New Compass Release

COMPASS is a cave mapping software package designed to edit, process, analyze and view cave survey data using an IBM PC compatible computer. The programs in the system allow you to enter cave data, revise the data, generate statistics on the cave, close loops, view plots from various angles on the screen and finally, print finished quality plots on almost any of dot matrix, laser, ink jet printer and a variety of line plotters.

COMPASS has hundreds of powerful features, including a configurable survey editor, high speed real-time 3D passage wall modeling, GIS and data base compatibility, sophisticated loop closure and blunder detection. COMPASS is extremely fast capable of animating of caves in excess of 150 miles in length. It is also very easy to use, with built-in wizards and tools that make it easy for novice users to manage and work with large cave systems. COMPASS will run on any modern version of Windows. COMPASS is constantly being refined to add new features and take advantage of the latest technologies.

This is a major new release, with more than 45 changes and improvements. Here are the highlights of
the changes:

1. TRUE 3D ROSE DIAGRAMS.
CaveX now has the ability to generate 3D Rose-Depth diagrams where each petal is a 3D object that represents both angle and depth at the same time. These are full 3D solid models that can panned, rotated and zoomed allowing them to be viewed from any angle. 3D Rose Diagrams are much more useful than ordinary Rose Diagrams because they allow you to see passage trends that only exist at certain depths in the cave.

2. LOCKING IMAGES TO THE CAVE.
The Viewer now supports the option of locking bitmap images to the cave. This is useful for tying topographic maps, aerial photographs and other maps or drawings to the cave. Once the image has been registered, the image can expand, contract, shift and rotate synchronously with cave. There is also the option of editing, trimming, and resizing images using filtering and over-sampling to minimize artifacts. Finally, you can adjust the contrast, brightness and gamma of the image to improve its clarity and readability.

NSS Science Award

Dear Fellow Cavers/Cave Scientists: 

I am on the NSS Awards Committee and in my role as the new chair of the Science Award subcommittee, I want to strongly encourage you to submit a nomination for next year’s NSS Science Award. I’m sure you can think of some good scientists in the various cave/karst/pseudokarst disciplines who deserve the recognition. We are looking for people who have made significant contributions to the sciences, but who are also still very active. Close association of the scientist with NSS is not mandatory, but preferable. The nominee must be an NSS member for at least the past two years. Strong preference will be given to nominees who have not received the NSS Honorary Member or Outstanding Service awards (if you’re not sure, check next to the person’s name in your NSS Members Manual or I can let you know). 

The previous Science Award recipients are: 

1994 William B. White (geoscience) 

1995 John Holsinger (biology) 

1996 Arthur N. Palmer (geoscience) 

1997 Derek Ford (geoscience) 

1998 Thomas Poulson (biology) 

1999 Patty Jo Watson (archeology) 

2000 John Mylroie (geoscience) 

2001 James R. Reddell (biology) 

2002 Carol A. Hill (mineralogy) 

2003 Paolo Forti (geoscience) 

2004 E. Calvin Alexander, Jr. (geoscience) 

2005 Francis G. Howarth (biology) 

Your nomination letter should include details of the nominee’s contribution to cave science. Please do not assume that “everyone” knows your nominee and your nominee’s merits. Many members of the Awards Committee and the NSS Board of Governors are not scientists and will need this information to make a sound decision. If you do not send supporting information, I guarantee your nominee will not be selected. A resume attached to your nomination letter is very useful (and can often be obtained by collusion with the nominee’s significant other). 

Please do not let your nominee know that they have been nominated – not knowing that you were not selected is much nicer than knowing. Letters from other people supporting your nomination are helpful, especially if they provide additional useful insights into the nominee’s contributions. Last year, we had some excellent nominees. If your nominee was not selected and you still support that nomination, let me know and I’ll recycle the nomination materials; feel free to send updated material if you wish. Some excellent nominees did not rank highly in previous years because little or no supporting information was provided. Those nominations will not be recycled unless you provide some pertinent details about the scientist. The nominations can be sent to me by mail, e-mail, fax, or as attached e-mail documents. 

