TIGHAR
Amelia Earhart Search Forum => The Islands: Expeditions, Facts, Castaway, Finds and Environs => Topic started by: Gary LaPook on June 18, 2012, 06:41:35 AM
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According to the U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the World. Volume V, South Pacific Ocean (1979) in the area of the Pacific around Gardner, during the month of July, the temperature stays between 81° F and 84° F for 80% of the time, goes down to 79° F for 10% of the time and all the way up to 86° F for 10% of the time, it never gets any hotter. You can get similar, but less detailed, weather information from the pilot chart available here (http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/NAV_PUBS/APC/Pub107/107jul.pdf).
Maritime climates, especially on small islands, are dominated by the temperature of the surrounding ocean water so have little variation. I've spent a lot of time on South Pacific islands and I don't remember any really hot days (anecdotal.) I posted three years of official weather data for the island of New Guinea here (https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,524.msg6873.html#msg6873) and the highest temperature recorded in July during that three year period at Nadzab (the closest station to Lae) was 86.° F. Nadzab is at almost the same latitude as Gardner. The highest temperature recorded anywhere in New Guinea (12 reporting stations) during that three year period was 95° F and that was in December, the middle of the southern hemisphere summer, and New Guinea is much larger than Gardner and some of the reporting stations are well inland so should have larger deviations from the marine climate.
I am constantly hearing from TIGHAR that the temperatures on Gardner are hellish but that doesn't make any sense meteorologically. So aside from anecdotes, is there official weather data available from the time Gardner was occupied? I would expect the Brits to have gathered this data. Did TIGHAR record such data on its many expeditions?
gl
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Gary
I can't really comment on how the weather observations are collected for the publications you mention, but I'm pretty sure those temperature readings are not taken by instruments that are subject to direct sun, they are the ambient temperature in some sort of controlled environmental recording device.
Here is a sample of the temperature on a typical sunny day at the 7 site, out of the wind, away from the ocean, in the scaevola, and over the coral rubble which can heat up a bit.
I think we can say the local conditions vary. If hacking scaevola in the tropical sun isn't hellish, I don't know what is.
Andrew
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http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2006-08-21-shade-temperature_x.htm
This may help
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Gary
I can't really comment on how the weather observations are collected for the publications you mention, but I'm pretty sure those temperature readings are not taken by instruments that are subject to direct sun, they are the ambient temperature in some sort of controlled environmental recording device.
Here is a sample of the temperature on a typical sunny day at the 7 site, out of the wind, away from the ocean, in the scaevola, and over the coral rubble which can heat up a bit.
I think we can say the local conditions vary. If hacking scaevola in the tropical sun isn't hellish, I don't know what is.
Andrew
At 5:33 into the helicopter tour of the island video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL9FGsvB3E8) you see Bill Carter standing in the shade of tall trees located right on the beach in about the same location where tall trees are visible in the Bevington photo. In the narration of the video, Ric says that much of the island was covered by tall Buka trees until they were cut down by the settlers after Earhart's disappearance. The helicopter tour also shows other areas of tall trees along the beach. Did you also measure the temperature in the shade of tall trees along the beach, I'll bet it was significantly cooler than the 109° you measured way back in the bush to illustrate the difficulties you guys faced. I see that it would be very daunting for Earhart to hack her way back through the scavola, especially without machetes, so it makes much more sense that she would have established a camp right on the beach under the shade of trees or a parachute where the temperature should be only in the 80's due to proximity to the ocean and ocean breezes.
gl
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GLP
Isn't that the argument about the 7 site, shade and cooling trade winds
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Gary
Yes, if you are under the canopy, and not exerting yourself, it can be significantly more comfortable under the canopy in the shade, or relative shade. It is hard to really get out of the sun completely, and there is a lot of reflected light if you are in sight of the water. I do not know if we have any measurements as you describe. Yes it would have been more comfortable near the beach especially if there is a breeze.
At the top of the ridge at the 7 site, which was more open than it is these days, there can be a nice breeze (after we clear the scaevola), and this seems to be one reason why Gallagher liked the spot so much as to have a camp put there.
