Ascension Island links

Most of the links below relate directly to Ascension Island, but some provide good background information.

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Communications	Ecology
Geography	Geology
Volcanoes	Nasa and Apollo moon Missions
General	Military and Space
History	South Atlantic

General

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
Alternative Energy Project - Ascension Island - 1997: Some information and pictures on the two renewable energy sources, wind and solar photovoltaic, consisting of four 225KW wind generators and a 90kW photovoltaic system which are used by the American air base.
Endeavour shore visit: Short accounts of a visit by the sail training vessel Endeavour during February 1997 as recorded by crew members.
Ascension Island Scout Troop: An excellent new site recording/showing the activities of the island's scout troop with plenty of pictures.
St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan Da Cuhna Philatelic Society: Plenty about the stamps of the various islands, and also a small amount of background information on the islands.
Small Islands Information Network: Large amount of information and links on small islands around the globe, including small island development. However it does not seem to have been updated much recently.
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.
Islander Magazine: Strictly this Islander magazine is based on the Isle of Skye but it does have articles about small islands around the world, including one in the January 1997 Issue 3 about Saint Helena.
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.
Atlantis: This is the site of Atlantis, the Ascension Island internet server. Run by Cable & Wireless, the island's internet service provider. Look here for Ascension contacts email addresses and eventually a phone directory. Also has it's own set of Ascension Island links.
Countdown to Double Occultation: On 23 April 1998 there was a simultaneous occultation of Jupiter and Venus by the moon. This is, apparently, a very rare astronomical event, having last happened on November 23 1791 and the next time, after this year will in 2200. The full event was only visible from a small part of the South Atlantic and part of Africa. Oliver Staiger's site documents his visit to see this rare event including many pictures of Ascension and if you would like maps and more detailed diagrams, information etc. follow the eclipse zone link you will find near the end of his page.
Scuba Surf: A scuba Ezine which might be useful for anyone intending scuba diving on Ascension
Remote Islands of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans: A small but growing site, including the usual South Atlantic islands and also the Faroes, Pitcairn etc.
ZD8SIX on Ascension: Very comprehensive account of visit by Chris Gare to Ascension during November 2000. Plenty of pictures and a very full diary account of his visit.
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 Island Photos: Many photos but not much text, from Helen & Tony Baczynski's 3 year stay during 1979-1982
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.
St Helena Leisure Corporation Ltd(SHELCO): Comprehensive site about SHELCO, a British company, proposing to develop communications and tourist amenities on St.Helena by constructing an airport, a world-class hotel, together with leisure facilities. SHELCO also wants to found and operate a new international flag-carrying civil airline for the Territory - St Helena Airways, flying to Ascension, the Falklands, Dubai, Bermuda and Cape Town.
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
Badgers Guide to Ascension Island: Site by Airframe Technician in the RAF about his stay on Ascension
Island Search: Search engine specialising in Islands
Send an Ascension Island Postcard: Contains about a dozen quite good pictures of Ascension which you can send as a postcard.
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.
Mysterra Reports: Mysterra.org is a site which covers out of the way places and islands, with a well structured sub site about Ascension.
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)
South Atlantic Remote Territories Media Association: Comprehensive and regularly updated site with news from all the South Atlantic islands.
Obsidian Group: Obsidian Group Accommodation and Tourist Services. The main providers for business and tourist accommodation on Ascension Island.
NASA earth Observatory: Info and aerial image of Ascension. (A much larger Ascension Island aerial image is available via a text link)
Green Mountain - in high places: Account of a visit by someone from teh Sierra Club - a US mountain climbing club
Kite flying report: As Ascension enjoys the steady breeze provided by the Trade Winds perhaps it is no surprise that someone has tried their hand at kite flying there.
Weather statistics (Georgetown): Mainly temperature related stats. e.g. average, highest,lowest.
Current weather on Ascension Island: As collected and supplied by NOAA(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Wind Turbines on Ascension: Advertorial article about how EnXco installed 4 wind turbines, but does gives some background fact and figures.
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)
Cruises that call at Ascension: List of cruises by several companies that stop at Ascension en route. (These are all part of larger itineraries typically ranging from 14 days to 28 days)
The Parable of Green Mountain: Interesting 4 page article about how the ecology of Green Mountain has evolved. (Note: This is a PDF file)
Welcome to Nowhere: Brief account of Simon Winchester transferring from Russian tramp steamer to land at Ascension and cadge a flight to UK

Communications

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.
NAVSTAR Global Positioning System: Some explanation about GPS and how Ascension plays a role in the GPS network.
Cable and Wireless: Short history of Cable and Wireless's connection with the Island starting in 1899.

Ecology

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
Fact sheet: Compiled by Greenpeace, so it is very comprehensive.
Green Sea Turtle: Yet another site
Green Turtle Farm: This site basically exists to market a book, but it has got quite a few pictures.
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''.
Internet Turtle Resources: Lots of Turtle links from Berkeley University
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
Seabird Restoration Project: Mainly about the program to eradicate feral cats so that the bird population can be allowed to recover. Also a little about problems such as rats and the Mexican thorn bush.
Falklands Conservation: Serious site about conservation on the Falklands island but also includes a "Penguins Do Not Topple Over" page
Seabirds on Ascension Island: Article by Norman Ratcliffe from World Birdwatch Special Issue v21 (4), March 1999. Good discussion about the effects of feral cats, Japanese long-line fishery for Big-eye Tuna Thunnus obsesus and Swordfish, etc on bird population.
BirdLife International: Fact sheet about the Ascension Frigatebird
Terrestrial Ecoregions -- Ascension scrub and grasslands: World wild life fund page about Ascension's ecology
Pirate Fishing Impacts: Greenpeace report on the effects of pirate fishing on both green turtles and also local fishermen on Ascension Island.
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). The site does not have it' search facility implemented yet so 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.
Ornithology Cruise in South Atlantic: Account of 32 day cruise in South Atlantic visiting all of the islands from Cape Verde, past Ascension and on down to South Georgia

Geography

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.
Ascension Island, south Atlantic Ocean: This page contains a few facts and figures, but more interestingly an image of Ascension taken from the Space shuttle( to a bigger scale than Earth Viewer).
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.
Skye International Teleservice Centre: Follow "islands index" to get a whole series of links to pages about various islands around 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.

