9vEggZSBvi4LSK16yGSNwln7-GMdAMs9O6sqOoJq09njZRWWXFBCrjfY/s1600/Pangea.png" height="400" width="338" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">("Pangaea continents" image courtesy of Kieff - File:Pangaea continents.png. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pangaea_continents.svg#/media/File:Pangaea_continents.svg)</span><br />
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Pangea persisted as a supercontinent until about 200 million years ago when tectonic forces caused the continental plates to be shoved around and apart and moved them to their current locations.<br />
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There are many maps available that show where the different continents were at different times before, during, and after Pangea, but geoscientists recently released an extremely cool computer animation that shows the break-up of Pangea in one million year time increments. You can run this animation by clicking the link below which will take you to the AAAS Science web site where there is also a short, readable article that explains what the animation shows. <br />
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<a href="http://bcove.me/q0il6ouo" target="_blank">Animation of the break-up of Pangea</a><br />
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<a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2015/03/earths-tectonic-plates-skitter-about?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook" target="_blank">Short readable article about the animation and the break-up of Pangea</a><br />
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My personal favorite part of the animation is at the very end where the Indian sub-continent collides with southern Asia - this is what formed the Himalayas...a mountain range that is still building.<br />
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Science rocks!Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-73642275818727853272015-01-27T08:12:00.001-07:002015-01-27T08:20:35.435-07:00Moisture and motorcycles - a new realityIt's late January in eastern Idaho - the heart of winter. Historically this meant snow, ice, and COLD. My first experience with Idaho winters was in January 1977 when I rolled into Rexburg Idaho to attend Ricks College (since renamed BYU-Idaho). I got off the bus and started the 6-block hike up the hill to campus. The roads were literally sheet ice. I remember this because when my suitcases got too heavy to carry I just leaned down and slid them along the ice all the way to campus (this was in the days before suitcases with wheels - what a great invention!). Roads and sidewalks around here were usually snow/ice covered from after Thanksgiving through March. There was so much snow in fact that some of the more adventurous (i.e., crazy/stupid) guys in the dorm would jump from the second floor landing into the deep snow below. My roommates and I also used to get together at the end of the day and share the ice-related wipe-outs we saw during the day, and they happened every day on campus. <br />
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There is, however, a new climate reality. <br />
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There are of course still times when streets and sidewalks are snow/ice covered, but for the most part the streets and sidewalks are now mainly dry and bare for most of the winter. This is even in a year where we are currently over 130% of our annual precipitation to date. So, if the climate was as cold as it used to be we should have mountains of snow, but we don't. Sure you can see snow around, but it's nothing extreme at all. The reason we don't have much on the ground is that it keeps melting off.<br />
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I was surprised yesterday afternoon (1/26/2015) when I noticed someone zip by on a motorcycle. I saw another person on a motorcycle this morning. Motorcycles in January in Rexburg, Idaho!? In days past you'd take a motorcycle out in January only if you had some kind of death wish. Now, however, the roads are bare so if you bundle up it's completely doable. I was doubly surprised yesterday when I saw that the weather forecast for today is RAIN (!!!???). We are slated to reach temps in the low 40sF today and it may not even reach freezing overnight. Now THAT'S CRAZY! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRrEfA_aRmzsID0MReTFAGFGPaxC_pAyTFn15TeJ1Zwxc1-EWHGHtm4OzOhj2Uqxpz0mPWneYMm0CrVoe1hBV2efc9MHqn-d64UmzG8yYaSh9ClE3PS5PP8utvbZx2B56LA8mGdHK7c4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-27+at+7.55.48+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRrEfA_aRmzsID0MReTFAGFGPaxC_pAyTFn15TeJ1Zwxc1-EWHGHtm4OzOhj2Uqxpz0mPWneYMm0CrVoe1hBV2efc9MHqn-d64UmzG8yYaSh9ClE3PS5PP8utvbZx2B56LA8mGdHK7c4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-27+at+7.55.48+AM.png" height="148" width="400" /></a></div>
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Welcome to the new reality.Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-24986601447583400512015-01-23T14:22:00.002-07:002015-01-24T07:43:55.992-07:00Students and professors, how to use Ratemyprofessors.com<div>
<a href="http://ratemyprofessors.com/" style="font-family: inherit;">Ratemyprofessors.com</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to Wikipedia.com...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"<b style="line-height: 22px;">RateMyProfessors.com</b><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">(</span><b style="line-height: 22px;">RMP</b><span style="line-height: 22px;">) is a</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_site" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Review site">review site</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">, founded in May 1999 by John Swapceinski, a software engineer from</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menlo_Park,_California" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Menlo Park, California">Menlo Park</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="California">California</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">, which allows college and university students to assign ratings to</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Professor">professors</a><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">and campuses of</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="United States">American</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">,</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Canada">Canadian</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">, and</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">institutions. The site was originally launched as TeacherRatings.com and converted to RateMyProfessors in 2001. RateMyProfessors.com was acquired in 2005 by</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Nagle" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="Patrick Nagle">Patrick Nagle</a><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">and William DeSantis.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratemyprofessors#cite_note-1" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">Nagle and DeSantis later resold RateMyProfessors.com in 2007 to Viacom's</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MtvU" style="background-image: none; line-height: 22px; text-decoration: none;" title="MtvU">mtvU</a><span style="line-height: 22px;">, MTV’s College channel.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratemyprofessors#cite_note-2" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a></sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">RateMyProfessors.com is the largest online destination for professor ratings. The site has 8,000+ schools and over 1,000,000 ratings<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratemyprofessors#cite_note-3" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a>".</sup></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><u>If you are a student:</u></span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">RMP is a great source of information about schools and professors. The postings you will find there are from other students who have attended these schools or had these professors, and their experiences can help you decide which school to attend or which professor to take classes from.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">When you select a professor you will see a page that includes this information at the top (this is my page):</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxi26RoHeRnymXv9t-YYGB-8dkrP7ri2h4_1wQ9_13sP8rb3zYTAsEORynTgz75pMZKHR1khXCcoNd_iARNOPcPLD3ikkX6k1NvmXmVTKYzCB_pzVNESlTR_CPtJUxTaFHcK6FPZTHBSs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-23+at+11.50.20+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxi26RoHeRnymXv9t-YYGB-8dkrP7ri2h4_1wQ9_13sP8rb3zYTAsEORynTgz75pMZKHR1khXCcoNd_iARNOPcPLD3ikkX6k1NvmXmVTKYzCB_pzVNESlTR_CPtJUxTaFHcK6FPZTHBSs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-23+at+11.50.20+AM.png" height="400" width="375" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Each page shows a professor's name and institution. It also gives an overall summary of students' perception of their quality as a teacher in three areas: 1) helpfulness, 2) clarity, and 3) easiness. These scores are on a scale of 0-5 (5 being best). There is also a Hotness rating which is, well, how hot students think a professor is. I am obviously not hot...ha! Oh well, luckily my life doesn't center on how hot my students think I am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">Below this summary is a listing of all the summaries posted to date for the professor. These reviews look like this (this happens to be the review at the top of the list as of this writing):</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwS74DHK7tz5Z-qfyEdys-uliYvJzOpbHqaKIBUmaQHZhjR4SVyDn6-Dwyaxc_WY9RzvAPNUc9i82sQh2QmN0IV42FrBXCP4N5Oe0_kImuk8qtP5oisFjWZCfkbd8roXN-BLsy_i-XKNg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-23+at+11.54.00+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwS74DHK7tz5Z-qfyEdys-uliYvJzOpbHqaKIBUmaQHZhjR4SVyDn6-Dwyaxc_WY9RzvAPNUc9i82sQh2QmN0IV42FrBXCP4N5Oe0_kImuk8qtP5oisFjWZCfkbd8roXN-BLsy_i-XKNg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-01-23+at+11.54.00+AM.png" height="157" width="400" /></a></div>
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Each review indicates the class they took, how they thought the professor did in each of the three main areas listed above, as well as some additional comments if entered.</div>
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<i>A word of warning:</i> </div>
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If you are a student you should always check to see many reviews the professor has. If there are fewer than about 50 reviews I'd be wary of the summary data. Even 50 postings may be too small a sample to get a statistically meaningful idea of a professor's quality. Why do I say this? In my experience there are primarily two groups of students who post to RMP on their own: Group 1 absolutely loves the professor, and Group 2 are students who hate the professor's guts. For this reason small numbers of reviews for a professor can be heavily influenced by only a few very high or a few very low reviews...so be careful.</div>
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<i>A second word of warning:</i></div>
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The other thing to be aware of when you check out a professor is that RMP is an unmoderated site. That is, there is no process that verifies that someone who has posted actually had that professor, that class, or even attends that school. There are, believe it or not, web trolls who spend their time visiting sites like this and posting fraudulent reviews. So again, even though summary data look convincing, take all information at unmoderated sites like this with a grain of salt.</div>
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<u>If you are a professor:</u></h2>
Too many professors look at RMP as the enemy because without additional incentives only students who love them and especially those who hate them tend to post to RMP.<br />
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If you are a professor (as I am) there is a way to help students (and yourself) gain meaningful and reliable feedback via RMP. The only way to do this is to boost the number of reviews you have, and to get them from as many students as possible. Here's what I do:<br />
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I offer students a small amount extra credit to go to RMP at the end of the semester and post a review for me. I tell them that I don't care what they put in their reviews (they are anonymous anyway) as long as they are honest and their review indicates their experience they had in my class and with me as a professor. It's amazing what 5 points of extra credit can do.<br />
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If you do this you do this you can rapidly increase the number of reviews at your site. Statistically, the more reviews you have from the entire cross-section of students in your classes, the closer the average scores for each category will reflect reality. Also, larger numbers of reviews will damp out the effects of students who enter unusually high or unusually low scores. There will of course still be students who love and hate us, but those extreme students will no longer be able to hold our RMP scores hostage.<br />
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At last count I had over 1100 reviews. Once you reach this level one high or one low score will have no measurable effect on overall averages. And this can all be yours for 5 points of extra credit! Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-44820199271977946812014-10-08T15:57:00.000-07:002014-10-08T16:01:32.532-07:0010 for 10 - Arctic Sea Ice Melt Trend Continues Every year in October the National Snow and Ice Data Center (<a href="http://www.nsidc.org/">www.nsidc.org</a>) releases a report on the minimum sea ice extent for the current year. This year the NSIDC announced that the minimum summer sea ice extent for 2014 was 5.02 million square kilometers. OK, so what?<br />
