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A jaguar thinks it over.
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THE JOURNEY HERE This site is designed
tolet your imagination fly. It will introduce you to some unusual travel experiences. It doesn't
suggest the
best hotels or restaurants, but
it will lay out the territory where you might be able to find one interesting adventure and link up with some of the finest travel companies on the planet and others like
yourself who want to know more about where you
are. So dream a lot,
plan a little. Then
go. Enjoy!
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Tsunami
warning sign for Northern California. (photo © terminator1) WHEN THE EARTH SPEAKS, what's a tourist to do? If global
climate change hasn't affected you yet, wait a minute:
Earthquakes are everywhere -- Haiti, Turkey, all around the Pacific Rim (where earthquake specialists say it's not
out of the ordinary). Tsunamis
or their awaited threat either wash away whole towns or are reasons for picnics and TV coverage (ex. Hawaii). Coastal
storms are not just average coastal storms, but extreme coastal storms. Plus, there's snow in places where
you go for the sun; summer heat in winter; Arctic cold in spring; tons of snow; and floods. It's
one thing to live in an affected area where you know where to run and get help,
but if you're passing through, you are pretty much at the mercy of the place where you
are staying, and you hope they let you know in time. Otherwise, travel with your survival genes intact and be flexible: you
might have to fill sandbags or bail out. Wherever
you go, stay in touch. To find out what people are tweeting around the world, see www.trendsmap.com . |
A fire blazes out
of control during the Haiti earthquake January 2010. (Photo © 1001 nights) But you can be on a beach with no warning sirens or other information. In that case: - if you experience an earthquake that lasts for 20 seconds,
- if the water suddenly recedes,
- if you hear a roar like an
approaching train,
go UP -- either run up the nearest hill or to the
highest floor of your hotel, and hurry! The waves will come quickly and without let-up, one after
the other. If the beach has a steep slope, the waves might be very high. TORNADOES seem to
pop up out of nowhere, but the conditions that encourage their growth are fairly predictable. Exactly where they decide to
go or how long they stay in any one place, however, are chillingly random, and you're well advised to stay in touch. NOAA's
Severe Weather Center maintains a live map -- see: www.spc.noaa.gov/. Tornadoes are fairly unique to the United States, especially
in the vast central and southern plains. If you are interested in tracking tornadoes, you can join a
small group led by a weather expert for a week out of Oklahoma City on hair-raising treks almost into the bellies of the beasts.
About $3,000, includes lodging, see: www.f5tornadosafaris.com/ Hurry, there are still
some openings and might be last-minute cancellations. You can sign up for next year, and booking early is a good idea.
The tornado season, so far, is short.
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When they build up and explode, volcanoes have both local and
global effects, sometimes for a long time. (Photo © Julien Grondin) Assuming you won't be one
of the Stranded Ones whose travel has been seriously affected by the Iceland volcano www.volcanodiscovery.com/en/volcanoes/europe/iceland/eyjafjoell/, you might want to... SPEND SOME
TIME WITH A VOLCANO and get to know what it's all about. Join a 20-day trip and visit all of Indonesia's major volcanoes,
including Krakatoa and the most recently exploded Merapi. This walking tour from Volcano Discovery, which
begins in Jakarta and ends in Bali, allows you to visit these active volcanoes and several others. You can see the elements
that comprise a volcano, from active gases, geoelectric activity, as well as the lava fields they leave behind. Stay in comfortable hotels, travel when necessary by train and jeep.
Trips leave June, July, and August, 20 days, about €1,800. Please see: www.volcanodiscovery.com/en/indonesia/java/krakatoa_bali.html The explosion of Krakatoa in August 1883 remains a worst-case
volcano scenario. See: www.earlham.edu/~bubbmi/krakatoa.htm For links to webcams fixed on nervous volcanos around the world, please
see: www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/cams.html |
Houses sit in high water from the
Mohawk River, New York, June 2006. (Photo © genekrebs)
FLOODS. Some things are certain
about water: it goes wherever it wants and takes whatever it wants, as anyone knows who has ever
been in a flood.
This year, especially
in the United States, a big snowpack will melt, and some historic sites in the East might be under water. Rains
do the trick as well, as the island of Madeira experienced in February when water gushed down the mountain and created a landslide
that took away part of a resort hotel, before it all headed into the sea. For a chilling look at the actual event, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlWAoxnwuFM Similar flash floods occur in the American Southwest, when hikers in dry gullies
are at risk of being caught up in rushing water. Think before you go.
AVALANCHES build up with snowpack in the winter, then soften in the spring sun, when anything, even
a loud voice, can trigger them. The American Avalanche Association www.avalanche.org has a map of avalanche centers in the U.S. and an online tutorial that is worth looking at if you're going skiing. Instability
in heavy snow such as cracks, "whumping" sounds, and recent rain or warming are all red flags on the slopes.
The U.S. and Canada will initiate a new warning system with international symbols in winter, 2011, in response to the demands
of skiers. See:www.youtube.com/watch?v=lScAP5OjFLc. then plug in zip or place where you're
going.
Below, a rescue dog signals a find after an avalanche. (Photo © deepspacedave)
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Closeup of a solar flare from NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory.(Photo © SDO/AIA)
THE SUN IS AWAKE "FROM A DEEP SLUMBER" -- TAKE COVER! Launched in February 2010, NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory is sending back breathtaking closeups of the massive swirling gases that comprise our Sun and will help
understand what the Sun is doing these days, as it evolves from being sunspot-free for longer than usual to being equally
ambiguously active. We may be in for
an experience few if any alive today have ever seen. Expect sudden power outages, between next year and 2013, from everything -- your computer, banking system,
airplanes, streetlights, anything that is subject to extreme magnetic energy. To keep a close eye on the Sun, see real time
images from NASA's Heliophysics Division at sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html. All of
the above climate events have been around forever, but now they all seem to be on steroids, partially because more and more
people are affected, and media reports carry the immediate information around the world. Add to this the sudden turnaround
of the Sun from quiet to frenetic.
But
the future is uncertain, because there are a lot of ambiguous signs which scientists find difficult to read and which the
ordinary tourist/citizen/man/woman-in-the-street has to deal with. For some of these, see climate.nasa.gov/uncertainties/ An excellent site on the effects of global climate change
is at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research:
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Eclipse
of the Moon at the moment after totality. (Photo © podgorsek). DIAMONDS IN THE SKY Life goes on in a universe we are only beginning to understand.
If you missed the most recent total
eclipse, check out NASA's eclipse page: eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2010/TSE2010.html
THE MYSTERIOUS SUN Get a grasp on why the Sun has been quiet for so long. The National Solar Observatory
maintains telescopes that accept visitors. One is at Sacramento Peak in New Mexico www.nso.edu/visitors.html Please call 575-434-7000
for visitor hours. At Kitt Peak,
above Tucson, Arizona, guided tours of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope are given daily
at 10:00AM. See: www.noao.edu/outreach/ NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory [see left], launched in February with a mission to study the Sun. See: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/science/index.html Telescopes at Mauna Kea on
the Big Island of Hawaii are unparalleled in penetrating the universe. Please see: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/visiting.htm
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