Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary to Protect 240K Square Miles of South Pacific

Summary: At the UN in September 2015 Prime Minister John Key announced New Zealand's plan to set aside 240k square miles for the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary in 2016.

view from Raoul Island of lesser Kermadec islets of Meyer (center left), Egeria Rock (center foreground) and Dayrell (center right); May 1999: Lawrie Mead (LawrieM at en.wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters in New York City, John Key, New Zealand’s 38th Prime Minister since November 2008, announced the creation of a marine sanctuary of 240,000 square miles (621,597 square kilometers) in the South Pacific Ocean’s Kermadec Islands.

Mr. Key’s announcement is congruent with the key theme of sustainable development as expressed in 17 goals newly adopted on Friday, Sept. 25, in a high-level plenary meeting of the United Nations’ General Assembly. Goal #14 concerns conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, oceans, and seas.

Creation of Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary provides protection for the presently pristine environment from fishing (aquaculture, commercial, recreational) and fishing-related tourism; and from mining for gas, minerals, and oil.

Arising as a subtropical volcanic island arc in the South Pacific Ocean, the Kermadec (kərˈmædɛk) Islands stretch fairly equidistantly northeast of New Zealand’s North Island and southwest of the Polynesian archipelagic Kingdom of Tonga. The southwest-to-northeast oriented arc consists of four main islands as well as strings of isolated rocks and seamounts. As the largest and most northerly of the main islands, Raoul Island, also known as Sunday Island, is the arc’s only inhabited island, housing a field station managed by the Department of Conservation since 1937.

Extending across the 200 nautical mile limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) from New Zealand’s northern coast, Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary represents 15 percent of the country's total EEZ. The Sanctuary stretches from L’Esperance Rock in the south to Raoul Island in the north.

Dramatic geology defines the arc of volcanic islands. Running from North Island’s northeastern tip to northeast of the arc’s northern outskirts on Monowai Seamount, the abruptly sloping Kermadec Trench plunges, as the world’s fifth deepest oceanic trench, to a depth that is deeper, at 32,963 feet (10,047 meters), than Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet (8,848 meters), is high.

The Kermadec and Tonga trenches occur in the southwestern reaches of the Pacific Ocean’s dynamic Ring of Fire, also known as the Circum-Pacific belt, the scene of 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes. Formed at the destructive, or convergent, plate boundary between the overriding Indo-Australian Plate and the subducting Pacific Plate, the Kermadec arc includes at least 30 submarine volcanoes.

The Kermadec Islands abound in biological diversity, in air, on land and in water. Small storm petrels (Hydrobatidae) and large wandering albatrosses (Diomedeidae) number among over 6 million seabirds, representing 39 species, claiming the Kermadec area as home territory. The Kermadecs are sited on migration routes for up to 35 species of dolphins and whales, including the world’s largest extant animal, the endangered blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). The area claims 150 species of fish and over 250 species of corals and tiny bryozoans, aquatic invertebrates known commonly as moss animals.

Kermadec land and waters shelter three critically endangered sea turtle species: green (Chelonia mydas); hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata); and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea).

Slated to be created officially with legislation planned for 2016, Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary encompasses an area about the size of France. The sanctuary equates locally in New Zealand to twice the size of New Zealand’s land mass of 103,734 square miles (268,671 square kilometers). Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary is 50 times the size of Fiordland, New Zealand’s largest national park, with an area of 4,826.28 square miles (12,500 square kilometers). The new sanctuary is 35 times larger than the total area of 6,834 square miles (17,700 square kilometers) of New Zealand’s 44 marine reserves.

Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary adds emphasis to the urgency of safeguarding the world’s oceans and marine resources already expressed by the establishment of three other large protected areas in the Pacific Ocean in the 21st century.

Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve was set in law Nov. 16, 2012, by Tony Burke, Australia’s Federal Environment Minister. The reserve covers 382,180 square miles (989,842 square kilometers) located east of the Great Barrier Reef in the South Pacific.

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine Monument was proclaimed Jan. 6, 2009, by 43rd U.S. President George Walker Bush, and expanded Sept. 25, 2014, by 44th U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama II. The marine monument has a non-contiguous total of 490,343 square miles (1,269,980 square kilometers) in the North Pacific.

Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve, revealed in the House of Commons’ Budget published March 18, 2015, encompasses 322,000 square miles (834,000 square kilometers) in the South Pacific.

Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary combines with the three Pacific areas protected by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to account for a total of 1,352,525 square miles (3,503,023 square kilometers) of Pacific Ocean designated for conservation and preservation.

