#antarctic peninsula map

[night-lie]

[doctorlavender]

Antarctic Peninsula | Overwatch

[cancityforge]

Overwatch 2 Maps: Antarctic Peninsula

[windriverdelta]

Climate of ASOIAF and its interaction with geography

It is notable that despite the multiyear seasons that per Martin aren't due to physical phenomena, Planetos has an otherwise very Earth-like atmospheric circulation pattern - colder towards the poles, warmer to the equator, with a girdle of storms around the poles that move eastward, and tropical storms that hit Westeros from the southeast during autumn.

Hereby I'll hypothesize that a) the Lands of Always Winter have a size between Greenland and Antarctica, probably closer to the latter, b) the Narrow Sea has a warm northward ocean current, b) the Doom of Valyria didn't cause a volcanic winter, but changes in geography might have, c) the Planetosi equator runs from the Summer Isles westward through the Sunset Sea, the Saffron Straits and Jade Sea all the way to Sothoryos, w/o an "Americos" or Ulthos in the way and d) a continent between Essos and Westeros is almost certainly much smaller than Westeros if it exists at all.

:readmore:

For the record, I am assuming a continental configuration similar to, but with differences explained below, Werthead's in the Atlas of Ice and Fire blog, notwithstanding that as a Mercator projection it makes the Lands of Always Winter too large - and as I argue below, too small and with Ulthos incorrectly intersecting the equator:

The first thing to note is that per GRRM the Lands of Always Winter are probably larger than Greenland. In fact, given that the northernmost ice-free areas mentioned seem to correspond to the 70th meridian, it's possible that it has an area comparable to Antarctica. So that map might undersell their extent. The fact that the soggy Neck and the stormy Bite are located at around 50 degrees north might support this evaluation, since in the real world the Antarctic storm belt is centered at about that latitude. If we assume that Bran III AGOT was describing the Frozen Shore when he speaks of a "frozen shore", this might imply that permanent ice extends to 60 degrees north. The Thenn and Milkwater valleys might be equivalent to the McMurdo Dry Valleys, then. Granted, a somewhat smaller extent is also possible, depending on how far south sea ice extends in Westeros. Martin has also said that Essos does not extend to the far North; that is, the Shivering Sea surrounds the Lands of Always Winter like the Southern Ocean surrounds Antarctica, except that the North interrupts the ocean at Westeros.

Now there is a thing in Antarctica that doesn't seem to exist in Planetos: The Amundsen Sea Low. This is a semipermanent storm system that forms where storms running around Antarctica pile up against the Antarctic peninsula, and is one of the reasons why sailing conditions at Cape Horn are so treacherous. Given that the North is almost certainly a more effective block than the Drake Passage/Antarctic Peninsula, one might expect the "Sunset Sea Low" to be even more potent.

On the contrary, it seems like weather conditions west of the North are much calmer, with only sparse references to storms. That means that the "Sunset Sea Low" is weaker than the Amundsen storm system. This tells us a few things about Planetos:

There is probably no large continent west of Westeros. A smaller and/or mountainous continent in the middle of the storm track would weaken storms passing through. A large one conversely would spill cold air during winter and deflect warm sea currents (think the Gulf Stream), strengthening downstream storms. So we can assume that any "Americos" is no larger than Australia.

Warm oceans are distributed in a certain way. In the real world, the Amundsen Sea Low strengthens when water temperatures in the Atlantic are warm, and weakens when they are warm in the Indian and East Pacific. With the caveat that this assumes an Earth-like high altitude wind pattern in Planetos, this might tell us that water temperatures southwest of Westeros and in the Jade Sea are warmer than elsewhere along the equator - and warmer than the seas east of the Saffron Straits.

However, Corlys Velaryon's claim to have seen Elissa Farman's ship in Asshai - Elissa Farman travelled west of Westeros - suggests that there is an open oceanic connection from the Summer Isles westward to the Saffron Straits and thence into the Jade Sea. In fact, I think it's likely that the Saffron Straits extend along the equator and let warm water from the Sunset Sea drain into the Jade Sea. This would also explain the clockwise winds in the northern Jade Sea mentioned by sailors, since the trade winds from the Sunset Sea would be funnelled along the equator through the Jade Sea and turn clockwise like the monsoon into Yi Ti. Some of the warm water would spill through the Cinnamon Straits and Jade Gates into the eastern Summer Sea, forming a second "warm water pool".

