.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Sea creatures put on ‘quite a show' off California coast. See ‘gentle giants'
Massive sea creatures were spotted off California coast, onlookers said.
Unsplash
Massive sea creatures were spotted off the coast of California, and bystanders are calling the sight 'amazing.'
On May 2, humpback whales sprung into 'action' by breaching and exhibiting feeding behaviors, according to a Facebook post by Monterey Bay Whale Watch.
The whales spotted, ranging from smaller calves to big adults, put on 'quite a show,' the group said.
The 'gentle giants' were spotted pec-slapping, which is when a whale will lay on its side and raise its pectoral fin into the sky before slamming it into the water, according to the group.
'Humpback whales reach sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 10 years,' according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Calves stay near their mom for up to a year before weaning, with the mother being 'protective' and 'swimming closely and often touching them with their flippers,' according to NOAA.
Along with the 41 humpbacks, bystanders throughout the day also got the chance to see 20 Risso's dolphins, the group said.
Monterey is about a 120-mile drive south from San Francisco.
PC Paloma Chavez
McClatchy DC Email this person
Paloma Chavez is a reporter covering real-time news on the West Coast. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Northern Lights Are Expected Over 15 U.S. States Tonight—Here's Where to Look
A geomagnetic storm could bring a rare aurora borealis display to skies from Alaska to Iowa—here's when and how to see it. Tonight into tomorrow, the night sky may put on a colorful show for skywatchers in several lucky states. On Aug. 18 and Aug. 19, a fast-moving stream of solar wind could spark a geomagnetic storm, potentially lighting up the sky with Northern Lights across 15 U.S. states, according to forecasters from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and the U.K. Met Office. 'There is an increasing possibility during Monday of minor geomagnetic enhancement due to an arriving fast wind, with the possibility of a Coronal Mass Ejection glance Tuesday into Wednesday,' the UK Met Office stated. Alaska has the highest probability of seeing the northern lights tonight. Other states with a chance to spot the aurora, listed in order of likeliness, include: Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, South Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, Idaho, Washington, New York, Wyoming, and Iowa. 'Late on 18 Aug, conditions are likely to increase to active levels followed by G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels on 19 Aug. Active conditions are likely on 20 Aug,' NOAA predicts on its website. The aurora is expected to peak between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. from the night of Aug. 18 through the morning of Aug. 19, with the Kp index—which measures geomagnetic activity on a scale of 0 to 9—projected to reach Kp 5 tonight. Currently, a large coronal hole, or open region in the sun's magnetic field, is facing the Earth. This has led to the ejection of a high-speed stream of solar wind toward our planet. When this solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field, it increases the likelihood of geomagnetic storms and the possibility of auroral displays. 'Aurora can often be observed somewhere on Earth from just after sunset or just before sunrise. The aurora is not visible during daylight hours. The aurora does not need to be directly overhead but can be observed from as much as 1000 km away when the aurora is bright and if conditions are right,' NOAA's website explains. For those in the potential viewing zones, try to find a north-facing spot with clear view of the horizon and minimal light pollution. There are also several mobile apps that can help track aurora forecasts in real time for the best chance of catching the show. Read the original article on Travel & Leisure Solve the daily Crossword
Miami Herald
13 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Melting ice reveals fragments of ‘extraordinary' Viking cargo net in Norway
As the late summer sun beat down on a national park in Norway, archaeologists trekked across the glacial landscape, scouring the surfaces exposed by melting ice. Something tucked between the rocks caught their attention. They carefully pulled the items out — and realized they'd found part of a Viking cargo net. Two teams of archaeologists headed into Jotunheimen National Park in mid-August as part of an annual project to systematically survey the area's melting glaciers for ancient artifacts, Secrets of the Ice wrote in an Aug. 18 Facebook post. 'We last worked here back in 2012, but heavy snow kept our finds to a minimum then,' the group said. 'Still, we know the area contains exciting finds… This year, with lighter snow, we are hopeful for more discoveries!' The expedition's first stop was a site where, in 2011, 'our colleague Jostein Bergstøl made an unbelievable discovery: the only known Viking Age packhorse net,' or cargo net, the group said in another Facebook post. They hoped more sections of the net had melted out of the ice. Sure enough, archaeologists found several leather fragments tucked amid the rocks and identified them as 'more pieces of the world's only Viking Age packhorse net.' A photo shows the leather loops of the net. Some fragments have knots. All of them look worn but relatively well-preserved. Generally, artifacts made from leather, wood or fabric are rare finds for archaeologists because these organic materials disintegrate quickly in most environments. Glaciers, waterways and mud are exceptions to the norm. In these low-oxygen environments, delicate artifacts are much more likely to be preserved and only begin to deteriorate after being reexposed to the air. 'The Viking Age packhorse net is a unique find — nothing like it has ever been recovered elsewhere in the Viking world,' Lars Holger Pilø, the project's co-director, told McClatchy News via email. 'Similar nets were used in recent times here in Norway, so we know its purpose: It would have contained goods and been strapped on to a packhorse for transport,' Secrets of the Ice wrote in a 2023 Facebook post. Photos show the roughly 1,000-year-old cargo net found in 2011. 'The newly discovered net fragments were found at the same site and are very similar to the pieces recovered earlier,' Pilø said. 'They almost certainly belong to the same Viking Age packhorse net.' 'Since we knew the original discovery was incomplete, every additional fragment we can rescue brings us closer to fully reconstructing this extraordinary artefact.' Pilø said. 'We could not be more excited – history is literally unfolding before our eyes,' Secrets of the Ice said. Archaeological surveys at Jotunheimen National Park are ongoing. The park is in southern Norway and a roughly 160-mile drive northwest from Oslo.
