Sunday, December 27, 2009

Ocean Kayak

Time to get started on this topic of ocean kayaks. Take a few moments to read every aspect of this article that hopefully be of a great help.
If you think kayaking can be done on only quiet water of lake or river, then it is not probable that kayaking can be done on any water surface. Whitewater kayaking is more popular than ocean kayaking; ocean kayaking is also admired by many people. Ocean kayaking is great choice for surfing.
Usually kayaks are slim boats widely exploited for sailing on still lake waters. So to use such kayaks on ocean some modifications is required, they have to adopt to always ever-changing ocean's unpredictable weather condition and huge brute strength of ocean. Considering this many changes are done for normal rigorous kayak to transform it into ocean kayak. So it is well said about ocean kayak that "Ocean kayaks are bit dissimilar and some modifications and differences make them better".
Most important adjustment in ocean kayaks is that they are huge; means have longest length than convention kayaks. These ocean kayaks are about fifteen asset feet longer and about Twenty-six inches wider. Cockpit of ocean kayaks can be reinforced as per your spec if you want it large choose larger, if you want it small, take smaller.
Modern ocean kayaks can be made up of many variety types of materials, sizes and in many different designs. Two main types in ocean kayaks are strict kayaks and folding kayaks. There many different innovations are done with traditional craft and modern technology. Some new designs are recreational kayaks and sit on top kayaks, inflatable kayaks, surf kayaks or surf skies.
The most common sizing of an ocean kayaks is in between Twelve to Fifteen feet and commonly kayaks long lengths are built for two paddlers. Ocean kayaks normally 18" to 28" wide but some special case of kayaks like surf skies, which is particularly configured for wave surfing is very narrow. Longer length of ocean kayaks increases their power to navigation in straight line. And wider space allows more storage area.
Ocean kayaks can be made using many special types of material like rotomolded polyethylene, carbon Kevlar or more often Using fiberglass or even sometime local material like foam core or carbon fibers are exploited for building these kayaks. Hand-crafted kayaks are commonly made up of wood sometimes wood strips are covered by fiberglass. If ocean kayaks are of skin on frame then main frame of kayak is covered by canvas, Dacron or some other character of fabric.
Ocean kayaks sometimes have steering gear wheel in form or skegs or rudder. Ordinarily rudders are connected at stern and operated using wires from cockpit. For beach landing these rudders are retractable. Essentially skegs are straight blades which throw well in the stem of boat. These gearing are there for smoothen paddling when there is strong ocean wind.
Paddles exploited for ocean kayaks are different. There are three basic types of paddles for ocean kayaks are seen, European paddles, Greenland paddles and wing paddles.
Ocean kayaks are now used universal for marine journeys, does not matter for long low they are used from few hours to many weeks; they are becoming more popular with going years. For further data please check our net site.

Source : http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/ocean-kayaks-331506.html

Ocean City, Maryland

Ocean City is a long peninsula along the coast. It provides the only sea coast in Maryland. Stretching three miles long, the boardwalk begins at the south tip of the peninsula and runs almost all the way to 28th Street. It borders the beach, a place where the Army Corp of Engineers are always replenishing the sand. Sand erosion is a significant concern in a beach resort area such as Ocean City. The boardwalk helps keep people off the sand and this helps with the erosion issues. The boardwalk also now has a companion, a concrete walkway running alongside it. This is used by bicycles, baby-strollers, and wheelchair users.

All along the boardwalk you’ll find souvenir shops, small bars, places to eat, and street performers. If you want to be a hip insider, make sure you know about Thrasher’s Fries, Bull-on-the-Beach, Kohr’s Ice Cream and Tony’s Pizza. There are also several bike rental shops so if you didn’t bring a bike you can still enjoy an early morning ride along the beach.

Ocean City Maryland Timeshares

Many people visiting Ocean City become enchanted with its sparkling white beach and moderate temperatures. They would love to come back again and again. Well, they can. Timeshares are an easily affordable way to "own" a vacation home in a beautiful place such as Ocean City, Maryland. Just imagine, you won’t have to worry about all the hassles and headaches of actually owning a second home. Known as vacation ownership, with a timeshare you’ll literally own the timeshare during the week or two you vacation there. In other words, you have exclusive use of the property for a specified time each year. You don’t own the remaining 51 weeks of the year. You "share" the space and expenses with other timeshare owners and you only pay for the actual time you use. You will probably also have to pay an annual maintenance fee. The costs of the timeshare are shared by you and the other owners and your fee covers things such as repairs and taxes.

There are two basic kinds of vacation ownership. One is a "fee-simple" arrangement and this means the purchaser has a title, title insurance, and a warranty deed. As a purchaser you can sell, lease or will your interest. Most vacation resorts are fee-simple.

Another kind of timeshare is a "right-to-use" arrangement. As the purchaser, you haven’t actually bought real estate but instead you have the exclusive right to use the unit for a specified number of years.