Now onto the Narrow Sea. Given that westerly winds blow along the Shivering Sea, they would tend to push water eastward, lowering water levels around Braavos and driving a northward ocean current in the Narrow Sea. The warm water cooling and evaporating as it heads north would cause it to sink, forming a thermohaline circulation akin to that of the Atlantic Ocean. This would make the Narrow Sea much warmer than the Sunset Sea, and would amplify hurricane activity around the Stepstones.

In this context, it's interesting to discuss the effects the Doom of Valyria had on climate. Given that Valyria is never described as an archipelago pre-Doom and that the Doom caused an intense tsunami to its east, it's reasonable to assume that the entire archipelago is a volcanic caldera. One much larger than any volcano of Earth, probably more akin to the largest volcanoes of Mars. Its formation probably wouldn't lead to a "volcanic winter", however; volcanic winters don't scale up with the size of eruption and the involvement of all that water would weaken the cooling effect. It's reasonable to discuss the effects that the formation of the Smoking Sea and the other straits had on Planetos' climate, though: The boiling water and additional pathways for Jade Sea water to reach west would cause the Narrow and eastern Summer Sea to become warmer. This would increase precipitation over Westeros, Essos and Sothoryos (possibly explaining the rise of the Hoare-era Ironborn conquerors, Dothraki and decline of Gogossos) and storminess in the Stormlands (possibly explaining their decline during Arrec's rule).

[starrygalazy]

Ok taking a break from TADC and going back to Overwatch lore, here's something I've wanted to talk about for a while.

Antarctic Peninsula Labs map, yeah?

This is the symbol on the blue side, aka the cryonics side.

It's also Mei's ultimate symbol.

Now look at this:

This is the symbol on the green side. Which is hydroponics lab.

I can't find this symbol anywhere else- though, it looks like something of Null Sector, which considering my favorite theory that Null Sector was involved in the deaths of the E:A team, is a DARKKK hint. Also, here's everyone's specialty in E:A:

Mei: Climatology

Oparah: Cryonics

Torres: Cryonics

Arrhenius: Climatology

MacReady: Engineering

Adams: Researcher

Notice that NONE of them specialize in hydroponics. However, that may go hand in hand with, say Climatology, but still. They might all work on it, but they don't specialize in it.

I keep wondering if it could be a hint at a hero in the future, based solely on the fact the other symbol is Mei's ult. It just absolutely baffles me- and I hope to GOD Blizzard isn't just being lazy but, knowing them they probably aren't and there's some significance behind this.

And before I go, Another thing I noticed:

This is a symbol on the blue team spawn, aka the cryonics research lab.

I can't find either of these symbols or any discussion about them anywhere. Anyone have some ideas abt them? (i wrote this when sleepy so I may have more to add onto it later)

[wildissylupus]

I think it's also worth pointing out with the Antarctic Ecopoint is that in the new-ish map Antarctic Peninsula, one of the three points the that map is a stranded ship. iirc according to some official source, that boat was an attempted attempt to rescue the Ecopoint team, but failed due to those same weather conditions.

Yeah that's probably what it is, as they do mention there were attempts to save the team. The storm in the book is classified as a megastorm, which considering the state of the OW Universes climate, would probably be worse then what we classify as a megastorm.

I honestly really like that they clarified that rescue attempts were made, because for awhile there was a bit of an implication that the Antarctica team was just left there. Mostly due to the lack of information, the writer actually telling us "no there were rescue attempts" is very reliving to me.

[betty-boom]

temptation tuesday...

...is for straying further from god (the tattoo shop soulmates fic that i'm meant to be working on).

some of the things i'm itching to write at all times tho:

demon eddie - shannon took chris to LA where they met a friendly firefighter that helped them out through thick and thin for absolutely no reason until he's shannon's closest friend. with eddie gone, shannon doesn't want chris to ever fall into the diaz parents hands so she makes buck chris' guardian in case of her death. by the time she does have her accident, eddie is KiA in afghanistan and has come back through a combo of a violent death and his own perceived sins as what he assumes is a demon to find the son he abandoned buddie budget hallmark fic - basically inspired by those stupid mobile puzzle games where buck inherits an estate from a distant relative he never knew and finds an attractive jack-of-all-trades handyman (and his adorable son) who live on the grounds buddie inspired by overwatch's antarctic peninsula map - the futuristic au where they're posted on the antarctic research base with a small team of scientists. buck's the resident chief security officer and the welcoming committee for new arrivals, such as the new medical officer with a shady past that definitely didn't think his new posting (and the extreme weather) through

that last one was originally meant to be a tarlos fic, but my motivation for them kinda dwindled so i am def working on changing that outline

[nitewrighter]

when lifeweaver pulls mei he’ll say “my favourite climatologist” and now i think the pairing is cute. iceweaver? meiflower?