I think we imagine AE's "camp zero" to be right on the beach inland from the Electra. After a week though, I would imagine that she/they would be venturing farther afield in an effort to find water / food. This can lead you into many areas that are far from the beach, but not where you have to hack through scaevola. I think the NC survivors found such a spot where brackish water was available for a time up in the center of Nutiran.
For example, imagine that you spotted the small lake in the photo below while flying overhead, and you happen to be investigating it on the morning of July 9th, when suddenly you hear a radial engine. No matter what you do, it is going to take a several minutes to get where you are out in the open.
The point is that she didn't have to be camped out in the middle of the scaevola where it gets so hot. She could have camped right on the beach, but happened to be somewhere else at the time of the overflight.
Andrew
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Wouldn't the temperature standing under tall trees, on or near the beach, depend on the time of day (angle of sun)? The afternoon sun on many homes in Southern California requires the inhabitants to install pools and prepare cocktails with umbrellas. My house, not having a pool, get's very hot in the afternoon when the sun gets under the trees. Just a notion. No science or opinion intended.
Leon
I just came inside from my patio is Southern California and as the sun moves we change chairs around our patio table under the umbrella, kinda like moving around the tree on Gardner.
gl
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.
For example, imagine that you spotted the small lake in the photo below while flying overhead, and you happen to be investigating it on the morning of July 9th, when suddenly you hear a radial engine. No matter what you do, it is going to take a several minutes to get where you are out in the open.
The point is that she didn't have to be camped out in the middle of the scaevola where it gets so hot. She could have camped right on the beach, but happened to be somewhere else at the time of the overflight.
Andrew
O.K., just plain bad luck. Of all the time she had spent on the island up to that time this is the exact time she decided to go exploring for that lake. I don't know, it would seem to me (just speculating) that if she had seen that in the fly over that she wouldn't have put off locating it for five days, but, that just me.
gl
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Is there anyway we can get some temperature reports from this expedition? Maybe included in the dailies? I imagine the KOK has a thermometer. Since it is July, it would be interesting to see what the temperature actually is like at this time of year.
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Is there anyway we can get some temperature reports from this expedition? Maybe included in the dailies? I imagine the KOK has a thermometer. Since it is July, it would be interesting to see what the temperature actually is like at this time of year.
Good idea, including measurements on the shore in the shade and not just in the hottest spot that can be found.
gl
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For example, imagine that you spotted the small lake in the photo below while flying overhead, and you happen to be investigating it on the morning of July 9th, when suddenly you hear a radial engine. No matter what you do, it is going to take a several minutes to get where you are out in the open.
The point is that she didn't have to be camped out in the middle of the scaevola where it gets so hot. She could have camped right on the beach, but happened to be somewhere else at the time of the overflight.
Andrew
O.K., just plain bad luck. Of all the time she had spent on the island up to that time this is the exact time she decided to go exploring for that lake. I don't know, it would seem to me (just speculating) that if she had seen that in the fly over that she wouldn't have put off locating it for five days, but, that just me.
gl
Yeah, I just don't get why you find things like this so hard to believe. How many times are you waiting for the phone to ring all day and when it finally comes you're in the bathroom? Waiting for rescue could be the very reason she waited so long to leave the beach. After a week, she finally gives up (or is forced to move on) and then, bam, they fly over. Not only does that sound totally plausible, that sounds exactly like life to me.
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Yeah, I just don't get why you find things like this so hard to believe. How many times are you waiting for the phone to ring all day and when it finally comes you're in the bathroom? Waiting for rescue could be the very reason she waited so long to leave the beach. After a week, she finally gives up (or is forced to move on) and then, bam, they fly over. Not only does that sound totally plausible, that sounds exactly like life to me.
The thing is however what were she or they relying on for water.
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The thing is however what were she or they relying on for water.
Exactly, that's the point I have been trying to get across for months. If there, survival time would have been very short due to the difficulty in obtaining suitable drinking water.
Another point worth noting was mentioned by some one in another thread. The SAR over flight may have come as a complete surprise to them. Expecting rescue by sea going vessel as they were the only SAR teams in the area, at that time. I thought that was a good point anyway because not everybody expects the unexpected.
