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Methodology for Assessment of Natural Hazard Vulnerability in U.s. Coastal Zone Using Remote Sensing

• Sep 30, 2010 from weatherforecas
  Methodology for Assessment of Natural Hazard Vulnerability in U.s. Coastal Zone Using Remote Sensing
  INTRODUCTION
  Coastal zone is defined as the coastal waters (including the lands therein and thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the waters therein and thereunder), strongly influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches. Coastal locations were some of the first settled in the country, and have always accounted for a major percentage of the overall population. They were the primary centers for transportation, tourism, recreation, commercial fishing, and other industry. This coastal zone remains a crucial segment of the nations overall economy. A variety of natural hazards regularly threaten this coastal zone. Severe meteorological events such as hurricanes, tropical cyclones, and noreasters are particularly harsh on coastal areas, often resulting in damages from high winds, storm surge, flooding, and shoreline erosion. Tsunamis, whose destructive force is characterized by potentially devastating flood inundation, are uniquely coastal events resulting from offshore earthquakes, landslides, or volcanic activity. Coastal locations are also subjected to the impacts of long-term hazards such as chronic coastal erosion, potential sea-level rise, and global climate change.
  
  Coastal hazard events can significantly affect or even alter the natural environment. Their impacts are generally not considered to be disastrous unless they involve damages to human populations and infrastructure. When people and property are not present, hazards are merely natural processes that alter the environment. When people and property is present then the impacts of hazards are viewed quite differently. The primary focus is no longer on the natural processes associated with a major hazard event, but instead on the disastrous results that can be measured by lives lost, property damages, and economic and environmental impacts.
  
  The impacts of natural hazards are becoming increasingly costly and devastating. Hazard impacts on the natural environment become more devastating because human development has altered the ability of natural systems to recover from such events. Experts believe that the statistics on disaster losses continue to rise worldwide due to a combination of factors that include a rise in the number of hazard events due to global climate change or natural cyclical trends, and an increase in human exposure in hazardous locations.
  
  Some of the decrease in disaster damages worldwide could also be the result of improvements in disaster monitoring and reporting capabilities, particularly in developing countries. But disaster loss increases in the United States seem to be most closely tied to increased human exposure in high risk areas such as the nations coasts.
  
  The United States has an expansive and diverse coastline that supports a disproportionate percentage of the nations population. The nations 451 coastal counties contain just over 50 percent of the U.S. population, yet only account for about 20 percent of the total U.S. land area. During the last decade, 17 of the 20 fastest growing counties were located along the coast. In addition, 19 of the 20 most densely populated counties in the nation are coastal counties. These coastal counties possess economic gain through natural resources, maritime trade and commerce. These coastal counties also possess economic loss due to the natural hazards, overexploitation and exponential population growth. An assessment of both the economic gain and economic loss is briefly discussed as follows.
  
  Economic gain in U.S. coastal zone
  Nature article (May 1997), a group of ecologists estimated the value on ecosystem in the coastal zone. They estimated that the worth of the services for marine ecosystems is approximately trillion per year. According to Sea Technology magazine, the value of goods and services sold by the ocean/marine industry was estimated in 1995 as billion annually. Offshore oil and gas production has become very important and the 1996 value was more than billion and the annual offshore production is increasing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 77 million pounds (meat weight) of shellfish were harvested from U.S. coastal waters in 1995, with a dockside value of 0 million.
  
  Current NOAA estimates concerning the recreational uses of U.S. coastal areas includes: approximately 94 million people boat and fish annually; the average American spends 10 recreational days on the coast each year; The coasts (excluding the Great Lakes coastline) support 25,500 recreational facilities; More than 180 million Americans visited ocean and bay beaches in 1993; Recreational fishing contributes .5 billion annually to the U.S.
  economy; Coastal recreation and tourism generate...