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NASA satellites started monitoring sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean back in 1979. Satellite data are downloaded each day and sent sent to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for analysis. Thirty-five years of these data are now painting a sobering picture. Though there is a significant amount of year-to-year variability among the data, a strong trend is emerging.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVeXlqehyphenhyphenTF8mcva91QKOx8O8eBVoaxvW1qw-7qtSsmYrf5cDsD0T4ujccPz_uhtq_j5pTTPn7kMNy8YH5PAeAmrzHJd0vz0iIYj61BsHlrIFo3a-KgMk1ZoF6hAQBRZKG7GSx4Kz2yU/s1600/NSIDC_sea+ice+min_2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVeXlqehyphenhyphenTF8mcva91QKOx8O8eBVoaxvW1qw-7qtSsmYrf5cDsD0T4ujccPz_uhtq_j5pTTPn7kMNy8YH5PAeAmrzHJd0vz0iIYj61BsHlrIFo3a-KgMk1ZoF6hAQBRZKG7GSx4Kz2yU/s1600/NSIDC_sea+ice+min_2014.png" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
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Average Monthly Sea Ice Extent September 1979-2014. </div>
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Data courtesy of NSIDC.org</div>
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The data show that there is significantly less sea ice in the Arctic now than there was only a few decades ago. The upper end of the trend line tops out around 7.9 million square kilometers of sea ice, and the bottom end of the line reached about 4.9 million square kilometers of sea ice. The difference? About 3 million square kilometers of sea ice gone missing. How much is that? That's about the same surface area as India, the 7th largest country in the world. <br />
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NSIDC also reports that we are currently losing on average 13.3% of sea ice cover per decade and that the ten Septembers with the lowest extents happened in the last ten years! </div>
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Bottom line? We are progressively losing more sea ice in the Arctic. </div>
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10 for 10? The last ten years, the ten lowest sea ice extents, and sadly at this rate it's not likely to get better before it gets even worse.</div>
Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-16035843022527819452014-10-01T20:23:00.000-07:002014-10-01T20:23:06.353-07:00ACL operation update #4OK, I'm now 5 weeks post-op. I had a therapy session this morning and my first post-op follow-up visit with my doctor since I went in and got my Baker's Cyst drained (which happened only once). <br />
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There are two pieces of fantastic news to report. First, I am done with formal physical therapy sessions, so I'm on my own from now on to continue exercising, etc. The second piece of good news is that I no longer have to wear a knee brace for day-to-day activities. <br />
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My doctor was pleased and surprised at how well recovery is going. He says that I'm a number of months ahead of schedule for range of motion and leg strength...maybe those years of running really are paying off! <br />
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There is a down side to this though...my doctor said that the risk of a rapid recovery like this is that there is sometimes a tendency for someone to push their recovering knee too hard too early. I assured him that I was more than willing to take it easy, i.e., be lazy. Oh, I don't mean lazy, I mean not doing things I shouldn't do before I get the go ahead to do them. <br />
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If you are recovering from this kind of surgery, remember that recovery includes three things: 1) recovery of range of motion; 2) recovery of leg strength and balance; and 3) biological healing and vascularization of the grafted new ACL. It will take at least 3 months post-op before I will be given the go-ahead to start jogging, etc. So in the meantime I'll take it easy and give my reconstructed ACL graft a chance to fully attach. <br />
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No more brace, no more physical therapy sessions...just exercise on my own. Woot, woot, woot!Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-57851773097064805812014-09-16T13:05:00.001-07:002014-09-16T13:48:12.976-07:00Quick Arctic Update - 15 Sept 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We are near the traditional end of the Arctic sea ice melt season, so I thought I'd check in and post a quick update. Two years ago, 2012 set the the all-time recorded sea ice melt record (so far) with a minimum sea ice extent over 3 million square kilometers below the 1981-2010 average. By comparison the 2014 Arctic sea ice melt season looks fairly tame, but don't be fooled, the current sea ice extend is creeping up on 1.5 million square kilometers below the long-term average, and it's still declining. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0mQlJFE_l6A3tev0P__nkjCRXzqawBfDiR62XqPieac9r3Oxr5zq400b1KOYHDmi4PPCeHgOTHLgbAkw1l5xvEkwVNk6V3xYHvGSKKfB93hN33bqbr7TYJnghX41xZvPBp5Vckkxkas/s1600/NSIDC_15_Sept_2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0mQlJFE_l6A3tev0P__nkjCRXzqawBfDiR62XqPieac9r3Oxr5zq400b1KOYHDmi4PPCeHgOTHLgbAkw1l5xvEkwVNk6V3xYHvGSKKfB93hN33bqbr7TYJnghX41xZvPBp5Vckkxkas/s1600/NSIDC_15_Sept_2014.png" height="320" width="400" /></a></div>
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This year's minimum sea ice extend will almost certainly not reach the record set in 2012, but it was a significant melt all the same. This melt qualifies 2014 to be the 6th largest Arctic sea ice melt year on record, exceeded only by 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. The other years, 2009 and 2013 were just shy of this year's mark. This also means that the eight years with the greatest Arctic se ice melt were the past 8 years. It looks like a trend is forming....the bottom line, the sea ice melt is becoming more extensive as time goes on. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSUrRAiMfanZbSHF6p6UYKskEr7J0SgKx-1mPGt4k8q_lJa9dDc_q-7BXQt5kiag6YXYS-RvpCJ93JqJGgqVNMGSX74KZpxIx5pLhAcGnSDvHhvTG61GomEbHHKt2z-PINOi6P1wPXLE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-09-16+at+2.01.05+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSUrRAiMfanZbSHF6p6UYKskEr7J0SgKx-1mPGt4k8q_lJa9dDc_q-7BXQt5kiag6YXYS-RvpCJ93JqJGgqVNMGSX74KZpxIx5pLhAcGnSDvHhvTG61GomEbHHKt2z-PINOi6P1wPXLE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-09-16+at+2.01.05+PM.png" height="499" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Graphs courtesy of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Univ of Colorado at Boulder, NSIDC.org)</div>
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<br />Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-17224250597954974142014-09-09T09:57:00.002-07:002014-09-09T09:57:28.201-07:00ACL reconstruction operation Update #3 (9/9/2014)I'm celebrating my operation two-week anniversary today. The stitches are out and I've had 1.5 weeks of physical therapy. If you recall from my previous posting I had a Baker's (a.k.a. popliteal) Cyst on the back of my knee that was causing some problems so the doctor was able to drain it. Fast forward to this morning, well, yesterday morning.<div>
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BTW, the image below shows a Baker's Cyst located about where mine is. It's about the size of a medium egg when it's full. It is filled with excess fluid from the knee that is produced by irritated tissues there.<br /><div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuvgcDuY9pGDoXc-VBKgv6fNh44goxv7aghOuej23BwFIGby5MQdFjrkh19u6wjFWSb7XP95qerBDciGwmQZ1364Gz76MPNokGm2125eqE-9OJiqLuVnx0XZNvEHpGUie9QAQ-B51FBU/s1600/Bakers+Cyst_Mayo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuvgcDuY9pGDoXc-VBKgv6fNh44goxv7aghOuej23BwFIGby5MQdFjrkh19u6wjFWSb7XP95qerBDciGwmQZ1364Gz76MPNokGm2125eqE-9OJiqLuVnx0XZNvEHpGUie9QAQ-B51FBU/s1600/Bakers+Cyst_Mayo.jpg" height="400" width="370" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Image courtesy of the Mayo Clinic. (<a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/~/media/kcms/gbs/patient%20consumer/images/2013/08/26/10/52/ds00448_im02893_r7_bakerscystthu_jpg.ashx">http://www.mayoclinic.org/~/media/kcms/gbs/patient%20consumer/images/2013/08/26/10/52/ds00448_im02893_r7_bakerscystthu_jpg.ashx</a>)</span></div>
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I knew that the cyst was slowly refilling after it was drained a week ago, and while I was at physical therapy (PT) yesterday morning I pushed my knee hard working to increase my range of motion. I accomplished that (150 degrees - mission accomplished) but also forced additional fluid back into the cyst. Pain was present but bearable and mainly irritating so I got an appt. to have it drained again. </div>
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This morning the doctor and I discussed the condition and he recommended that we not continue on a path where the cyst is drained over and over because of the (small) chance of infection. He says that once the knee settles down and recovery is complete that the cyst will take care of itself. So instead of draining it again he recommended that I increase my use of anti-inflammatories (e.g., ibuprofen) and continue to ice it after activity and/or in the evenings. So pills and ice it is.</div>
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The good news is that I can now go up and down stairs with minimal pain and only a modicum of pressure and stretching in the knee. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ready for the racquetball court or anything, but it's coming along. </div>
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Modern medicine is awesome!</div>
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Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-21649107918129474632014-09-04T19:51:00.000-07:002014-09-09T09:59:06.447-07:00ACL reconstruction operation Update #2 (9/4/2014)When you left off with my last riveting post I was having trouble with a swollen Baker's Cyst. <br />
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I went back to the orthopedic doctor's office this afternoon for a scheduled visit to have my stitches removed, plus I wanted to see could be done about the Baker's Cyst.<br />
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If this is you, be advised that the small stitches around the knee cap are a snap, but when they say that it will hurt when they need to remove the stitches along the long incision along the front of the knee below the knee cap, well, they aren't lying. But buck up, if I can do it so can you.<br />
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After saying sayonara to the stitches our attention turned to that darned Baker's Cyst. The doc said he could drain it, and I replied, "That would be awesome!" So a quick alcohol swab, a shot of that icy cold stuff that numbs the skin, a large needle and syringe later he'd pulled 30cc of fluid out of that cyst. Yes! The pressure and pain were largely gone. Of course a cyst of this type could refill, but I'm hopeful that it won't for at least a little while.<br />
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I also had a couple of other updates: 1) I am supposed to wear my knee brace most of the time for the next 6 weeks or so; 2) I am also supposed to use a crutch for that long as well. Oh well, it's all part of the price of beauty, er, running again.<br />
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And this means that I'll be back in physical therapy again tomorrow. With any luck my next visit to the orthopedic surgeon's office will be in a month.<br />
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Cheers everyone!Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-62761688635067503242014-09-04T10:02:00.000-07:002014-09-04T19:37:07.006-07:00ACL reconstruction operation Update #1 (8/26 - 9/4/2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
OK, a little background. I'm an active person in my mid 50s and I've been blessed with good health all my life. My right knee gave out on me in late April 2013 while playing basketball with my son and nephew. I started to make a cut to my left and my knee kept on going to the right. I crumpled in a heap on the court but was able to limp off. My knee remained sore but I just didn't have the time then to do anything about it. I got it checked out about a month later and I learned that I had a cartilage tear and possible ACL failure. </div>
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This image shows the anatomy of the knee. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6lL0WjW76s94YuslNoSD1uxg7W5gPK8t6cvGJNqDqtj27WHqVKKrbzP8GlROU0LqIBXWwXIH9PYwBzd5joGTroI5fJ4n_gbVbGtJg2PixUWK5Ct3Gh7wZXRwwEg48nKb5iCkcvVybTI/s1600/640px-Knee_diagram.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy6lL0WjW76s94YuslNoSD1uxg7W5gPK8t6cvGJNqDqtj27WHqVKKrbzP8GlROU0LqIBXWwXIH9PYwBzd5joGTroI5fJ4n_gbVbGtJg2PixUWK5Ct3Gh7wZXRwwEg48nKb5iCkcvVybTI/s1600/640px-Knee_diagram.png" height="363" width="400" /></a></div>
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In my particular case, I had a torn meniscus (the cartilage that serves as a pad between the femur and the tibia and fibula) and the ACL (the anterior cruciate ligament, the one that attaches the center of the base of the femur to the head of the tibia) pulled loose from its attachment, i.e., my ACL was blown out. The loss of an ACL means that the knee loses lateral stability. </div>
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I had one other knee-related thing going on as well. During the 16 months between my injury and operation I also developed a Baker's Cyst behind my right knee. It never caused pain or inconvenience. This kind of cyst is formed commonly when there is a meniscus tear and the irritated knee produces excess fluid. This fluid leaks out of the knee and pools in the soft tissue behind the knee.</div>
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We did an MRI to get a better view of what we were looking at, and luckily my meniscus tear was minor...occasionally painful but minor. All it needed was a trim. The ACL, however, needed to be reconstructed.</div>
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My operation took place on 8/26/14, nine days ago. I was in the operating room only 1.5 hours (BTW, generally speaking the shorter a knee operation is the better for recovery because you have to have a tourniquet while the operation takes place). Man was I groggy coming out of anesthesia - then again, who's not? </div>
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I saw my doctor the next day and he removed the drain from my knee. He was amazed to see that I could easily lift my leg and had close to complete lower leg extension. Pain was not a major issue for me, perhaps a function of short operation time? I have been able to handle the entire event using only ibuprofin for pain and swelling and baby aspirin (to minimized the already low risk of blood clotting).</div>
