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Showing posts from December, 2025

Pentland Firth

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  The Orkney Riddle The Pentland Firth  The Pentland Firth is the channel of water that separates the Orkney archipelago from Caithness,  the northern most county of Scotland. It is deep, wide, and famously dangerous to cross,  even with modern boats and navigation systems. From the ferry crossing from Caithness to South Ronaldsay interesting surface phenomena indicate what is happening beneath the hull of the boat. Flat shiny areas of water commonly suggest an upwelling mix of currents , while whirlpools imply water being drawn down into the murky deeps.   "The Pentland Firth’s eastern approach hosts intricate sediment transport pathways. Time-averaging the modelled flow field revealed the recirculatory nature of the residual flow also reflected by the inferred sediment transport field identified via timeseries bathymetric analysis.  The Pentland Firth (PF), located between mainland Scotland and Orkney, is an area of the UK continental shelf (UKCS) that ex...

So This is Orkney

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      The Orkney Riddle So, This is Orkney .  A straggling group of islands off the north coast of Scotland  Hoy, and the Old Man of Hoy. The Churchill Barriers The block ships, scuttled to prevent German submarines from entering Scapa Flow during WW2. The Italian Chapel,  built by Italian prisoners of war, while theybuilt the Churchill Barriers during WW2. Stromness,  Orkney's second town. Stromness,  again Kirkwall's main business town, and one of three major ports. Kirkwall ba' outside the cathedral, a wild, confusing , and exilerating ball scrum through the streets of the town.  Abandoned WW2 structures Cliffs and beaches  Sunsets Rackwick Bay More sunsets Haar More Haar The Ring of Brodgar  The Ness of Brodgar  The Stones of Stenness  Skara Brae That's Orkney!  (In summer!) "A Bizarre Idea" What's the Story "Neolithic Migrants to Orkney" The story of the First, Founding Immigrants to Orkney  But "They must h...