The Oil Drum | A Review of the Citigroup Prediction on US Energy

• Apr 03, 2012 from ketulpatel2385(Ketul Patel)
  Gasoline prices remain high, and Reuters recently noted that there are enough countries with civil unrest, technical problems, and bad weather with around a million barrels a day of possible supply that are not getting to the market . Yet with Saudi Arabia continuing to reassure that it is willing to pump more oil if needed , there appears to be, superficially, little cause for supply concerns this year. By the same token, concerns over supply in the longer term also seem to be increasingly discounted. For example, Citigroup has just released a new report on Energy 2020: North America as the new Middle East . The report suggests that there is really no concern with future supplies of oil and gas, perhaps most clearly shown with this plot:
  
  The Citigroup view of the coming energy future ( Citigroup )
  I would argue that the numbers for Saudi Arabia and Russia are difficult to realistically justify. For the Kingdom, which is reported to be producing 9.9 mbd , to increase production by another 2 mbd is optimistic, given the aging of their primary fields and the decline in remaining volumes that I will discuss in future posts in the current series on that country. The projection of an increase in Russian production is a similar concern. With the decline in production from Western Siberia, there is not enough new production coming from Timan-Pechora and Eastern Siberia to sustain existing levels, let alone see an increase in production – a point that has been made by Russian officials in the past. However, the real concern lies with the relatively unrealistic image that is being projected for US production over the next eight years.
  
  North American shale plays (EIA map, cited by Citigroup)
  The image projected by the above figure suggests that the country is covered in shale, all waiting to provide its wealth to the nation. But that is not the case and shale plays have been a hot topic for a number of years now. And while the map above shows a carpet of shale that has the potential to produce oil and/or natural gas, it does not clearly enough distinguish the considerable difference between deposits that are presently economic, and those that are not. (The small number of fields that are labelled as prospective does not speak well for the future).
  If one examines the prediction for future production, it shows that overall US growth in production of all liquids will rise from some 9 mbd at the end of 2011 to 11.6 mbd in 2015, and then go on to a figure of 15.6 mbd in 2020. Note that this includes natural gas liquids (NGLs), refining gains, and growth in the production of biofuels. The contribution of the various sectors is broken down into:
  
  Projected growth in US production ( Citigroup )
  In the Deepwater category, Citigroup cites existing production from Atlantis, Perdido, Shenzi, Silvertip, Tahiti, and Thunder Horse. Future gains will then come from Big Foot, Gunflint, Hadrian, Jack, Knotty Head, Lucius, Moccasin, St. Malo, Stones, Tubular Bells, Vito, Tiber, Buckskin, Kaskida, Appomattox and Heidelberg. But the report sees gains in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) total liquids as likely peaking in 2016 at around 2.2 mbd, and the gains projected in the above table that might come beyond that as being an “upside potential” based on a change in regulatory factors and the ability of oil companies to bring their reserves on line.
  
  Citigroup projection of future production from Deepwater (Citigroup)
  Part of my problem with this approach is that it seems to totally discount the declining production and fails to meet target projections from existing GOM platforms that, among others, has been well documented by Jean Laherrère ( here , here and here ) and by Darwinian at The Oil Drum (TOD). Looking at the fields that Citigroup has cited, it is pertinent to examine first their relative size, as Jean illustrated.
  
  Discoveries in the GOM ( Jean Laherrère )
  In this context it might be well to remember that as a rule of thumb (from the Russian posts) a 500 mmboe field may produce around 120 kbd. However, it should be noted that some of the GOM fields are having problems reaching their target, and that production is falling at a rate of around 20% per year, as Darwinian showed for the cumulative production of Thunder Horse Atlantis and Tahiti , which were projected to produce 550 kbd in total.
  
  History of production from Thunder Horse, Atlantis and Tahiti combined ( Darwinian )
  With production having already fallen 300 kbd from projections, mainly through lower production from Thunder Horse and Atlantis, it is hard to see how to justify the numbers that Citigroup is using.
  The Citigroup projection for Alaska anticipates possible gains from the Shell activities in the Chukchi Sea, although the exploratory wells have yet to be drilled and the geographical challenges to be met in bringing that oil ashore are not yet fully addressed. The Alaskan pipeline is currently flowing at around 609 kbd ,...