Iceweaver or Meiran could be cute...He also has the voiceline, "Such a tragedy what happened here... poor Doctor Zhou..." on the Antarctic Peninsula map

Also I like the combo of cute and disheveled Mei with "Definitely spent over an hour on his eyebrows" Niran.

[purplekoop]

Need to do another chart or something of what OW heroes do and don't have a corresponding map (either for country of origin, character-specific connection, or both), and what maps lack any corresponding heroes.

For instance, you could consider Mei's map for a long time to be Lijang Tower since it's from her home country, but she doesn't have any specific ties to it besides it being China. On the other hand, she's not from Antarctica, but her story is much more heavily tied to Antarctic Peninsula and Ecopoint Antarctica.

Moira is an interesting case because her "home" map is meant to be Oasis, but she's not from Iraq. There's also no Ireland map as of now, so it's a weird sort of mismatch. There's also no Netherlands map, but Horizon Lunar Colony works well enough as Sigma's map in lieu of anything more specific.

I may also count maps as fitting a hero if they have any sort of important tangential connection, such as Dorado being the setting of Soldier 76's cinematic.

The reason I thought about this is because I once again noticed Ilios is one of the game's most iconic maps, yet there's never been a Greek hero. Because Lucio was without a Brazil map until recently, people would joke that Ilios is his map anyways since. Yknow. Hole.

We HAVE seen heroes be added for countries that had a map, but no corresponding hero, most recently of course being Lifeweaver, finally giving the arcade-only Thailand map Ayuttaya a hero to call its own. Before that was Orisa, finally giving a character to call the unique locale of Numbani home a while after the game's initial launch.

Whether it's heroes before maps, maps before heroes, or one without the other, it's definitely the kind of niche thing I love to hyperanalyze. The most productive possible use this could help achieve is to possibly predict some future maps (shoot, we know maps very specifically for Symmetra and Torbjorn are on the way, just delayed because 2CP sucks and they're figuring something else out for them right now) or heroes (not the first to say that Colesseo and Esperanca are hella sus, and I won't be the last). But really I think if I don't make or edit some kind of arbitrary list or chart of information for 48 hours then my body stops making blood or something, so frankly this is just normal.

[xtruss]

A bald eagle arrives to steal a perch on a tree log that offers a strategic view of the shoreline at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Alaska. When other eagles drag freshly caught salmon in from the water, these bystanders swoop in to take a share. "Hours of observing their patterns and behavior helped me capture moments like these,” says photographer Karthik Subramaniam, a software engineer with a passion for wildlife photography. Photograph By Karthik Subramaniam

In May 2021, the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted in the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland for the first time in over six thousand years. The lava flow continued for six months, spreading hard black rock across the landscape. It was, says Riten Dharia, who captured this image, "an exhibition of the raw and awesome power of nature." Photograph By Riten Dharia

King penguins crowd together in the viewfinder of Rhez Solano on the beaches of Gold Harbour in South Georgia. The island sits in the remote southern Atlantic Ocean, not far from Antarctica, and hosts some 25,000 breeding pairs of king penguins, along with gentoo penguins, and elephant seals. Photograph By Rhez Solano

There are around 4,500 salt wells terraced into the hillside at the Salt Mines of Maras in Peru. The archaeological record shows that salt extraction likely began here before the Inca Empire, perhaps as far back as 500 AD. Today that tradition continues with the families who own wells, each of which produces some 400 pounds of salt per month. “The salt wells receive water through channels sourced by a salty underground spring nearby and once the water evaporates, the crystallized salt remains,” says An Li, who captured this picture. “Here, a salt miner is using a wooden rake to extract the salt." Photograph By An Li

Asiilbek, a nomadic Kazakh eagle hunter, preps his golden eagle, Burged, for a horseback hunt in the grasslands outside of Bayan-Ölgii, the westernmost province of Mongolia. The eagle’s training begins when fledglings are captured from their cliff edge nests and taught how to hunt for hare, fox, and even deer. The tradition stretches back 3,000 years. “For this image, I was lying on my stomach in the prone position looking through the electronic viewfinder at the edge of the stream,” says photographer Eric Esterle. “The ground shook as Asiilbek's horse passed less than a few feet away, splashing me with ice cold water. I remember covering my camera with my body and putting my head down.” Photograph By Eric Esterle

On a road trip through the Austrian Alps, Alex Berger spotted a one-lane road that wound into the mountains and looped back on the map. He followed it alongside a small stream lined with walls of forest when he spotted this golden tree blooming from between the trunks. There’s “a fantasy-ish inspired dimension for me,” says Berger, “which gives me goosebumps.” Photograph By Alex Berger