The tally may seem like a tiny, tiny drop in a gargantuan bucket in comparison to the Pacific Ocean’s vastness of 63,800,000 square miles (about 165,250,000 square kilometers).

Yet, the Earth’s environment is sensitive to all scales of change, and Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary symbolizes the beginning, not the end, of commitment to conservation and sustainable use of Earth’s oceans.

first-time view of Dermechinus horridus, an abyssal species of deep sea urchins, as live species on seafloor, at thousands of meters deep, on lavas of Rumble V volcano, Kermadec Arc; Friday, April 15, 2005; credit New Zealand-American Submarine Ring of Fire 2005 Exploration (NZASRoF'05), NOAA Vents Program: NOAA Photo Library, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

view from Raoul Island of lesser Kermadec islets of Meyer (center left), Egeria Rock (center foreground) and Dayrell (center right); May 1999: Lawrie Mead (LawrieM at en.wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nugent_Meyer_Dayrell_Islands.jpg

first-time view of Dermechinus horridus, an abyssal species of deep sea urchins, as live species on seafloor, at thousands of meters deep, on lavas of Rumble V volcano, Kermadec Arc; Friday, April 15, 2005; credit New Zealand-American Submarine Ring of Fire 2005 Exploration (NZASRoF'05), NOAA Vents Program: NOAA Photo Library, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Expl1825_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg;
NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/

For further information:

"Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary." Publication number INFO 750. Wellington NZ: New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, 2015.

“PM announces Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.” Beehive > Latest Releases. 29 September 2015.
Available via New Zealand government @ http://beehive.govt.nz/release/pm-announces-kermadec-ocean-sanctuary?

Top Girls Halloween Costume 2015: Princess Leia Costume by Rubie’s

Summary: Amazon's top girls Halloween costume 2015 is the Deluxe Star Wars Princess Leia Costume offered by Halloween costume giant, Rubie's Costume Company.

Princess Leia Organa in iconic white outfit: 1darthvader, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via DeviantArt

Online retail giant Amazon makes hourly updates to Amazon Best Sellers, a sales-based listing of most popular products.

Best Seller listings are helpful in spotting trends for those who want to be part of the in crowd and in providing a starting point for narrowing or widening shopping expeditions.

As of Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, top girls Halloween costume 2015 on Amazon is the Deluxe Star Wars Princess Leia Costume by Rubie’s Costume Company. The Star Wars costume has received 4 out of 5 stars from 159 customer reviews. Forty-one percent of reviewers have given the top ranking of five stars to the Star Wars costume.

The costume is an officially licensed Star Wars costume. The ensemble includes Princess Leia’s signature long-sleeved, white robe as well as a printed belt and a wig with side buns. The fun costume is available in three sizes for girls: small, medium and large.

Rubie’s Costume Company was originally launched by Rubin “Rubie” and Tillie Kramer Beige as Rubie’s Candy Store in 1951. Based in Woodhaven, a working-class neighborhood in New York City’s easternmost borough of Queens, the candy shop sold an array of goods, from cigarettes and newspapers to ice cream and soft drinks. Seasonal merchandise included holiday knickknacks, especially plastic masks.

Success in holiday sales motivated a move in 1959 to a nearby, larger location for specialization in joke items and holiday merchandise. A new name, Rubie’s Fun House, reflected the new shop’s specialties.

After Rubin Beige’s death in October 1972, 23-year-old Marc, oldest of the Beiges’ four children, stepped up as president to join Tillie in continuing the family business. Marc recently had graduated from Queens College, a senior college of The City University of New York, with a degree in Math Education. Marc’s membership in college societies prepared him for helming his family’s business: Halloween Industry Association, National Costumes Association and Toy Manufacturers Association.

Renaming the business as Rubie’s Costume Company, Marc focused on building a costume line to tap into the massive demand for attractive replica costumes sweeping the United States in preparation for the bicentennial celebrations and parties slated for 1976.

In 1973, Rubie’s Costume Company expanded its product lines to include full-length Halloween costumes.

Marc's successful growth strategy includes acquiring lucrative licenses for costumes based upon comic book and movie characters.

Rubie’s Costume Company thrives in the 21st century as the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of Halloween costumes and accessories.

The evergreen popularity of the Star Wars film series is being given a huge boost with the upcoming release of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens on Dec. 16, 2015, in Europe and Dec. 18, 2015, in North America.

The release of Episode VII occurs more than a decade after the release of the last live-action Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith, on May 15, 2005 in Cannes and on May 19, 2005 in North America.

The Force Awakens features the trio of Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), who so compellingly enchanted moviegoers in the Star Wars saga’s first release, Star Wars: Episode IV–A New Hope, in 1977.