40 Bizarre and Cool Google Earth Photos

• Jul 19, 2010 from smashingmag(Smashing Magazine )
  
  
  
  
  
  Google Earth is used when you want to explore rich geographical content, want to see satellite images, maps, landscapes, 3D buildings or view satellite images from galaxies in outer space. It also lets you search the whole planet within seconds without requiring you to leave your comfortable room. You can search for anything on this planet whether it is a building, a landscape or anything else, Google Earth will help you. In this post we have collected some bizarre and interesting Google Earth photos, we hope they will impress you.
  
  Google Earth Photos
  Will U Marry MeMarriage proposal seen on a rooftop via Google Maps.
  
  Google Escher Effect Paris, FranceStitching together satellite pix and aero pics of cities can result in situations like this where the different aerial vantage points result in buildings pictures being taken at different angles. Once stitched together, the taller buildings at the edges of each of the pictures appear to be leaning toward or away from one another at pronounced angles.
  
  Graffiti in Google MapsSite of an extinct volcano crater, the Cerro Prieto, located near Mexicali in Baja California (Mexico). Apparently, a lot of visitors to the site have decorated it with their graffiti, drawn huge enough to be seen from high above.
  The graffiti appears to have been drawn with the intention of being seen by people looking down into the crater from the eastern rim of the crater. Heres a closeup shot of it, taken from the ground.
  
  Mystery Stone Arrow
  
  Auto AnticsThink parking is tough where you live? In Westenbergstraat, Netherlands, drivers apparently have to park on the sides of walls.
  
  Localised Black Hole DiscoveredAs we all know, the general theory of relativity states that a black hole is a region of space from which nothing can escape including light. Astronomers have identified lots of places where black holes may exist, but apparently they missed one about 60km north of Tokyo.
  
  Internet fan says he found the face of Satan using Google Earth
  
  Heart-shaped island highlighted by Google Earth becomes hit with loversThe 130,000 square yard islet of Galesnjak came to prominence after its unusual shape was highlighted on Google Earth.
  
  Man-Shaped Lake in Brazil
  
  Iraqs Bloody LakeThis blood-red lake outside Iraqs Sadr City garnered a fair share of macabre speculation when it was noticed in 2007. One tipster told the tech blog Boing Boing that he was told by a friend that slaughterhouses in Iraq sometimes dump blood into canals. No one has offered an official explanation, but its more likely that the color comes from sewage, pollution or a water-treatment process.
  
  Issaouane Erg desert Dunes (Algeria)The shapes and colors of the dunes in this desert are amazing. Notice that the three dunes have almost identical shapes. And there are tens of throusands just like those all around.
  
  Giant Gulliver from Google Earth, Hunters Hall Park, Craigmillar, Scotland.
  
  Terrain Face in Google MapsThe terrain in Alberta, Canada accidentally forms what looks like a human face when viewed from the air or when viewing the satellite pic in Google Maps.
  
  Osmington White HorseThe Osmington White Horse, outside Sutton Poyntz, UK. This prehistoric figure is carved into the white chalk of the hillside such horse carved shapes are called Leucippotomy.
  
  Google Escher Effect pic from HoustonHeres another weird satellite pic from Google Maps of some downtown Houston skyscrapers. This effect has become known as the Escher Effect, or the Google Escher Effect.
  
  Land Art near Munich AirportLand Art or Earth Art appearing in a field near the airport in Munich, Germany.
  
  KFC space logoYum! Brands Inc created the logo near Rachel, Nevada, and claimed its the first ad that can be seen from space. If you recall, the same company had previously wanted to beam a laser ad up onto the moon for Pizza Hut, but had later scaled back to buying ad placement on the side of a Russian rocket.
  
  Firefox LogoCrop circle art made in the shape of the iconic Firefox Logo near Portland, Oregon.
  
  Wheres Waldo in Google Maps?Canadian artist Melanie Coles built a large image of the iconic Waldo onto a rooftop at an undisclosed location in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  
  Bunny in Google MapsGiant Pink Bunny created by a group of artists near Artesina, Italy.
  