Sometimes a sleepless night is key to great photography. At approximately 3:40 a.m. on a frigid summer morning, photographer W. Kent Williamson snapped this image from Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. From across the still water, he could see a line of headlights as weary climbers approached the peak’s 14,411-foot summit—the culmination of a multi-day climb. "The night sky was unusually clear, and the Milky Way could be seen just above the mountain,” Williamson says. “I was surprised to see how bright the climbers’ lanterns were.” Photograph By W. Kent Williamson

From Frozen Memories: Rare Antarctic Expedition images! A royal penguin rookery at Nuggets Beach on Macquarie Island. Photographer and adventurer Frank Hurley went on multiple voyages but his best-known images were taken when the Endurance was crushed in the ice during explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 expedition. Photograph: Frank Hurley

From Frozen Memories: Rare Antarctic Expedition images! The Terra Nova held up in pack ice during Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pole. Photograph: Herbert George Ponting

[thetoxicgamer]

Overwatch 2 Season 4 Release Date, New Support Hero, and Map Changes

Even if the release of Overwatch 2 season 4 is still some time off, planning ahead is always a good idea. Like with every season in Blizzard's hero shooter, we can anticipate a brand-new battle pass packed with a variety of unique skins and other cosmetics as well as a number of quality-of-life adjustments to make the live service experience engaging and exciting. After the barrage of changes implemented during season 3, we already know that the Overwatch 2 season 4 release date will continue to refine competitive matchmaking and the ranks system. We can also anticipate the scheduled mid-season Overwatch 2 balance patches, which are sure to shake up our Overwatch 2 tier list. That said, there’s still plenty of new content to unpack ahead of the Overwatch 2 season 4 release date, so here’s everything coming to the free PC game. Overwatch 2 season 4 release dateThe Overwatch 2 season 4 release date is expected to begin on April 11, 2023. Overwatch 2 operates on a nine-week seasonal rotation, so while season 4 is yet to be officially announced, our forecast date follows the precedent established by the previous three seasons. Overwatch 2 season 4 new support heroBlizzard has maintained their ongoing focus on support heroes, confirming that the latest hero arriving in Overwatch 2 season 4 will join the current pool of Overwatch 2 support heroes. Unfortunately, we don’t currently know whether this hero has previously appeared in the FPS game’s extensive lore, and Blizzard remains remarkably tight-lipped. In terms of abilities, both Kiriko and Ramattra have incorporated elements of other Overwatch 2 roles within their kit, and game director Aaron Keller has teased that the new support hero may also bring all-new mechanics to switch up the meta. As with the previous heroes released in the sequel, we can expect to unlock this latest hero via the upcoming Overwatch 2 battle pass. Overwatch 2 season 4 release date: The Antarctic Peninsula, an icy wasteland featuring an icebreaker ship, that debuted in the hero shooter for season 3. Overwatch 2 season 4 map changesFollowing the debut of the Antarctic Peninsula Control map in season 3, no new maps have been announced for Overwatch 2 season 4. However, map pools are set to be removed in an effort to expand the roster and mitigate the prevalence of certain map types, offering more availability from map selection in general. Blizzard has previously expressed its intention to alternate new heroes and maps, so we anticipate that the next map to debut in the multiplayer game will coincide with Overwatch 2 season 5. That’s all we know about the upcoming season ahead of the Overwatch 2 season 4 release date. Once again, we still have no word on the Overwatch 2 PvE mode, though it remains a firm fixture on Blizzard’s 2023 roadmap. There’s plenty we can expect to discover closer to the time – including mythic skins and events – so start saving up those Overwatch 2 credits and coins if you’re desperate for a new look for your favourite Overwatch 2 characters. In the meantime, check out more of the best PC games you can get stuck into while you wait for the new season. Read the full article

[iilssnet]

About Ross Sea, facts and maps

The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who visited this area in 1841. To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and Victoria Land, to the east Roosevelt Island and Edward VII Peninsula in Marie Byrd Land, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, and is about 200 miles (320 km) from the South Pole. Its boundaries and area have been defined by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as having an area of 637,000 square kilometres (246,000 sq mi). The circulation of the Ross Sea is dominated by a wind-driven ocean gyre and the flow is strongly influenced by three submarine ridges that run from southwest to northeast. The circumpolar deep water current is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto the continental shelf at certain locations. The Ross Sea is covered with ice for most of the year.

What is special about the Ross Sea?