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Two days after the operation was my first day of physical therapy (PT). I guess that loss of muscle tone is common during surgery, but I lucked out and still had much of mine. By the end of my first day of PT (leg lifts, side lifts, electrical muscle stimulation, etc., the therapist said I was probably about a week ahead of normal recovery schedule. The therapist gave me a set of exercises to do at home, which I did faithfully.</div>
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There are really two major goals of ACL PT - recovery of range of motion and recovery of leg strength.</div>
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At the end of my second PT session, now three days after surgery I was able to achieve a 120 degree range of motion. The PT goal of ACL recovery is to achieve a 145 degree range of motion. The therapist just shook his head when he saw 120 in three days and said I was a month ahead of schedule. Woot!</div>
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I continued to do my exercises over the weekend and I returned to PT the following Tuesday. During the weekend I noticed that the back of my knee was getting swollen and sore. My Baker's Cyst was acting up and swelling. The therapist didn't seem concerned about it and I proceeded with my session. My Tuesday night (a week after surgery) I was hardly able to put weight on that leg due to pain and pressure from the Baker's Cyst that had swollen to literally the size of a medium sized egg or golf ball. </div>
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The pain was so intense that I contacted my doctor's office and I was advised to hold off on PT sessions and exercise until I could have my knee checked out. That's the plan for this afternoon (9/4/2104).</div>
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So that's update #1. Stay tuned.</div>
Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-64447940238455738882014-07-17T11:59:00.000-07:002014-07-18T08:01:57.621-07:00The Rexburg Idaho Flood of July 15 2014 - What happened!?During the late afternoon of Tuesday July 15, 2014, scattered showers accompanied by hail started to fall in Rexburg, Idaho. It wasn't long before the showers became a full-blown thunderstorm of Midwestern or Great Plains proportions! <br />
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It is unusual for rain showers in this part of the state, even heavy ones by local standards to last more than 5-10 minutes before prevailing winds push them farther up the Snake River Plain. This time, however, the storm which was extremely localized and extremely heavy stalled out right above the city of Rexburg for about 40 minutes.<br />
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Weather radar (see below) showed that the storm was located directly above Rexburg, and areas just a few miles north and south of the city received no measurable precipitation. Official reports from an automated weather station at the Rexburg Municipal Airport reported a total of 1.14" of precipitation, but unofficial reports from higher elevations at the south end of town suggest that over 2" of rain probably fell during the storm.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeM_w_utLWIS5beccjDVWIMKgoNyDF1J-d29O1vclX2L4l9ub99NYX4HeZXdtEw6Qy_z-hJ1o3KT0MrHRFmYlnyZnSJ2A3auC4GY_4lPAwNcW0WQ8OabhGN8vV2RpZh_M_BN4zbNl2QY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-15+at+6.03.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeM_w_utLWIS5beccjDVWIMKgoNyDF1J-d29O1vclX2L4l9ub99NYX4HeZXdtEw6Qy_z-hJ1o3KT0MrHRFmYlnyZnSJ2A3auC4GY_4lPAwNcW0WQ8OabhGN8vV2RpZh_M_BN4zbNl2QY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-15+at+6.03.45+PM.png" height="400" width="397" /></a></div>
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The downpour produced flash floods through the city and immersed low-lying intersections and residential areas. The massive amount of water that fell also produced back pressure in city storm drains and sewer lines that caused water to gush upward through drains and toilets into buildings and homes.<br />
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This was by all accounts a once-in-a-generation weather event for the city. I moved here in 2002 and in all that time we never had a downpour like this one. Life-long residents say that you have to go back over 30 years before you would come across a comparable rainstorm. <br />
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Click on this link to see images of the aftermath:<br />
<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204012742575677&set=a.10204012732415423.1073741985.1136834617&type=1" data-width="466">
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<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/davarav/the-12-things-you-saw-at-the-byui-flood-last-night-ulbz">http://www.buzzfeed.com/davarav/the-12-things-you-saw-at-the-byui-flood-last-night-ulbz</a><br />
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You might be thinking, "Come on, one or two inches of rain doesn't sound like all that much," especially to people who live in areas where this kind of storm is relatively routine. So why all the flooding? What happened!?<br />
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Here are a few basic facts:<br />
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<li>Rexburg is located in eastern Idaho, an area that typically receives only about 15" of rain annually.</li>
<li>Most of Rexburg is built on level ground at an elevation of 4850', while the SE quarter of town is built on a gradual rise topping out at 5150'.</li>
<li>Because Rexburg is built in a semiarid area, it is not engineered to accommodate large amounts of rain runoff from a storm like this one. It is, however, designed to accommodate significant amounts of water from snow melt runoff in the spring that are released more gradually. Ironically, the city was in the middle of installing an upgraded storm drainage system in the SE corner town designed to reduce surface runoff when the storm hit.</li>
<li>A significant amount of new residential building in Rexburg has occurred at the higher elevations, thus greatly increasing the proportion of area covered by roads, driveways, sidewalks, parking lots, etc., and reducing the amount of green space that is good at soaking up precipitation. </li>
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OK, back to what happened...why the flooding?<br />
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This is a topographical map of Rexburg, Idaho (click on the map for a larger view):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWRedlE9UcuDtnAJ85I6Z-mYOLxgf9rvqUHGPo1YhfJppucF8mPv7qtqdrGM9Pmui2SAWsfwnwM1eFb21KMLR74-s-7XQuKvqiJPTEPgPpMeAIcwSZeNqEVbC2y6MHl2tUl0AjUX6Egg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.22.20+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWRedlE9UcuDtnAJ85I6Z-mYOLxgf9rvqUHGPo1YhfJppucF8mPv7qtqdrGM9Pmui2SAWsfwnwM1eFb21KMLR74-s-7XQuKvqiJPTEPgPpMeAIcwSZeNqEVbC2y6MHl2tUl0AjUX6Egg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.22.20+AM.png" height="357" width="400" /></a></div>
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The arrows on the map below show two of the tracks where water flooded most severely - remember, surface water run-off is mostly going to follow roads in a situation like this (click on the map for a larger view):</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyAOxv_o0OAJzXqOo6zrljqM8sauqkw0mUYRgI_aMqh4p548cDSoSRQKWqYp8yTIYUlc76-WHj6dBqPZtkL8N5nVigD9YAH4yHkmoEsZFTgmPnFdvAT8tMNgGr5D4_0KwZJDmyZU-XNE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.21.58+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyAOxv_o0OAJzXqOo6zrljqM8sauqkw0mUYRgI_aMqh4p548cDSoSRQKWqYp8yTIYUlc76-WHj6dBqPZtkL8N5nVigD9YAH4yHkmoEsZFTgmPnFdvAT8tMNgGr5D4_0KwZJDmyZU-XNE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.21.58+AM.png" height="372" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you look at the topographical map below, the bottom-right corner has the highest elevation, and the hill slopes off to the NW. OK, find the circular water tank located just south of the center of the photograph. The four houses on the south side of the road, just east of that water tank, were among the most heavily damaged in the city. Why? (Click on the map for a larger view.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvDOj9pGr8QU2kdUuQOV5nmsGJkIy4HOFel6DkuiN6_9_E85F1-HjkvMqVQw0e-GiwyIam09v5EMSWiYT4lfIlE_rXPcgbh6jXgGcnOGlzHL7NeBIFoZw9HMQXyXce2Xo6cuRIjY3Tgs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.11.16+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvDOj9pGr8QU2kdUuQOV5nmsGJkIy4HOFel6DkuiN6_9_E85F1-HjkvMqVQw0e-GiwyIam09v5EMSWiYT4lfIlE_rXPcgbh6jXgGcnOGlzHL7NeBIFoZw9HMQXyXce2Xo6cuRIjY3Tgs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+11.11.16+AM.png" height="337" width="400" /></a></div>
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I admit that I'm no hydrographer, but I watched this storm develop and watched the water flow from my house, which is just around the corner from those houses. </div>
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This is probably what happened, at least in this localized area.</div>
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First of all, the storm was extremely intense, dropping a significant amount of water in a very short time - more than this area hardly ever sees in a single storm. If you follow the topographic map's contour lines you will see that they run generally from the SW to the NE corners of the map. Unless otherwise constrained, surface runoff water will flow downhill perpendicular to those lines. </div>
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Rain that fell on the upper part of town quickly filled the storm drains so lots of the water moved as surface runoff. Look at the housing development just north of the "5150" contour line marker. This housing area slopes downward to the NW, and all roads in in converge at a low spot where the road seems to bulge upward toward the NW. There is a walking path easement there that passes between that housing area and a neighboring apartment complex. Water from the housing development was forced through the narrow opening along that path between neighboring houses and joined water that fell on the apartment complex's lot. I walked that area again last night and saw that grass there was literally abraded down to nearly nothing by flowing water, sand, gravel, etc., as the water swept through in sheets across the parking lot. The vulnerable houses were located directly in at the path of this flooding water. Water flooded down into these houses' back yards, into basement window wells, broke those windows inward, and flooded the basements all the way to the ceiling before also breaking out basement windows on the sides and front of the house.</div>
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Of course this water was not done moving there...it was subsequently channeled largely along streets and roadways in the northerly and westerly directions. The next thing all this water hit was the BYUI-Idaho campus where water gushed along sidewalks and walkways, streets, into quads, and even through some buildings. This closed campus for the rest of that evening, but it reopened the next day.</div>
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Water continued to flow downhill to the lower part of town, flooding out virtually all of Main Street and many low-lying areas and intersections as water from the hill joined water that fell over the rest of town.</div>
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In the meantime, a second area hit with intense flooding was the "Hidden Valley" housing development. This development is indicated by the blue arrow along the right side of the image above. There's a reason it's called "Hidden Valley"...it's built up into the mouth of a valley. That valley exists because water from fields above drains through there. Of course this area was hard hit because water from the entire area above that development was channeled right down through the middle of the valley! A friend who lives there has a home that backs onto a shallow drainage depression designed to channel moderate amounts of water away from homes there. He said that by the end of the storm that the depression had been eroded into a gully seven feet deep! I heard secondhand reports that many families were displaced from their homes in that development.</div>
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Then while all of this was going on many of the student apartments around town also suffered significant flooding. This stems largely from the fact that for whatever reason, it's been a tradition to build the first floor of student apartments so that their first floors are partially below grade. This way walkways along these apartments put a person about 3-4' below grade (the level of the ground). I saw MANY photographs posted showing flooding to the doorknob-level in these apartments.</div>
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Suffice it to say that this was a mess.</div>
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Interestingly, the overall attitude associated with this flood appeared to be a mixture of partying, fun, horror, and depression, depending on how you were affected.</div>
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As soon as it became clear just how bad things were in some areas and for some people, however, the community really pitched in to start to clean up. The community response to this flood has been an inspiration to me. As soon as the rain was gone and the floodwaters were passed, people were out all over town checking on one another to make sure everyone was all right and to see if there was any damage and pitching in to help. </div>
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Sadly, people in this area do not have flood insurance. Sure, if a pipe breaks and you get flooding or water damage that way in your home then homeowners insurance will cover it, but that kind of insurance will not cover things like this freak storm/flooding, since it falls under the category of "Acts of God" for which insurance companies are not accountable. </div>
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There you have it...what happened during the Rexburg storm and flood of July 15, 2014. </div>