Princess Leia’s classic style of flowing, long-sleeve white robe, cinched at the waist with a belt, and her winsomely distinctive hairstyle continue to fascinate all ages worldwide.

A little girl’s wish of being a princess comes true on Halloween.

Many Princess Leias will happily hope for good treats, not bad tricks, for Halloween 2015.

Perhaps some may enjoy accessorizing their Princess Leia costume with a Luke Skywalker Lightsaber, Amazon’s #1 Best Seller in Kids’ and Babies’ Costumes, to honor Leia’s driven resourcefulness and courageous self-sufficiency as a warrior princess.

Two Princess Leias and one Darth Vader at WonderCon 2012, Anaheim, California: The Conmunity -- Pop Culture Geek (Doug Kline), CC BY NC 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Princess Leia Organa in iconic white outfit: 1darthvader, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via DeviantArt @ http://1darthvader.deviantart.com/art/Princess-Leia-Organa-96001669

Two Princess Leias and one Darth Vader at WonderCon 2012, Anaheim, California: The Conmunity -- Pop Culture Geek (Doug Kline), CC BY NC 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/popculturegeek/7019458805/

Watery Mars: NASA Confirms Seasonal Presence of Surface Water on Mars

Summary: A watery Mars emerges as NASA confirms the seasonal presence of surface water, according to NASA's Sept. 28 press release.

Processed, false-color view of dark, football-field length streaks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), at Hale Crater, Mars; imaging and topographical information via High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO); image addition date 2015-09-28; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona: "PIA19916 Recurring 'Lineae' on Slopes at Hale Crater, Mars," May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on NASA TV that a four-year scrutiny of the Red Planet has yielded key evidence of the chemical identity of dark streaks occurring as seasonal events on Mars.

Wavelength analysis has identified perchlorate salts as ubiquitous in recurring slope lineae (RSL) occurring on steep sites on Mars.

RSL were discovered in 2011 via images captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The multipurpose spacecraft has been conducting exploration and reconnaissance missions since attaining its final science orbit of Mars in November 2006.

Recurring slope lineae appear at different latitudes and times as seasonal dark streaks on steep slopes. RSL present an annual, temperature-dependent cycle of emergence in spring and peak growth in downslope directions in summer, with fading and disappearance during the cold season. The surface temperatures conducive to the dark streak flows range from 250 to 300 Kelvin (minus 23 degrees to 27 degrees Celsius; minus 10 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit).

Included among MRO's host of onboard scientific apparatuses is Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), an infrared-visible light spectrometer that searches for chemical and mineralogical evidence of past and present water on Mars. CRISM breaks sunlight reflected from Mars’ surface into a measurable spectrum of 544 colors. As a reflectance spectrometer, CRISM builds a profile of surface composition by measuring amounts of reflected light at different wavelengths to identify absorption signatures of specific chemicals and minerals.

A scientific team led by Lujendra Ojha, Ph.D. candidate in Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, analyzed CRISM wavelength data from four RSL locations. Coprates Chasma is located in the central portion of the equatorial Valles Marineris canyon system complex. Hale Crater lies in the southern highlands. Horowitz Crater is sited at 32 degrees south latitude. Palikir Crateris found inside Newton Crater in southern hemisphere's massively cratered Terra Sirenum.

CRISM's sweep of the four RSL locations detected wavelengths that absorption analysis associates with perchlorates. Perchlorates are salts which dissolve readily in water.

Lujendra Ojha's team identified the hydrated salts at all four locations as magnesium chlorate, magnesium perchlorate and sodium perchlorate.

NASA astrophysicist Tom Greene has shared that seemingly dry, arid Mars anciently welcomed a huge ocean, with a depth of at least 1 mile and a spread equal to two-thirds of Earth's Northern Hemisphere. But Mars seemingly lost its surface water because of an enigmatic climate change.

The dramatic confirmation of seasonal flows of briny water via NASA TV and the publication of Lujendra Ojha's findings, both presented Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, increase Mars' mystique and enliven the dialogue and research on deciphering mysteries of life on Earth and life's possibilities elsewhere.