It contains rare and vulnerable benthic species such as unique sponges that live for up to 500 years, breeding grounds and habitats for Antarctic toothfish, and other areas of importance for ecosystem integrity. What lives in the Ross Sea?

The Ross Sea is abundant with whales and seals. Killer Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Leopard Seals, Crabeater Seals and Ross Seals can be expected during our Ross Sea voyages. What is happening in the Ross Sea? In a climate change related phenomenon, these winds are increasing in speed and frequency. Thus, the Ross Sea is producing more sea ice than ever before, at least for the time being. Surrounded on all sides by hundreds of kilometers of floating ice, pockets of open water teem with life. Why is the Ross Sea called the last ocean? South of New Zealand and deep in the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean, the 1.9 million square-mile Ross Sea is sometimes called the "Last Ocean" because it is largely untouched by humans. Why does the Ross Sea not freeze? The Ross Ice Shelf is considered more stable, at present, than many of West Antarctica's other floating shelves—and this observation could help explain that: if a few inches of sea water periodically freezes onto the bottom of its ice, this could buffer it from thinning more rapidly. Is the Ross Sea cold? The waters of the Ross Sea are a chilling -1.5°C and yet the depths remain unfrozen because the ocean's salty water lowers the freezing point. Most organisms would freeze to death in waters so cold, yet the Ross Sea is filled with life. How deep is the Ross Sea?

The Ross Sea is relatively shallow, and it accounts for up an area that is approximately 960,000 square km (370,000 square miles). In many areas, the Ross Sea does not extend down more than 300 meters (985 feet) to the sea floor, but the southwestern section reaches a depth of 914 meters (3,000 feet). Who owns the Ross Sea? At least ten mammal species, six bird species and 95 fish species are found here, as well as many invertebrates, and the sea remains relatively unaffected by human activities. New Zealand has claimed that the sea comes under its jurisdiction as part of the Ross Dependency. Read the full article

[emmaotoole]

Ontario lake among finalists as scientists prepare to mark onset of the Anthropocene Epoch

Crawford Lake in Milton, Ont., is seen by a team of Canadian scientists as a kind of natural archive of evidence of humanity's impact on the Earth since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The lakebottom sediments also preserve traces of pre-contact Indigenous communities living along the lake shore. [Photo © Capital Current]

This piece was originally published on Capital Current. You can view it here.

Scientists from around the world are on the cusp of choosing a natural landmark to represent the point in Earth’s history when human activity began to significantly impact the planet.

A small lake in Milton, Ont., is one of 12 locations from around the world nominated to symbolize the start of the Anthropocene Epoch, a proposed new time period in the planet’s geological history typified by humanity’s unmistakable impact on the land, water and air.

Traces of pollution beginning with the Industrial Revolution, for example, as well as the enduring signature of 20th century nuclear bomb tests, are among the markers scientists can detect in the lake-bottom sediments at Crawford Lake and at other sites vying to become the so-called “Golden Spike” representing the onset of the Anthropocene.

Crawford Lake’s competitors range from Flinders Reef in Australia to the Antarctic Peninsula. The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), made up of members of the  International Union of Geological Sciences, announced the candidates at a conference in Berlin earlier this year.

Paul Hamilton, a scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature and a researcher working on Crawford Lake’s pitch, stresses the global importance of determining the Golden Spike.

“It will be giving the starting point — a date, a time and a place — where we as the human species began to see our contribution to the disturbance of the Earth,” said Hamilton.

Francine McCarthy, a professor of earth sciences at Brock University – the main institution spearheading the case for Crawford Lake – is a voting member of the Anthropocene Working Group. She says the lake shows records of both global and local magnitude — proof of nearby Indigenous settlements that lived on the shores of the lake thousands of years ago, alongside evidence of wide-scale modern events such as the Industrial Revolution.

“The global impact was felt in this little rural, isolated lake,” she said.

Once a site is determined to be the “poster child” for the epoch, McCarthy says, the Anthropocene will be on track to becoming a part of the official geological time scale.

Tim Patterson, a researcher and scientist at Carleton University — another one of the main institutions contributing to the research on Crawford Lake — calls the geological significance of the lake “mind-boggling.”

What makes Crawford Lake so significant, Patterson says, is the way its layers interact with one another. It’s a deep, meromictic lake, meaning the layers of water don’t intermix: the top layer mixes with help from the environment – such as animal contact, rain or wind – while the bottom layer is more dense and does not combine with the top. The separation allows sediments to sink to the lake’s bottom, where they gather in distinct layers and become preserved, forming a geological snapshot of history.