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Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-71690428864039937282014-07-03T13:09:00.000-07:002014-07-03T13:10:31.311-07:00Holy Cow! Look at that decline in Arctic sea ice!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I haven't posted anything about much here lately, though there has been a lot going on. For example the launch of the Carbon Observatory Satellite (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/carbon-observatory-2-satellite_n_5550826.html?utm_hp_ref=green), but I just had to place a short post when I checked the Arctic sea ice extent today at the NSIDC.org site.</div>
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The graph below shows the relationship between the current sea ice extent (blue line) and the extent in 2012 (green dashed line), the year that generated the smallest sea ice extent so far, and the long-term average sea ice extent (dark gray line). The rate of sea ice melt through mid-June 2014 wasn't really much out of the ordinary, just 500,000 km2 below the long term average (just!?), but over the past couple of weeks the sea ice extent has plummeted! It's now about 1.2 million km2 below the average extent for this time of year. </div>
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Yikes!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBZnK9nGIet-tBlE_ZfngGJGhmtIT4rV8SMkXoWfn56Wf58wNTKzJAxgxxwXefZNLPEZcxzg0tFePrCXynWqTeZUU8XjVa0ETdBecfXDuzudHGPyfc-JpnN0OLIMZtQSvvQJDMENs1Fk/s1600/NSIDC_7-2-2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHBZnK9nGIet-tBlE_ZfngGJGhmtIT4rV8SMkXoWfn56Wf58wNTKzJAxgxxwXefZNLPEZcxzg0tFePrCXynWqTeZUU8XjVa0ETdBecfXDuzudHGPyfc-JpnN0OLIMZtQSvvQJDMENs1Fk/s1600/NSIDC_7-2-2014.png" height="320" width="400" /></a></div>
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If this sea ice melt rate keeps up we could see another record low extent or close to it. And yet another indicator from the high Arctic that the effects of climate change are not going to be going away anytime soon.<br />
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This is also the second month running where the atmospheric carbon dioxide level did not dip below 400 ppm, the second month it's ever been this high in human history...at least for the last several hundred thousand years. <br />
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Hang on, it could get interesting and exciting to see just how far things will go before there is general acceptance and outcry that something be done, at least in the USA. <br />
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Think green!Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-7888678947318483912014-05-21T08:56:00.000-07:002014-05-27T07:02:50.116-07:00Politically disenfranchised in IdahoYesterday was the 2014 primary election. For Madison County and Rexburg City, Idaho, this means that this was THE election that matters. Now that the primaries are done the election in November is, for us, largely a formality where GOP candidates proceed to steamroll over the opposition, if any, in a tidal wave of "red" voting. I'll get back to this later.<br />
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Idaho is politically inconsequential to most people in the United States. Its population is so small and its political leaning is so overwhelmingly red that even Presidential hopefuls generally don't bother stopping by during their election years. Republicans skip a visit to Idaho because they know they have the state all sewn up, and Democrats skip it because, well, it's largely a lost cause to them.<br />
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This brings us to yesterday's election and I'll use one race as the focal point of this posting:<br />
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Ron Nate vs. Doug Hancey (incumbent) for the State House of Representatives seat for Idaho District 34A.<br />
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Doug Hancey is a member of the GOP and a business man who knows what it takes to run a business, work with employees, etc., and who has a proven track record of working with house members on both sides of the aisle to get things done in the Idaho State Legislature.<br />
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Ron Nate is a also GOP, but with a stronger Tea Party flavor, who sells himself primarily as "the more conservative choice." He is a professor of economics, and though he has been active in local political organizations he had never been elected to office.<br />
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During yesterday's primary election, as of midnight last night, Ron Nate earned 2710 votes to 2190 for Doug Hancey. A story in today's Idaho Falls Post Register newspaper Doug Hancey said that he was disappointed, but that he was most likely hurt by low voter turn out. Local reports also commented that voter turnout was low, and that they are at a loss about why this was so. <br />
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Why a low voter turnout? This is no mystery. A few years ago the Idaho state GOP voted to close all GOP primary elections. Only registered GOP members are therefore allowed to vote in GOP primary races in Idaho.<br />
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I started thinking about this and I did some research. District 34 includes Madison County and the northern rural part of Bonneville County, which does not include the cities of Idaho Falls or Ammon. Rexburg is therefore the largest population center in this district. <br />
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According to the web site CensusViewer.com (http://censusviewer.com/city/ID/Rexburg), in 2010 Rexburg had a population of 25,484 with 20,289 over the age of 18 and therefore at least potentially eligible to vote. Again, according to CensusViewer.com this is the breakdown of registered GOP and Dem voters in Rexburg in 2010:<br />
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<li>Republican 4, 944 </li>
<li>Democrat 208</li>
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These numbers indicated that though this district votes overwhelmingly for GOP candidates, only about one quarter of eligible voters are registered as either Rep or Dem.<br />
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If we look at the voter turnout for the Nate v. Hancey GOP contest, we see 2,710 to 2,190 votes for a total of 4900 votes cast. Is this a low turnout? It appears to be when you compare this number to the total number of potentially eligible voters in the district (>20,000 of them), but it is probably an extremely high voter turnout when you consider the number of people would were ALLOWED to vote in yesterday's GOP primaries. From the data above we know that about 1/4 of eligible voters in Rexburg are registered Republicans. If we accept the assumption that about the same proportion of voters in the entire district are similarly registered we would probably see 6,000 to 7,500 registered GOP voters. When we compare the number of votes cast in the Nate v. Hancey race to this number, the registered voter turnout is between 65% and 81%. This is an incredibly high voter turnout.<br />
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What does this mean? This means that the state GOP maneuvering to close its elections disenfranchises all but the faithful few in the state, and thus guarantees that at least in my part of the state that the few are deciding who the leaders will be for the many.<br />
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I wanted to vote, but it was illegal in Idaho for me to do so in the election that mattered to me - the GOP primary. I am not a registered affiliate with any political party. I'll say that again...it was illegal for me to vote.<br />
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As a political independent, formerly associated with the GOP, I am now disenfranchised and prohibited from voting in elections for my state and local political leadership. Is this still America? It doesn't feel like it. At least it doesn't when less than 25% of the eligible voters are allowed to decide who sits in city, county, and state elected offices.Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-50355093562138223492014-04-22T15:21:00.001-07:002014-04-22T15:21:13.033-07:00The goal of 350 ppm is now a pipe dream Researchers at the Global Monitoring Division of NOAA recently released a report that the atmosphere has for the first time in modern history maintained 400ppm for an entire month.<br />
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http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWw70VSANpeBD_bSTR2FcfCl9cEW43Y500YRHyT63gGPiXz0A11_Lq9YiwbYCMhqTPDiafbcx35TkIbAcPr8bIbow6Gw7n0GAIXKD8wAWZVWzXiFpxLBtDv4aW2Hewmq9y3ofieyP1efk/s1600/co2_weekly_mlo_Apr14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWw70VSANpeBD_bSTR2FcfCl9cEW43Y500YRHyT63gGPiXz0A11_Lq9YiwbYCMhqTPDiafbcx35TkIbAcPr8bIbow6Gw7n0GAIXKD8wAWZVWzXiFpxLBtDv4aW2Hewmq9y3ofieyP1efk/s1600/co2_weekly_mlo_Apr14.png" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
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The old goal of trying to limit atmospheric carbon concentrations to only 350ppm is now LONG gone! <br />
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That's what ongoing inaction will do when America, one of the two largest carbon emitters in the world, failed to act.<br />
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Is this all America and Americans' fault? No, but we as nation sure didn't do hardly anything to stop it. This makes me sad.<br />
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This is sad, sad, but somehow appropriate news for Earth Day.Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-582196108411838642014-04-22T11:08:00.000-07:002014-04-22T11:08:58.118-07:00The 2014 Arctic Sea Ice Melt is ON!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Every summer some of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean melts. And, it's once again that time of year. The Arctic sea ice melt is on! </div>
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There is no way to know how much sea ice will be left at the end of any melt season, but there's one thing we can be pretty sure of, and that's that there will be less sea ice up there at the end of this melt season than the 1981-2010 average of 6.3 million square kilometers. </div>
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2001 was the last year the sea ice minimum was greater than long-term average. </div>
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The data below show the annual minimum sea ice extent for the Arctic Ocean between 1979 and 2013 (data courtesy of the NSIDC.org). There is a lot of variability in the data (which is normal for any natural system), but the interesting and worrisome thing is that on average the amount of sea ice remaining at the end of the summer melt season is dropping at an increasing rate (see the trend line through the data). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0AcQsXWcCginBbbrr0JYVqbg2CT6IzOIyQMOhuwYlZK886EYLC0DqOEZn9ZP4JqIs_RNOut3_k6WqEjIVKYNywaG5Pzi3DnLxJ6_hIjrAupdLPLebHi1_coS_5yFRdQNrLnozumvyRXs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-04-22+at+11.42.43+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0AcQsXWcCginBbbrr0JYVqbg2CT6IzOIyQMOhuwYlZK886EYLC0DqOEZn9ZP4JqIs_RNOut3_k6WqEjIVKYNywaG5Pzi3DnLxJ6_hIjrAupdLPLebHi1_coS_5yFRdQNrLnozumvyRXs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-04-22+at+11.42.43+AM.png" height="315" width="400" /></a></div>
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The increasing steepness of the slope is what worries me. These data indicate that not only do we have a trend of increasing sea ice melt in the Arctic, but that the rate ice is melting is accelerating.<br />
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Climatologists have long projected that the effects of global climate change will be observed earliest and most clearly in the Arctic. The rate of melting sea ice is just one of those indicators, but it's a powerful one!<br />
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Global warming is not just some wild-eyed idea; the reality of global warming is a scientific conclusion based on decades of multiple lines of evidence.<br />
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Will we see a new record Arctic sea ice minimal this summer? No one can know this, but science can with a high degree of confidence predict that there will be less ice on average this summer than we've seen in the past.<br />
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The data below show the current sea ice extent and recent extent history comparing 2014 and 2012, the year with the current minimum sea ice extent) so far.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwB77hKXzwZ481Km94Vz7LqLe-Fc2uSUjtz0BwvJxCgmdQ5a08aIyZkFDuHn_XF3pfUCUxnX1toSq3m18Udei5TKYEMNr7QK1Ny5O3z2mh4pY4cnf5L5bPpJthVKSPQMWYkzdu0fOtUg/s1600/21+April+2014+Arctic+Sea+Ice_NSIDC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnwB77hKXzwZ481Km94Vz7LqLe-Fc2uSUjtz0BwvJxCgmdQ5a08aIyZkFDuHn_XF3pfUCUxnX1toSq3m18Udei5TKYEMNr7QK1Ny5O3z2mh4pY4cnf5L5bPpJthVKSPQMWYkzdu0fOtUg/s1600/21+April+2014+Arctic+Sea+Ice_NSIDC.png" height="320" width="400" /></a></div>
So what!?<br />
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The answer to the so what question is this. Global warming is real, and unless we get busy doing what we can to mitigate the effects of climate change we are in for some serious trouble.<br />
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America...the alarm clock is ringing. Are you waking up?Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-90419079410167278912014-03-20T08:56:00.001-07:002014-03-20T08:56:12.642-07:002014 Spring Climate Outlook | NOAA Climate.govNOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just released it's annual Spring Climate Outlook report. You see a video highlighting major expectations by clicking the link below.<br /><br />
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What will Spring mean this year? That depends where you happen to live.<br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.climate.gov/news-features/videos/2014-spring-climate-outlook#.UysPFoE5a5g.blogger">2014 Spring Climate Outlook | NOAA Climate.gov</a><br /><br />
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Welcome to Spring! It's been a long winter, and it's about time we started to warm up. Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-45053846664940972542014-03-19T15:42:00.000-07:002014-03-19T15:57:35.249-07:00New statement on climate change from the AAAS - 2014There is a new statement from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, also known as the AAAS, on what we know about climate change.<br />
