About 18 months ago DX World.net posed the question: Is Kingman Reef still above sea level?
Back then there was evidence it still was, however a new survey by US Fish & Wildlife suggests the reef is now mostly underwater, certainly at high tide.
Rich, KY6R explains in more detail the findings:
The first real official survey in years has been completed as a result of the US F&W contracting with a company that removed a fishing vessel off Kingman Reef last year. [Click here for a copy of the survey]
In the paragraph below they say that only a small patch of about 3′ of the reef is above water at low tide, but that it is awash at high tide – and that is is too dangerous to visit:
“The work site on the reef flat was very shallow with water depths of 1 to 7 feet at high tide, and just a few inches of water at low tide. The two small rubble islands that comprise the only land masses at Kingman Reef lie merely 3 feet above sea level. They are frequently awash by waves and offered no shelter during removal operations. The severe sea state and environmental conditions at Kingman Reef are unpredictable, and forecasts are relatively unreliable at the isolated central Pacific reef. Such uncertainty constrained safe operations, and the team determined that mobilizing the full shipwreck removal team and all floating assets, including the 185-foot barge and large crane, from Palmyra to be staged at the Kingman removal site, presented an unacceptable risk to crew and resources. Instead, a subset of the crew traveled to Kingman Reef from Palmyra Atoll on the tugboat Sarah C with a transport scow in tow.”
以下是渡娘的杰作：
18个月前，DX world.net提出的问题：是金曼礁仍高于海平面？
那时，它仍然是证据，但是由美国鱼类和野生动物的一个新的调查表明，珊瑚礁现在大多是水下，当然在涨潮。
丰富的，ky6r更详细的结果解释：
多年来第一次真正的官方调查已经因美国的F和W公司删除的渔船上的金曼礁去年承包完成。[点击这里的一份调查]
在下面的一段他们说只有一小片约3′的珊瑚礁在低潮，但它是淹没在涨潮–，太危险，访问：
“在礁滩工地很浅的水深1至7英尺的高潮，仅仅几英寸的水在退潮。两个小废墟岛屿，包括唯一的陆地在金曼礁位于海拔仅3英尺。他们经常被淹没的波在删除操作没有提供庇护所。恶劣的海况条件和环境条件在金曼礁是不可预测的，预测相对不可靠的隔离太平洋珊瑚礁。这种不确定性约束的安全操作，和团队确定动员全船除团队和所有的流动资产，包括185英尺的船和大型起重机，从巴尔米拉是在金曼去除现场上演，提出对人员和资源的不可接受的风险。相反，船员的一个子集前往金曼礁从在拖车运输驳船拖船上的莎拉C巴尔米拉环礁。”
估计KH5有卡在手的不多，有KH5/K的，就更少了，如果有KH5/K卡在手的，那一定是前辈了，反正我等晚辈是没有。
更多图片
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/12197083373/in/set-72157640266391895/lightbox/