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Didn't TIGHAR's flyover pretty definitively show how hard it would be to see someone on shore, even if they were jumping around waving a white flag? It seems pretty far down the hypothetical road to me that (a) there was water near the 7 site, (b) the water was drinkable, and (c) AE was getting water when the plane went over.
It seems to me that even if (a) and (b) are true, (c) is irrelevant because the plane probably wouldn't have seen her anyway, whether on the beach or getting water. (and that ignores the fact the the pilot thought the island was inhabited anyway)
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Did you also measure the temperature in the shade of tall trees along the beach, I'll bet it was significantly cooler than the 109° you measured way back in the bush to illustrate the difficulties you guys faced. I see that it would be very daunting for Earhart to hack her way back through the scavola, especially without machetes, so it makes much more sense that she would have established a camp right on the beach under the shade of trees or a parachute where the temperature should be only in the 80's due to proximity to the ocean and ocean breezes.
The thing is however what were she or they relying on for water.
Quote from Gary LaPook and Malcolm McKay
You people don’t seem to understand how important it is for many Tighar members to think up reasons why Amelia could not get to an opening or to the beach, take off her blouse, and wave it over her head, and be seen by any one of the 3 airplanes and 6 navy aviators looking for her in the approx 28 minutes they were flying over Gardner island.
The only real answer is if Amelia was already dead ( or dieing ), or if Amelia was not on Gardner, that would ruin the ‘castaway of the seven site’ theory, which would be greatly unsettling to many as then who could have opened the clam at site seven in the American way ? (certainly not any of the 25 American costies in their years at or near this site), and then there are the many fire remains to be accounted for. If AE didn’t light these fires who else could have ? (again certainly not the costies, or the settlers, or others ) But the kicker is the turtle bones and birds eaten,,,, that by itself could only be the work of AE.
We have to keep the legend of the castaway at the seven site alive, which means only one of two possibilities: some variation of the navy guys incompetence or Amelia finding on a ½ mile wide island some place to hike to, at just the right moment, that she can’t get out for the next approx. half hour.
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I'm interested in the actual temperature on Nikumaroro now, because it is July and Amelia Earhart went missing in July. The hotter and more humid it is, the quicker she is going to die from dehydration. People without food and water will die of dehydration before they starve to death. I don't care about the 7 site. It's interesting, but I have no training or background in archaeology. If her and Noonan are dead when the Colorado's search planes fly over, there isn't going to be an answering wave.
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Quote from Gary LaPook and Malcolm McKay
You people don’t seem to understand how important it is for many Tighar members to think up reasons why Amelia could not get to an opening or to the beach, take off her blouse, and wave it over her head, and be seen by any one of the 3 airplanes and 6 navy aviators looking for her in the approx 28 minutes they were flying over Gardner island.
The only real answer is if Amelia was already dead ( or dieing ), or if Amelia was not on Gardner, that would ruin the ‘castaway of the seven site’ theory, which would be greatly unsettling to many as then who could have opened the clam at site seven in the American way ? (certainly not any of the 25 American costies in their years at or near this site), and then there are the many fire remains to be accounted for. If AE didn’t light these fires who else could have ? (again certainly not the costies, or the settlers, or others ) But the kicker is the turtle bones and birds eaten,,,, that by itself could only be the work of AE.
We have to keep the legend of the castaway at the seven site alive, which means only one of two possibilities: some variation of the navy guys incompetence or Amelia finding on a ½ mile wide island some place to hike to, at just the right moment, that she can’t get out for the next approx. half hour.
Well yes, that is true but in deference to TIGHAR I would not phrase it in that way which does imply something other than a reasonable attempt to support a hypothesis. I've made my view of the criticisms of the competence of the Navy fliers and the interpretation of the Seven Site and its artifacts quite plain. In short I find neither convincing but throughout I have tried to retain an open mind.