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The AAAS is the leading scientific body in the United States, represents the best of our scientific community, and is the largest scientific community in the world.<br />
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For one thing, multiple lines of evidence support the statement that 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are affecting the climate...I encourage you to take time to read the entire statement by clicking the link below. <br />
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<a href="http://whatweknow.aaas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AAAS-What-We-Know.pdf" target="_blank">http://whatweknow.aaas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AAAS-What-We-Know.pdf</a><br />
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The link below is a 5 minute video in which the question of scientific consensus among other topics are touched upon. It is also from the AAAS. <br />
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<a href="http://whatweknow.aaas.org/consensus-sense/" target="_blank">http://whatweknow.aaas.org/consensus-sense/</a><br />
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This statement and video do not represent the wild-eyed ramblings of some fringe scientific element, it reflects the mainstream scientific conclusions of the world's leading body of scientists on the topic of climate change, as well as an effort to disseminate information about what we know about it.<br />
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The AAAS is working deliberately to help people understand what we know, and calls upon governments to end the debate on a topic for which the science is settled, and move on to identifying best approaches for dealing with the problem of climate change.<br />
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The debate is over...it's time to act. What will you do?Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-76139236841573249602014-03-04T10:53:00.001-07:002014-03-04T10:53:40.807-07:00Spring in the west, and deep freeze in the east<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The Arctic Ocean usually reaches its maximum sea ice extent about this time of year, and we as start observing the annual spring/summer sea ice melt up north the sea ice extent is about 1,000,000 square kilometers below the 1981-2010 average. Wow! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTCejez5V8q0CIF0x8Os-zESQQcZBDaJ9g9habCam3QOnK2AdZjDUWE8qrTT5vPk29PB-3oKfUPMOOdnQOPTFfwnNb_DiCtVMYXMuWtL7LH8BzAwJzl_2R5CQY71W85dAWdu0aeLZfZ1w/s1600/Sea+ice+extent_NSIDC+3-3-2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTCejez5V8q0CIF0x8Os-zESQQcZBDaJ9g9habCam3QOnK2AdZjDUWE8qrTT5vPk29PB-3oKfUPMOOdnQOPTFfwnNb_DiCtVMYXMuWtL7LH8BzAwJzl_2R5CQY71W85dAWdu0aeLZfZ1w/s1600/Sea+ice+extent_NSIDC+3-3-2014.png" height="320" width="400" /></a></div>
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This has also been a wild winter ride, and it's not over for people in the midwest. As I type this entry schools including universities across that region are closed or running on a weather-impacted schedule. Out here in the mountain west though it looks and feels like spring has already sprung. We did have a dose of snow over the weekend...I had to shovel twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, but later on Sunday temperatures shot back up to 40+oF and it's headed back there today. <br />
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Normally where I live in SE Idaho is only starting the annual spring snow melt by now, but this year the snow is already all gone, except for small patches along the north sides of homes and buildings. Wild!<br />
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Other signs of spring around here include daffodils and crocuses pushing up through the soil, motorcycles appearing in parking lots, and students walking wearing sweatshirts and even short-sleeved shirts. <br />
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Why the early Spring-like conditions? Well, the radical swing of the jet stream this winter has stayed north of us while it's swung far to the south over the Great Plains and Midwest. <br />
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The map below shows the current jet stream track. Idaho is south of it, and the entire eastern part of the USA, except for the Everglades and Miami are north of it and still freezing. Yikes! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-r13RQnapxlE1rLWeeFI35um2iYbA2XLnzhiXsDMZiDPHQuBzoJU3jSlvac0UR6FzgMZAeZuO6Y76K0pq4lPJdUi1panZfgoB37LMQi_DaMQ_ZKxFYOiuVXpDHIb7QWzgeh80gSAiLs/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-03-04+at+10.50.58+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-r13RQnapxlE1rLWeeFI35um2iYbA2XLnzhiXsDMZiDPHQuBzoJU3jSlvac0UR6FzgMZAeZuO6Y76K0pq4lPJdUi1panZfgoB37LMQi_DaMQ_ZKxFYOiuVXpDHIb7QWzgeh80gSAiLs/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-03-04+at+10.50.58+AM.png" height="336" width="400" /></a></div>
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Will this madness never end?<br />
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Cheers!Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-10723244947295799532014-02-13T08:53:00.000-07:002014-02-13T08:56:57.237-07:00What is going on!? Early snow melt in Rexburg, IdahoI live in Rexburg, Idaho. For anyone who has lived here, gone to school here, or maybe even just visited, the word Rexburg often elicits a bodily chill. OK, it can be a very cold place. For example, the record cold temperature for Rexburg for the month of February is -36oF. The average monthly high temp is 33oF and the average low is 16oF (for the month of February). <br />
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So what?<br />
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This is the sight that greeted me as I walked home from work yesterday around 5pm. This is a full-blown snow melt. The gutter was completely full. OK, this in and of itself is no big deal. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uQ80kse9ysc/Uvzm4-zYZ8I/AAAAAAAALsM/_MvhCeamq4Q/s1600/Run-off+5pm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uQ80kse9ysc/Uvzm4-zYZ8I/AAAAAAAALsM/_MvhCeamq4Q/s1600/Run-off+5pm.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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Rexburg, Idaho, 5:15pm on February 12, 2014</div>
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We can have occasional warm days, even warm enough to cause a melt like this, but the thing that really blew me away was what I saw this morning...</div>
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...around 7:30am I reversed my path and headed back to work, and this is what I saw (see below). My phone showed a temperature of 36oF and the gutter was STILL full of snow run off. This is very, very, very strange. To have a warm day and melt some snow during the day in Rexburg is no big deal, but to have overnight temperatures that do not drop below freezing and to see snow melt all night long in mid-Feb is strange, strange, strange. Did I mention that this is strange?</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KXqUKxoo7xs/Uvzm5L7PmhI/AAAAAAAALsQ/fpLa8ZzTlOM/s1600/Run+off+7-30am.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KXqUKxoo7xs/Uvzm5L7PmhI/AAAAAAAALsQ/fpLa8ZzTlOM/s1600/Run+off+7-30am.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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Rexburg, Idaho, 7:30am on February 13, 2014</div>
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Was this one-day event caused by global climate change? No, it's virtually impossible to link a specific one-day weather event like this one directly to climate change. But, what you can say with a high degree of confidence is that the current global trend of warming makes weather events like this one more likely to happen.</div>
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Stay tuned, life is interesting.</div>
Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-80881388102311054932014-02-13T08:31:00.004-07:002014-02-13T08:31:37.075-07:00It's a bit early for the Arctic sea ice melt, but...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's been a while since I posted anything about the state of the Arctic, but when I checked the National Snow and Ice Database website this morning I thought it was worth a few words.</div>
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The graph below shows the Arctic sea ice extent between Nov 2013 and Feb 12, 2014. There are a couple of notable things here. First, the ice extent has been between 250,000 and 500,000 square kilometers below the 1981-2010 average the entire time. This doesn't come as a shock to anyone who follows the Arctic, but it's just an ongoing confirmation of a warming Arctic.</div>
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BTW, did you know that according to the National Climactic Data Center (NCDC) of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that the last time that an annual global average temperature was cooler than the 20th century average was in 1976? Yep, that's 37 years ago (<a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/</a>). I shared this with one of my classes of university students yesterday and realized as I said it that all of them were born well after 1976, so they have known only a warming world. That's a sobering thought.</div>
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The second thing the graph shows that's interesting, though not yet significant is what happened over the last week or two. If you notice the average sea ice extent usually reaches its maximum coverage around the end of February or early March. The extent does show some ups and downs, as clearly shown in the 2011-2012 (dotted) line. This year's data are shown on the blue line. Anyway, so what? Data of the last week or two show a leveling off and then decline in sea ice cover. If this continues, and I'd be extremely surprised if it did this early in the season, we could really be in for a doozie of a sea ice loss year in the Arctic. It's much more likely that this is just a temporary blip. </div>
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Stay tuned. Life is interesting. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPm06BJbEz4/UvziNIRQcyI/AAAAAAAALrg/_p4ErQs5Md8/s1600/Arctic+Sea+Ice+2-12-2014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JPm06BJbEz4/UvziNIRQcyI/AAAAAAAALrg/_p4ErQs5Md8/s1600/Arctic+Sea+Ice+2-12-2014.png" height="320" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-10660854848010155162014-02-04T14:52:00.000-07:002014-02-06T12:25:31.918-07:00Ken Ham and Bill Nye to Debate Each Other on Creationism vs. Evolution TONIGHT February 4thUPDATE: Their (long) debate is now over, but you can stream it from the following site:<br />
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<a href="http://debatelive.org/" target="_blank">Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate Evolution vs Creation Science - debatelive.org</a><br />
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Bill Nye - a well known television personality, proponent for science and science education, and CEO of "The Planetary Society" - and Ken Ham, CEO of the ministry "Answers in Genesis" and "The Creation Museum", will debate each other on Creationism vs. Evolution this evening.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1Z-VQwIkSs/UvFfHJjtF_I/AAAAAAAALpk/Uh90aeEuqv0/s1600/Ham_Nye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1Z-VQwIkSs/UvFfHJjtF_I/AAAAAAAALpk/Uh90aeEuqv0/s1600/Ham_Nye.jpg" height="208" width="400" /></a></div>
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For more information click the link below.<br />
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/04/271383099/creationism-vs-evolution-the-debate-is-live-tonight?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook" target="_blank">Ken Ham and Bill Nye to debate Creationism vs. Evolution TONIGHT (2/4)</a><br />
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It'll be interesting and entertaining to hear what these two have to say.<br />
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This debate fascinates me because so many people in the world contend that someone cannot be a person of faith AND a person of science. I disagree. <br />
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I am a person of faith, an active, devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), I'm a person of science, a university professor with a PhD in Biology (University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992), and I'm an evolutionist.<br />
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You may wonder how I pull this both without living in perpetual inner conflict. Simple. I believe that this life is, among other things, a quest for truth and understanding. Science provides useful and powerful explanations about how our bodies, the world, and the universe work. Religion is at the same time a complementary not competitive approach to obtaining truth through inspiration and revelation. Science is good at explaining the what, how, and when, and religion is good at explaining the why of things.<br />
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My bottom line? <br />
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Evolution is a true theory that explains many things and is a central unifying theory of the field of biology. Religion is a means to coming to a deeper understanding who I am, who God is, and about our relationship. Science and religion expand my view and understanding of the universe and of my place in it. They both have the earmarks of truth. And, if they truly are both truths, they cannot inherently be in conflict with each other. There may be apparent conflicts, but when this happens I have found/believe that it's almost certainly because we lack sufficient scientific information or revealed truth on the subject to allow us to see through the apparent conflict.<br />
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Truth is truth, and it cannot contradict itself.<br />
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That's my 2 cents' worth.<br />
