Sjukov

23/06/2020

On March 25, 2015, a fleet of the Volvo Ocean Race circumnavigating the globe, heading for Brazil, crossed Point Nemo, a unique, mystical, remotest place in the world’s oceans.

Point Nemo, or Pole of Inaccessibility. Only here you can truly feel lonely and completely divorced from human civilization. There is no other such place on the whole planet Earth where on all four cardinal points the nearest land will be equally and so far away. Exactly 2 688 kilometers, or 1,450 nautical miles, is the distance from Point Nemo to land, in any direction. And then, most of this distant land is uninhabited.

Mystical coincidence: the point is named after the hero of the novel Jules Verne, at the same time from the Latin "nemo" can be translated as "no man" - a suitable name for such a place, is not it?

A scientific fact, from which, however, also blows mysticism: if you are in Point Nemo at the right time of the day and you raise your eyes to the sky, you can clearly see the International Space Station. The distance from the Nemo Point to the ISS orbit is approximately 400 km - closer than from any other place on the planet.

Nemo Point was discovered in 1992 by a Croatian-Canadian engineer named Hrvoje Lukatela using a hyper-spatial computer program. The exact location of Nemo Point: 48 ° 52.6′S, 123 ° 23.6′W. On Google map: link .

About the Volvo Ocean Race around the world

Volvo Ocean Race is a team round-the-world regatta on sailing yachts of the Volvo Ocean 65 class (formerly Volvo 70). It is called the most difficult sailing regatta in the world. This strength test is over 30,000 nautical miles long and nine months long.

Volvo Ocean 65 - single hull single mast yachts designed by Farr Yacht Design with a maximum hull length of 20.37 meters, a waterline of 20.00 meters, a maximum width of 5.60 meters, a maximum draft of 4.78 meters and a false deviation of not more than 45 degrees from the vertical axis. The mast height is 30.30 meters. Dry weight - 12.5 tons. The crew consists of 10 people plus an independent correspondent on board who is not entitled to participate in the management of the yacht.

19/06/2020

About 90% of the total iceberg volume is always under water.
The density of the iceberg is about 10% lower than the density of sea water, so it stays on the surface until it melts.
The word "iceberg" in German means "ice mountain".
On some large and old icebergs, drifting research stations have been located for years by scientists.
Icebergs are formed as a result of the breakaway of a large block of ice from ice shelves in the Arctic and Antarctica ( interesting facts about Antarctica ).
Interestingly, these floating ice mountains can travel vast distances. For example, icebergs from the Arctic sail almost to Bermuda, located at a distance of 4000 km from the place of their formation.
In the modern world, there are projects involving the use of icebergs to supply clean water to the arid regions of the planet.
Icebergs can last for many tens of years.
Huge blocks of ice floating in the ocean pose a danger to shipping. Everyone knows the tragic fate of the English passenger liner Titanic, which collided on April 14, 1912 with a huge iceberg. About 1,500 people died in this disaster. Shortly after this tragedy, the International Ice Patrol was created, which monitors the movement of icebergs and warns vessels of a possible danger. This service is funded by 17 countries.
Some icebergs are huge. For example, in 2000 a giant with an area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers broke away from the Ross Glacier in Antarctica.
Sometimes Antarctic icebergs can be seen in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, that is, more than 5,000 km from the coast of Antarctica ( interesting facts about Rio de Janeiro ).
It is interesting that since the beginning of the work of the ice patrol in the North Atlantic, more than one person has not died from a collision with icebergs.
Icebergs are mostly either white or bluish, and come in soft pinks, especially in the Southern Ocean.
The height of icebergs sometimes reaches 30-35 meters, which is comparable to the height of a 10-storey building.
Since icebergs can damage oil platforms, some oil producers monitor and tow them. Sometimes blocks of ice weighing up to 3-4 million tons are moved in this way.
About 100,000 icebergs constantly float in the coastal waters of Antarctica.
In terms of fresh water content, all icebergs that exist simultaneously in the World Ocean are superior to all rivers and lakes combined ( interesting facts about the hydrosphere ).
On November 12, 1956, the American merchant ship Glacier discovered a record-sized iceberg in the South Pacific, 335 kilometers long and 97 kilometers wide. This is more than the size of the whole of Belgium.
A table-shaped iceberg differs from a pyramidal flat and relatively flat peak. Such icebergs are easily mistaken for islands, especially in high latitudes, and this has already happened more than once.
The iceberg's white color speaks of his youth. As it ages, it turns blue or green, as the air in it is partially replaced by drops of water.
One Canadian company produces drinking water from melted pieces of icebergs that are caught off the coast of Newfoundland.
For safety reasons, icebergs are marked with bright colors, they are monitored from satellites and radio beacons are dropped on them in order to track their movement.
Even an old iceberg, drifting in the sea for years, can melt very quickly if it makes it drift to warmer latitudes.
Lomonosov correctly explained the nature of icebergs back in the 18th century ( interesting facts about Lomonosov ).
Northern icebergs are much more dangerous than southern ones, since they have a habit of descending to latitudes where the main transoceanic routes run.

17/06/2020

Natural beauty

10/06/2020

04/06/2020

Алена Весела Александр Ткаченко