If this trip does find wreckage identifiable as that of the Electra it will not automatically be supportive of the TIGHAR interpretations of the Seven Site and the other artifacts, or the criticism of the Navy fliers, those questions will still remain because the wreckage alone will only indicate that that's where the Electra came down, not what is purported to be the post-loss behaviour of Earhart or Noonan on the island. That will be as open to conjecture as it is now unless further supporting evidence with clear provenance is located. However I suspect that if identifiable wreckage is located then that will be sufficient to answer the question and that is all that matters.
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I'm interested in the actual temperature on Nikumaroro now, because it is July and Amelia Earhart went missing in July.
Anthony, at the present time they are less than 100 miles from Nikumaroro and the temperature is 86 DEG F.
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/UMC/Reports/KOKreport.htm (http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/UMC/Reports/KOKreport.htm)
86 DEG F..hmmm. Here is what I wrote on the first post on this thread:
"According to the U.S. Navy Marine Climatic Atlas of the World. Volume V, South Pacific Ocean (1979) in the area of the Pacific around Gardner, during the month of July, the temperature stays between 81° F and 84° F for 80% of the time, goes down to 79° F for 10% of the time and all the way up to 86° F for 10% of the time, it never gets any hotter. "
gl
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Didn't TIGHAR's flyover pretty definitively show how hard it would be to see someone on shore, even if they were jumping around waving a white flag? It seems pretty far down the hypothetical road to me that (a) there was water near the 7 site, (b) the water was drinkable, and (c) AE was getting water when the plane went over.
It seems to me that even if (a) and (b) are true, (c) is irrelevant because the plane probably wouldn't have seen her anyway, whether on the beach or getting water. (and that ignores the fact the the pilot thought the island was inhabited anyway)
I wouldn't say that one flyover in the helicopter "definitively" determined the probability of detecting Earhart and Noonan IF they were on Gardner. We have spent a lot of time discussing this issue and
You should also read these threads from their beginnings.
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,517.0.html
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,646.0.html
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,253.0.html
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,253.msg2550.html#msg2550
gl
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I'm interested in the actual temperature on Nikumaroro now, because it is July and Amelia Earhart went missing in July. The hotter and more humid it is, the quicker she is going to die from dehydration. People without food and water will die of dehydration before they starve to death. I don't care about the 7 site. It's interesting, but I have no training or background in archaeology. If her and Noonan are dead when the Colorado's search planes fly over, there isn't going to be an answering wave.
We have discussed how long they could last with very limited water. See:
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,592.msg10855.html#msg10855
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,592.msg10859.html#msg10859
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,592.msg10873.html#msg10873
https://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,592.msg10879.html#msg10879
gl
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Malcolm agreed. If electra wreckage is found, it reaaly has nothing to do with the seven site. and it does mearly show the electra was on the reef. Not how it got there, although looking around at the surroundings may hold a clue. Evidence of sliding down the reef, torn/jagged aluminum, would probably indicate being torn apart by the weight of the airframe sliding down the reef ledge.
I my mind, it doesnt necessarily proove the landing theory, but 'depending' on whats found 'may' give it done legitamacy. If if set aside, for a monent, the radio transmissions, and the other theories, and concentrate on JUST the wreckage part of this story, it becomes a fastinating adventure.
Some of us suspect what happened. Gary, and others, have their own theories. We're dealing with the Electra part of this story. Just because we 'may' find evidence of the plane on Niku, doenst mean AE was at the seven site. That, my friends, is for Tom King, Lonnie Shorrer, Dr. Malcolm and the archaeological members to figure out.
What an adventure!! is really getting exciteing!
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A reef landing would leave a debris field from top to bottom on the 45% to 85% slope of the Gardner seamount (it is still referred to as the Gardner seamount). A drifting plane settling onto the reef slope at a given depth would not leave a debris field above the depth it settled at.
IMHO
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Tom, with respect, IMO IF Electra wreckage is found on the Niku reef, then there may or may not be a correlation with the 7-site, and that one may reasonably conclude that further search at the latter would be a reasonable course of action.