McCarthy describes the sediments as being “seasonally laminated,” comparing the occurrence to the “rings inside a tree.” She and her team have spent the past four years understanding why this happens.

At Patterson’s lab, he and his research team collect evidence of the layered sediments at the bottom of Crawford Lake using a freeze core, a method commonly used to investigate lake bed sediments.

“The freeze cores are basically long chambers. You fill them up with dry ice, alcohol and slurry. Then you pound it all together, you seal it up, and you lower it to the bottom of the lake,” Patterson said.

The Anthropocene: Inside the Quest for the Human Epoch at Crawford Lake, Ontario, a video featuring scientists from Carleton University involved in extracting a lakebottom core sample during the winter at Crawford Lake. [Courtesy of Carleton University]

“Because dry ice is very cold, the lake sediment freezes to the surface of it. You pull it out after about half an hour or so and then you have a beautifully preserved, perfect record of the lake bottom sediment.”

“We are companions in that way, scientists and Indigenous people,” said Catherine Támmaro, an artist, Indigenous Elder and seated Faith Keeper of the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation. Támmaro’s ancestors are believed to have lived on Crawford Lake many hundreds of years ago.

Crawford Lake’s research team has also been working alongside local Indigenous people to preserve the land’s rich history in their science.

Támmaro says one of the appeals of working with the research team was their “scientific language and worldview,” adding that “how it sits next to Indigenous understandings is a beautiful thing.”

“What prompted me to start making art was an absolutely unquenchable urge to connect with questions that I had about my own existence,” said Támmaro. “Crawford Lake is a huge connecting point to my people’s past, to my history and to cultivating an awareness of who I am through the land, through the water in that space.”

Carleton Journalism · Francine McCarthy on the Golden Spike

Támmaro’s art piece was inspired by Crawford Lake and the oral legend the BeadSpitter. She says the piece is symbolic of the wampum belt, a belt created to mark agreements, record treaties and disputes between Indigenous communities. Támmaro says this art piece records a conversation between her and the lake.

While the sediments – shown in her art using beads – represent time, they are also a recording of the “spiritual presence of the lake.”

On top of that, the lake’s record shows evidence of Indigenous peoples’ presence through agriculture.

“There’s corn pollen in the sediments that reflect our presence there,” Támmaro said. “It anchors us in that spot in a way that perhaps nothing else could, other than memory or other people’s records.”

Crawford Lake’s ability to preserve sediments makes it an excellent way to recognize human activity over time, Hamilton explains, stating that “there’s a very good record” of especially the past 600 to 700 years.

During these years, the record shows three distinct periods of human impact: the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation settlement in the 1400s, shown through agricultural remnants; the colonization of North America in the 1800s, which saw deforestation and land alterations and the industrialization of the modern world, beginning in the 1950s and continuing today.

“Since the 1950s, the planet has been different than it had been for probably millions of years before then. So the changes since the mid-20th century are of a greater magnitude than the end of the Ice Age, or any big things that happened in the last few million years,” said McCarthy.

In comparison to other sites, Hamilton continues, Crawford Lake is the only one that is close enough to where these major changes were happening. Contrastingly, scientists at other locations, such as the ones in China and Antarctica, argue their sites’ importance by noting their distance from the changes. “(They) would be saying, you know, we’re far away from the industrialization and we could still see (its impacts),” said Hamilton.

The search for the Golden Spike is a hard one, though it is not the end of the AWG’s journey.

Hamilton explains that the first step as a scientist is getting your site chosen as the representative site for new human-shaped geological epoch.

Traditionally, locations chosen as a Golden Spike will have a physical metal spike placed in them to formally recognize the start of an era in geological history. For example, the marker for the Ediacaran Period in Earth history — which began about 635 million years ago and lasted nearly 100 million years — can be found on a cliff of exposed rock in South Australia. The unique features of the site, including certain rock formations and embedded fossils, are representative of the geological processes and long-extinct animals of that time in the planet’s history.

If Crawford Lake is selected as the Golden Spike for the Anthropocene era, a spike would be placed on a publicly displayed core that has been removed from the lake bottom.

The second step, Hamilton says, is to present as much information as possible to ensure that everybody, including scientists working on different sites, are on board to designate a new epoch called the Anthropocene.

If Crawford Lake is not chosen, its team will continue to collaborate with other scientists involved in trying to define the epoch using the winning site.

Hamilton says even if the team working on Crawford Lake’s proposal loses, “they will still try to help and research and fight to establish the start of the Anthropocene,” he said. “This is just the start.”

