Ascension Island Links
Most of the links relate directly to Ascension Island, but some provide good background information.
Links are grouped together into the following sections:
- Sea Turtles and
Ascension Island
- Site about University of Wales, Swansea project project to determine the
current status of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) which nests on Ascension
Island in the South Atlantic. The project is funded by the Darwin
Initiative for the Survival of Species
- California Turtle and
Tortoise Club's list of links
- Lots of links to other turtle pages
- Sea Turtle Survival league
- Bulletin board, Email list and other information
- The Atlantic
Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
- Very comprehensive. Based on information from the Recovery Plan for
U.S. Population of Atlantic Green Turtles, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service
and National Marine Fisheries Service, 1991
- UN System-wide EarthWatch
Island Directory
- Basic environmental and geographic information on the significant islands
of the world including Ascension
Island.
- Magnetic
Turtles and the GPS
- Interesting page about how turtles navigate and find Ascension. As the
author points out this is no mean feat, after all World War II Air Force pilots
based there had a saying - ''If you miss Ascension, your wife gets a
pension''.
- Caribbean Conservation Corporation
- The Caribbean Conservation Corporation aims to ensure the survival of sea turtles
within the Wider Caribbean basin and Atlantic through research, education,
training, advocacy and the protection of the natural habitats upon which they
depend. Includes this page which explains how tracking transmitters are attached to turtles
- Marine Turtle research group
- Subsite on their Ascension Island turtle project
- Ascension Frigatebird - the return continues
- a 2014 update by the RSPB after the program to eliminate feral caats and rats
- Seabirds return to ascension island
- Article on Birdlife International website about the success story on removal of the cats on Ascension
- BirdLife
International
- Fact sheet about the Ascension Frigate bird
- Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Ascension scrub and grasslands
- World wild life fund page about Ascension's ecology
- Coffee on St. Helena
- The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal's article on The Island
of Saint Helena Coffee Company, April 2001
- UK Overseas Conversation Forum
- The UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum helps with the co-ordinated conservation of the plant, animal species and natural habitats of UK's Overseas Territories (UKOTs). click here to search it via Google.
- Ascension Island seabirds in the Ascendancy
- Recent article (Dec 2004) about the improvement in the prospects for sea-birds on the island.
- Birdwatching Trip Report from Ascension Island
- Brief account Army Ornithological Society survey of the Sooty "Wideawake" Tern fairs on Ascension Island. Detailed description of bird species encountered but only a few pictures.
- Green Mountain
- Wikipedia entry for Green mountain with description of how the flora on the mountain has come to be what it is today.
- Going Green: Ascension Island Sea Turtles
- Article about Ascension Island turtle migration and nest building
- Ascension Island Flora
- Page showing selection of the Ascension Island flora seen during a stay by Jonathan Shanklin between March 21 and 25 2006
- Enigma of the man-made rainforest
- Article in the Independent newspaper about the evolution of the man-made rain forest at the top of Green mountain
- Ascension Island diary - smith family visit 2004/5
- Daily diary, with plenty of pictures, of exploits of the smith family during their 2004/5 visit staying with Johnny Hobson (the island's dentist).
- Administrator
of Ascension Island
- The "official" Ascension Island site with lots about the island
and details of how to visit.
- Nasa
Deep Space station
- The Nasa space tracking station that is now the 1st Ascension Scout HQ
- Island Resources Foundation
- Private, non-profit research and education organization, dedicated to
solving the environmental problems of development in small tropical islands.
This site seems to very active and up to date.
- Ascension
Island Webcam
- Live view from the bridge head.
- The Islander
- The current edition online of Ascension Island's only newspaper plus
searchable archive of past issues.
- Trembly's
Travels
- A page about Cristy Trembly's visit to the South Atlantic by plane to
Ascension and then on by sea to Saint Helena and Tristan.
- The ZD8TC Ascension
Island Story
- Ted Collins describes how he set-up and ran a world beating Amateur radio
station on the island, but starts off with some odd snippets of Ascension Island
history.
- Scuba Surf
- A scuba Ezine which might be useful for anyone intending scuba diving on
Ascension
- The
St.Helena Virtual library and Archive
- Provides electronic versions of literature mainly related to St. Helena and
also maps and views of St. Helena, but there is a section at the end on material
related to Ascension.
- The emphasis is on the older, more scarce, St. Helena material (books
published prior to 1900; maps and views published prior to 1800).
(Does not contain books that deal only, or mainly, with Napoleon's exile on St.