Dark narrow streaks, called "recurring slope lineae," with a hypothesized formation from briny liquid water flow, emanate from the walls of Garni Crater on Mars; image created by "draping an orthorectified (RED) image (ESP_031059_1685) on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the same site produced by High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona)," with vertical exaggeration of 1.5 in comparison with horizontal dimensions; image addition date 2015-09-28; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona: "PIA19917 Dark, Recurring Streaks on Walls of Garni Crater," May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Processed, false-color view of dark, football-field length streaks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), at Hale Crater, Mars; imaging and topographical information via High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO); image addition date 2015-09-28; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona: "PIA19916 Recurring 'Lineae' on Slopes at Hale Crater, Mars," May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19916;
"Recurring 'Lineae' on Slopes at Hale Crater, Mars," NASA image, Sep. 28, 2015, May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL @ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA19916

Dark narrow streaks, called "recurring slope lineae," with a hypothesized formation from briny liquid water flow, emanate from the walls of Garni Crater on Mars; image created by "draping an orthorectified (RED) image (ESP_031059_1685) on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the same site produced by High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona)," with vertical exaggeration of 1.5 in comparison with horizontal dimensions; image addition date 2015-09-28; image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona: "PIA19917 Dark, Recurring Streaks on Walls of Garni Crater," May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19917;
"NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today’s Mars," NASA release, Sep. 28, 2015, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-todays-mars/

For further information:

Brown, Dwayne; Laurie Cantillo; Guy Webster. "NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars." NASA > Press Release > MRO. Sept. 28, 2015.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars

JPLraw. "Animation of Site of Seasonal Flows in Hale Crater, Mars." YouTube. Sept. 28, 2015.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDb3UZPoTpc&feature=youtu.be

Ojha, Lujendra, Mary Beth Wilhelm, Scott L. Murchie, Alfred S. McEwen, James J. Wray, Jennifer Hanley, Marion Massé, and Matt Chojnacki. “Spectral evidence for hydrated salts in recurring slope lineae on Mars.” Nature Geoscience > Letter. Published online Sept. 28, 2015.
Available via Nature Publishing Group @ http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2546.html

Full Supermoon September 2015: Harvest Moon, Fourth Blood Moon Eclipse

Summary: The full supermoon September 2015 exemplifies a quartet of lunar spectacles as harvest moon, fourth blood moon, supermoon and totally eclipsed moon.

blood moon eclipse; second of 2014-2015 blood moon tetrad occurred Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, as a full hunter moon; coppery red of total lunar eclipse as light from all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets colors the moon's surface; viewed from McIntosh County, Kulm Wetland Management District, North Dakota; photo credit Krista Lundgren/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

September 2015’s full moon exemplifies a trio of lunar spectacles, all depicted with a super-sized flourish.

As a full supermoon, the full moon appears unusually large due to orbital proximity to Earth.

As a harvest moon, the first full moon appears closest to the autumnal equinox, which occurs in 2015 on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

As a blood moon eclipse, September's full moon numbers among four in-a-row total lunar eclipses (April 15, 2014; Oct. 8, 2014; April 4, 2015; Sept. 27/28, 2015) spaced at six full moon intervals.

A full supermoon occurs when the full moon appears exceptionally large because the center-to-center distance between Earth and moon measures less than 224,834 miles (361,836 kilometers). The moon turns into a full supermoon at 2:51 Coordinated Universal Time, Monday, Sept. 28 (10:51 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Sunday, Sept. 27).

Full supermoon is a popular descriptor for a close full moon, known as perigee full moon in astronomy. Perigee (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”) designates the closest, center-to-center, distance between two celestial bodies.

Annual proxigee represents the year’s closest perigee, or closeness, of the moon’s center to Earth’s center. Appearing as the second of a trio of three-in-a row full supermoon months, September’s full supermoon orbits sufficiently close to Earth, at a center-to-center distance of 221,753 (356,877 kilometers), to rank as 2015’s proxigee full moon. Proxigee occurs at 1:47 UTC, Sept. 28 (9:51 p.m. EDT, Sept. 27), closely preceding the supermoon's cresting at fullness by a little over one hour.

Names for the year's parade of full moons come from Native Americans, such as the Algonquin tribes of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and Atlantic coast. The first full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which occurs annually Sept. 22, 23 or 24, is nicknamed as the harvest moon in recognition of the readiness of plentiful harvests of such Native American staples as beans, corn, pumpkins, squash and wild rice.

The Northern Hemisphere's harvest moon may appear anywhere within a four-week period of two weeks before to two weeks after the autumnal equinox. The late end of the appearance spectrum for the harvest moon may stretch into early October, which happened most recently Oct. 4, 2009, and which next occurs Oct. 5, 2017.

As a popular term, blood moon eclipse seemingly refers to a lunar tetrad (Ancient Greek:  τέσσαρες, téssares, “four”) of four in-a-row total lunar eclipses. Each eclipse is separated by an interval of six full moons.

Blood moon eclipse also refers to a total lunar eclipse of straight-line formation of sun, Earth and moon. The sun is poised as a hidden backdrop rimming the Earth’s circumference with sunrises and sunsets that bathe the moon with a coppery red glow.

