vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Minnewaska State Park Preserve: Sam's Point Area

The Connect-Kids-to-Parks Field Trip
Grant Program (Connect Kids) is designed to connect students in
New York State with nature and history. Each grant provides reimbursement of up
to $80 per student (and $160 for Special Education students) for field trips to
state and federal parks, forests, historic sites, fish hatcheries and outdoor
recreation areas.
 
Program Information on
Environmental Education Programs available to School
Groups at Minnewaska State Park Preserve

Key BCA Criteria:

Migratory concentration site
Diverse species concentration site
Species at risk site 
Bird research site 
The Minnewaska BCA is located within the Minnewaska State Park Preserve. The Preserve is located on the Shawangunk Mountain ridge, which rises more than 2,000 feet above sea level. The Minnewaska BCA has many spectacular rock formations, soaring precipices, windswept ledges with pine barrens, fast-flowing mountain streams, mountain lakes and several scenic waterfalls. The BCA is especially important for its unfragmented forest, which supports a high diversity of forest-dwelling bird species, and for its partnership with researches studying birds and their habitats. The Nature Conservancy has designated the entire ridge as one of the "Last Great Places." The Shawangunks, including Minnewaska, are one of the highest priority areas for biodiversity conservation in the northeastern United States. The Minnewaska BCA is part of the Northern Shawangunk Mountains Important Bird Area. Minnewaska is part of a migratory corridor that exists along the entire upland plateau of the Northern Shawangunks. It is an exceptional example of a characteristic higher elevation forest community with a high diversity of forest dwelling species. The BCA includes birds of forest habitat including breeding Northern Saw-whet Owl, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Canada Warbler, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Northern Flicker and Scarlet Tanager; and breeding shrub/scrub species Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Indigo Bunting and Prairie Warbler.
Dark Nights in Antakya
Dark Nights in Antakya

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Dark Nights in Antakya

February 4, 2023JPEG

 

February 8, 2023JPEG

 

February 4, 2023

February 8, 2023

February 4, 2023JPEGFebruary 8, 2023JPEG

View Image Comparison
View Both Images

On February 6, 2023, magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes hit southern Türkiye and northwestern Syria, causing significant losses of life and destruction to infrastructure. Antakya, the capital of Türkiye’s Hatay Province, was hit especially hard. Data from satellites show that after the quakes, much of the region lost electric power.
These maps show the amount of light emitted by Antakya’s city center and surrounding communities before and after the earthquake. The left map shows the area on February 4, 2023; the right map shows the same area on February 8.
The maps come from the Black Marble HD product, provided by Eleanor Stokes and Ranjay Shrestha of the NASA/USRA Black Marble science team. The maps are based on data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite. The basemap was built from data collected by the Landsat 9 satellite.
Whale watching in Sonoma County parks 
Sea Ranch Access Coastal Trails: Just south of Gualala, The Sea Ranch extends for 10 miles along this stunningly beautiful strip of the Sonoma coast. The headlands here are known for their panoramic views of sea, sky, rocky outcrops, and migrating whales. The Sea Ranch is a private community, but the public can use six coastal access trails that cross the wind-swept bluffs. Trailheads are clearly marked along Highway 1.

Any of the Sea Ranch access trails are good for whale watching, but up on the bluffs is better than down on the beaches.
Five access trails range from a quarter to two-thirds of a mile — Black Point, Pebble Beach, Stengel Beach, Shell Beach, and Walk on Beach. In addition, the 3-mile Bluff Top Trail from Walk On Beach takes you to Gualala Point and Whale Watch Point. All the trails offer views, the sound of crashing surf and the invigorating feel of brisk sea air. Download the map for all trails: Coastal Access: North Coast Access Trails.
Stillwater Cove Regional Park: Located between The Sea Ranch and Fort Ross State Historic Park, Stillwater Cove also is known for its ocean views and is a favorite among north coast park staff. Settle into an isolated spot overlooking the ocean, sit back, and enjoy the extensive view. Stillwater also has 20 campsites, so book ahead.
Bodega Bay
One of the most popular areas to watch for whales is on the county’s southern coast in Bodega Bay.
The half-mile Pinnacle Gulch Coastal Access Trail descends a brushy canyon to a beautiful and peaceful beach with sensational views. Bring a picnic and relax or try your luck at fishing, all while keeping a ready eye out for cetaceans cruising by. Return the way you came, making for a one-mile hike. For a 1.9-mile loop back to your car, walk along the beach at low tide and return on the Shorttail Gulch Trail.

Perhaps the best-known whale watching spot in the area is nearby Bodega Head, part of Sonoma Coast State Park.
The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park
Passes Information

List of California State Park Passes

Park Activities

 Are Dogs Allowed?

Yes
 Dogs allowed below Portner Picnic Area.
 