Geology

Barry Weaver's pages: This site from the University of Oklahoma gives an overview of the Island and a comprehensive insight into its geology.
Geothermal energy project.: Details of a recent geothermal energy project.
Jon Davidson's Ascension Island studies: Some pictures and a bit more geology, but no where as comprehensive as Barry Weaver's pages.
IRIS/IDA seismic station ASCN homepage: All about the seismic station on Ascension
Two earthquakes: Trace of an earth quake on Ascension, but also about the effect the Caspian sea has on seismic waves.
Dept of Geology, University of Newcastle, Australia: Excellent set of geology related links
Ascension Island Observatory: A bit of information on the unmanned sensor set up by the Global Seismology & Geomagnetism Group of BGS (British Geological Survey)
University of Oregon Geology Department: Interesting set of links and resources about earthquakes , volcanoes , sea surface temperature and hurricane formation

History

William Dampier: As a result of a ship wreck, William Dampier was the first person to live on Ascension Island for any length of time.
More on William Dampier: A bit more on Dampier's exploits.
Napoleon: Napoleon's exile to St. Helena was the impetus for the first permanent occupation of Ascension
The Eastern test range in the fifties: A brief history, with pictures, of how Ascension fitted in as the end point for a 5,000 mile missile range from Cape Canaveral.
The Falklands War: A good starting place for researching the Falklands history.
Falklands war 15 years on: Sections on start of war, memories, battles , end of war from a Portsmouth local newspaper.
Retracing Cook's Voyages: Historian Tim Beaglehole documents his articles of Captain James Cook's voyages across the Atlantic Ocean to England.
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 Suffering of Six Deserters: The Extraordinary Adventures of six deserters belonging to the Artillery on the Island of St. Helena as related by John Brown before a court of enquiry in 1801
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.
Websmith bookshop Napoleon and St. Helena: Books on Napoleon and St. Helena.
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.
Sabrina Jeffries links: Pirate related links
Ascension Island Heritage Society: Rich source of information for both modern and older history of the island. Has a then and now pictures section.
The East India Company and Coffee: Set of pages about the East India Company and coffee production in St. Helena
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
Discoverers Web: Site contains links to information on the web about voyages of discovery and exploration.
Letter about Ascension circa 1900: Letter home from a young girl who first arrived on Ascension in 1897.

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Nasa and the Apollo moon Missions

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:

A Perspective on Apollo
The forces that set us on the path to the Moon
"I Believe We Should Go to the Moon"
Engineering what had never been done before
Saturn the Giant
Building the boosters to send men beyond Earth
The Spaceships
Building the first craft to cross an ocean of space
Scouting the Moon
Mechanical explorers went before human ones

The Cape
The new shipyard of space created for Apollo
"This is Mission Control"
How men on Earth aided men in space
Men for the Moon
How they were chosen and train
The Shakedown Cruises
Bold steps preceded 'one small step'
Getting It All Together
Critical tests of the total system

"The Eagle Has Landed"
A goal attained, men on the Moon
Ocean of Storms and Fra Mauro
Exploring on foot, emplacing automatic laboratories
"Houston, We've Had a Problem"
A crippled bird limps safely home
The Great Voyages of Exploration
Scientific expeditions return a rich harvest
The Legacy of Apollo
New understanding of ourselves and our world

Planet Earth
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First Man on the Moon
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Military and Space

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.
All about GCHQ and CSO(Composite Signals Organisation): Does exactly what it says !
Space.COM: The site name says it all !
Operation Black Buck: An account of the Vulcan bomber raid from Ascension on the Falklands
Chobham and the Falklands War: Page about the refuelling logistics needed for the Vulcan bombing raid.
The Vulcan Operating Company: Site about the project to restore the last Vulcan bomber that was in active service for the RAF back to air-worthiness.
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.

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South Atlantic

ABC Country Book of Saint Helena: A few facts on St Helena and it's dependencies.
Falkland Islands News Network: Good place for the latest news on what is happening on, and around the Falklands.
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.
St Helena - Getting there: Information on how to get to St Helena.
The South Atlantic & Sub-Antarctic Islands Home Page: Not strictly about Ascension, but St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Also contains mention of minor, uninhabited islands such as "Inaccessible", just off Tristan.
3d atlas online: This entry is for St Helena, but there is not one for Ascension.
Tristan visit: Not a very big page, but does have a section which has relatively recent pictures (Jan 98)

Volcanoes

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.
VolcanoWorld: At this research and information site you can learn about the natural forces that cause volcanic eruptions and view photographs, satellite images, and movies of active 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.
The Volcanic Homepage: Another good starting point as it has many links, pictures, reports and a world-wide directory of volcanologists
Volcanoes Online: Comprehensive site from basic theory to deep science
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).