The Houston NOOD was recently canceled due to damage produced by Hurricane Ike.  If you've ever wondered how global climate change impacts sailors - look no further than the devastating impacts this storm had on the Houston Yacht Club and and a great sailing event. 

Climate change equals more severe weather which equals less sailing and more damage.  So let's get busy fixing the contributors to global warming.

Just a few weeks ago Tropical Storm Hanna nearly spoiled the Larchmont NOOD regatta, but fortunately she lost her punch, and what dirty weather she did bring came overnight.  But at that event I met a sailor who is off to do some amazing research related to climate change issues.

Howie Koss is part of The Offshore New Harbor Project that is investigating the tipping point from the greenhouse to the icehouse world of the past in Antarctica.

Howie will be making some guest blog appearances here at the OCYC, reporting from the ocean and the ice.  Here is what he recently had to say:

Hi Everybody!
 
I depart this upcoming Saturday, and after making a layover in San Francisco until October 6th for Ice Stories video blogging training (see link, and others, below), I leave for Antarctica via Christchurch, New Zealand where we will get outfitted with our Extreme Cold Weather gear.  I expect to be down at McMurdo Station (the U.S. scientific research facility) no sooner than October 12th.  Once there, we will go through "Happy Camper School" which is the colloquial name given to the survival training lessons.  We will also have sea ice training and various workshops to learn, for example, how to fix a snowmobile in sub-zero weather.
 
After these training courses are completed, the expedition team will caravan from McMurdo Station to our field camp along the Marble Point "Road."  We will have a piston bully (the tracked machine that will tow the drilling equipment and scientific sled), a Challenger (a big "tractor" which will be hauling the trailers with most of our supplies and materials), and five snow mobiles, three heavy duty (two passengers) and two light duty (one passenger).  It is anticipated that it will take 5 hours to get to the location that will become our field camp.  Our field camp will be on sea ice floating on the surface of the Ross Sea over approximately 300-400 meters of water.  The expedition is expected to remain out in the field from between 40 and 45 days once we get out there and set up.
 
We will be performing 2 seismic lines, imaging/mapping the sediments below the sea floor using sound waves.  We are looking for sediments on the order of 50 million years old.  This was a very warm time period in Earth history called the Eocene.  If southern hemisphere ice formed anywhere between 34 and 40 million years ago, we are hoping to identify the location where sediments will be that will overlap this transition.  It is the goal that later on there will be a further expedition to actually drill and sample these sediments.  To study these sediments will improve understanding of past climate change, and to understand past climate change is to better understand and predict future climate change.
 
I have attached a map showing the approximate location of the field camp and seismic lines, McMurdo Station, and the Marble Point "Road."  Also, below are the various links that you will be able to access to follow along with the expedition.
 
Thanks for your interest in this very worthwhile project and for your support and good wishes.  Follow along, comment on blogs, ask questions, stay in touch, and send warm thoughts down south!
 
Cheers,
 
-Howie

http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/offshore_new_harbor/outreach.htm

This is our expedition website.  Expedition blogs can be viewed here.  Many of the following links can be accessed from our website along with educational resources.  

 http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/index.php?subset=RossSea

This is a daily-coverage near-real-time satellite image view of the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound.  Look for Ross Island in the bottom-center to get your bearings (use the attached map to hone-in on our location)

http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/

This is a site with many polar scientist correspondents.  You can watch uploaded video blogs of me in Antarctica.
 

http://www.reachtheworld.org/journey/antarctica/index

We will be blogging to this site which is geared toward promoting reading practice and cultural awareness for elementary and middle school kids, and exposing under-priviledged students to international expeditions and travel.

http://web.me.com/lhuffman/Project_Circle/Welcome_.html

This site is for educators.  Enter to be in the Project Circle or print up the lesson materials to follow along with our weekly lessons.  Listen to weekly webcast lessons.

http://www.globe.gov/fsl/STARS/ART/Display.opl?lang=en&star=Antarctic_Ex