Helena.)
- Ascension
Undersea
- Underwater pictures from Jimmy Young, one of the most experienced divers on
Ascension who knows it's waters and turtles.
- Expat Exchange
- Useful site for anyone living or working abroad.
- Ascension
in the sixties
- Photographs taken by Mike Simpson during his stay on Ascension from
1966-1968, plus some historic pictures taken around 1898
- Ascension
AAF Local Post
- Short piece about the local post in the seventies on the US Auxiliary Air
Field base complex
- Ascension
island current weather summary
- Comprehensive information on current weather conditions plus 24 hour history
of conditions
- Ascension
island weather history statistics
- Statistics and trends (temperature rainfall etc) on weather at Georgetown
- Island Search
- Search engine specialising in Islands
- Unofficial
Ascension Island
- Useful site from Telecom Consulting Limited covering most aspects of the
islands with plenty of pictures and a good links section.
- Ascension
Island guide
- Page on VirtualTourist.com with link to nice page by Aabebi Glass
who lives on St. Helena.
- Aerial
view of Ascension Island
- Aerial picture of Ascension Island from the earth observatory sub-site of
Nasa.
There is an additional link on the page to an even higher quality image (1870 kB)
- NASA earth Observatory
- Info and aerial image of Ascension. (A much larger Ascension Island aerial image is available via a text link)
- Weather statistics (Georgetown)
- Mainly temperature related stats. e.g. average, highest, lowest.
- Yacht Prrrfection sails to Ascension Island in the Atlantic
- Quite detailed account of the visit to Ascension by Yacht Prrrfection (Note: all text no pictures)
- Visit by GreenPeace's Esperanza
- Account of visit by the GreenPease vessel Esperanza on 15 March 2006, plus links to Guardian articles about the Uk Government u-turn on plans for democracy and self-determination on the island.
- YouTube video on Ascension
- Short video but all still shots but these were all taken by members of the 701st airlift squadron there are some interesting aerial views.
- Ascension AAF (Auxiliary Air Field) Local Post
- Page about the Ascension AAF (Auxiliary Air Field) Local Post service which operated from just January 1972 to August 25, 1972 !
- Abandoning Ascension.; Some peculiarities of the island that made life a burden there
- Article about life on Ascension from The New York Times August 30, 1881, edition.
N.B. the full article is a scanned file in PDF format.
- FMF Local Post Honors Ascension Naturalist Robin Hannay
- Page about stamps issued by FMF Local Post (FMFLP) of Fort Myers Florida to commemorate naturalist Robin Hannay for his work on Ascension Island by issuing a special commemorative local post first day cover in 1978.
- Ashes to More Ashes!… Exercise Busch Baby
- Account of RAF team who walk all 21(or is it 22) letterbox walks.
- ASI - Airport
- A few statistics etc about the Wideawake Airfield if you are into that sort of thing
- Memories of Ascension
- Account by Phil Brooks of the setting up in the late sixties of the BBC World Services or South Atlantic Relay Station. (S.A.R.S.) as it was known then.
- Dawn Osborn - Photographer
- Pictures of Ascension Island birds, landscape, plant life and faune
- "Ascension Island. Barren, 4,044 miles from Land's End, but ours says the FO"
- Article from 28 August 2008 edition of the Guardian newpaper about extending nation mineral rights from 200 to 350 nautical miles.
- ZD8SIX on Ascension November 2000
- Share with the fun, frustration and excitement of a 6m (50MHz) radio amateur DXpedition to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic! Actually don't worry if you are not a adio amateu as it is very readable. (NB The start link which says Her we go is not instantly obvious)
- Space
flight tracking and data network
- Some information about Networks Division of Goddard Space Flight
Center and how Ascension fits into the GSFC network of stations around the
world.
- Cable
and Wireless
- Short history of Cable and Wireless's connection with the Island starting in
1899.
- History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Ascension Island
- Article about the role Ascension Island as a undersea telephone/telecommunications station.
- Atlantic Fishing charter
- Try your hand at deep sea fishing off Ascension. The site says that there are plenty of blue marlin, sailfish, swordfish, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, wahoo, mako shark, thresher shark, tiger shark, mahi mahi and a lot of other species.
- Ascension
Island climate
- Some weather statistics for Ascension
- Current
Conditions for Wide awake field,Ascension Island
- Find out what the weather was doing on the island a few hours ago.