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Best wishes.Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-65816063112740568642013-12-21T17:58:00.002-07:002013-12-21T17:58:24.787-07:00Orcas, the documentary film "Blackfish", and SeaWorld's Open Letter The former head dolphin trainer for the 1960s television show <i>Flipper</i> turned pro-dolphin activist Ric O'Barry undertook a film project in the mid-2000s designed to expose the slaughter of dolphins at Taiji, Japan, associated with an annual dolphin hunt. The main purpose of this hunt is to trap dolphins to be sold and then trained and used in marine mammal shows around the world. Dolphins not selected for training are herded into a secluded, carefully guarded cove where the remaining dolphins are slaughtered for meat, that is consequently sold as "whale meat". This documentary, "The Cove" won the Academy Award (Oscar) for best documentary film in 2009. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JngdPWUo54I/UrY37yiW_HI/AAAAAAAALQ0/SixRFq_-NW0/s1600/The+Cove_movie+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JngdPWUo54I/UrY37yiW_HI/AAAAAAAALQ0/SixRFq_-NW0/s400/The+Cove_movie+poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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You can learn more about that film here: <a href="http://www.thecovemovie.com/" target="_blank">The Cove - Official movie site</a><br />
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"The Cove" movie trailer: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV9Fv8h08Vc" target="_blank">"The Cove" movie trailer</a><br />
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Like many of you, I grew up watching <i>Flipper</i>, Jacques Cousteau Specials, and National Geographic specials. I particularly loved the ones about the ocean. These early impressions led me to pursue training in marine biology, and I was blessed to become a college biology professor (zoology and marine biology), a career I have enjoyed for more than 20 years so far (PhD University of California, Santa Cruz)<br />
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In the late 1990s I took my family to SeaWorld in Aurora, Ohio (sold to Six Flags in 2001). We there saw the marine mammal show, including dolphins and killer whales, as well as petting tanks for dolphins, etc. I remember thinking how amazing and regal all of the marine mammals were, while simultaneously mourning their limited existence. You see, I have had the privilege of seeing pods of killer whales in the wild on multiple occasions in the San Juan Islands, Washington, USA, dolphins in California, and elsewhere.<br />
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I was already somewhat soured by my experience, and after leaving the park in Ohio, decided never to return. I did not want to support that industry. Then about a decade later I saw "The Cove" (see above), and my resolve only hardened. Then, just this week I finally had a chance to see "Blackfish", the documentary about killer whales in captivity, mainly at SeaWorld parks. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rQNRus3YoVs/UrY4QvLm8lI/AAAAAAAALQ8/hCT3PzoI4XA/s1600/Blackfish_movie+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rQNRus3YoVs/UrY4QvLm8lI/AAAAAAAALQ8/hCT3PzoI4XA/s400/Blackfish_movie+poster.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
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You can learn more about it here: <a href="http://blackfishmovie.com/" target="_blank">The official "Blackfish" movie site</a><br />
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"Blackfish" trailer: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2vG_Ifu4zg" target="_blank">"Blackfish" movie trailer</a><br />
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These two films together or either alone is enough to make you weep for these intelligent, majestic animals. <br />
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The makers of "Blackfish" reportedly did due diligence in inviting SeaWorld to participate or at least be interviewed for the film, but they refused. The film, in the meantime, has caused quite a stir, raising people's awareness of challenges and risks associated with holding killer whales in captivity. <br />
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SeaWorld claims that "Blackfish" has had no impact on ticket sales (apparently the primary measure that matters to ventures like theirs), but at the same time, felt it necessary to take out full page ads in major newspapers across the country in which they published the following open letter in response to "Blackfish".<br />
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You can see the complete letter at the Official SeaWorld website here: <a href="http://seaworld.com/en/ourcare/Letter?utm_source=Silverpop&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=SEA.SeaWorldCaresLetter.Consumer.Dec2013%20(3)&utm_content=DIGITAL" target="_blank">Open Letter from SeaWorld</a><br />
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This is the text of the letter with my personal comments (<span style="color: red;">in red</span>) on its contents:<br />
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SeaWorld: The Truth Is in Our Parks and People <br style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />An Open Letter from SeaWorld’s Animal Advocates</h2>
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Inaccurate reports recently have generated questions about SeaWorld and the animals in our care. The truth is in our parks and people, and it’s time to set the record straight.</div>
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The men and women of SeaWorld are true animal advocates. We are the 1,500 scientists, researchers, veterinarians, trainers, marine biologists, aquarists, aviculturists, educators and conservationists who have dedicated our lives to the animals in our care as well as those in the wild that are injured, ill or orphaned. Whether it’s a sea lion, manatee, sea turtle or whale, we are on call 24/7.</div>
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Here are some important facts about SeaWorld and our work:</div>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SeaWorld does not capture killer whales in the wild.</strong> Due to the groundbreaking success of our research in marine mammal reproduction, we haven’t collected a killer whale from the wild in 35 years. In fact, only two of the whales in our care were collected by SeaWorld and they continue to be in our care today. In addition, our research has led to a much greater understanding of whales in the wild, giving researchers important scientific insights surrounding marine mammal reproduction.</li>
<ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><u>My comment</u>: I believe this point is true. There is no evidence of which I am aware that refutes this. SeaWorld has become a large enough operation with enough captive animals and knowhow to staff its parks with captive-born animals.</span></ul>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We do not separate killer whale moms and calves.</strong> SeaWorld recognizes the important bond between mother and calf. On the rare occasion that a mother killer whale cannot care for the calf herself, we have successfully hand raised and reintroduced the calf. Whales are only moved to maintain a healthy social structure.</li>
<ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><u>My comment</u>: I find this statement to be confusing at the least, and misleading at the worst. SeaWorld states that they "do not separate whale moms and calves". Then in the last sentence of this bullet statement they state that "Whales are only moved to maintain a healthy social structure." So, if we look back at point one above, that no whale has been collected from the wild in 35 years, the vast majority of whales at SeaWorld have to be captive-born, so moving any of these whales removes calves (offspring) from their mothers - a bond that is permanent in the wild. In other words, SeaWorld does not remove offspring from their mothers unless SeaWorld decides to. </span></ul>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SeaWorld invests millions of dollars in the care of our killer whales.</strong> In the last three years alone, we have invested $70 million in our killer whale habitats and millions of dollars annually in support of these facilities. Our habitats are among the largest in the world today. They are state-of-the-art, multimillion-gallon environments of cooled and filtered water that allow for the highest and safest standards of care. We give our animals restaurant-quality fish, exercise, veterinary care, mental stimulation, and the company of other members of their species.</li>
<ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><u>My comment</u>: All I can say about this is that "they better". This is largely a moot point as far as I'm concerned. Of course maintaining large animals like those at SeaWorld requires a major investment in capital and maintenance costs...that's the nature of their business. They try to keep the animals alive as long as possible and as healthy as possible, because they are their bread and butter. A moot point in terms of the whales' mental condition or the physical risk to SeaWorld trainers - the main point of "Blackfish".</span></ul>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SeaWorld’s killer whales’ life spans are equivalent with those in the wild.</strong> While studies continue to define the average life span of killer whales in the wild, the most recent science suggests that our killer whales’ life spans are comparable — indeed, five of our animals are older than 30, and one of our whales is close to 50.</li>
<ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><u>My comments</u>: Female killer whales reportedly live 50-90 years, and males 30-60 years. SeaWorld provides ages of 6 of its whales in the statement above, presumably their oldest 6, but they provide no data on the ages of whales that have passed away in captivity. By simply saying we have some old whales that are comparable to the average ages of whales in the wild is playing with statistics in SeaWorld's favor. </span><span style="color: red;"><ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;">According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, there are currently 45 killer whales in captivity worldwide, 32 of which are captive-born. According to one source the average age of whales in captivity is about 25 years...not the same story that SeaWorld is telling in their statement above.</span></ul>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The killer whales in our care benefit those in the wild. </strong>We work with universities, governmental agencies and NGOs to increase the body of knowledge about and the understanding of killer whales — from their anatomy and reproductive biology to their auditory abilities. Some populations of wild killer whales have been classified as endangered or threatened, demonstrating the potential critical nature of these research opportunities. This type of controlled research and study is simply not possible in the wild, and has significant real-world benefits to the killer whales that live there.</li>
<ul style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><u>My comments</u>: I believe this is true, but at the same time, wonder about the trade-off between scientific knowledge obtained, and the applicability of knowledge obtained from captive-born animals to native born animals. </span></ul>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://seaworld.com/_Assets/ParkSites/Images/ico/list-item.gif); background-position: 0px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style: none; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><strong style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SeaWorld is a world leader in animal rescue.</strong> The millions of people who visit our parks each year make possible SeaWorld’s world-renowned work in rescue, rehabilitation and release. We are constantly innovating when it comes to this care: Our veterinarians have created nursing bottles to hand-feed orphaned whales, prosthetics to save sea turtles, and a wetsuit to help injured manatees stay afloat during rehabilitation. Whether it’s the result of natural or man-made disasters, SeaWorld is always on call and often the first to be contacted. We have rescued more than 23,000 animals with the goal of treating and returning them to the wild.</li>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><u>My comments</u>: I believe this is true. Animal rescue work is highly commendable, and I applaud their efforts in this area. Even so, don't look for me to visit any of their parks anytime soon, or ever.</span></span></div>
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Naturalist Baba Dioum put it best when he said, “In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught.”</div>
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At SeaWorld, this has been our calling since we first opened our doors 50 years ago. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly. More than 400 million guests have visited SeaWorld. We are proud that their experiences here have a lasting and positive impact on them, and on the world in which we live.</div>
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<span style="color: red;"><u>My comment</u>: I'm sorry, but this point makes it sound like the work done by and at SeaWorld is carried out primarily because SeaWorld is altruistic. The reality is that this work will almost certainly be carried out only as long as SeaWorld turns a profit. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">I just checked the SeaWorld Orlando site and discovered that their day-pass tickets cost about $80 per person. Let's see...multiply that by 400 million and you've got "Merry Christmas" SeaWorld. Of course not all 400 million paid this much (over the years), but still...that's a LOT of cash. And they will keep doing what they are doing until they are either forced to shut down (for reasons I can't foresee) or people just stop going.</span></div>
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The truth about SeaWorld is right here in our parks and people. Our guests may enter our gates having never given much thought to the remarkable animals in our oceans. When they leave with a greater appreciation for the importance of the sea, educated about the animals that live there and inspired to make a difference, we have done our job. </div>