The logic would be that IF the Electra landed on the reef and IF radio transmissions emanted from same, then AE/FN were castaways on the island. If there were castaways on the island, then they had to spend their time somewhere. If the castaways spent their time somewhere, then available evidence makes the 7-site a reasonable conjecture.
dp
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I was initially skeptical of Mr. LaPook's original post. But the 86 degrees F temperature reading makes me wonder now.
I also read Mr. LaPook's reference to the Rickenbacker ditching during World War II. I remember reading that the survivors in the raft were hot during the day, and felt cold at night. Of course, the life rafts were exposed to direct sun during the day, and I know from my own experiences that it is hotter in the direct sun.
I also wonder whether the 86 degree F temperature reading is at night, or during the day. I also wonder whether any large storms have cooled the area off, and what the humidity is. When I was in the Navy, we measured temperatures using a Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer (WBGT) to get a heat index reading to determine how long people could work either topside, or in the engineroom.
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Anthony
If you look at the first couple of posts in this thread you will see that 86 temperature mentioned by GL is accurate for the daily high temperature but as per standard practice is recorded in the shade, if you see Andrew's reply to GL in the second post, he has actually worked at cutting brush on Gardner and has a picture of a thermometer in the sun there reading 109F, as you said the direct sunlight increases the apparent temperature especially with a nearby ocean to reflect the light even more.
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I would think a ship at sea would be 'cooler' than on Niku. Seems I remember an expedition where air temps were 100*.
.
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Tom, during the Cuban Missile Crisis (http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-2.htm), we slept on deck clad only in our skivvies it was so hot. And even then it was miserable because of the high humidity. We would find a place to be shielded from the wind stream as the ambient air was so hot. Hard to do when there are 4000 Marines aboard. We only went below deck to eat and shower when we could. We were on water hours and could only shower every other day. So no, it wasn't all that cool while underway or not.
Bob, I think your experience underscores what TIGHAR has had to say about the truly experienced conditions on Niku. There's nothing like having been on the ground (or having had to live in close proximity for days on end) to know what actual conditions are vs. 'prevailing' temps as judged by other more passive means......
It appears to me by all reasonable observations, therefore, that Niku can be a very hot - even stifling place to live.
And by the way - thank you for your service: the time you describe is one more time when our vets stepped into the breach to keep us free and safe back home - THANKS!
LTM -
Amen to your last comment Jeff :)
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Tom, during the Cuban Missile Crisis (http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-2.htm), we slept on deck clad only in our skivvies it was so hot. And even then it was miserable because of the high humidity. We would find a place to be shielded from the wind stream as the ambient air was so hot. Hard to do when there are 4000 Marines aboard. We only went below deck to eat and shower when we could. We were on water hours and could only shower every other day. So no, it wasn't all that cool while underway or not.
Bob, I think your experience underscores what TIGHAR has had to say about the truly experienced conditions on Niku. There's nothing like having been on the ground (or having had to live in close proximity for days on end) to know what actual conditions are vs. 'prevailing' temps as judged by other more passive means.
The navy's way of arriving at what Gary's pointed out above do not seem to include actual conditions on the ground. What's been reported by TIGHAR as on the sun-baked reef and beaches, and in the scaevola bush is very hot, and I have no reason to believe those things have somehow been mistaken or falsified.
I don't doubt that clearing larger areas so as to allow breezes to penetrate wouldn't improve things, or that prevailing temps on the open seas surrounding such places might not be more pleasant. Unfortunately I don't think AE or FN would have had the benefit of large-scale clearing, etc. so if present, they well could have had a miserable time there.
It appears to me by all reasonable observations, therefore, that Niku can be a very hot - even stifling place to live.
And by the way - thank you for your service: the time you describe is one more time when our vets stepped into the breach to keep us free and safe back home - THANKS!
LTM -
Which is why there is no good reason for Earhart to move inland through the scaveola so staying on on the beach under the shade of the existing trees where the temps should be as predicted by the navy makes more sense. That is why I would like them to gather the temperature data from that location on this expedition. In a prior post I attached three years of weather data for all the reporting stations on New Guinea and those inland temperatures were accurately predicted by the same navy manual.
gl
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From the Ameliapedia article about Niku III: "Temperatures at the site routinely ran in the high 90s (f), and temperatures of 110 degrees (f) were not uncommon, even in the shade, but the prevailing trade winds kept the ridge relatively pleasant while the tank/hole area was always baking hot."