September's full moon supermoon also passes through Earth's shadow for an array of eclipses: penumbral, partial and total. The lunar eclipse timeline spans 4 hours 15 minutes.

At 00:12 UTC (08:12 p.m. EDT), the moon begins entrance into Earth’s penumbra (Latin: paene, “almost” + umbra, “shadow”), or outer part of Earth’s shadow.

At 01:08 UTC (09:08 p.m. EDT), the partial eclipse starts as the moon begins entrance into Earth’s umbra (Latin: “shade”).

At 02:12 UTC (10:12 p.m. EDT), the total eclipse begins as the moon is fully within Earth’s umbra.

At 02:48 UTC (10:48 p.m. EDT), the event reaches greatest eclipse. Greatest eclipse references the instant of the closest lunar passage to the axis of Earth's shadow.

At 03:23 UTC (11:23 p.m. EDT), the total eclipse ends as the moon begins exit from Earth’s umbra.

At 04:27 UTC (12:27 a.m. EDT), the partial eclipse ends as the moon fully exits from Earth’s umbra.

The area of visibility stretches from North and South America to Europe and Africa and also includes parts of West Asia as well as the eastern Pacific.

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2015: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

blood moon eclipse; second of 2014-2015 blood moon tetrad occurred Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, as a full hunter moon; coppery red of total lunar eclipse as light from all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets colors the moon's surface; viewed from McIntosh County, Kulm Wetland Management District, North Dakota; photo credit Krista Lundgren/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmtnprairie/15474648641/

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2015: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Total Lunar Eclipse of 2015 Sep 28." NASA > Lunar Eclipse Page. Last updated 2015 Jan 08.
Available @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html

Ford, Dominic. "Total lunar eclipse, September 2015." In-The-Sky.org > Astronomy News > Sky Notes > The Earth-Moon System > Eclipses. Last updated Tue Sep 22 17:13:59 2015 UTC.
Available @ https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20150928_10_100

Marriner, Derdriu. "First Total Lunar Eclipse of 2015 Occurs as Blood Moon on Holy Saturday, April 4." Earth and Space News. Friday, April 3, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/first-total-lunar-eclipse-of-2015.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Total Lunar Eclipse 2015 Cloud Cover: Clear for Central and Western US." Earth and Space News. Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/09/total-lunar-eclipse-2015-cloud-cover.html

McClure, Bruce. “Most ‘super’ supermoon of 2015 on September 28.” EarthSky > Tonight. Sep 22–Sep 28. Sept. 26, 2015.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/most-super-supermoon-of-2015-on-september-28

McClure, Bruce, and Deborah Byrd. “What is a Blood Moon?” EarthSky > FAQS > Human World > Space. Sept. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-blood-moon-lunar-eclipses-2014-2015

"September 27/28, 2015 -- Total Lunar Eclipse." Time And Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2015-september-28

Vivola, Jean. “One-night lunar spectacular nears – harvest moon, supermoon and blood moon eclipse.” WGAL.com > Weather. Sept. 21, 2015.
Available @ http://www.wgal.com/weather/onenight-lunar-spectacular-nears-harvest-moon-supermoon-and-blood-moon-eclipse/35388748

Eastern Spadefoots: Hourglass-Marked Back, Vertical Pupils

Summary: North American eastern spadefoot habitats get hourglass-marked backs, pale-marked sides and bellies, vertical pupils and hindlegs with sickled spades.

Dorsal (upper surface) view shows hourglass pattern on eastern spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) in Florida Panhandle, northwestern Florida; source USGS National Wetlands Research Center; photographer Brad M. Glorioso; Taxonomy and Photo Library Anura > Scaphiopodidae > Scaphiopus > Scaphiopus holbrookii -- Eastern Spadefoot: "These photos are free to use. Please credit the source and photographer listed with each photo," via USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI)

North American eastern spadefoot habitats achieve distribution ranges from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York through New Jersey, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and everywhere in-between.

Eastern spadefoots bear their common name for skin color and daytime and non-breeding season living quarters and cowbell or rain frogs for biogeographies east of the Mississippi River and for burrowing backward with sand-digging, soil-digging spade-shaped tubercles (bumps) on both hind feet. The scientific name Scaphiopus holbrookii commemorates John Edwards Holbrook (Dec. 31, 1796-Sep. 8, 1871). Scientific designations delve into descriptions in 1835 by Richard Harland (Sep. 9, 1796-Sep. 30, 1843).