 Day-Use Activities & Facilities

Historical/Cultural Site
Picnic Areas
Interpretive Exhibits

Geocaching

 Trail Use

Hiking Trails

Park Facilities

 EV Information

 E-Bike Locations
  EV Charger Locations

 Overnight Facilities

Environmental Campsites

 Other Facilities & Visitor Information

Parking
Restrooms

Brochures

 Park Brochure

Park Directions
Get directions through Google Maps
The park is four miles north of Aptos on Aptos Creek Road.

Events
View All Posts, Press Releases, and Events for The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park

Limited Road and Trail Access 
Due to a portion of road erosion, vehicle access is limited to single lane in some areas. Please take caution due to the high volume of pedestrian traffic on the roadway. The following trails and areas are closed until further notice due to storm damage and erosion:

West Ridge Trail Camp
Aptos Creek Trail
The Trail to Five Finger Falls closed at the Big Slide Trail/ Aptos Creek Trail intersect

No parking on Aptos Creek Road (park entrance road) allowed.

Looking for your next adventure?
California State Parks Backpacking Adventures offers naturalist-led backpacking trips through the Santa Cruz Mountains each summer, including our NEW "Cars-BA" Family Camp at Big Basin! Online registration is open now!

View our guided hikes and other public programs schedule and make a reservation by visiting our Parks Events page!

Crumb Clean Campaign
This park is Crumb Clean! Watch this short video to learn about the marbled murrelet, an endangered bird that nests in the park, and how you can protect it. Vea el video en español aquí.

Visiting The Forest of Nisene Marks
Off the beaten path, The Forest of Nisene Marks is a refreshing retreat from the busy towns and beaches along Highway 1 near Santa Cruz. Its dense second- and third-growth redwood forest rises from near sea level to steep coastal mountains.
Campground and Park Hosts
For any questions regarding this position, please contact Lilia Ponce at (707) 210-5677 or Lilia.Ponce@parks.ca.gov.
Salton Sea SRA
Seeking a place to spend the winter in sunny southern California with a view? Consider the Salton Sea State Recreation Area! Volunteers and camp hosts are needed from October through April at California’s largest lake. Currently, multiple camp host/volunteer spaces are available at our lakeshore campgrounds. We provide full hookup sites backdropped by views of the sea and the Santa Rosa Mountains.
Duties include staffing the visitor center, performing light maintenance and housekeeping, running the camp store, and helping with educational activities. The minimum stay is 3 months, with a minimum commitment to work 30 hours per week. We are particularly interested in recruiting volunteers with a keen interest and expertise in birding, as the Salton Sea is a major stop along the Pacific Flyway for hundreds of migratory bird species.
Although located in a rural area, the Salton Sea State Recreation Area is less than an hour away from beautiful desert cities such as Palm Springs, La Quinta, and Palm Desert. For those interested in exploring the high desert, the southern entrance of Joshua Tree National Park is also a short drive from the park. During the winter months, the weather is perfectly mild with warm days and cool evenings.
The Salton Sea is often misunderstood. Despite challenges regarding increasing salinity and retreating shorelines, the sea plays an essential role in maintaining California’s extraordinary biological diversity and offers many opportunities for inspiration and education. As a camp host, you will have the ability to gain a deeper understanding of the delicate balancing act orchestrated by natural forces.
Do you love birding, the desert night sky, and warm winters? If so, please contact Eric Kung at Eric.Kung@parks.ca.gov to apply.
Samuel P. Taylor State Park(Availability year around)  Samuel P. Taylor State Park has a large developed campground with 60 campsites, 5 cabins, and a handful of group sites. There are 3 distinctive opportunities at the park, and each host site is unique.  The largest RV that can be accommodated in a host site is 50 ft, hook-ups and sewer are provided.
MODIS Web 
information about these products can be obtained by going to the appropriate URL's noted below. Select a data product below for a detailed overview 
 of the product and links to product specific information.
	 
Level 1
MODIS Raw Radiances
MODIS Calibrated Radiances
MODIS Geolocation Fields

MODIS Atmosphere Products
MODIS Aerosol Product
MODIS Total Precipitable Water
MODIS Cloud Product
MODIS Atmospheric Profiles
MODIS Atmosphere Joint Product
MODIS Atmosphere Gridded Product
MODIS Cloud Mask

