Click on the map above to link to a really good interactive map website which allows you to look at all sorts of variables such as population, health, farming and industry and to resize countries according to these variables.
I still find it amazing that a couple of clicks can transport me from Broughty Ferry to South Georgia..... The weather in South Georgia (despite the onset of spring) looks pretty grim today as this view which was 'beamed across' cyperspace a few moments ago shows. Check out those icebergs!
However, it is only a matter of time before we will start to see the first penguins like these ones which I caught last year..
I missed last Sunday's first episode of 'Stephen Fry in America' so was delighted to catch it repeated last night. If you haven't started to watch it, it looks as if it will provide an easy-viewing way to visit every state of the USA. It has a sort of Michael Palin feel about it - a travelogue with a well written commentary plus human interest stories. If you missed the first episode, it will be available for some time on the iPlayer . And, of course, these days it seems nothing is safe from 'You Tube'. The first episode has already been divided into chunks and uploaded. So here is the first chunk. Hopefully it will whet your appetite to check out the iPlayer for what you missed and to watch subsequent episodes when they are broadcast.
Over the next few months the snow and ice will gradually disappear from all but the highest peaks and you will see some amazing wildlife on that beach thousands of miles away.
The fact that we are now in the middle of Scottish Food Fortnight had completely escaped my attention until today. However, when I came across it on the BBC website, I thought that some of the info and links were particularly relevant to Form 2 pupils who are currently studying food miles.
There is a clear link with the work we have been doing on food miles. If we could source more of our food locally, we would have less need to eat 'exotic' fruit and veg and would therefore cut down on our food miles. You can read the daily reports of the BBC reporters here.
Last year he was presenting 'Earth:the Power of the Planet' . This year it is to be 'Earth : the Climate Wars' . In the first of three documentaries beginning this Sunday (6th September) on BBC2 at 9pm, Dr Iain Stewart will be tracing the history of climate change research and examining the potential for ecological catastrophe as climate change becomes a reality.
With only two hours of August left and no sign of a dramatic change in the weather before midnight, here are the preliminary results of my weather calculations for the month...
over the last two days about the locations of Britain's happiest and fattest people. It seems the happiest people live in a rural area of mid Wales and the fattest people are in the Shetlands.
There has been a bit of discussion in the press over the last few days about how the Olympic medals table should be shown. Clearly countries such as China with very large populations are more likely to win medals. Similarly, countries which can afford to invest money in sport facilities and training are more likely to produce medal winners. Such countries are likely to have a large GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Here are a couple of 'alternative' medal tables.... 
A couple of months ago, I was thinking about going to Mumbai this summer. Then someone who knows India well, suggested that July and August would not be the best time to go ...on account of the monsoon. So I went to Cornwall and Devon instead and it rained there and then I came back to Dundee and it has deluged for six weeks!
Each 'step' represents a sudden increase in rain. The graph is cumulative and shows rainfall since the weather station was set up in May. On the Ist August, the total rainfall was 117mm. Today it is 283mm 1.e. 165mm in just 21 days. Our total ANNUAL rainfall in Dundee is 750mm. It is therefore quite possible that by the end of the month, we will have received one quarter of our annual rainfall in just one month.
So, why is this happening? One explanation is global warming. Remember that climate change is not just about long, hot summers and vineyards in Tayside. It could be about milder, less snowy winters and windier, wetter summers. When temperatures increase, air rises giving low pressure and increasing winds. Rising air also condenses, forms clouds and....produces rain!
The forecast is for a drier September ... when it get cooler. Well, you can't have everything!
Last Saturday an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck Hokkaido (the north island ) in Japan. There is some video footage here. You can also read an account of the earthquake here and access a series of images by clicking on the image above.
Click on the image above to access the BBC website information about this typhoon. BBC also has a very good animated guide to typhoons. Sadly this morning it is also reporting a large loss of life in the Philippines as a result of a ferry capsizing in the wake of the typhoon. There is asome video footage here.