  Coca Cola Logo in Google MapsThis Coca-Cola logo in Google Maps was apparently created out of coke bottles just outside of Arica in Chile.
  
  Portrait of Ghenghis Khan in Google MapsOut of some sort of fear that they might forget who he was, the people of Mongolia have carved the likeness of Ghenghis Khan onto a hillside outside of Ulaanbaatar.
  
  The Vitruvian Man by Da VinciLeonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man one of the worlds most recognizable illustrations is rendered here in crop art in Germany.
  
  The Palm Islands of DubaiThe Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. They are...

Top Best 100 Incredibly Useful & Free iPhone Apps

• Sep 03, 2010 from RDennis(Richard Dennis) in *
  Top Best 100 Incredibly Useful & Free iPhone Apps
  by Joshua Johnson
  The best part of the iTunes App Store is that you dont need to spend a single cent to fill your iPhone with amazing applications. There are tons of developers dishing out quality free applications daily.
  So in honor of cheapskates everywhere, this article features 100 free and useful iPhone apps. The apps are organized into ten categories: Social, Business, Productivity, Financial, Utilities, Mobile & Remote File Access, News & Weather, Travel, Food, and Audio & Video.
  A few of these are free for a limited time only so be sure to act fast!
  Social
  Twitter
  Twitter Discover whats happening right now, anywhere in the world with the official Twitter for iPhone app. Realtime search, Top Tweets, trending topics and maps show whats happening now everywhere and nearby. Tweet, send DMs, share photos, videos and links to your friends and the world. Dont have an account? Just sign up from the app!
  Facebook Facebook for iPhone makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. Use your iPhone to start a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook while on the go.
  Skype With Skype on your iPhone or iPod touch you can call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free. You can also call landlines and mobiles and send SMS anywhere in the world, at great rates. Skype is free to download and easy to use.
  Bump Bump makes sharing with people quick and easy. Just pick what you want to send, then hold your phones and gently bump hands with another person using Bump. Share photos and contacts, compare friends, or become Facebook friends in seconds!
  AIM (Free Edition) Chat with your Facebook friends on AIM for iPhone, even if theyre not AIM users. To get started, just click Facebook Connect button at the top of the AIM Buddy List. Your Facebook friends and groups will be added to your Buddy List (with the Facebook icon next to their name). Now chatting with your Facebook friends is as easy as using AIM.
  Foursquare Foursquare helps you find new ways to explore your city. See where your friends are, learn about the places they frequent and unlock rewards as you travel through the city.
  Friends Around Me
  Friends Around Me Friends Around Me is a free mobile app for interacting with friends 24/7 across social networks: check-in directly to Foursquare and share status on Twitter, Facebook. Meet new people nearby or across the world through an interactive location-based search.
  LinkedIn LinkedIn for iPhone puts your professional network just a touch away. Walk into any interview or client meeting with the ability to look up the details and connect with over 60 million professionals worldwide. Get the latest updates and messages from your network and keep them up-to-date with your status in real-time.
  Messagey Messagey! is the ultimate free SMS app with super-fast load times and super-fast message sending, allowing you to send your messages, super-fast! Its quick and convenient, since it brings an all new way of sending messages to the iPhone, with the introduction of our intuitive Message Sliders, allowing you to save commonly used messages so theyre ready to send with just a few taps.
  Fring Fring is a multi-award winning mobile application that lets you make free voice calls, free video calls (one way) and live IM chats directly from your iPhone and iPod touch.
  Business
  Dragon Dictation
  Dragon Dictation Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, its up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard. With Dragon Dictation you can also update your Facebook status, send notes and reminders to yourself, or Tweet to the world.all using your voice. So when youre on-the-go, stop typing and start speaking from short text messages to longer email messages, and anything in between.
  Currency Converter Convert exchange rates for over 180 currencies and 4 metals. Type conversion amounts using a custom big-button keypad.
  Jobs The CareerBuilder.com iPhone application offers a unique and powerful way to search nearly 2 million jobs on CareerBuilder.com, the USs largest job site.
  Cisco WebEx Meeting Center Tap into WebEx online meetings on your iPhone, wherever you are! Use this application to attend, schedule, and start meetings. Get the full meeting experience with native 3G or WiFi support for simultaneous data and audio. Dont just listen in, join in!
  MailChimp With the MailChimp iPhone app you can: Add subscribers to your mailing list, View fancy reports for your email campaigns, See how your campaigns are spreading on Twitter, See where in the world your subscribers are, Edit and unsubscribe people from your lists, View Chimp Chattera newsfeed that shows the status of your account, and...

