Around the America’s – The Journey Continues - Sailors for the Sea

Around the America’s – The Journey Continues

 December 8, 2011  | By: Oceana

Over the past month, the Around the America’s expedition experienced two great achievements – the publication of its first book and coverage in the Journal of Geophysical Research – all in relation to the circumnavigation of north and south America from June 2009 – May 2010.

The first is the publishing of a beautiful coffee table book entitled: One Island, One Ocean: The Epic Environmental Journey Around the Americas. Together the author Herb McCormick and photographer David Thoreson, who were both on board Ocean Watch for the entire circumnavigation, share their compelling story. Their documentation of the 13 Month journey features the beauty they encountered, the people they met who rely upon the ocean, and the ocean health issues that are ever-present when you live on the water. Trash covered beaches, props tangled in fishing line, and runoff of fertilizer were just some of the problems they observed. You can purchase the book on Amazon.

Also this month, the Pacific Science Center published scientific research from the Around the America’s expedition in the Journal of Geophysical Research. This research was done to help the scientific community to evaluate and understand measurements of tiny particles found in the marine atmospheric boundary layer, the part of the atmosphere that is in direct contact with the ocean. The particles in question, aerosols, scatter and absorb sunlight and therefore have the potential to influence the Earth’s climate. Both the size and the amount of aerosol particles in the marine boundary layer are generally estimated from satellite-based measurements. Because of its path, hugging the coastlines of north and south America, and because of its relatively small boat size (compared to regular research vessels) the 64’ Ocean Watch was able to obtain ship-based measurements of several atmospheric and oceanographic parameters in regions where measurements are rarely available. You can read the full press release  Checking the eye in the sky: do satellites get it right? (PDF) from the Pacific Science Center.

While the journey is over, the legacy of this exciting expedition live on through these two exciting publications. All photographs in this post by David Thoreson.