You can read reports of the flooding here and here. Nearly six million people have been affected by the flooding in one way or another. China’s rainy season causes havoc every year.
Details of the loss of life and the extent of the damage caused when Cyclone Nargis swept through the south of Myanmar (Burma) on Saturday are now beginning to appear in the press and media. In a chilling reminder of the rising figures in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami in 2004, the death toll has risen steadily from just a few hundred to a current estimate of 22,000+.
If you click here, you will link to an animated explanation of how and why cyclones occur.
Why does the Google search engine have a black background today? Click on it to find out or watch the video below..
if you click on the banner above, you will link to a new website produced by teachers from British Columbia in Canada. Its aims is to present in "as clear, objective, and accessible a format as possible - the condition of the world -- both its natural and human elements. "
I haven't posted on GMPAY for a couple of weeks as I have been very busy writing daily up-dates on the progress of our FP Mark Beaumont who is currently cycling around the world. Mark is now in New Mexico (USA) having cycled 14,500 miles of his 18000 mile route. It now looks likely that he might complete his epic journey in under 200days. 
Click on the image above to make your own snowflakes.And for all the rest of you who have been "good boys and girls"....
Click on the image to link to the NORAD tracking Santa website. This year it is even better than usual - Santa is using Google Earth!
And a 'postcard' from Mrs V to all of you.... 
The White House Christmas video starring Barney, the Scottie dog whose master is President Bush, has become compulsory viewing in recent years. This year it has a geographical theme as the video is used as a loosely disguised advert for National Parks! Click on the image below to link to the video
High in the Himalayas lakes like this one are lengthening by as much as 100m a year. Global warming has produced an average temperature rise of 1.5 degrees C in just 40 years in Nepal and glaciers are melting fast. Many of the lakes which are produced are held back by unconsolidated mounds of debris known as moraines. If these natural dams fail (and history shows that they often do) then millions of gallons of water would sweep down the valleys, anihilating everything in their path.
I opened my copy of 'Scotland on Sunday' yesterday and read an article which made me think it might be the beginning of April instead of the beginning of December!
Martinique is no stranger to natural disasters as it sits aside a major plate boundary. Back in 1902 almost 30,000 inhabitants were killed by a violent eruption of Mont Pelée. This was the greatest loss of life from a volcanic eruption in the 20th century. 
Starting tonight on BBC2 at 9pm is a new series which sounds as if it will be spectacular. In 'Earth : the Power of the Planet' , geologist Dr Iain Stewart will be looking at the forces that have shaped the planet starting tonight with volcanoes then moving on to the oceans, atmosphere and ice in the next three weeks before concluding in the final programme that 'Earth has nothing to fear from man'. 
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It's strange that on a weekend when the UN have been issuing dire warnings of global warming that the Alps have had an early, bumper fall of snow (the image was taken in Meribel yesterday)
Sadly yesterday's figures for the loss of life which Bangladesh has suffered as a result of Cyclone Sidr now seem to have been greatly underestimated. This report on the BBC website up-dates the story and the figures. Pictures like the one above will be all too common as many children have been left orphaned after losing both parents.
While volcanoes have been 'rumbling' in Indonesia this week, in another part of Asia a violent 
cyclone (tropical storm) has taken a huge toll of human life. The storm, called Cyclone Sidr, swept in from the Bay of Bengal late on Thurday and affected much of southern Bangladesh. Present estimates suggest that it may have claimed as many as 900 victims but that figure is likely to rise as rescue workers reach remote areas and the fate of the fisherman who were at sea at the time the cyclone hit is revealed. http://geology.com/world/bangladesh-map.gifAs well as 150mph winds and torrential rain, the cyclone unleased a 5m high tidal storm surge which swept inland destroying buildings, livestock and crops as well as claiming a huge human toll in the flat delta lands which make up most of the southern part of the country. There are some very good accounts of the cyclone which you can read on the Internet. For example, this BBC newspage gives a good up-date and there is a very good first hand account of the cyclone from a BBC World Service reporter who has recently been travelling through the country documenting the effect of climate change on its people.