Scientific American
14 hours ago
- Scientific American
Why Hurricanes like Erin Trigger Rip Currents Hundreds of Miles Away
On August 19 Hurricane Erin is crawling past the Bahamas as a strong Category 2 storm and is due to head toward the Carolinas and then veer northeast over the open Atlantic Ocean. Although the storm's eye may never come within 300 miles of the mainland U.S., most of the East Coast—from Miami to Maine—is under a moderate or high risk of rip currents. In the U.S. rip currents cause about 100 fatal drownings each year and are responsible for four out of five beach rescues, according to a 2019 study. Here's the science behind how rip currents work, why hurricanes can cause them at such great distances from land and what beachgoers need to know about the threat. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Rip Currents Explained Rip currents are a common phenomenon even without a hurricane roiling the distant ocean, says Melissa Moulton, a coastal physical oceanographer at the University of Washington. 'Rip currents are strong seaward currents that are caused by breaking waves,' she says. 'They can be as narrow as an alleyway or as wide as a multilane highway; they can last for just a few minutes or sometimes a number of hours.' At their fastest, they can beat an Olympic swimmer. These currents are an inevitable by-product of ocean physics on a complex shoreline, says Chris Houser, a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Waves 'are constantly moving water toward that shoreline,' Houser says. That might sound obvious, but there's a corollary people may not think about too carefully, he adds: all that water has 'got to go somewhere.' That 'where' is back out to sea, and rip currents are one of the key routes by which water gets there. A rip current develops from variations in how waves break along a coastline, causing water from crashing waves to stay at the surface and flow sideways, then out to sea. (If the water instead travels down and straight back out, it forms an undertow, although the two terms are sometimes conflated.) Rip currents are more likely to develop when a coastline is more complex, in terms of either the visible shore—a feature such as a jetty or a rocky point can trigger rip currents—or the underwater topography of sandbars that raise the ocean floor. 'Over a shallow sandbar, you're getting larger breaking waves compared to, say, over a channel or a deeper spot,' says Greg Dusek, a coastal physical oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That creates variation in breaking waves and funnels outgoing water toward deeper areas that can form rip currents. The result is a misleading picture at the beach. 'You're looking along the shoreline, and you see areas of waves that are breaking and areas that are not breaking,' Houser says. 'You might actually think that the calm water is safest. It's probably a rip current.' (Although that doesn't mean the breaking waves are safe either.) Why Distant Hurricanes Trigger Rip Currents The picture becomes even more confusing when a hurricane passes far from shore, as Hurricane Erin is doing this week. With the stormy winds hundreds of miles away, conditions onshore might be gorgeous—but a hurricane can still make its presence known. Just as an earthquake can trigger a tsunami that crosses an entire ocean, even a distant hurricane can whip up beach surf. 'You might be standing on the beach, and it's a sunny day, no strong winds,' Moulton says. 'Because waves transport energy over very long distances very efficiently, we're not seeing the winds or anything from the hurricane, but we will see the wave energy.' The sizes of waves produced by a hurricane are determined by the sustained windspeeds inside the storm, the amount of ocean that the storm covers and the speed at which it travels. In general, faster winds, a larger area and slower movement tend to lead to taller waves that travel farther. When those waves hit a shoreline, they're more likely to trigger rip currents. 'The bigger the waves, the stronger the rip—if you have the physical conditions present for rips to be there,' Houser says. And the risk of rip currents can linger long after a storm has passed, Dusek warns. That's in part because the storm may have reshaped the visible or underwater topography of a beach. And when a distant storm is creating waves that are six or 10 feet tall, people typically know to stay out of the ocean. But when waves become a little less dramatic and local conditions are beautiful, it's more difficult to see the dangers of rip currents. Dusek expects that rip current risks along the East Coast could remain high through the rest of the week and perhaps into the weekend. That's particularly dangerous toward the end of summer, when people flock to the beach. 'In the wintertime, we have lots of winter storms up and down the East Coast, but rip currents aren't typically a concern because no one's swimming,' he says. How to Stay Safe from Rip Currents Moulton, Houser and Dusek all agree that staying safe from rip currents means following two guidelines: only swim at beaches where a lifeguard is present and obey any warnings from lifeguards or local officials about staying out of the water. 'If they have a red flag flying, it's not because they're being overly cautious,' Houser says. 'They are seeing something that you can't.' If you do happen to get caught in a rip current, Houser says, advice on what to do has changed in recent years. Officials used to recommend people try to swim parallel to shore to 'break the grip of the rip.' But in the heat of the moment, it's difficult to know which way is which, he says. So officials have pivoted to 'flip, float, follow.' 'Flip means don't put your feet down; flip so that your head is up and you are floating on your back,' Houser says. 'Then you start to follow the rip current. Allow it to take you slightly.' He's done this and says that, even with a floatation device, it's terrifying. But instead of wasting your strength against a fierce current, the strategy allows you to get your bearings and signal to a lifeguard while reducing the risk of drowning.