“I expect all of the other sites will be doing the same thing,” Hamilton said, noting that this is the ultimate goal. Scientists are rooting for a site to be chosen, he says, whether it’s theirs or not, “because the human disturbance now is so great that we just can’t avoid talking about it anymore.”

Voting will begin Sunday, Dec. 18, but it is a long process and deciding the winner could last until next year.

[elbiotipo]

I'm not kidding when I say worldbuilding is extremely easy and fun, you can make easily all sorts of new fantasy worlds on like half an hour, follow this guide:

take a rectangle, draw a line through the middle, that's your equator, draw another two lines south and north, those are your tropics, draw another two lines further north (you can see a real world map to guide yourself), those are your arctic/antarctic circles

Draw continents, any shape you want, it's better to combine large soft blobs (like Africa or South America) with coastlines full of peninsulas and islands (like Europe or South Asia). Draw some island chains in between where you feel it's appropiate. Some inland seas like the Mediterranean are good too.

Decide where you will place mountain ranges. In real life, they are where oceanic-continental plates (Andes) or continental-continental plates (Himalayas, Alps), collide. These are very important.

Place rivers, just the most important ones. The places where you place big river systems are gonna be big plains.

Now, the fun part. With your first step, you've already decided where arctic, temperate, and tropical climates are there. You can mark it as letters in your map. Mountain ranges, of course, are colder.

Here's the tricky part: vegetation: vegetation mostly follows precipitation, and precipitation is mostly decided by altitude and distance from the ocean. The interior of your continents should be dry with plains and deserts; the coasts should be rainy with forests and plains. But remember, if you have a mountain range, that's a rain shadow! Picture the wind coming from the ocean with rain, and it should get less rainy when it "clashes" with a mountain range, with the other side a desert.

Deserts are tricky to place, but as a quick cheat, you can place them in your tropic lines. They can even border oceans: see Australia and the Kalahari.

WHEN IN DOUBT, LOOK AT SIMILAR AREAS ON A REAL WORLD VEGETATION/CLIMATE MAP. THIS IS WHY DRAWING THE EQUATOR AND THE TROPICS IS SO IMPORTANT AND SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST STEP ALWAYS.

Now you already have a quick and dirty vegetation map, you're halfway there! Don't worry if there are some doubtful areas, real world geography can be weird.

Now for the REAL fun stuff (if you aren't having fun already, I sure am): making civilizations!

You have to decide center of origins for your domesticated crops and animals. Basically, every early civilization had its own "package" of staple crops and animals that are still used today.

With this, you can decide:

the primary civilizations of your world

roughly how different animals and vegetation are distributed, if you want an Earth-like world (for an quicker method, you can apply the biogeographical realms to your own continents as you wish)

A quick cheat sheet of centers of origin, what they have, and where you can place them:

(this is just a quick thing, do read the article it's so much better)

Middle Eastern: wheat, barley, cows, sheep, goats. Place them in a dry area with lots of rivers (the Fertile Crescent!)

East Asia: rice, soybean, oranges, pigs, horses. Place it in a rainy temperate area bordering the tropics.

Mesoamerica: Corn, beans, pumpkin, chilli, tomato. Place it in a dry area near the tropics.

Andes: Potato, quinoa, llamas. Place it in a mountain range.

Tropical South America: manioc, peanuts, pineapple. In the tropics.

Tropical Asia: Rice, banana, sugar cane, beans. In the tropics, again.

or, just straight up use this fucking map, it's so much better:

You can mix and match the crops, animals, and such as you wish, and you should definitively read the wiki page on center of origins and see some other less known crops.

If you have non-human civilizations, of course they'll have different packages. Carnivore or subterranean civilizations might be very different. But at this point, your imagination should be flying already and I don't have to hold your hand here.

Now, you have a rough map of your world at the dawn of agriculture! Congratulations! Depending on the historical period you're setting your world, you can start to draw countries and civilizations. This is where it gets complicated again. I might have to make a part two... But just with this, you already have a new world to use as you wish.

I'll make a worked example later to show you how easy it is if you don't believe me.

[mapsontheweb]

San Francisco Archipelago

A map showing what San Francisco would like after a catastrophic disintegration of the Antarctic ice cap, transforming the city from a peninsula into an archipelago. By @burritojustice and Brian Sloat, 2012

via @rumseymapcenter

[tevinterdays]

Was anybody going to tell me Thedas has two moons or was I supposed to find that out while trying to research trade routes myself?

Anyway, I have thoughts about that and spent far, far too much of my night on this.