Before buying your Ocean City timeshare consider this: the location, the type of vacation you like, the season you want to vacation in, the amount of time you usually vacation, and the activities you like to do while on vacation.. If Ocean City fits the bill, you will be enjoying this vibrant beach resort for years to come.

If you’re looking for a timeshare "down on the boardwalk," in Ocean City, Maryland, check out Ketch Real Estate Co, II, Inc, the leading timeshare resale company in Ocean City. They deal with all 14 timeshare resorts in Ocean City. You, too, can own a little piece of this much-loved East Coast vacation destination.

If you liked this article, you'll find more Timeshare articles at:


Source :
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/the-east-coast-has-a-favorite-beach-resort-timeshares-in-ocean-city-maryland-151756.html

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Oceans Documentry



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They may be deep and wide, but the world’s oceans are bearing a heavy load: they absorb one third of the carbon produced by human industry. As a result they’re turning into acidic bathtubs. As water warms, it expands, hence the rising sea levels.




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Oceans 5

Our oceans are home to more than 97 percent of all life on Earth. They are critical to the survival of the planet. They help control our climate, provide more oxygen than rain forests, shelter for countless animals, raw materials for medicine and food for all of us. Our oceans’ coasts also provide endless recreational opportunities as well as a source of spiritual renewal for many. Over 51 percent of the population of the United States now lives in coastal counties. The number of people living in coastal watershed areas is projected to reach 165 million by the year 2015.

Our priorities are to:

Stop offshore oil drilling: Even with the new Congress, oil and gas companies are working to open up our coast to more dirty drilling. We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill—and start pushing sensible choices like getting better gas mileage from our cars and trucks.

Reduce ocean pollution: From six-pack rings to abandoned fishing gear, pollution in our ocean kills thousands of fish and mammals every year. California can take the lead in reducing plastic pollution
Establish ocean national parks: The concept of marine protected areas includes marine reserves, where no fishing is allowed, marine conservation areas (where some commercial and/or recreational fishing is permitted) and marine parks where only recreational fishing is permitted. A plan to create 29 marine protected should receive final approval in 2007 after environmental and regulatory review.

Oceans 4

At least in our opinion, if we gave awards. Environmental Defense's  has a wonderful piece of animation that you can stare at all day.

The Oceans have Stopped Warming

This year of 2008 is starting out cold—but according to the "consensus" climate watchers it's still likely to be one of the "top 10 warmest" in the thermometer record before it's over. After all, the Greenhouse gasses continue to accumulate in the atmosphere.
OceanBut wait. Something isn't following the Greenhouse script. The oceans, which contain 80 to 90 percent of the planet's heat, have recently stopped warming!

Over the past 4-5 years, "there has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Josh Willis of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently told National Public Radio.
Nothing very significant—except the ocean warming trend has stopped?!  This, in the midst of the biggest furor over global temperatures and climate overheating in human history?
Willis monitors the data from a nifty new set of Argo ocean buoys. They not only record sea surface temperatures but periodically dive 3,000 feet under water and record sub-surface temperatures as they rise back up. These wonderful new Argo floats say the oceans have been cooling slightly for the past 4-5 years, instead of accentuating a continuing global warming trend.

But how can the ocean warming stop?  Greenhouse gases have continued to spew from Chinese factories. Even Europe's Kyoto-bound economies are still increasing their  greenhouse emissions. There should be no relief from the planet's heating.
Except that over the last 13 months, the earth's thermometers have dropped for the first time in 30 years. Three global monitoring sites measured a decline of 0.5 to 0.7 degree C.
Now we learn that the ocean warming stopped even earlier, 4-5 years ago.
We should have been expecting this, because the sunspot index turned down nine years ago. There's a 79 percent correlation between the sunspots and the earth's sea-surface temperatures—with roughly a ten-year lag. 

Is ten years the time required for the oceans to respond to changes on the sun?
There is nothing in the climate record that ties the earth's temperatures to CO2 levels. Al Gore's movie showed Antarctic ice core temperatures and CO2 moving closely together through four different Ice Ages. Gore implied that more CO2 leads to higher temperatures. But Gore reversed cause and effect. Three different Antarctic studies show the temperatures change 800-1200 years before the CO2 levels. Higher temperatures cause more CO2 in the air, not the other way around.
The big question is what warms the oceans. It it CO2 or sun?  For the past nine years, CO2 has continued to rise in the atmosphere, but the earth hasn't gotten warmer. The sun is winning the debate.

NPR asked Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmosphere Research where "all the extra heat from the CO2" was going. He said it was probably going into outer space, through the "natural thermostats, including clouds," which can either trap solar heat in earth's atmosphere, or deflect it out back out into space.
Thank you, Dr. Trenberth, for finally admitting that the earth does, indeed, have natural thermostats such as clouds. And what seems to control those natural thermostats?  The level of activity on the sun, through varying numbers of cosmic rays that create more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that deflect solar heat back into space.

