Free email delivery
Please sign up for email delivery in the subscription area to the right.
No salesman will call, at least not from us. Maybe from someone else.
A chilling thought (for our Snowy Plovers)
The City of Santa Monica, in conjunction with USC Sea Grant, currently has an interactive demonstration of the predicted effects of sea level rise on our local beach. This is the beach where our Western Snowy Plover flock roosts from July through April.
This demo is available online at http://dornsife.usc.edu/uscseagrant/sm-vr-owl/ or, with more impact, on the Santa Monica Pier “OWL”. The owl is that stereo-optic device on the pier that usually gives a telescopic view of the area. In this demo, it gives a predicted effect of expected sea level rise on the same shorescape.
Whether you visit the pier or choose to look at the online version, I encourage you to look at all the information links on the page linked above. They explain how global scientific models have been localized to give us an impactful view of the effects of global warming. The OWL on the pier is available at least until the end of the year, in conjunction with City’s local coastal planning.
The Amazing Life of Sand – Video
There’s a story in every grain of sand: tales of life and death, fire and water. If you scooped up a handful of sand from every beach, you’d have a history of the world sifting through your fingers.
This is another installment of the PBS Deep Look series. If no film or link appears in this email, go to the blog to view it by clicking on the blog title above. If the film stops & starts in an annoying manner, press pause (lower left double bars ||) to let it buffer and get ahead of you. [Chuck Almdale]
Pygmy Seahorses: Masters of Camouflage – Video
Tiny and delicate, pygmy seahorses survive by attaching to vibrant corals where they become nearly invisible to both predators and researchers. Now, biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have successfully bred them in captivity for the first time. Finally, they’re able to study the seahorses’ amazing act of camouflage up close.
This is another installment of the PBS Deep Look series. If no film or link appears in this email, go to the blog to view it by clicking on the blog title above. If the film stops & starts in an annoying manner, press pause (lower left double bars ||) to let it buffer and get ahead of you. [Chuck Almdale]
Traces of the Sun from NASA & György Bajmóczy
Here’s a special treat to celebrate today’s Winter Solstice,
the first day of winter, and in the northern hemisphere,
the shortest day of the year.
Based on 116,000 images from a fixed position ASI 120 camera, György selected photos to display solar movements over the course of the day and the year. You won’t see this anywhere else.
Link to Traces of the Sun video on NASA website. Two minutes long.
Explanation from NASA website:
To celebrate, watch this amazing timelapse video tracing the Sun’s apparent movement over an entire year from Hungary. During the year, a fixed video camera captured an image every minute. In total, 116,000 exposures follow the Sun’s position across the field of view, starting from the 2015 June 21 solstice through the 2016 June 20 solstice. The intervening 2015 December 22 solstice is at the bottom of the frame. The timelapse sequences constructed show the Sun’s movement over one day to begin with, followed by traces of the Sun’s position during the days of one year, solstice to solstice. Gaps in the daily curves are due to cloud cover. The video ends with stunning animation sequences of analemmas, those figure-8 curves you get by photographing the Sun at the same time each day throughout a year, stepping across planet Earth’s sky.
[Chuck Almdale]
What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly? – Video
It’s stealth, not speed that makes owls such exceptional hunters. Zoom way in on their phenomenal feathers to see what makes them whisper-quiet.
This is another installment of the PBS Deep Look series. If no film or link appears in this email, go to the blog to view it by clicking on the blog title above. If the film stops & starts in an annoying manner, press pause (lower left double bars ||) to let it buffer and get ahead of you. [Chuck Almdale]
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 