Laying it out:

We know the second moon is named Satina, but since we don’t know the name of the other, I’m going to call them the primary moon (big boy) and second moon (little guy) when I do refer to them directly. They would have different orbital periods (which should affect the calendar more, but whatever) and both have an equatorial orbit (like our moon does!). These are presumptions, but they’re also how things usually work. Especially considering that Thedas is habitable. That’s important to maintain.

Also, whenever I look at maps of Thedas in detail, I’m reminded that this has to be a teeny tiny planet. That’s not really relevant to this post, but it’s weird to think about.

The main thing covered here will be the effect of this on the tides, but first:

Flavor:

There are two moons in the sky! That’s neat and cool to look at! They would both reflect the sun’s light, so that would make nights brighter. This would have evolutionary effects, potentially, but that’s enough of a technicality in the fast and loose world of Thedas that I’ll pass it by right now. There would be more eclipses, which is also neat. Unfortunately, we never see both of them at once in the games, but here’s a mod to have two moons overhead in the Hissing Wastes.

Tidal effect:

This part is really long. Under the cut!

The primary moon, which we see in the sky in the Hissing Wastes, is either very large or very close in comparison to Earth’s moon (proportionally). Since Earth’s moon is improbably large, it’s more likely that it’s very close, which actually has a more significant effect on its tidal pull than size would (proximity > size; we see this IRL with how minimal the Sun’s affect is on Earth’s tides). The second moon is presumably smaller and further away, but its proximity still has a significant effect on tides.

Most of the time they would balance each other out to a relatively normal cycle, but high tides would be higher on average. Not catastrophically, but higher – and dramatically so when the moons enter orbital resonance (same place in orbit at the same time) and both of their gravitational pulls have affect at the same time!

Initially I thought that that would greatly impact coastal settlements and trade hubs, and it would, but not many that we’re super familiar with. Tides are greater with greater bodies of water, and a lot of the trade centers we see are around the Waking and Shining Seas (Kirkwall, Highever, etc.). They’re just little guys. Western Thedas is mostly landlocked as well, and all of Thedas is sub-equatorial; tidal pull with an equatorial moon decreases the further you are from the equator, since you’re further from the moon(s).

Let's look at some maps! Mostly using the map from Tevinter Nights for reference here:

Cities that aren't named are marked by little symbols that look like houses. I'll give crops of each location for a visual as we go, because everything is small.

Other major coastal regions:

- Tevinter is predominantly coastal at this point in history, but the Nocen Sea isn’t enormous; Seheron is quite close on the other side; and the coast around the Arlathan forest isn’t populated.

- The eastern Ander coast is paralleled across the Colean Sea by a Tevinter peninsula, if they actually make use of that coast.

- Antiva isn’t notably populated north of the White Spire (the Antivan mountain, not the Orlesian Circle Tower, which has given me some grief); its coastal population is on the Rialto Bay.

- Eastern Ferelden has a significant amount of coastline, but the Brecilian Forest blocks most of it off, and Gwaren (city south of the Forest) is far south enough that it’s probably bordering the planet’s Antarctic circle.

- Those little northwestern Fereldan islands don't have coastal focuses. Image from the wiki used because Alamar's tiny.

- Northern Seheron would be affected. We don’t know the concentrations of Seheron’s population. Much of Par Vollen would also be affected and the same holds true for them, but their technology (extremely seaworthy vessels, extreme perseverance, etc.) and cultural mindset lends to the idea that they would use the tides to their advantage strategically, as well as take advantage of the major boons spring tide would have on fishing! When the tide is coming in to its highest, it shakes things up and brings in all the fish.

- Rivain isn’t notably populated east of its dominating mountains. Its major population centers are in the Southeast, on the Rialto Bay. Except Llomeryn. Rivain, as descendants of seafaring islanders, would have a long cultural history of being able to deal with this anyway. Why is Llomeryn (little house icon on the east coast of the southern island) on that side? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. It’s fine.

- I’m sure that Estwatch is doing just fine. They can handle themselves.

- Wycome is a major fishing hot-spot, taking advantage of the fishy boons the tides provide.

- Hercinia is coping, I guess.

In regards to coastal port cities on the Amaranthine ocean – the largest body of water on the map – a special situation may exist where they have ports designed to accommodate the very high high tides when they come in (how often would depend on the moons’ orbital periods and how often they are in orbital resonance). I’m sure there are examples of docks and ports designed like this from real life, and if anyone has info on that, hit me up.

This concludes the post about the implications of two moons in Thedas that nobody asked for!

Huge thanks to @feastforworms and @unshatters-your-teacup for science and input and humoring me on this.