MODIS Land Products
MODIS Surface Reflectance
MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (MOD11)
MODIS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (MOD21)
MODIS Land Cover Products
MODIS Vegetation Index Products (NDVI and EVI)
MODIS Thermal Anomalies - Active Fires
MODIS Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) / Leaf Area Index (LAI)
MODIS Evapotranspiration
MODIS Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) / Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
MODIS Global Water Reservoir
MODIS Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) / Albedo Parameter
MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields
MODIS Water Mask
MODIS Burned Area Product
 MODIS Cryosphere Products
MODIS Snow Cover
MODIS Sea Ice and Ice Surface Temperature
MODIS Ocean Products
MODIS Sea Surface Temperature
MODIS Remote Sensing Reflectance
MODIS Apparent Visible Wavelength
MODIS Chlorophyll-a Concentration
MODIS Diffuse Attenuation at 490 nm
MODIS Inherent Optical Properties
MODIS Phytoplankton Carbon
MODIS Particulate Organic Carbon
MODIS Particulate Inorganic Carbon
MODIS Normalized Fluorescence Line Height (FLH)
MODIS Instantaneous Photosynthetically Available Radiation
MODIS Daily Mean Photosynthetically Available Radiation
 

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Privacy Policy and Important Notices
Whale watching in Sonoma County parks 
The annual south-to-north Pacific gray whale migration hits its stride along the Sonoma Coast from late winter through spring. On this journey, whales travel from the warm birthing lagoons along the Baja Peninsula to the frigid feeding grounds of Alaska’s Bering Sea. 

The migration is notable for the fact mother whales are accompanied by offspring making their first trip north, and these mother-calf pairs tend to travel closer to shore than the individual adults heading north.
Humpback whales can be seen during the spring, summer and fall seasons, while migrating gray whales are most often found in late winter and early spring. This period is a great time to set out along Sonoma County’s 55-mile coast for a glimpse of migrating whales spouting water through blowholes and displaying their flukes (tails) as they dive in search of krill, the tiny shrimp they eat. 
North Coast

Gualala Point Regional Park: Situated where the Gualala River enters the Pacific Ocean, this park offers views that go on forever and a vast expanse of white sandy beach where you can walk, collect shells, and admire the driftwood. The aptly named Whale Watch Point on the bluff high above the beach is the best location for spotting whales. Spend the night in the park's campground, nestled in a forest along the river, then rise early, walk to the bluff, and maybe you’ll see the first whale of the day. Take binoculars for the best chance to spot spouts or blows from the shore. These puffs of water are formed when a whale exhales at the surface. 
Sea Ranch Access Coastal Trails: Just south of Gualala, The Sea Ranch extends for 10 miles along this stunningly beautiful strip of the Sonoma coast. The headlands here are known for their panoramic views of sea, sky, rocky outcrops, and migrating whales. The Sea Ranch is a private community, but the public can use six coastal access trails that cross the wind-swept bluffs. Trailheads are clearly marked along Highway 1.

Any of the Sea Ranch access trails are good for whale watching, but up on the bluffs is better than down on the beaches.
Lake Victoria’s Falling Waters
Drought gripped several regions in Eastern Africa and the short rainy season, from October to December, was even more dismal in the Lake Victoria region. But drought alone may not account for the drastic drop in water levels on Africa’s largest lake.
 
Lake Victoria’s rain basin (black border) is small relative to the size of the lake, leading to rapid fluctuations in lake level. (NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on the National Park Service Natural Earth map.)

 
“Lake Victoria is operated as a reservoir,” says Reynolds. The White Nile River is the only outlet from the lake, and since 1954, the Owens Falls Dam [now Nalubaale] has controlled the flow of water out of Lake Victoria into the Nile according to the terms of a treaty between Uganda and Egypt. The policy, which was revised in 1964, ensured that the natural flow of the Nile River would not be impacted by the dam. Since the treaty, the Nalubaale Dam has operated to keep water levels near 11.9 meters above the Jinja gauge, and for 50 years, the policy successfully maintained water levels in Lake Victoria.
 
Rainfall (dark green line) over Kisumu, Kenya, on the shores of Lake Victoria was modestly below average (light green fill) in the second half of 2005, but may not have been low enough to account for the large drop in lake levels. (NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on data provided by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.)
 

But in an effort to bring more power to its developing economy, Uganda expanded the Nalubaale Dam in 2000, adding the Kiira power station to the dam. Almost immediately, drought struck, and officials were faced with both less water to generate power and a rising demand for electricity. When water levels on Lake Victoria plunged at the end of 2005, news media began reporting that water officials and environmental groups had accused the power authority that operates the dam of taking more water than the policy allowed. According to news reports in January 2006, Uganda’s Directorate of Water Development (DWD) reported that the primary cause for falling lake waters was the power company’s failure to adhere to the 1954 water release policy, but other government officials later denied these allegations, saying that the drought was the only reason water levels were falling.
Floodplain Management « The Official Website for the City of Birmingham, Alabama
These creeks, rivers, and tributaries, along with additional waterways, contribute to the makeup of several watersheds that have some portion located within the city limits of Birmingham. The watersheds are: Cane Creek, Valley Creek, Turkey Creek, Five Mile Creek, Village Creek, Little Shades Creek, Shades Creek, Big Black Creek, Cahaba River, and Little Cahaba River. Each of the 10 watersheds contains at least some portion of 100-year floodplain. In the city limits of Birmingham, approximately 8,000+acres of the 100-Year floodplain are located within the boundaries of the 10 identified watersheds.

