East Point Earthcache EarthCache

Located at the end of a chain of islands that includes Mayne, Pender, Galliano and Salt Spring, Saturna is the most southern of all the islands and is considered by many to be the most beautiful of them all. Much of the island, which is 31 square kilometers, is part of the spectacular Gulf Islands Park Ecological Reserve. This reserve was set up in 2006 to protect the land, reefs and inlets so this valuable land would be preserved for various wild life like the seals and the amazing assortment of birds. If you are an avid bird watcher this is place that you must go and explore because you will see birds migrating through here first before you will see them in the Lower Mainland. In fact you will see the birds almost two weeks before they start appearing in the Lower Mainland in any great numbers.

Saturna Island was named after the Saturnina, a Spanish ship, which explored this area in 1791 along side the famous British cartographer Captain George Vancouver. This island grew much slower than the other southern gulf island neighbours (Mayne, Pender, Salt Spring & Galliano) because of its great farmland and it was the furthest away than the other islands were for the main shipping routes to and from Victoria and New Westminster (the original capital of British Columbia). In fact the first farmers to the island grew fruit trees and cows for their milk & butter but that tradition has now evolved into a pretty big sheep industry that still exists today.

In meteorology (the science of weather), winds are often classified based upon their strength and the direction in which the wind is blowing from originally. Short bursts of high-speed wind are called gusts. Stronger winds that last around one minute or longer are called squalls. Long-duration winds have various names associated with their average strength and some of the most common names are a breeze, gale, storm, hurricane, and a typhoon. Wind occurs on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by continuous heating and cooling of land surfaces.

The two main causes of large-scale atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect). Within the tropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations. In coastal areas the sea breeze/land breeze cycle can define local winds and in some coastal areas that have variable terrain heights, mountain and valley breezes can dominate local winds to such of extent that the land is constantly being shaped by it.

Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of Aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils or the erosion of a point or headland so there isn’t much growing soil or humus layer that is left behind to be developed and build upon. Dust from large deserts can be moved great distances from its source region by the prevailing winds; winds that are accelerated by rough topography and associated with dust outbreaks have been assigned regional names in various parts of the world because of their significant effects on those regions. Wind affects the spread of wildfires. Winds disperse seeds from various plants, enabling the survival and dispersal of those plant species, as well as flying insect populations. When combined with cold temperatures, wind has a negative impact on livestock. Wind affects animals' food stores, as well as their hunting and defensive strategies.

Wind is caused by differences in pressures in the atmosphere. When a difference in pressure exists, the air is accelerated from higher to lower pressure zones when they meet. Whenever there are two different pressure zones converging into each other a wind will be the result.

In the coastal regions sea breezes and land breezes (different kinds of wind) can be important factors in a location's prevailing winds and one aspect that effects the wind direction and strength is the surface temperature. A sea-breeze (or onshore breeze) is a wind from the sea that develops over land near coasts. It is formed by increasing temperature differences between the land and water which create a pressure minimum over the land due to its relative warmth and forces higher pressure, cooler air from the sea to move inland. Generally, air temperature gets cooler relative to nearby locations as one move's closer to a large body of water. The sea has a greater specific heat than land and therefore has a greater capacity for absorbing heat than the land, so the surface of the sea warms up slower than the land's surface. As the temperature of the surface of the land rises, the land heats the air above it. The warm air is less dense and so it rises. This rising air over the land lowers the sea level pressure by about 0.2%. The cooler air above the sea, now with higher sea level pressure, flows towards the land into the lower pressure, creating a cooler breeze near the coast. The strength of the sea breeze is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the land and the sea. If the environmental wind field is greater than 8 knots and opposing the direction of a possible sea breeze, the sea breeze is not likely to develop.

The sea is warmed by the sun more slowly than how fast the land can be warmed because of because the sea simply has a much greater volume to be affect by the heat. As the temperature of the surface of the land rises, the land heats the air above it by conduction. The warm air is less dense than the surrounding environment and so it rises. This causes a pressure gradient of about 2 millibars from the ocean to the land. The cooler air above the sea, now with higher sea level pressure, flows inland into the lower pressure, creating a cooler breeze near the coast. When large-scale winds are calm, the strength of the sea breeze is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the land mass and the sea. If an offshore wind of 8 knots (15 km/h) exists, the sea breeze is not likely to develop.

At night, the land cools off more quickly than the ocean because of differences in their specific heat values. This temperature change causes the daytime sea breeze to dissipate. When the temperature onshore cools below the temperature offshore, the pressure over the water will be lower than that of the land, establishing a land breeze, as long as an onshore wind is not strong enough to oppose it.

Wind erodes the Earth's surface by deflation (the removal of loose, fine-grained particles), by the turbulent eddy action of the wind and by abrasion (the wearing down of surfaces by the grinding action and sandblasting of windborne particles). Regions that experience intense and sustained erosion are called deflation zones. Most Aeolian (wind) deflation zones are composed of desert pavement, a sheet-like surface of rock fragments that remains after wind and water have removed the fine particles. Almost half of Earth's desert surfaces are stony deflation zones. The rock mantle in desert pavements protects the underlying material from deflation. However, this isn’t just limited to the desert and it can be in fact being found along the ocean and a headland.

Questions for the Earthcache

1. Take a picture of yourself and or your GPS at ground zero
2. Include a picture that shows how the rocks are being worn down by the wind and then another picture that shows how the wind has directly affect the landscape
3. Explain why you think there are so few trees, grass, salal bushes etc that are currently growing at this location OR why you think there is very little water for the plants can use to grow from
4. Was it windy when you there and if it was how windy was it?
5. From ground zero you will find a plaque for which the island is named after. Once you have found plaque tell me the answer as to what was the exact year, date and month did the Spanish expedition land on this point and who exactly spotted this land?

When you have all of the answers email your answers for questions 2 - 5 to me. Once I have gotten back to you to tell you if they are correct or not you may then go post your find as well as your picture on the public log if you wish.

I am a proud

I am a proud

I am a proud