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<span style="color: red;"><u>My comment and conclusion</u>: As for me, as a marine biologist, I do not believe that marine mammal shows are essential. I actually believe the opposite, that we show our arrogance and disdain for these majestic animals and for nature when we keep them in captivity.</span>Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-5661457730956758432013-11-10T11:35:00.000-07:002013-11-12T19:40:41.850-07:00I published a Kindle book - Ichthyology A Laboratory ManualI always kind of thought in the back of my mind that someday I'd like to write a book. I mean, I write all the time for work, so I didn't seem too large of a leap to do a book. OK, don't get all excited, it's not the sort of book you'd whip open to pass some time while basking on a beach or flying from here to there. It's a laboratory manual, on the biology of fishes.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ichthyology-Laboratory-Alan-R-Holyoak-ebook/dp/B00GK5Y1KO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384310318&sr=8-1&keywords=alan+holyoak" target="_blank"><img alt=" Jump to the book's site at Amazon.com" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhteWGdrAaCZzjdNdmGtyHRiWYslxsvuFE-B-nATgFM6_hsN0Uq3FdkjKZh92KZmQacbpo-rL9X7FQ8ZDuIdvDAlGogna0gCLBgUgE008IgW7REPhgOHPNHrOwg-RkPSbDT_YfuhCXKZVg/s1600/Ichthyology+book+cover.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ichthyology-Laboratory-Alan-R-Holyoak-ebook/dp/B00GK5Y1KO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384310318&sr=8-1&keywords=alan+holyoak" target="_blank">Jump to the book's page at Amazon.com</a></div>
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I am a biology professor, so the writing I do is mainly technical, non-fiction, and teaching related.<br />
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Ichthyology, together with marine biology, invertebrate zoology, and limnology (freshwater biology) are courses I teach regularly. When I started teaching ichthyology there was no laboratory manual out there that matched what I wanted my ichthyology students to do in lab, so I started pulling together materials and generating lab exercises on my own. This went on for a number of years. Then I decided that I was tired of using this set of exercises that looked and felt mismatched and hodgepodge. I needed to standardize them, giving them the same look, feel, and focus. My opportunity to do this appeared when I was granted a sabbatical for the Fall 2013 semester. <br />
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I pulled out my materials and stared writing and re-writing, doing dissections, taking LOTS of photographs, and producing ink line drawings. I ended up with 12 laboratory exercises by the time I was done. Perfect.<br />
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My original intent was to generate a lab manual I could distribute free of charge to students in my class. And I'll still do that. At the same time I thought, why not publish this lab manual as a Kindle book? After all, the reason I wrote the thing in the first place is that there were no manuals out there that supported what I wanted my students to do. Maybe, just maybe, it'll help someone else who's looking for materials to support their lab.<br />
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As a Kindle newbie, I found that the learning curve for Kindle publishing, though real, is not insurmountable. It's not hard at all, assuming you know how to use MS Word. I had to go back into my original document, do some re-formatting and develop a book cover. I did all of that in a day. The entire process was quite interesting. <br />
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Frankly, I don't know if anyone will buy this lab manual, but at $7.50/copy it's extremely cheap as laboratory manuals go. Biology laboratory manuals published by traditional textbook companies tend to retail for anywhere between $30-$100. <br />
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Science textbook prices have gone through the roof! This is another reason I wrote and then decided to publish my manual as a Kindle book. I'm also looking into making it available as a hardcopy book via Createspace for about $15.00/copy.<br />
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I have to admit that it gives me a bit of a thrill to see something I wrote at Amazon.com. </div>
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Cheers!</div>
Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315518722531248398.post-55704701935071777672013-11-05T22:32:00.000-07:002013-11-06T12:27:06.653-07:00Bucket list - release baby sea turtles - Visit to the Nuevo Vallarta Sea Turtle Preserve - Nayarit Mexico<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJjWhTd6l5wpV0P9RiZE78G4pJGwNlFXPtKBRwxW3OY-sgzN6FBCjANiSTyuvfWuA2b8g7a4KINSNTxay_17b6AIUgPEjPyWAbt03YKDQ4PxaCjj_o8gBVIpgFsSDxOs3xdOvv6d1YQZU/s1600/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJjWhTd6l5wpV0P9RiZE78G4pJGwNlFXPtKBRwxW3OY-sgzN6FBCjANiSTyuvfWuA2b8g7a4KINSNTxay_17b6AIUgPEjPyWAbt03YKDQ4PxaCjj_o8gBVIpgFsSDxOs3xdOvv6d1YQZU/s400/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Olive Ridley sea turtle - hatchling</div>
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By the 1970s the tortoise shell, sea turtle egg, and sea turtle meat trades had caused almost all species of sea turtles to be anywhere from vulnerable to endangered. Ongoing efforts of concerned biologists, however, managed to bring their plight to the attention of the global conservation movement. This attention gained enough momentum that all sea turtle species are now protected under the Endangered Species Act and the international <span style="font-family: inherit;">CITES (<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 16px;">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)</span> agreement. Even </span>so, nearly 40 years later all sea turtle species remain ecologically vulnerable, threatened, or endangered.<br />
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What makes sea turtles so vulnerable? There are a few main threats to their survival. One is an ongoing illegal trade in sea turtle eggs, meat, and tortoise shell. Sadly, as long as there is a market, someone somewhere will supply that demand. Second, sea turtles often feed on jellyfishes. Sadly, turtles are not adept at discerning between jellyfishes and floating plastic bags. They ingest plastic that then clogs their digestive tracts and they starve to death. Last and probably the greatest threat is that human coastal development encroaches and destroys sea turtle nesting beaches. </div>
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Just like salmon return to the stream where they hatched to spawn, sea turtles return to the same beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs. If those beaches are replaced by other structures - docks, piers, sea walls they have an extremely difficult time finding someplace to lay their eggs. Also, once beachfront property is developed for recreation, increased human activities and light pollution discourage turtles from crawling up on the beach and laying their eggs. Plus, as humans move into an area so do opportunistic predators such as raccoons, coatimundi, dogs, etc. These predators can become skilled at locating and decimating newly laid nests.</div>
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In order to offset these challenges, many countries with sea turtle nesting beaches participate in programs where these beaches are patrolled during nesting season, eggs are collected, they are hatched under protected conditions, and hatchlings are released into the ocean in large groups. <br />
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Mexico participates in this effort. One of the Mexican sea turtle preserves is located at Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico. I was fortunate to visit there in October 2013 and learned how they work to conserve sea turtles along the southern coast of the state of Nayarit, Mexico.</div>
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This sea turtle conservation site has a web site you can visit to find additional information: <a href="http://amamexico.org/">Association for Mexican Environmental Unity</a></div>
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The protected area patrolled by biologists at this site are part of <span style="font-family: inherit;">the Mexican National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was able to visit the Nuevo Vallarta Sea Turtle Preserve that is located right on the beach about 0.8 miles up the coast from the mouth of the Nuevo Vallarta marina. It was a memorable and fantastic visit. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemMsl81D1rUOL1aJ85LvUDBOiFM9TiBhUy31M4a1mVgbeeZ5L-0OZOUDc684WRt713Bm01qP8Y-OiV_idFc9X_AR29xyGko06-n3WPWBsi7QwcGb3PM06VKrMhBVloRSTjmnLoIA7018/s1600/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemMsl81D1rUOL1aJ85LvUDBOiFM9TiBhUy31M4a1mVgbeeZ5L-0OZOUDc684WRt713Bm01qP8Y-OiV_idFc9X_AR29xyGko06-n3WPWBsi7QwcGb3PM06VKrMhBVloRSTjmnLoIA7018/s400/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLBazM_XNpYhduYmcwAUw3f7Of_RsXW2uXtFXGg4fp1GaaPEayOwtzEq1ScUhdi5tlrbKc6PriHrEvSqFEI_4omqOZ3hDVYid74zm-G05pjxHJvHMBLOT32DXvQDo7Ql6gXONux0us0A/s1600/Sea+turtle+on+beach_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLBazM_XNpYhduYmcwAUw3f7Of_RsXW2uXtFXGg4fp1GaaPEayOwtzEq1ScUhdi5tlrbKc6PriHrEvSqFEI_4omqOZ3hDVYid74zm-G05pjxHJvHMBLOT32DXvQDo7Ql6gXONux0us0A/s400/Sea+turtle+on+beach_04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is a hatchling Olive Ridley sea turtle making its way down the beach toward the water.</div>
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All you see if you walk along the beach and glance up toward the preserve is a wire fence that has tarps over parts of it for shade.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEq6VkrGZ9MOrmUndC4F-uaojbSSo6W0L3wjSOxLqe9GdelJMQ9_kyai9qNKMDa-sBPXsGIAts1k0vVAptIgXkhVFY6nd8zDCsh_MnWnEu0PaYJZ1uqhQr3nUE9mY8PDvZj4buP6u3Zc/s1600/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_Great+Kiskadee+in+the+enclosure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEq6VkrGZ9MOrmUndC4F-uaojbSSo6W0L3wjSOxLqe9GdelJMQ9_kyai9qNKMDa-sBPXsGIAts1k0vVAptIgXkhVFY6nd8zDCsh_MnWnEu0PaYJZ1uqhQr3nUE9mY8PDvZj4buP6u3Zc/s400/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_Great+Kiskadee+in+the+enclosure.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you stop and look under the tarps you'll see lots of little plastic markers. Each one indicates eggs, their species, when they were collected, and when they are expected to hatch.</div>
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Biologists place mesh-sided buckets over the eggs as their hatching dates approach. This way the turtles can be collected and held safely after they emerge, until they can be released later the same day as a cohort.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBIORRlDPsXsSUolkJLscZSRmTTop-CLnhq0YBzYzyFLtLd05LTAs7Z1_7kGSDkiK4NMe4AJdQgfI_hZCMaF5s0RyWvd9UuaFFOYJyavmE0vQJACYwfonUyhNaK1cKkku_l-b6kY6Kiw/s1600/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBIORRlDPsXsSUolkJLscZSRmTTop-CLnhq0YBzYzyFLtLd05LTAs7Z1_7kGSDkiK4NMe4AJdQgfI_hZCMaF5s0RyWvd9UuaFFOYJyavmE0vQJACYwfonUyhNaK1cKkku_l-b6kY6Kiw/s400/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sometimes birds get into the enclosure, upset the buckets, and attack the baby turtles. The turtle in this photo was pecked by a bird when we walked up to the fence.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ioC9igk0CRsK6zZc9qz_TIppqDTKro1nqewcSDlgIogUybY-nEOEP-oe479ACf8XgEZdXRjawpHI-6qEdKq68a_-u3-1g72RQlTp5jFDU4IBemcwJWOID3U-pG54PG9THoRnBC8P4Ns/s1600/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_dead_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ioC9igk0CRsK6zZc9qz_TIppqDTKro1nqewcSDlgIogUybY-nEOEP-oe479ACf8XgEZdXRjawpHI-6qEdKq68a_-u3-1g72RQlTp5jFDU4IBemcwJWOID3U-pG54PG9THoRnBC8P4Ns/s400/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_dead_01.jpg" width="395" /></a></div>
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Where do the eggs come from? Biologists use 4-wheelers to patrol an 8-mile stretch of beach every night. When they come across a nesting turtle they note the turtle's species, collect the eggs, and bring the eggs back to the preserve.</div>
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Sometimes baby turtles escape the preserve singly or in pairs when they emerge. The turtle in the photo below is one we saw heading out of the preserve while we were on a morning walk. You can also see one of the egg markers up close. We happened to visit in the middle of the main Olive Ridley turtle hatching season - though this species does nest year round on this beach. We shadowed this little turtle all the way to the water, you know, to keep it from being stepped on my joggers, picked off by a bird, etc.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3FFQcGiqPHCra1MYxxLMairsMIVwpTUFXKRGQeZmTM3t0C7nusPuPx1MpKyPOMU8XqUPb0wEif2K8xijKv5yzSZmmFA0d2XmrUWXq0Gjt3S8yFO37UkfIledvVmZVqJsITOs6xkL-Ko/s1600/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3FFQcGiqPHCra1MYxxLMairsMIVwpTUFXKRGQeZmTM3t0C7nusPuPx1MpKyPOMU8XqUPb0wEif2K8xijKv5yzSZmmFA0d2XmrUWXq0Gjt3S8yFO37UkfIledvVmZVqJsITOs6xkL-Ko/s400/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzQsPPX1ror25Iz0CXYQCBt7NVL02NUBsGJMVFPMZDOnWqvzIHQ2FHEtw_afC1sW1eJxMQhxaVHVqf_JKLGcqBgYjoBFk6Bc-MU0NbHUsOCe_W9t13dYiq3jWKwpEz7gO4x4CGkc6Jd8/s1600/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzQsPPX1ror25Iz0CXYQCBt7NVL02NUBsGJMVFPMZDOnWqvzIHQ2FHEtw_afC1sW1eJxMQhxaVHVqf_JKLGcqBgYjoBFk6Bc-MU0NbHUsOCe_W9t13dYiq3jWKwpEz7gO4x4CGkc6Jd8/s400/Sea+turtle+at+preserve_02.jpg" width="358" /></a></div>
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Made it to the surf zone! (below)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MmDz2MiSVkNcya1hRZ-3bHFFTbBImiNIoW5x2vbLtQYI_T4LRa-Mdz5e0rVowi01pN7hyphenhyphenJmcQY88_vw9pn_I7jNZ6L7NAMzvj6MDjK_59WfLfvkdHOlMIWyVKbZeTuJef0UmmOH_1YQ/s1600/Sea+turtle+in+surf+zone_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6MmDz2MiSVkNcya1hRZ-3bHFFTbBImiNIoW5x2vbLtQYI_T4LRa-Mdz5e0rVowi01pN7hyphenhyphenJmcQY88_vw9pn_I7jNZ6L7NAMzvj6MDjK_59WfLfvkdHOlMIWyVKbZeTuJef0UmmOH_1YQ/s400/Sea+turtle+in+surf+zone_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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...and into the water...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0Qflih6y_LOpKDuqREqeHe8m3R8uE0fsvCzZXBjw3FOO_eiXqf8Z18jJLmqjQfrTJVVJgMQtNMHeagSOw3byB5gPOsWuEyKR8gANlxRscH160RgiPuR8hBdV607ryKkzRMhFlO7-mWw/s1600/Sea+turtle+in+water_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim0Qflih6y_LOpKDuqREqeHe8m3R8uE0fsvCzZXBjw3FOO_eiXqf8Z18jJLmqjQfrTJVVJgMQtNMHeagSOw3byB5gPOsWuEyKR8gANlxRscH160RgiPuR8hBdV607ryKkzRMhFlO7-mWw/s400/Sea+turtle+in+water_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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...don't forget, they breathe air so they have to come to the surface regularly.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxw30YfidSkI4Ko7uuT5tLyozK2K1R68WZg1fYDfuYIOYIbnc1HCYkI-vAg_kyb5zF1ucNV3CRqtyuPKF9SVF0GPZtEZj1tgsc71X7lvd9C3EFbLgoEu7ISYeQXPa_GPu9JhL8MWiDPAU/s1600/Sea+turtle+in+water_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxw30YfidSkI4Ko7uuT5tLyozK2K1R68WZg1fYDfuYIOYIbnc1HCYkI-vAg_kyb5zF1ucNV3CRqtyuPKF9SVF0GPZtEZj1tgsc71X7lvd9C3EFbLgoEu7ISYeQXPa_GPu9JhL8MWiDPAU/s400/Sea+turtle+in+water_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We would happily put the little turtle in a bucket, but there wasn't one below the sign.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAdLYk6Ryafiril5NhhqOnWSsO9woqLCiFEDwxx6XZDxSmgHqNFF_fmSL2vSh90JVUR96SGv6j1X0GJquag3AGJaGgcHP0xRpV-EpvZ-LJQo5dO1TPz_CmdIuiO5mBfTsy4bSB6Lk9lA/s1600/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAdLYk6Ryafiril5NhhqOnWSsO9woqLCiFEDwxx6XZDxSmgHqNFF_fmSL2vSh90JVUR96SGv6j1X0GJquag3AGJaGgcHP0xRpV-EpvZ-LJQo5dO1TPz_CmdIuiO5mBfTsy4bSB6Lk9lA/s400/Nuevo+Vallarta+sea+turtle+preserve_02.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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Biologists collect the turtles that hatch during a given day and release them at twilight each night. Prior to the release, biologists give presentations about turtles, turtle biology, and the purpose of the sea turtle preserve. They actually give two talks at the same time each night. One is given in Spanish and is mainly for Mexican children who come to the preserve to help with the release, and the other one is in English for tourists who are staying in the condos and time-shares along the beach.</div>