The City of Birmingham is affected by several natural events; however the most frequent are flooding and wind events (including Hurricanes). Flash flooding resulting from rising creeks / rivers during a storm event and localized flooding due to inadequate capacity or maintenance of the storm sewer drainage systems. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the normal rainfall for the City of Birmingham is approximately 53.99 inches per year. This average rain fall amount is spread out over the course of a year and varies from event to event.
Flash flooding is dependent on the amount and duration of the rainfall as well as the condition of the watershed. High amounts of rain received over relatively short periods of time (usually hours) result in fast rising waters. The condition of the watershed also plays an important role in how local waterways react to storm events. Previously saturated areas or land covered by impervious materials, such as asphalt, will produce higher runoff rates, contributing a larger volume of water reaching the local waterways.
The risk of flooding is often associated with the terms, base floodplain and 100-Year Floodplain. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the development of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) has delineated the 100-Year floodplain for communities participating in the NFIP. The base floodplain, or 100-Year floodplain is the area of land that would be inundated by a 1-percent-annual-chance flood.
Derecho Darkens Houston
“The ability of satellite-derived nighttime lights products, such as the Black Marble, to capture widespread outages in a distributed energy system is crucial for immediate response, resource allocation, and damage assessment,” said Shrestha.

Temperatures soared in Texas in the days following the derecho, with highs rising above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) in Houston. To protect residents without air conditioning from dangerous levels of heat, city authorities set up cooling and charging centers throughout the city.
NASA’s Earth Applied Sciences Disasters program area has been activated to support the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the event. As new information becomes available, the team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Black Marble data courtesy of Ranjay Shrestha/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

View this area in EO Explorer

Destructive winds left many people in the most populous city in Texas without power.
Image of the Day for May 23, 2024

Instruments:
Landsat 9 — OLI-2
Suomi NPP — VIIRS

Image of the Day
Severe Storms
Human Presence
Remote Sensing

View more Images of the Day:

May 22, 2024

May 24, 2024

References & Resources

Associated Press (2024, May 18) Hot weather poses new risk as thousands remain without power after deadly Houston storm. Accessed May 22, 2024.
Axios (2024, May 20) Central America’s heat wave helped spark Houston’s deadly derecho. Accessed May 22, 2024.
City of Houston Office of Emergency Management (2024) May 2024 Wind Event. Accessed May 22, 2024.
Houston Chronicle (2024, May 20) Live Updates. Accessed May 22, 2024.
NASA (2024) Black Marble. Accessed May 22, 2024.
NASA Earthdata (2024) Nighttime Lights. Accessed May 22, 2024
2001 Budget Analysis Trial Court Funding (0450)
The legislation also directed the task force to provide options and recommendations for funding court facility
maintenance, improvements, and expansion. Finally, Chapter 850 directed the task force to recommend an appropriate assignment
of state and local funding responsibilities for these facilities as well as a transition plan for any changes.
The task force submitted an interim report on October 1, 1999. A second interim report is expected in the spring of 2001, and a
final report was originally due July 1, 2001. However, the task force now estimates that its final report will not be issued until
October 2001. In formulating its recommendations, the task force relied on a survey of existing county facilities and a model for
court facility standards which incorporated existing and anticipated funding levels.
Task Force Recommendations. The task force has voted to recommend that the state assume full responsibility for funding and
maintaining court facilities and has designed a transition plan to achieve this. The task force chose not to adopt a single plan to
transfer and manage all facilities. Instead it recommends that the Judicial Council and the counties negotiate the transfer of facility
responsibilities on a building-by-building basis. Under this plan, the state would have the option of either taking title to a building or
leasing court space from the county.
Counties, on the other hand, would continue to have responsibility for financing at least a portion of the cost of facility operations
and maintenance through a maintenance-of-effort (MOE) agreement with the state. This would obligate counties to make payments
to the state based on historical funding levels of operations and maintenance.
Figure 3 summarizes some of the transfer principles recommended by the task force.

 Figure 3
 Key Features of County-to State Transfer Of Responsibility
for Court Facilities Recommended by Task Force 
State assumes responsibility for court facilities.
Judicial Council is lead entity and would negotiate transfers with counties
on a building-by-building basis.
The state provides no payment for capitalized value of buildings and
associated land.
Counties can decide whether or not to transfer certain special classes of
facilities, such as historically significant buildings, which may be leased by the
state for court use.
State can decide whether or not to accept facilities deemed unsuitable for