- Earth Viewer: Cities
around the World
- Click on the name of a city to show a zoomable image centred on that city
- Flatteringly this site includes Ascension Island in the list. The image is a
little small
- but is relatively current as it comes from an orbiting satellite.
- RIDGE
Multibeam Synthesis Project
- A synthesis of multi-beam bathymetry collected by academic and government
agencies from mid-ocean ridges, if you are into that sort of thing.
- Mining Company Geography
Guide
- The Mining Co provide all sorts of guides and this geography one has an
excellent collection of links and resources.
- www.countries.com
- Links to all over the world.
- Internet Geography
- Links to original works that describe general physical, environmental, human, and
economic geography subjects. Special sections of the site are geared specifically for students and teachers; the site provides them with homework
help and lessons for teaching geography.
- Visible
Earth
- Nasa sub-site contains searchable directory of images, visualizations and
animations of the Earth sorted by country.
- Barry Weaver's
pages
- This site from the University of Oklahoma gives an overview of the Island
and a comprehensive insight into its geology.
- University of Oregon Geology
Department
- Interesting set of links and resources about earthquakes , volcanoes , sea
surface temperature and hurricane formation
- More
on William Dampier
- More on William Dampier from Wikipedia.
- Napoleon
- Napoleon's exile to St. Helena was the impetus for the first permanent
occupation of Ascension
- The
Falklands War
- A good starting place for researching the Falklands history.
- The
Voyage of the Beagle
- Chapter 21 of the Internet Wiretap Online Edition of Darwin's book which
contains details of Darwin's brief visit.
- The
Strange Story of Napoleon's Wallpaper
- A very interesting piece of historic and scientific detective work. (Don't
forget to click the link at the bottom of each page for the next part of the
story).
- The Napoleonic Guide
- A one-stop reference site for Napoleon and French history between 1796 to
1815, providing information on the period's major powers, armies, soldiers,
battles, the Naval War, the War of 1812, etc. As expected from the site's
title it has personal information on Napoleon's career, opponents,
marshals, and family, including a page on Napoleon's
exile on St. Helena. Also provided are digital images; key maps; and a list
of relevant movies, books, and music.
- The Laconia
incident
- Details of how U-boat U-156
was rescuing survivors from a "kill" when itself became a victim of a
American B-24 Liberator bomber operating from the Ascension Island. This
incident caused Dönitz to alter his standing instructions to U-boats about
rescuing survivors.
- Ascension Island
Heritage Society
- Rich source of information for both modern and older history of the island.
Has a then and now pictures section.
- Six
Months in Ascension
- Electronic copy of book by Mrs Gill published in 1878. An account of a
visit, sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society, to measure the
distance from the Earth to the sun during a favorable Opposition of
Mars. There are 25 chapters covering most aspects of life on Ascension in the
second half of the 19th century.
- Thevet's description of Ascension Island
- Short description of island landing written in 1555
- Partial
Military History
- Contains scanned in copy of a document about the Marines occupation of
Ascension when Napoleon was exiled on St. Helena.
- Time traveller's guide to Napoleon's Empire
- From UK Channel 4 television, this site covers everything you ever wanted to
know about Napoleon from his seizure of power in 1799 to his exile in 1815
- Letter about Ascension circa 1900
- Letter home from a young girl who first arrived on Ascension in 1897.
- Diary of US WWII aviator
- Diary of US airman who fly from Florida via British Guyana, Brazil, Ascension Island, Accra and on the the Far East theatre of operations. Ascension only gets passing mention , but interesting to see how Widawake was used in World Ward II.
- Ascension Island during the Falklands War 1982
- A photographic record of people, planes and places taken by Bob Shackleton at Ascension during the preparations for the Falklands campaign
- The Atlantic Relay Station and the Falklands War
- BBC Memoryshare contribution by Norman Shacklady on his memories of the part the BBC on Ascension to teh Falklands campaign.
- Royal Marine Commandants of Ascension Island
- Page about the commandants of Ascension when it was run by the Royal Marines. Includes some thoughts on the high mortality rate.
- The Journal of Syms Covington
- Chapter 7 of The Journal of Syms Covington(Assistant to Charles Darwin Esq. on the Second Voyage of the HMS Beagle) which includes a short mention of the stop on Ascension in July 1836. Of interest are the mention of plentiful guinea fowl and the land rail.
