New Orleans....Why!?!

This is a topographic map of the city of New Orleans. It has a base map underneath which shows familiar roads and landmarks that separate parts of the city. The different elevation below and above sea level is displayed with different shading colors, dark blue being the lowest and white being the highest. Most of New Orleans is below the sea level which makes me wonder why this city was constructed here in the first place. This city is only allowed to survive because of human ingenuity, yet sometime this fails as was the case during Katrina. In my opinion, New Orleans needs to be relocated to a different area that is not constantly shifting or sinking rapidly into the sea. The Mississippi Delta is also constantly shifting so trying to develop next to such a raw source of power is a pretty dumb idea. To preserve this culture we need to act now and not wait until the city is completely leveled.

Low Lands

This is a topographic bathymetric map that shows the sea floor elevation around the SouthEastern part of the United States. As you can see this map shows the extent of land progression throughout history and displays areas that may be affected by the rising sea water. The map uses color shading to show low-lying lands and the elevation of this land. It is a wonder to me that in the majority of history Florida extended almost all the way to the Bahamas and looked like a square. So it makes me think what our world will look like in 50 and 100 years, and if Florida will be the new Bahamas with small islands scattered around the sunken state. According to this map certain parts of Florida does have higher elevation but for the most part its all extremely close to sea level. This spells catastrophe for South Floridians and those living on barrier islands as extreme measures will need to be taken to relocate and preserve these towns.

Mako movement

http://downloads2.esri.com/support/TechArticles/Marine_Data_Model.pdf
(In case video doesn't work, its under case study downloads Shark time Series)

This is a location series observation map overlaid onto a topographic map. The contour lines show the varying depths off the coast where the shark was tagged. This type of mapping is a way to show a series of recorded instances of a given species with a varying amount of time. It can have varying depths associated to multiple locations thus allowing for the downward and upward movement of the species. 

This map shows the readings from a stomach temperature sensor that was fed to a mako shark. When the shark dives and feeds it ingests water which drops the stomach temperature. The warmest is red and the coolest is the dark blue. This map was recorded over a period of 24 hours and shows how the mako shark dives and comes to the surface to feed. This information can be used to further interpret how these sharks spend their days and what the primarily feed on and at what depth. 

Credit to :
PI Susan Kohin NOAA Southwest fisheries science center
GIS lead: Rich Cosgrove NOAA/SWFSC 

Water vapor map

http://downloads2.esri.com/support/TechArticles/Marine_Data_Model.pdf
In case the video map doesn't work its ElNino in case study downloads.

This is a Station Model map that shows the water vapor in the air covering the Pacific American Coast. It is very interesting because it shows the progression of the weather system we call El Nino in the Pacific throughout the year. As you can see in the beginning of the video, water vapor is extremely thick and covers down to almost Peru and as the year progresses the vapor slowly progresses away from the coast and northernly in the summer months. This weather system happens every other year as water vapor condensation amasses off the coast of Peru in addition to upwelling currents that spur algae blooms. These blooms provide fish the necessary nutrients they need to grow and thrive and is a major part of what runs our oceans.