AeroGRID adds full Aerial Coverage of France and Spain

• Oct 05, 2010 from techwhack in Technology
  INTERGEO, Cologne, 5th October 2010 AeroGRID has signed agreements with two new partners, IGN, France (Institut Geographique National) and CNIG Espaa adding full orthophoto coverage of France and Spain to its already impressive aerial photography coverage of Western Europe.
  The Institut Geographique National (IGN, France) is the national mapping agency for France, with over 1,600 employees and a mandate to collect, integrate, manage and distribute reference geographical information for the whole country. IGN France has a year-on-year national update program for aerial photography and uses its fleet of aircraft to capture areas for public departments concerned with many scientific and environmental projects such as logging forest damage, flood and oil slick monitoring, surveys of archaeological sites and night flights to measure light pollution.
  CNIG Spain is the commercial department for Instituto Geogrfico Nacional (IGN-E, Spain). Founded in 1870, IGN-E is the national mapping agency, and, as part of the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, is responsible for the observation and maintenance of the national geodetic networks, producing and updating national cartography, producing and maintaining the Spanish Spatial Data Infrastructure and measuring and recording seismic and volcanic activity.
  AeroGRID is proud to be able to work with these two highly respected National Mapping Agencies and we are delighted to be able to add full online coverage of both France and Spain to our core datasets of Western Europe. This enables us to provide a continuous dataset of more than 1 million square miles (1.7 million km) to our customers across the world said Miles Taylor, General Manager. Our role is to make all this imagery available to the multinational audience, thereby making the procurement of worldwide aerial imagery much more convenient and cost effective, continued Taylor.
  IGN France is very satisfied by this agreement with AeroGRID, which will increase the wide dissemination and re-use of its national reference orthophoto collection and enable closer interoperability with IGN Spain, said Patrice Paris, General Director.
  CNIG Spain and IGN-E are glad of the cooperation with AeroGRID through this agreement, which is a good example of our data re-use policy for Spanish geographic information, in this case, national orthophoto coverage. These agreements together with IGN-E and IGN-Fs orthophoto data enable AeroGRID to provide a multinational offering and significant value add, said Sebastian Mas, Director of CNIG.
  About AeroGRID
  AeroGRID was created to provide a one-stop-shop for aerial imagery. By marshalling partner resources, which include 12 survey aircraft and high-resolution digital cameras AeroGRID is able to extend coverage and engage in a regular revision programme that provides extensive and up to date aerial imagery for the market.
  www.aerogrid.net
  For further information please contact:
  Miles Taylor
  T: + 33 671 156 116 E: info {at} aerogrid(.)net
  About IGN
  The Institut gographique national (IGN) was founded in 1940. IGN is heir to the geographic department of the French Armed Forces, the Service Gographique des Armes (SGA), which was created in 1887. Transformed into a French state agency in 1967, the IGN now comes under the authority of the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Seas.
  www.ign.fr
  For further information please contact:
  Sophie Couturier, T: + 33 (0)1 43 98 83 05 Thomas Klimek, T: + 33 (0)1 43 98 85 91
  E: presse {at} ign(.)fr
  About IGN-CNIG Spain
  The Instituto Geogrfico Nacional (IGN-E) of Spain was founded in 1870 and is now a General Directorate of the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport. The CNIG (Centro Nacional de Informacin Geogrfica) is an autonomous institution.
  www.ign.es; www.cnig.es;
  For further information please contact:
  Agustn Cabria, T: + 34 91 597 97 92 Juan Manuel Rodrguez, T: + 34 91 597 97 91
  E: consulta {at} cnig(.)es