Everyone loves a long weekend in late summer. But how did this holiday and treasured American tradition come into being?
According to the Department of Labor,
“Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”
The United States National Park Service celebrated it’s 99th birthday this Tuesday, and with that came free admission to all 408 of the parks, monuments, and other landmarks within the NPS system. In celebration, we have included a slideshow with stunning aerial imagery of our beautiful park system. Continue reading →
Posted inAerial photography|Comments Off on Happy 99th Birthday National Park Service!
Animas River Aug. 6, 2015 (Photo: Jerry McBride, AP)
This past Wednesday, a team of EPA employees entered the Gold King Mine near Durango Colorado. According to CNN, instead of pumping and treating the wastewater within the mine, the EPA team accidentally released the contaminated water into the Animas River. As of Monday, the mine had released an estimated 3 million gallons and continued to discharge at a rate of 500 gallons per minute. The EPA waited almost a day to report the spill. Continue reading →
The U.S. Geological Survey and their predecessors have been providing topographic maps of the United States for over 125 years, and have worked to integrate new technologies into their practices along the way.
According to their official website, the U.S. Geological Survey, more commonly known as USGS, was established on March 3, 1879 through a bill signed at the end of the final Congressional session by President Hayes. Since then, USGS programs have focused on recording geologic data on all regions of the U.S. across many disciplines, with topography being one primary focus. USGS has provided topographic maps at varying scales, with the most familiar being the 1:24,000 or 7.5 minute quadrangle map. Throughout time, cartographers at USGS have migrated from hand-drawn maps pulled from field sketching in the late 1800s, to utilizing early electronic instrumentation in the mid-20th century, and are now able to create detailed maps using GIS.
Sample Topographic Map from USGS.gov
This summer, USGS has debuted a new program, topoView, which offers unprecedented accessibility to these topographic maps, or topos, through an easy to use online interface. TopoView allows users to search topos from 1880-2010 anywhere in the U.S. using a sliding timeline bar and straightforward map of the country. Know the exact location you’re looking for, or scale you would prefer? You can also customize your search by entering that information in the respective search areas. If you encounter any issues along the way, USGS has conveniently provided an introductory video to walk you through the process here.
Hannah Weaver
Program Manager
Aerials & Environmental Research hweaver@banksinfo.com
On Monday, July 27, Deepwater Wind took the first steps toward building North America’s first offshore wind farm.
Success in the Deepwater project may lead to larger North American offshore wind harnessing projects in the future.
Deepwater Wind will install the first five offshore North American turbines over the next year off the coast of Rhode Island. This initial build is intended to provide 30-megawatts of wind energy and will primarily serve as a power source for 17,000 nearby homes on Block Island and mainland communities.
While the offshore wind industry has been embraced by European countries, previous attempts at North American offshore wind farms have not yet been successful. This project is different from others in that it already has the backing of state and federal government officials as well as local residents, clearing both regulatory and community concerns more easily. Additionally, this project aims to install five turbines, whereas some previous attempts at reaching this first offshore milestone have aimed at projects with over 100 turbines. The more limited project scope has allowed for easier financing of this initial build.
As is often the case when discussing the wind energy industry, offshore wind farms have experienced opposition from conservationists. Concerns with the offshore wind farms include both whale and bird conservation. However, Deepwater has said it will “do the pile driving only when migrating whales are not in the area,” clearly aiming to ease these concerns.
Deepwater Wind and U.S. officials hope that this installation will be the first step towards expanding the offshore wind energy industry in the North Americas. Resulting larger projects may lead to opportunity for more cost-efficient production and energy capture. World leaders continue to have energy discussions and make commitments to goals of lower emissions. If this project is successful, North American officials may turn to the offshore wind industry as one part of the solution needed to meet these imminent goals.
To read more about the project, check out the articles linked below or visit Deepwater Wind’s Block Island project website.
Meghan Juedeman