- Wideawake Engineers
- A blog by journalist Robin Chapman about the papers she found left behind by her father, the late Col. William Ashley Chapman, who served on Ascension Island in WWII and was heavily involved in the building of the runway. She has donated the material she found to the Ascension Island Heritage Society, who have now catalogued the two boxes of papers she sent. The boxes contained William Chapman's letters, papers, lists of military men he served with, and drafts of articles about Ascension Island where he was stationed for two years during World War II.
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- Apollo
expeditions to the Moon
- Massive site organised into 15 chapters plus appendixes.
To give an indication of the coverage of this site here are all the main
chapters:
-
- 45th
Space Wing
- General page about the 45th space wing
-
- Books on X-15, Apollo and space flight
- Range Rats
- Page by Dan Kovalchik which are good read about his Apollo period
experiences, and includes one page about encountering sharks when diving off Ascension.
- NASA
Apollo 11 30th Anniversary
- On July 20, 1969 Neil A. Armstrong took his "Small Step" onto the
surface of the moon. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its greatest success,
NASA has created this new site, which includes crew interviews, image galleries,
biographies, and documents such as the "Top Ten Scientific
Discoveries Made During Apollo Exploration of the Moon".
- WAE's on-line CD Rom
catalog
- A CD Rom reseller specializing in history, military history, military
interest and aviation CD Rom publications, but also has a very active chat page
and bulletin board/question and answer page.
- Encyclopedia
Astronautica
- Huge site about space travel not just the Nasa mission but also the Soviet
program and other countries such as China which are at a very early stage.
- HubbleSite
- The universe as seen by Nasa's Hubble space telescope. Mix of images and
solid information. Even has a games section including Make a Comet and
Galaxies Galore.
- A Tribute to Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station
- information about the Nasa Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station in Australia. Includes information and pictures on the history of the site itself and the Apollo project.
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- The Ariane Space
program
- The Ariane site has some interesting "ARIANESPACE MOVIES" if you
have a fast link for the chunky AVI files, but not much mention of Ascension.
- Shopping
for the Boosters
- An account of the development of the Atlas ICBM in the late fifties, with a
brief mention of Ascension as the east end of the Atlantic missile range.
- Space.COM
- The site name says it all !
- Operation
Black Buck
- An account of the Vulcan bomber raid from Ascension on the Falklands
- ASCENSION
ISLAND Stepping Stone to Victory
- Interesting piece from Naval-history.net on Ascension's role in the
Falklands war
- HMS Hood's 5.5" Guns on Ascension Island
- Short piece about how the HMS Hood guns came to be on Ascension and their
restoration in the eighties.
- Britains
Small Wars
- This site has a subtitle of "The History of British Military Conflicts
since 1945" and it has plenty of well organised information on the
Falklands war, including a section of the role of the Vulcan bombers, the SAS
and SBS involvement on the ground. Other conflicts covered include
includes India, Palestine, Malaya, Korea, Suez Canal Zone, Kenya,
Cyprus, Suez 1956, Borneo, Vietnam, Aden, Radfan, Oman, Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone.
- History of the Eastern Test Range
- In the 50's Ascension formed the far end of the US Eastern Test Range and to this day Ascension is still used as part of the USA missile testing program.
- Keeping the Vulcans flying
- Exact reproduction of "The Vulcan Engineering Detachment on Ascension Island Diary" from the Vulcan Black Buck missions in the Falklands conflict and life on Ascension at the time. Also has lots of pictures.
- ABC
Country Book of Saint Helena
- A few facts on St Helena and it's dependencies.
- Radio Saint Helena
- Not strictly about Ascension, but because of it's very nature, the best
place to look for current news on the South Atlantic.
- St Helena Institute
- As the name says lots about St. Helena but also information on Ascension
Island and Tristan da Cuhna.
- MTU Volcanoes Page
- Michigan Tech's Volcanoes Page aims to provide information about volcanoes
to the public, and has plenty of info and links to follow..
- The Electronic Volcano
- Plenty more links about volcanoes.
- The Global Volcanism program
- This site from the Smithsonian Institute contains of all volcanic eruptions
over the last 10,000 years and also news on current eruptions in almost real
time.
- Geological
Observations on the Volcanic Islands (chapter III)
- Electronic copy of chapter from Darwin's book, and an insight into geology
thoughts and techniques at the time of Darwin's life
- Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
- Sub-site of the U.S. Geological Survey. Unlike Ascension Yellowstone has
lots going on.
The site is divided into several major sections that covering topics such as current volcanic and seismic activity in the
region, volcanic history in the area, and FAQ (e.g. frequency of volcanic eruptions at Yellowstone and the relationship between
volcanism and the geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone).
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