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Searching for water and food would be a good reason to be moving around inland from the beach, but you wouldn't want to be doing it in the heat of the day if you can avoid it. Mornings and evenings and overnight would be the best times.
You can also essentially end up "inland" on the lagoon shore by simply walking down the beach and through the passage. You could be reseting under a tree on the lagoon shore as Gary describes, where it would be a lot harder to be spotted by the aerial search, especially if the aviators are focused on the beach.
All speculation, of course.
Andrew
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Searching for water and food would be a good reason to be moving around inland from the beach, but you wouldn't want to be doing it in the heat of the day if you can avoid it. Mornings and evenings and overnight would be the best times.......
Indeed!!
With the heat being what it is on Niku....I could see where finding water became important very quickly. Surely whatever water they had with them (assuming there was any appreciable amount of it left upon arrival) didn't last long at all....even with careful rationing.
tb
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It appears to me by all reasonable observations, therefore, that Niku can be a very hot - even stifling place to live.
LTM -
I don't know, the settlers lived there with no problem for many decades.
gl
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I don't know, the settlers lived there with no problem for many decades.
1938-1963 = 25 years
They left, in part, because of insufficient water. Cf. "Paradise Lost": (http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/12_2/yr5.html)
"Maude is disappointed to see that a severe drought has turned the lush paradise he had seen in 1937 into a parched and hostile landscape" (1938).
"Yet another severe drought damages the coconut plantations and prompts a British decision to abandon the colony" (1963).
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Doc---I certainly agree about the temperatures. I also agree with andrew and others that have been there, ans can attest to the condidtions on Niku. Paradise it isnt. I would also agree with your statement about ship decks being hot-----My dad was EOD going to Cuba during the crisis. Yep I remember well----
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Jeff---I think Niku in the summer would be like the weather we've had here----100*, high humidity. Difference would be a sea breeze==maybe. But away from the shoreline, back in the scaveola, I would think would be pretty miserable. I'll defer to those that have been there, but Id say pretty warm. AND---if stuck inside the Electra ---would be maybe 125*+. Not fun.
Does add some credence to the radio signals at nite. Might actually be pleasant there in the evening---but again I'll defer to Andrew and others that have been there.
Tom
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I don't know, the settlers lived there with no problem for many decades.
1938-1963 = 25 years
They left, in part, because of insufficient water. Cf. "Paradise Lost": (http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/12_2/yr5.html)
"Maude is disappointed to see that a severe drought has turned the lush paradise he had seen in 1937 into a parched and hostile landscape" (1938).
"Yet another severe drought damages the coconut plantations and prompts a British decision to abandon the colony" (1963).
Drought does not equal unbearably high temperatures.
gl
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Drought does not equal unbearably high temperatures.
True enough Gary but enduring drought even in moderately high temperatures requires quite a bit of H2o.
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Jeff---I think Niku in the summer would be like the weather we've had here----100*, high humidity. Difference would be a sea breeze==maybe. But away from the shoreline, back in the scaveola, I would think would be pretty miserable. I'll defer to those that have been there, but Id say pretty warm. AND---if stuck inside the Electra ---would be maybe 125*+. Not fun.
Does add some credence to the radio signals at nite. Might actually be pleasant there in the evening---but again I'll defer to Andrew and others that have been there.
Tom
I grew up in Chicago which is located on the shore of Lake Michigan. The weather forecasts in summer always included the phrase "and cooler by the lake." Now I live near LA and the TV weather always shows cooler near the ocean. As I said before, the only reason I would hack my way inland through the scaveola is if I could see a lit up "McDonald's" sign in the distance.
As for water, if you have fuel to burn, you can always distill that unlimited supply of salt water into fresh. All it takes is a metal container, maybe fashioned out of a piece of aluminum from the plane, and another piece to have the vapor condense on, or it could be as simple as a piece of cloth on which the water condenses and then wrung out into a container. For fuel, gasoline to start the fire and wood to keep it burning.
