ISLAND ENCOUNTERS

THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS PROJECT

What is the project?

     The Atlantic Islands Project is an open source project. That means the imputing of data into the project can come from any source; individuals, groups, organizations, institutions. The list of potential sources is unlimited but the project was conceived as a totally independent entity and as such will not affiliate with any source. The project has no affiliations with academic institutions, environmental organizations, government bodies or departments.

      The only organizations that this project has any relationship with are the various offices of Island Encounters and that is only because the company pays the bills, provides the office space and loans the office equipment. If 'Encounter' gains an extra charter because of the project that's a bonus but that is not the raison d'etre for the project. The Atlantic Islands Project is, in all aspects, a not for profit organization. Help given, in whatever form, is acknowledged on the web site but that is the only endorsement the project will make in order to ensure that its independence is not compromised.

     Raw data is the basis of The Atlantic Islands Project. Collection, compilation and dissemination of data are the principal functions undertaken by the project. The raw data is only processed statistically to highlight anomalies* and no conclusions or opinions about the data are generated by the project.

How does the project work?

Collection

     Collecting data, this is the contribution that people can make! The following story illustrates what the project is about and how it works.

     John and Jane Doe, visiting any one of the many islands scattered throughout the Atlantic, will be interacting with that island environment in some way. This imaginary couple could be diving, sailing, trekking or simply having fun. Whatever brought them to the island is not relevant to The Atlantic Islands Project but their presence there is crucial. John and Jane Doe are now ideally positioned to do a little monitoring of the island environment.

     So what did John and Jane Doe do for The Atlantic Islands Project while they were on the island? As a part of their holiday John and Jane hired a local boat to take them to several popular dive sites around the island. The couple were experienced divers and had brought their basic equipment with them. Included in their equipment was the thermometer that John had bought as a 'must have' gadget. On these dives that thermometer was going to have a use. John recorded the sea water temperature at various depths while they dived the different sites and sent the readings to the project. Jane wasn't into gadgets but liked taking pictures, particularly pictures on coral reefs. What Jane sent was some startling pictures of living corals and some depressing pictures of dead corals.

Compilation

     The temperature readings that John Doe sent to The Atlantic Island Project came from a popular island regularly visited by divers. Temperature readings from these same sites had been sent in many times before and fortunately some had been on the same day in previous years. Taken together these pieces of data are beginning to show sea water temperature fluctuations by season and depth but many more readings are needed.

     Janes' pictures of the coral reefs corresponded with other divers pictures from earlier years. Unfortunately not all the content of the pictures corresponded: There was no dead corals in the earlier pictures.

Dissemination

     John could not easily see his contribution to The Atlantic Islands Project. His readings had become charted and graphical displays on the seawater temperature projects web pages. Jane, on the other hand, could point to her picture displayed as part of a before and after snapshot on the web page for the island. But both John and Jane did get mentioned and thanked on the acknowledgements web page.

Why? What's the point?

      We live in a world where almost every dramatic climatic or ecological event that happens immediately generates a plethora of conclusions, opinions and reasons to explain whatever caused the event. These conclusions, opinions and reasons are almost immediately disputed and the mountain of information grows and grows until it becomes meaningless. By the time the discussion moves on from the academic level to become an activist issue every possible senario, ranging from the event being an imminent doomsday indicator to total denial that the event is in any way abnormal or unusual, may be postulated. Once the government agencies and politicians enter into the debate about the event it has already become yesterdays news.

      It is this conjecture about the health of the planet that is becoming the problem and not the solution. Nothing highlights this problem more starkly than the stalled Kyoto Protocol. Every argument in favour of the Protocol is countered by an equally well presented argument against the Protocol and all the arguments are backed up by the mountain of information all sides can present. After all the time used up in endless discussion the only thing that can be said with any certainty is that nobody really knows what is happening to the planet. Opinions abound, conclusions are drawn and recommendations made but the eventual verdict on the Protocol is 'not proven'. The case remains open awaiting more evidence to prove, or disprove, the opinions, conclusions and recommendations made in the Protocol.

     The Atlantic Islands Project does not draw conclusions or state opinions, it gathers evidence! By keeping within its narrowly defined terms of reference it may be possible that the project can eventually compile sufficient quantities of data so that at least some of the conjecture can be taken out of the environmental debates regarding the health and welfare of the planet.

What's special about the Atlantic Islands?

     Taken individually there is nothing that makes an island in the Atlantic Ocean any more special than islands in other oceans. What makes these islands important as monitoring places is the ocean currents that pass by them.

     All the oceans have currents that move huge masses of water around the planet but the Atlantic is somewhat unique because it has two circulations, one in the North Atlantic and the other in the South Atlantic, that exchange heat and cold between the equatorial and the respective polar regions without interruption by other landmasses. These heat exchanging ocean movements, known as gyres, are the major controlling mechanism for much of the climate of the continents that abut the Atlantic Ocean.

     These gyres are made up of several specific currents most of which are unknown by most of the people who lives are dependent on them. The exceptions being the Atlantic Conveyer, better known as the Gulf Stream, in the North Atlantic and, to a lesser extent, the Benguela current in the South Atlantic.

     There is much speculation that these ocean currents are changing (slowing) but the evidence is not substantial and contradictory opinions abound. Opinion about the effects any changes will have on the continents is equally diverse. The subject has even given rise to an apocalyptic motion picture.

     As usual raw data is not available so all the postulated scenarios are possible. This is what makes the islands in the Atlantic Ocean so important as monitoring points that, over time, may indicate what is really happening in this highly complex and vast ecosystem.

What are the various opinions?

     The five linked pages that follow contain collections of articles that highlight the conflicting arguments put forward by a variety of individuals, groups agencies and governments.

     These articles do not reflect in any way the philosophy that is The Atlantic Islands Project. They are included in this introduction to the project merely to illustrated the urgent need to collect large amounts of raw data from which to draw any conclusions about the health, or otherwise, of the planet.

     The broad subjects covered by the articles are bio diversity, habitat, conflicting opinions, pollution and climate change. New articles are added to the lists regularly as they become available. Contributions are welcome!