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This is one of the staff biologists (Irving, a biology graduate from the University of Guadalajara) at the preserve giving the English presentation.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gAdYHsfmTlQ_GEFXvskJLG19g-BckTFwqvWqwXSG2abuIIKt9F12r_qnCnY6TYZPKDCiE4ftsbaBaCwdF1F6nUYesK246Rvuk6nTqvXygX2SwleSKT_Hl3Jy-6KAckzkbSz9nt_6DxY/s1600/Nuevo+Vallarta+Turtle+Preserve+Biologist+-+Irving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gAdYHsfmTlQ_GEFXvskJLG19g-BckTFwqvWqwXSG2abuIIKt9F12r_qnCnY6TYZPKDCiE4ftsbaBaCwdF1F6nUYesK246Rvuk6nTqvXygX2SwleSKT_Hl3Jy-6KAckzkbSz9nt_6DxY/s400/Nuevo+Vallarta+Turtle+Preserve+Biologist+-+Irving.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The work the preserve does is important for the continued health of the sea turtle populations that nest on this beach. Only 2-3 of every 1000 hatchlings survives to adulthood. This is why it is important that as many eggs as possible be collected and protected.<br />
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The biologists at the preserve ask for a small donation, whatever you want, but 50 pesos is typical (a few dollars) from people at the presentation to help support the work at the preserve. For this small donation visitors are invited to release a sea turtle of their own.<br />
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This is the ventral view of a baby Olive Ridley sea turtle. The small tan spot where you might imagine a belly button would be is all that remains of the egg's yolk sac. There is enough energy still in it to support the turtle for a few days. If the baby turtle is not able to start feeding by then it will not survive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3zsLQKgW8Ou_YgnoBaDdgGDMwByJ3QwmKXdVcihMvwxyBE_QOmmGQMsXisJH9u-gJK-K5acS05yEDo3aNnxPSyGtHv_5sI9ZX6L_k7He4UaSbzZWzzpwQkyXmTR-l_snWp96zHtXNOM/s1600/Olive+Ridley+hatchling+yolk+sac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3zsLQKgW8Ou_YgnoBaDdgGDMwByJ3QwmKXdVcihMvwxyBE_QOmmGQMsXisJH9u-gJK-K5acS05yEDo3aNnxPSyGtHv_5sI9ZX6L_k7He4UaSbzZWzzpwQkyXmTR-l_snWp96zHtXNOM/s400/Olive+Ridley+hatchling+yolk+sac.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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These are some of the turtles that hatched in one day at the preserve.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPw20-V84mkkqxAD5IZaXtKU354f1KmUpMc6-J63PsuVcMx5t3tAsNHg2sxgZPQ873GGUMA0gM4goxlSB99KQiW-HWLikykWsQUYKqeYR5Y4sSsmKTnIohrpyLNA403muqeDwlGrynFY/s1600/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchlings+in+tub_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPw20-V84mkkqxAD5IZaXtKU354f1KmUpMc6-J63PsuVcMx5t3tAsNHg2sxgZPQ873GGUMA0gM4goxlSB99KQiW-HWLikykWsQUYKqeYR5Y4sSsmKTnIohrpyLNA403muqeDwlGrynFY/s400/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchlings+in+tub_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OwWovqIeMLZKipPzbzR4FExqcx8K11TuG5fuJRbwCkXBOUu550RMu5EQ6o8pCQ91ywIZCNO9nDffR-waxWYzr8DisIk07ys7esUmcRsGUtXy3dYpros4qnCUFc6-FrJU711GoaxIEfI/s1600/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchlings+in+tub_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OwWovqIeMLZKipPzbzR4FExqcx8K11TuG5fuJRbwCkXBOUu550RMu5EQ6o8pCQ91ywIZCNO9nDffR-waxWYzr8DisIk07ys7esUmcRsGUtXy3dYpros4qnCUFc6-FrJU711GoaxIEfI/s400/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchlings+in+tub_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Turtles are released early each evening. Biologists lay ropes out along the beach and ask people to line up, up slope from the rope. The biologists then walk along and distribute turtles to the people there.<br />
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Before you handle a turtle you need to cover your hands in sand so the oil from your skin won't come in direct contact with the turtles.<br />
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When the biologist gives the word, people let their turtles go and cheer them on as they make their way toward the water. We were able to help with the release of about 500 hatchlings this evening.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Lt2kDPgHMd2o5C2oq3a9TpMus_fTJr94sMkE8C-ip5AE3eKBymEQ7ZjK9araA89sEKyIQgiLjQ1lpe3cWpIk7mNJovE_ADcWLIsVuxIC6uoAQEy9yUUhhRxtP3xC7NhJfXAwykxrA1A/s1600/Turtle+preserve_preparing+for+sea+turtle+release_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Lt2kDPgHMd2o5C2oq3a9TpMus_fTJr94sMkE8C-ip5AE3eKBymEQ7ZjK9araA89sEKyIQgiLjQ1lpe3cWpIk7mNJovE_ADcWLIsVuxIC6uoAQEy9yUUhhRxtP3xC7NhJfXAwykxrA1A/s400/Turtle+preserve_preparing+for+sea+turtle+release_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here are turtles moving down the beach to the water.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7yh1yHG48YzLDQYpYEfq3OtkYBMiOrRAWO5xfomu8s5CTknl_mhJOOHn1pLcY7LWYLFk_j5GWGMks3uG05T2Z_MI3EH9AI6s1RH3Sv_MtURn1csXpFMG5SpLC6ay8ZbhOxPtUAZ5c3TQ/s1600/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7yh1yHG48YzLDQYpYEfq3OtkYBMiOrRAWO5xfomu8s5CTknl_mhJOOHn1pLcY7LWYLFk_j5GWGMks3uG05T2Z_MI3EH9AI6s1RH3Sv_MtURn1csXpFMG5SpLC6ay8ZbhOxPtUAZ5c3TQ/s400/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVHeky6QTYcm8IVBb_7Ih_ZMhHUz189QvI0p0X4XZJbytq7L91W_T-uTm1ldSg2hY-2qc29JmOjIBeWktMlHAosgzuEg2x6lrXJlq_WlLHsSnAGNk3ps0qUhEd3wmX9zQcp7nrT289Tg/s1600/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpVHeky6QTYcm8IVBb_7Ih_ZMhHUz189QvI0p0X4XZJbytq7L91W_T-uTm1ldSg2hY-2qc29JmOjIBeWktMlHAosgzuEg2x6lrXJlq_WlLHsSnAGNk3ps0qUhEd3wmX9zQcp7nrT289Tg/s400/Turtle+preserve_+Olive+Ridley+hatchling+headed+to+sea_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Not all nesting turtles are spotted, and not all eggs are relocated to the preserve. Some of these nests are successful, and young hatch, emerge from the nest and make it to the water. Here is a baby turtle emerging from a successful nest. You can tell the nest is successful because the opening to the nest is small and there are no broken egg shells around it. (I still can't believe our fantastic luck in spotting this emergence.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipe52rT0R6hqPLWYscohai_Mi_KSWusX95rlavYq_sG7hb8suDrP01iGcipH5n8PIiV9hY8kJPzTDKIf9L93QGWkMm19dQ4QCRapSbZLzqwLj3ctus6Vydanckpw30rgHVbnzHS9fknRM/s1600/Olive+Ridley+emerging+hatchling_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipe52rT0R6hqPLWYscohai_Mi_KSWusX95rlavYq_sG7hb8suDrP01iGcipH5n8PIiV9hY8kJPzTDKIf9L93QGWkMm19dQ4QCRapSbZLzqwLj3ctus6Vydanckpw30rgHVbnzHS9fknRM/s400/Olive+Ridley+emerging+hatchling_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Many turtle nests are destroyed by animals that dig them up in search of eggs.</div>
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This nest, for example, was dug up, and, sadly, the animal that did it apparently did not eat the young turtles. These turtles were still alive when we came across the nest, but they were too premature to survive. The lens cap in the center of this photo gives you a sense of scale. The white things are egg shells and the dark objects are dying baby turtles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs-WwwLc27hq3M1afNPTEkVXSkvbNpxBeYrNssGPP8_herpaXteSjiA4Z5KuwfCab4djQ9UB4ldRXN61vJ38Z8pHikn4tlu1Iyk9OaSUPcxTmE9ENiMwbvf6kq7ZLoY4-TypMEGRV-cM/s1600/Olive+Ridley+premature+hatchlings_destroyed+nest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs-WwwLc27hq3M1afNPTEkVXSkvbNpxBeYrNssGPP8_herpaXteSjiA4Z5KuwfCab4djQ9UB4ldRXN61vJ38Z8pHikn4tlu1Iyk9OaSUPcxTmE9ENiMwbvf6kq7ZLoY4-TypMEGRV-cM/s400/Olive+Ridley+premature+hatchlings_destroyed+nest.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This photo shows eggs dug up from another nest. These eggs are at a stage sought after by small mammals. The eggs are freshly laid, and they are still full of energy-rich yolk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcEys18Kf9AjRk2SRneJV_58vXs5ECn6TVYEOyuUcGtseJXTiBZTjkXRUi2SdYZSkK94UOarlBhCw0iylgSWMGyvZ_kegYtbP_gj0w-IR7AzjvM-UcPdMviNZTMipXx8JlT0yK_nqp_k/s1600/Olive+Ridley_destroyed+nest_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcEys18Kf9AjRk2SRneJV_58vXs5ECn6TVYEOyuUcGtseJXTiBZTjkXRUi2SdYZSkK94UOarlBhCw0iylgSWMGyvZ_kegYtbP_gj0w-IR7AzjvM-UcPdMviNZTMipXx8JlT0yK_nqp_k/s400/Olive+Ridley_destroyed+nest_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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These photos show footprints of the likely culprits that dug up the nests we saw...probably raccoons or maybe coatimundis.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRBE0EBiovI4DQyIzBM1XR_jVb4qSkgVWreArXOQRWv6idxMQSycA4bEc9Wt8-NOMd6Gfr2qMw1H2eJoXp8i02S76HTm6wX0-LKzStH-ge7pgXDJLXL62etQjT-QEy2q6B8jA8suIe6Q/s1600/Sea+Turtle+nest_destroyed_raccoon+paw+print_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRBE0EBiovI4DQyIzBM1XR_jVb4qSkgVWreArXOQRWv6idxMQSycA4bEc9Wt8-NOMd6Gfr2qMw1H2eJoXp8i02S76HTm6wX0-LKzStH-ge7pgXDJLXL62etQjT-QEy2q6B8jA8suIe6Q/s400/Sea+Turtle+nest_destroyed_raccoon+paw+print_02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKy7c10pCSyE5Ri2vn6loTUg8pp7MGdB0ed3SKDkwTBM4Qpa_ytmQLgp_oEUF8bAwVmMnrqza21832vwK7kqsuwGBNf-AKwT5PtwTzQPBq2LC-y2t97tZnsl8u8El8VONDQ_kyJdhGgI/s1600/Sea+Turtle+nest_destroyed_raccoon+paw+print_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKy7c10pCSyE5Ri2vn6loTUg8pp7MGdB0ed3SKDkwTBM4Qpa_ytmQLgp_oEUF8bAwVmMnrqza21832vwK7kqsuwGBNf-AKwT5PtwTzQPBq2LC-y2t97tZnsl8u8El8VONDQ_kyJdhGgI/s400/Sea+Turtle+nest_destroyed_raccoon+paw+print_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Many kinds of birds come in and pick through the remains of eggs after the mammals have dig up nests and eaten their fill. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKsqTu3ctDUTzqmXbYUxCOardWxNiC5XLAtik5vE7HhAZla8-w3UogYFScrMiiPl6rE5dppEaB1mbsMrEO_uY1vKP7h1M_0Z_NIQxc6uHAaKaPgbkAcWcaow38aSUH-W985iwPESPlbg/s1600/Olive+Ridley+nest+scavenger_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKsqTu3ctDUTzqmXbYUxCOardWxNiC5XLAtik5vE7HhAZla8-w3UogYFScrMiiPl6rE5dppEaB1mbsMrEO_uY1vKP7h1M_0Z_NIQxc6uHAaKaPgbkAcWcaow38aSUH-W985iwPESPlbg/s400/Olive+Ridley+nest+scavenger_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This nest was only partially excavated, and some of the eggs were undamaged, though it is highly unlikely that these eggs, now uncovered will complete development.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TxwZ-0C6BNS5qMaENwUACS_FbKAlwIUCkskH3g33Q3qr5A6eMsAtNtPgAacjvjjzyEDWu3j8dWEjWtcxPjAlgQ99-S7qvGWxtICjLfQHBbMMhjnHTiXfkXiIfDhuFJn3tfMknbQPoHE/s1600/Olive+Ridley_destroyed+nest_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TxwZ-0C6BNS5qMaENwUACS_FbKAlwIUCkskH3g33Q3qr5A6eMsAtNtPgAacjvjjzyEDWu3j8dWEjWtcxPjAlgQ99-S7qvGWxtICjLfQHBbMMhjnHTiXfkXiIfDhuFJn3tfMknbQPoHE/s400/Olive+Ridley_destroyed+nest_03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sea turtle eggs are nearly spherical, with tough yet flexible shells, not oblong and brittle like chicken eggs.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99A32E8Jr192QYt-GLDDZUm2-2Py7n_FMWjG_ZnRW11-v_sOZ6QUwonaStmV7MrvsnjCUPB3ydF60lCBvmtoWACcv7v5xm_m68tejp5oLiTZw1loY3Sm81gxUQswhFTtf5V5Jalysm88/s1600/Olive+Ridley+egg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh99A32E8Jr192QYt-GLDDZUm2-2Py7n_FMWjG_ZnRW11-v_sOZ6QUwonaStmV7MrvsnjCUPB3ydF60lCBvmtoWACcv7v5xm_m68tejp5oLiTZw1loY3Sm81gxUQswhFTtf5V5Jalysm88/s400/Olive+Ridley+egg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here I am with a baby Olive Ridley sea turtle we found on the upper beach about 1/2 mile south of the preserve.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijni6zu6htMgdKOSV3h6K0-d5sJHHyIxl3Ekep_SW0w9ex5OGIU5-m7MPX5GAO6Y2jGtVld9A6oLt3UHGhmqcM58DHWu-Occ0K-m5T-dNsD1Y6zdDG5sKvzylZ3GMYVPDc_2c0KEEkKyA/s1600/ARH_Olive+Ridley+hatchling_Nuevo+Vallarta_+Mexico_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijni6zu6htMgdKOSV3h6K0-d5sJHHyIxl3Ekep_SW0w9ex5OGIU5-m7MPX5GAO6Y2jGtVld9A6oLt3UHGhmqcM58DHWu-Occ0K-m5T-dNsD1Y6zdDG5sKvzylZ3GMYVPDc_2c0KEEkKyA/s400/ARH_Olive+Ridley+hatchling_Nuevo+Vallarta_+Mexico_05.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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This photo shows its release, along with another turtle we found and hovered over as it flapped its way down the beach.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW4GZSs4tXLjP9uh017hgf-VH5Mwpbm8K1SZUWAxWwQwDkENwVG5v6zqjsYLcRMkKnsNj8vZVvpUB9tm69ueY7eG598T2AKwDZGypTlnzOzu5F5c2LSFyOzn05c0NNNluqwPnmhifHSI/s1600/ARH_Olive+Ridley+hatchling_Nuevo+Vallarta_+Mexico_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW4GZSs4tXLjP9uh017hgf-VH5Mwpbm8K1SZUWAxWwQwDkENwVG5v6zqjsYLcRMkKnsNj8vZVvpUB9tm69ueY7eG598T2AKwDZGypTlnzOzu5F5c2LSFyOzn05c0NNNluqwPnmhifHSI/s400/ARH_Olive+Ridley+hatchling_Nuevo+Vallarta_+Mexico_02.jpg" width="356" /></a></div>
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This was a fantastic experience! I now have a much better understanding of the work that these conservation biologists do, the challenges they face, and the successes they have. The only thing we didn't see during our trip was a female digging her nest and laying her eggs. Still, this was AMAZING!</div>
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"Gracias" to the hard working staff and volunteers at the Nuevo Vallarta Sea Turtle Preserve! Keep up the good work!</div>
Alhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17875669505143176758noreply@blogger.com2