And don't forget, Noonan had some experience in dealing with these types of emergency situations, he was torpedoed three times during the Great War!
gl
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Drought does not equal unbearably high temperatures.
True enough Gary but enduring drought even in moderately high temperatures requires quite a bit of H2o.
True, but it was not in drought in 1937, Maude described as a "lush paradise" that had changed to drought in 1938.
gl
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Am I off base here by asking why the subject of the Doldrums hasn't come up? The island is located smack dab in the middle of the Monsoon Zone, isn't it?
Now that area is just real warm with no or very little wind.
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Drought does not equal unbearably high temperatures.
True enough Gary but enduring drought even in moderately high temperatures requires quite a bit of H2o.
True, but it was not in drought in 1937, Maude described as a "lush paradise" that had changed to drought in 1938.
gl
Even truer Gary and, something I noticed in the lambrecht photograph of 1937. there seems to have been plenty of 'weather'
http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,253.195.html (http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,253.195.html)
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Am I off base here by asking why the subject of the Doldrums hasn't come up? The island is located smack dab in the middle of the Monsoon Zone, isn't it?
Now that area is just real warm with no or very little wind.
Not the doldrums, they are located under the permanent high pressure areas at about 30 degrees north and south which also cause the large areas of deserts in both hemispheres. Nor are these islands in a monsoon weather area which requires the proximity of a continent.
gl
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Follow the link for a short account of conditions faced by the Coast Guard when preparing the Loran base in 1944-
http://www.ameliaearhartbook.com/new_page_14.htm
[info lifted from "The Coast Guard at War IV: Loran, Vol. II" (Public Information Division, USCG Headquarters 1946) More on the Loran station can be found here- http://www.loran-history.info/Gardner_Island/gardner.htm
…CLEARING GARDNER ISLAND SITE…
“…The job of clearing a circle of 300 feet radius, for the antenna poles and ground cables, and enough area outside the circle to build the station, was begun by cutting a path from the camp to the center of the circle. Standing in the center of this circle, the trees and vines were so dense that the sky could not be seen, and no sea breeze could penetrate. Palm trees, native hardwood trees, and dense jungle growth covered the entire area. The bulldozer began pushing the brush and vines out of the way, and then attacked the smaller trees. Soon the remaining trees were too deeply rooted for the bulldozer to uproot and fell by itself. These trees were out down by the men, and the stumps were blown out with charges of dynamite. Most of the work had to be done by the bulldozer, not only because it was the most logical way of handling the job, but also because the men could not stand up under the terrific tropical sun. Gardner Island is only four degrees from the equator. These men, who were picked for their physical stamina, found themselves exhausted after a few hors [sic] in the jungle...”
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Follow the link for a short account of conditions faced by the Coast Guard when preparing the Loran base in 1944-
http://www.ameliaearhartbook.com/new_page_14.htm
[info lifted from "The Coast Guard at War IV: Loran, Vol. II" (Public Information Division, USCG Headquarters 1946) More on the Loran station can be found here- http://www.loran-history.info/Gardner_Island/gardner.htm
…CLEARING GARDNER ISLAND SITE…
“…The job of clearing a circle of 300 feet radius, for the antenna poles and ground cables, and enough area outside the circle to build the station, was begun by cutting a path from the camp to the center of the circle. Standing in the center of this circle, the trees and vines were so dense that the sky could not be seen, and no sea breeze could penetrate. Palm trees, native hardwood trees, and dense jungle growth covered the entire area. The bulldozer began pushing the brush and vines out of the way, and then attacked the smaller trees. Soon the remaining trees were too deeply rooted for the bulldozer to uproot and fell by itself. These trees were out down by the men, and the stumps were blown out with charges of dynamite. Most of the work had to be done by the bulldozer, not only because it was the most logical way of handling the job, but also because the men could not stand up under the terrific tropical sun. Gardner Island is only four degrees from the equator. These men, who were picked for their physical stamina, found themselves exhausted after a few hors [sic] in the jungle...”
Right, it is hot inland so stay on the beach.
gl