Eastern spadefoot life cycles expect dry forests, pinewoods and pine-oak woods with shallow, temporary ditches, ponds and pools and with heavy rainfall and sandy, well-drained soils.

March through September furnish eastern spadefoot life cycles with breeding season months despite predatory.

Slim-waisted green treefrogs go on large sticky toe pads and long legs from bushes, shrubs and trees to breeding bayous, ditches, lakes, ponds, pools and swamps. Matched filtering helps them hear, despite mixed-species choruses, by calls having frequency ranges that vibrate two circular tympanic-membraned eardrums and the inner-ear's amphibian and basilar papillae. Closed-mouth, closed-nostril advertisement, similar courtship and rain, aggression and similar release calls involve lung expirations that impel air streams over vocal cords and inflate vocal sacs.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungal disease, fertilizer runoff, globally warmed climate change, nonnative species, toxic pesticides, trematode fluke-induced deformities and ultraviolet radiation jeopardize North American eastern spadefoot habitats.

Three hundred to 4,000-egg clusters and, four to 14 days later, gill-breathing, keel-tailed tadpoles keep to water whereas legged, lung-breathing, tailless adults know land and water.

Green treefrogs look like 4.5- to 5.5-millimeter (0.17- to 0.22-inch), herbivorous (plant-eating) fish and like little-legged, long-tailed, 2.36-plus-inch (60-plus-millimeter) carnivores (flesh-eaters) 25 to 45 days later. The male manages axillary amplexus (armpit embrace) by maintaining forelimbs behind his mate's front legs while mounted on her back to fertilize dark, sticky eggs externally. Tadpoles need algae, organic debris, plant tissue and suspended matter even though beetles, caterpillars, crickets, flies, mosquitoes, moths, pillbugs, sowbugs, spiders, stinkbugs and worms nourish adults.

North American eastern spadefoot habitats offer season's coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 15 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to 1.66 degrees Celsius).

Artificial and natural ditches, lakes, marshes, ponds, sloughs and swamps with bay laurel-dominant, cypress-dominated emergent, floating, submerged, waterside grassy, herbaceous, weedy, woody plants promote green treefrogs.

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt and Carlos Davidson quantify 1.75- to 2.875-inch (4.44- to 7.30-centimeter) snout-vent (excrementary opening) lengths in The Frogs and Toads of North America. Adults reveal vertical pupils, yellow hourglass-patterned black-brown backs, small orange or pink tubercles (bumps) and blotched, yellow-spotted sides, flat foreheads and elongated sometimes curved black spades. Half-shut eyes show nictitating membranes (inner eyelids) and heads slant backward and upward while down-slurred explosive nasal errrrrrra! advertisement calls sound every five to 10 seconds.

North American eastern spadefoot habitats transmit choking croaks from large vocal pouches on explosive breeders with flat foreheads, vertical pupils, orange-pink bumps, yellow-marked sides and yellow hourglass-patterned black-brown backs.

eastern spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) under synonym Scaphiopus solitarius; illustration by Italian-born scientific illustrator J. Sera, lithograph by George Lehman/Lehman & Duval Lithographers; J.E. Holbrook's North American Herpetology (1836), vol. I, Plate XI, opposite page 83: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Dorsal (upper surface) view shows hourglass pattern on eastern spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) in Florida Panhandle, northwestern Florida; source USGS National Wetlands Research Center; photographer Brad M. Glorioso; Taxonomy and Photo Library Anura > Scaphiopodidae > Scaphiopus > Scaphiopus holbrookii -- Eastern Spadefoot: "These photos are free to use. Please credit the source and photographer listed with each photo," via USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) @ https://armi.usgs.gov/gallery/species.php?itis=173426;
(former URL @ https://armi.usgs.gov/gallery/result.php?search=Scaphiopus+holbrookii)

eastern spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) under synonym Scaphiopus solitarius; illustration by Italian-born scientific illustrator J. Sera, lithograph by George Lehman/Lehman & Duval Lithographers; J.E. Holbrook's North American Herpetology (1836), vol. I, Plate XI, opposite page 83: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35765112;
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6046059169/

For further information:

Elliott, Lang; Carl Gerhardt; and Carlos Davidson. 2009. The Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification, Behavior and Calls. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Frost, Darrel. "Scaphiopus holbrookii (Harlan, 1835)." American Museum of Natural History > Our Research > Vertebrate Zoology > Herpetology > Amphibian Species of the World Database.
Available @ http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php//Amphibia/Anura/Scaphiopodidae/Scaphiopus/Scaphiopus-holbrookii

Harlan, R. (Richard). 1835. "Genera of North American Reptilia, and a Synopsis of the Species: Rana Holbrookii." Medical and Physical Researches; Or, Original Memoirs in Medicine, Surgery, Physiology, Geology, Zoology, and Comparative Anatomy: 105-106. Philadelphia PA: Lydia R. Bailey Publ., Philadelphia, 214. 228.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/b21934605#page/105/mode/1up

Holbrook, John Edwards, M.D. 1836. "Scaphiopus solitarius." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. I: 85-87. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35765112

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Total Lunar Eclipse 2015 Cloud Cover: Clear for Central and Western US

Summary: Viewing of September 2015's total lunar eclipse should be easy and enjoyable across much of the continental United States.

Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sep. 27, 2015, 11:00 p.m. EDT: National Digital Forecast Database, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Clear skies dominate the forecast for Sunday night, Sept. 27, for two-thirds of the Lower 48, from the Pacific coast eastward to the Mississippi River. The mighty Mississippi marks borders in its 2,350 mile (3,781.96 kilometer) journey southward to the Gulf of Mexico, between 10 Midwestern states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi).

No precipitation and temperatures predominantly ranging from 60 degrees to 80 degrees-plus Fahrenheit (15.55 degrees to 26.66 degrees-plus Celsius) make for pleasant viewing conditions for 20 of the 22 states lying west of or along the western banks of the Mississippi River. Only viewers in Louisiana, with statewide cloudiness, and Minnesota, with northeastern to central eastern cloudiness, may have to contend with obscurity of the total lunar eclipse by cloud covered skies.

Of the tier of 26 states located between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean, only the three northern New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have forecasts of clear skies and no precipitation. Temperatures may be brisk, though, with possible dipping below 60 degrees F (15.55 degrees C).

Low percentages of cloud cover, with slightly higher percentages possible near New York borders, and no precipitation should account for good visibility of the total lunar eclipse in the three lower New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Night temperatures in the 60s also are conducive to enjoyable viewing.

The cluster of 20 states from western New York westward to Michigan and Illinois and southward to the Gulf Coast states, plus the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., have obscuring forecasts of total lunar eclipse 2015 cloud cover. Sky cover percentages hover in the upper ranges, from 70 to 100 percent. Temperatures are expected to range in the 60s to 80s F (15 to 26 degrees-plus C), but precipitation forecasts are in effect from New York and Mid-Atlantic states southward to the Gulf coast.

Total lunar eclipse 2015 is a not-to-miss event because the moon, at its closest orbital point to the Earth for this year, appears larger than usual. The last total lunar eclipse featuring a supermoon, or super-sized full moon, occurred over three decades ago on Dec. 30, 1982. After Sunday, 18 years will elapse before the appearance of the next supermoon total lunar eclipse on Oct. 8, 2033.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has the event covered with live stream from 8 p.m. to at least 11:30 p.m.

Live feed from Marshall Space Flight Center on Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville in north central Alabama is scheduled to include cross-country views of the total lunar eclipse from such stellar facilities as Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, Atlanta’s Fernbank Observatory and Los Angeles’ Griffith Observatory.

total lunar eclipse 2015 viewing information:
NASA TV url: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
total lunar eclipse 2015 times
begins: 7:12 p.m. PDT; 10:12 p.m. EDT; 02:12 UTC
ends: 8:23 p.m. PDT; 11:23 p.m. EDT; 03:23 UTC
partial eclipse framing total eclipse
begins: 6:08 p.m. PDT; 9:08 p.m. EDT; 01:08 UTC
ends: 9:27 p.m. PDT; 12:27 a.m. EDT; 04:27 UTC

orientation of Earth as viewed from the moon's center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sep. 27, 2015, 11:00 p.m. EDT: National Digital Forecast Database, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) @ https://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/sectorDay.php?view=public§or=conus&element=Sky; (former URL @ http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php?element=Skybr/)

orientation of Earth as viewed from the moon's center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2015Sep28.png

For further information:

"NASA TV to Provide Live Feed of Sunday's Supermoon Eclipse." NASA > Solar System > Watch the Skies. Sept. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/live-feed-of-sundays-supermoon-eclipse.html

National Digital Forecast Database. "Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, 11 p.m. EDT." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service > Graphical Forecasts > CONUS Area. Sept. 27, 2015.
Available @ http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php?element=Sky

Diego San: Robot Baby Shows Baby Smiles as Control to Make Moms Smile

Summary: Diego San robot baby shows baby smiles as control to make moms smile, not for shared mom-baby smiles, according to a study in Sept. 23's PLOS ONE.

toddler-like robot, Diego San: Usage restrictions -- "Please credit David Hanson/Machine Perception Laboratory," via EurekAlert!