WARMER OCEANS, HIGHER SEA LEVELS


Our oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface and store 1000 times more heat than our atmosphere.1 In short, oceans play a crucial role in determining the way our weather patterns work, and how climates have remained relatively stable in all parts of the world for centuries.
But the oceans are changing. They’re getting warmer. In the past fifty years, our oceans have Increased by .037° in temperature, and that heat has increased to depths of 3000 metres.2 That’s enough to bleach coral reefs all over the world, turning them from thriving underwater ecosystems into depleted wastelands.
Since the early '60s, the ocean has absorbed 80% of the heat added to the climate, causing sea levels to rise. Over the next 100 years, the IPCC predicts a rise in sea levels between 18 and 59 centimetres.3 In fact, world sea levels could increase by as much as one metre by the end of this century if greenhouse gas levels do not recede. By the 2080s, millions and millions of people will be affected by flooding every year because of rising water. Coastlines and beaches will erode. Everything that lies on a coastline—whether it's a small village in Bangladesh or a metropolis like New York City—will become more vulnerable to storm surges, flooding, and even to eventual engulfment.  How can we ignore climate change when more than half of the world’s twenty largest cities are on the coast, and one-third of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometres of our oceans? The IPCC hasn't ruled out some pretty scary potentials. If the Greenland ice sheet melts even partially, and some of the West Antarctic ice sheet goes too, we're looking at a rise in sea levels of four to six metres or more.

Oceans 3


Our planet, mostly covered by water, is filled with movement and life. This website offers the opportunity to learn all about our global seas.
View the water cycle of oceans, and see how currents and wind affect their movement. Learn about the various depth zones of the sea, and what kinds of life can inhabit each. Then, see what methods scientists use to gain more knowledge about our changing oceans.

Informative text accompanied by a varity of charts, images, and graphs will bring you face to face with all kinds of oceanographic topics: Oceans Alive! by The Museum of Science.

Oceans 2

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO provides Members States of the United Nations with an essential mechanism for global co-operation in the Study of the Ocean.
 

The IOC assists governments to address their individual and collective ocean and coastal problems through the sharing of knowledge, information and technology and through the coordination of national programs.

Oceans 1



News about oceans, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

EARTH'S OCEANS: An Introduction

Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface. The oceans contain roughly 97% of the Earth's water supply.
The oceans of Earth are unique in our Solar System. No other planet in our Solar System has liquid water (although recent finds on Mars indicate that Mars may have had some liquid water in the recent past). Life on Earth originated in the seas, and the oceans continue to be home to an incredibly diverse web of life.
The oceans of Earth serve many functions, especially affecting the weather and temperature. They moderate the Earth's temperature by absorbing incoming solar radiation (stored as heat energy). The always-moving ocean currents distribute this heat energy around the globe. This heats the land and air during winter and cools it during summer.

Southern Ocean

he Southern Ocean, designated as such in 2000, is a body of water that lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the Antarctica coastline. It's coordinates nominally are 65 00 S, 0 00 E, but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica. This ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica, and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).
Some of the current issues include -
impacts of global warming, ocean currents, environment and climate change research, fisheries

Pacific Ocean

The world's largest geographic feature, the Pacific Ocean covers more than 166 million square kilometers (more than 64 million square miles)—about one-third of the earth's surface. The area of the Pacific is greater than that of all of the continents combined, and it makes up nearly half of the area covered by the earth's oceans.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China Se.

Indian Ocean

The smallest of the three major oceans, the Indian Ocean covers an area of about 73 million square kilometers (about 28 million square miles) - about 20 percent of the total area covered by the world's oceans. The average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3,890 meters (12,762 feet). Its deepest point is the Java trench, at 7,725 m.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea

Arctic Ocean

A smooth, pale-blue layer of polar pack ice edged by jagged chunks of floating ice covers much of the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, the earth’s northernmost cap. With an area of 12 million square kilometers (5 million square miles), the Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean - more than five times smaller than the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage.

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is considered a passive margin ocean with most of its geological activity centered along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Most of its coastal regions are low and geologically quiet. The Atlantic’s major marginal seas include the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, Hudson Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic covers an area of 82 million square kilometers (32 million square miles). It has an average depth of 3,600 meters (11,812 feet). Its greatest depth is in the Puerto Rico Trench at 8,605 meters (28,231 feet).
Some of the current issues include -endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales; driftnet fishing is exacerbating declining fish stocks and contributing to international disputes; municipal sludge pollution off eastern U.S., southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea

Oceans

The planet is approximately 71% water and contains (5) five oceans, including the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern. Their borders are indicated on the world image (right) in varied shades of blue.For many years only (4) four oceans were officially recognized, and then in the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization established the Southern Ocean, and determined its limits. Those limits include all water below 60 degrees south, and some of it, 
like the Arctic Ocean, is frozen.