Geocache Description:
Please park at coordinates listed below. The cache is not at the posted coodinates and will require the Google Earth application or searching at Wikimapia.org to solve the puzzle. By completing this cache, you will visit some interesting point-sources of atmospheric pollution that are now the topics of numerous research projects. There are two intermediate waypoints, in camo pill bottles.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com .
Scientific evidence suggests that Earth is rapidly warming and some recent studies indicate that there is a direct relationship to Global Warming and the gases (particularly CO2) we have emitted into the atmosphere. PBS featured a NOVA/Frontline Report April 24, 2007 that offers an excellent overview to the immediate threats brought on by Global Warming. The Report offers facts that can help us thread-the-needle in the efforts to reverse the trend.
"Over a 40 year period, scientist Charles Keeling measured the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere. The above "Keeling Curve" shows the increase in total concentrations of CO 2 in the atmosphere from 1957-1997. This unbroken record of the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere shows how it's gone up, in round numbers, from around 315 parts per million to around 370 parts per million on average today. This data is widely accepted by everyone. (Nova/Frontline Report)"
A good downloadable tool, Google Earth, can be used fly around the globe and visit some of the past and current point-sources of pollution. As an alternative, you can go to http://www.wikimapia.org and search against the names listed in the Fly To sites You will be visiting the tallest smoke stacks in the world!
Magna, UT Kennecott Copper Smelter Stack, 370.4 meters (#4 world highest stack)
Google Earth has a “Search/Fly To” tab. You will copy a location from the list below, paste it into the tab field and hit the ENTER key on your computer. Google Earth will fly you to the vicinity of a stack, where you can pan around to observe some interesting features, in addition to the gigantic stacks. Remember, these stacks are TALL so as to disperse the toxic gases and CO2 downwind from the worksite, but all of the gases then mix into the atmosphere. The smelter stacks you will visit have vented mega tonnage of toxic metal waste into the atmosphere during their operational history, along with carbon oxides. Some of these facilities, such as Kennecott at Magna UT, have been made to be very efficient and even capture the sulfuric acid gases as a commercial byproduct. To identify the stack site, float your mouse over the small Google Earth icons you see on the satellite hybrid maps. If you don't have Google Earth freeware installed on your computer, just visit the link http://www.wikimapia.org and use the search engine to locate the target stack.
INCO Nickel Smelter Stack, 381 meters (#2 highest stack in the World) (Brazilian Ownership)
A good example of this acid fallout is the jet-black granite around Greater Sudbury Ontario, where the sulfuric acid rain has penetrated the pink-gray granite to a depth of 3 inches and permanently dyed the granite jet black. The INCO Superstack is the tallest freestanding chimney in the Western hemisphere, with a height of 381 m (1,257 ft).
At each “Search/Fly To” location, zoom down to where you can see the stack opening and float your mouse to the center of the stack exhaust exit. Record the minutes for both latitude and longitude of the stack for some later number crunching. Of course, because we are looking down on the stack from above but at an angle, not straight down the stack hole, the number you record is not the actual location of this stack, but that is not our objective in this exercise. Any reading 30 or more seconds is rounded to the next minute of reading, ie. N44*16’30” gives 17 for the minutes value and adding the two digits (1+7) gives 8. N44*16’29.9” gives 16 minutes or a sum of 7. Got it, OK!
"Search/Fly-To" Sites:
- Greater Sudbury, ON Find the INCO Super Stack , highest free-standing stack in North America (North minutes sum = A, West minutes sum = B)
46*28.812N, -81*03.384W A = 2+9 =11, B = 0+3 = 3
- Anaconda, MT (you are looking for the Washoe Stack , the highest masonry chimney in the world. Be sure to read the Stack Card at the link.) (North minutes sum = C, West minutes sum = D)
46*07.383N, 112*55.869 C = 0+7 = 7, D= 5+6 = 11
- Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan (you are looking for the world’s tallest stack at the Ekibastuz GRES-2 Power Station . Use the coordinates of the Google Icon for your place data, since the stacks are difficult to see alongside the north side of the lake , 12 miles NE of Ekibastuz City. Notice the open pits where the coal is mined for the plant operation: Pits:N51*42’14.48”, E75*25’23.98” (North minutes sum = E, East minutes sum = F)
52*01.383N, 75*28.641E; E = 0+1 = 1, F = 2+9= 11
- Trbovlje, Slovenia (you are looking for the largest chimney in Europe, at 360 meters, 1,181.1 feet); use the coordinates you find at the Trbovlje Chimney Google Icon alongside the Sava River (flows eastward to meet the Danube). (North minutes sum = G, East minutes sum = H)
46*07.602N, 15*03.833E; G = 0+8 = 8, H = 0+4 = 4
- Magna, UT (look for the 370.4 meter Kennecott Smelter Stack and Wikimapia.org will pinpoint the site which you can then use with Google Earth) (North minutes sum = I, West minutes sum = J) [There is a Swedish-made cam-track elevator on the interior of this stack for allowing routine maintenance inspections.]
40*43.303N, 112*11.959W; I = 4+3 = 7, J = 1+2 = 3
- Moundsville, WV (find the Mitchell Power Plant, a large coal-fired power station on the Ohio River.) The Mitchell Plant has a 367.6 meter tall chimney, which was built in 1971
and was once the tallest in the world for a short period of time. It is currently the fifth tallest chimney. (North minutes sum = K, West minutes sum = L)
39*49.795N, 80*49.037W; K = 5+0= 5, L = 4+9 = 13
First waypoint is located at:
N44*00.(A+B-9),(D-C-1),(E+F-5) ’ [this will provide x,y,z or N44o00.xyz']
W121*22.(G-H+2),(I-J-2),(L–K-3) ’ [this will provide r,s,t or W121o22.rst']