Why do babies smile so much? Is there more to baby smiles than just smiling? Is there more to smiling sessions between mothers and infants than just a happy game? Is it possible for infants under the age of four months to have behavioral goals in social interactions with caregivers, parents, and other family members?

In a study published Sept. 23, 2015, in peer-reviewed, public-access journal PLOS ONE, a team of computer scientists, developmental psychologists and roboticists at the University of California–San Diego (UC San Diego) have sought to demystify baby smiles by programming a baby-like robot with information gleaned from first studying smiling behaviors in 13 pairs of mothers and their infants aged four to 17 weeks. Researchers incorporated the pioneer work by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mathematics Professor Norbert Wiener (Nov. 26, 1894–March 18, 1964) on Cybernetics and Control Theory in understanding goal-oriented, intentional behaviors in animals and machines.

The study identified four smiling scenarios in mother-infant interactions. Mother smiles but infant does not smile. Infant smiles but mother does not smile. Both mother and infant smile. Neither smiles.

The four smiling scenarios were analyzed as driven by four possible goals. One possible goal maximizes maternal smiling time with infant’s simultaneous smiling. Another possible goal maximizes maternal smiling time with unsmiling infant. A third possibility maximizes maternal non-smiling time with infant smiling. A fourth possibility maximizes maternal non-smiling time with unsmiling infant.

The mother-infant smiling interaction study revealed the disparity between infant and maternal goals. The maternal goal maximizes simultaneous smiling between mother and child. The infant’s goal maximizes mother-only smiling time.

Results of the personal mother-child smiling interactions were then programmed into a sophisticated, child-like robot named Diego San for validation in a contingent human-robot interaction study involving 32 UC San Diego undergraduates. The Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox (CERT) guided Diego San in the robot baby’s perception of smiling/unsmiling facial expressions.

Four smiling configurations in the human-robot interactive study corresponded equivalently to the mother-infant smile study. Both robot and human smile in one configuration. Robot baby smiles but human does not smile in a second configuration. In a third configuration, baby robot does not smile but human does smile. In the fourth configuration, neither smiles.

Diego San displayed four control strategies in interactions with participants. One strategy maximizes adult-only smiles as a corollary of the infant control strategy of maximizing mother-only smiles. Another strategy replays smile times clocked by previous participants. A third strategy matches participant’s smiling/unsmiling state by Diego San as a mirror behavior. A fourth control strategy hybridizes maximizing adult-only smiles with increasing likeliness of mirroring by Diego San of participants’ smiling/unsmiling states.

The results of both studies revealed identical preferences by mothers and undergraduates for simultaneous smiling with infants and Diego San, respectively. Both studies also agreed in the goals of maximizing mother-only and adult-only smiles by infants and Diego San, respectively.

Those inscrutable baby smiles seem to be driven by the goal of maximizing mother-only smiles rather than of sharing in simultaneous smiling of mother and child.

Why? Does one-way smiling make babies feel super important?

If only babies could reveal their thoughts, we could truly see the world through their eyes.

Diego San's expressions, smiling and unsmiling; Paul Ruvolo, Daniel Messinger and Javier Movellan, "Infants Time Their Smiles to Make Their Moms Smile," PLoS ONE, vol. 10, issue 9 (published Sep. 23, 2015), Figure 3 Diego-San's Expressions: CC BY 4.0 International, via PLOS ONE

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

toddler-like robot, Diego San: Usage restrictions -- "Please credit David Hanson/Machine Perception Laboratory," via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/646462; (EurekAlert! news release @ https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/675653); (former URL @ http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/99738.php?from=306867)

Diego San's expressions, smiling and unsmiling; Paul Ruvolo, Daniel Messinger and Javier Movellan, "Infants Time Their Smiles to Make Their Moms Smile," PLoS ONE, vol. 10, issue 9 (published Sep. 23, 2015), Figure 3 Diego-San's Expressions: CC BY 4.0 International, via PLOS ONE @ http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136492

For further information:

"Babies time their smiles to make their moms smile in return." EurekAlert! > Public Releases. Sept. 23, 2015.
Available @ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uoc--btt092215.php

Patringenaru, Ioana. "Babies Time Their Smiles to Make Their Moms Smile in Return." UC San Diego News Center > Press Release. Sept. 23, 2015.
Available @ http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/babies_time_their_smiles_to_make_their_moms_smile_in_return

Ruvolo, Paul, Daniel Messinger and Javier Movellan. “Infants Time Their Smiles to Make Their Moms Smile.” PLOS ONE, Sept. 23, 2015.
Available @ http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136492