The deadline is November 15th. If you have general questions about the nomination procedure, contact Awards Committee Chairman Bill Tozer at WTozer@aol.com. Thanks, Diana Diana Northup Biology Department MSC03 20202 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 +1-505-277-5232 (voice) +1-505-277-6318 (fax) dnorthup@unm.edu

Bulgarian Speleologists Trapped in World's Deepest Cave

Three Bulgarian speleologists and their partners from the Ukrainian-Bulgarian expedition Krubera 2005 have been trapped in the world's deepest cave - Krubera.

Due to the torrential rains continuing for a fourth day in a row the members of the expedition are trapped in their camps in the cave located in West Caucasus, Bulgaria's Speleology Federation announced.

Bulgarians Teodor Kisimov and Konstantin Stoilov are with their Ukrainian colleagues at a camp located at a depth of 1,790m.

Svetlomir Stanchev, the third Bulgarian in the expedition, is at a camp at a depth of 1,200m along with Russian speleologists.

It is still not clear when the speleologists will continue with their work, but the rain is expected to go on for another 4 to 5 days.

The head of the Bulgarian Speleology Federation Alexey Zhabov was cited as saying that the teams are fully equipped and have enough provisions for at least ten days.

The two base camps in Krubera are linked through a wire telephone and they keep in touch.

The Krubera 2005 expedition is a scientific one. The Bulgarian participants have to study the vertical and the horizontal galleries. The expedition is expected to end October 28.

Source: Novinite

Certificate of Merit Award

The deadlines for the NSS award nominations for 2006 are just a month away on November 15.

Certificates of Merit Award
Up to three Certificates of Merit Awards are awarded each year to individuals, jointly to no more than three individuals, or to organizations for specific accomplishments in cave exploration, study, or conservation which further the goals of the NSS. If you know a deserving person or organization, don't delay nominating them; emphasis is placed on more recent accomplishment. Document their work in a short letter and submit the nomination to Gary Moss by November 15 at:

gmosskvr@nova.org
or
Gary Moss
7713 Shreve Road
Falls Church, Virginia 22043-3315


Additional information on the NSS awards may be found at:
http://www.caves.org/nss-business/bog/description.html

1rst Central American Speleology Congress has been postponed

The 1rst Central American Speleology Congress has been postponed to April 8th to 12th 2006 due to exceptional climate events that have affected the region during this hurricane season especially Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Guatemala and northwest Costa Rica which have been hit with lots of tragedies.

The invitation is still open for cavers all around the world that want to participate in this first Congress. Updated information will be posted at: http://www.talgua2006.blogspot.com

Cave For Sale: Heiser Mystery Well

Howard Brown the owner of Heiser Mystery Well is selling his house and 33 acres which included the entrance to Heiser Mystery Well. 

The house is about 10 years old log house and is located in Harrison Country, Indiana, about 5 miles north of Depauw. The house is 3,600 square feet and has a basement. It is a 4 bedroom house with 3-1/2 baths. 

When I was surveying the cave I saw the house being built and it is a great house. It is Howard's retirement home. The cave is one of the best multi-drop caves in Indiana. It has the deepest drop (depending upon how people measures this drop and Gory Hole) at 137 feet.

It also has a 120' drop and a 103' drop plus numerous short drops. About a mile of cave passage has been mapped. The property is on a top of a large sandstone ridge. 

He is asking $420,000 for the house and 33 acres, which is about the going price form land that is within commuting distance of Louisville, KY. 

Howard's e-mail address is HOHOBrown@yahoo.com . It would be a great place for a caver or caver friendly person to own.

Lew Bicking Award Nomination

Each year the NSS recognizes a caver who has demonstrated a long-term, solid commitment to the exploration and documentation of a cave or group of caves - this would be the Lew Bicking Award which is presented each year at the NSS Awards Banquet at the annual convention.

If you know of someone who deserves this recognition, please consider nominating them for this award. 

Letter length doesn't have to be much more than two pages and should outline the accomplishments of the nominee and why you believe that they are deserving of this award. . Letters of support from other cavers is also helpful. Support letters can be a page long - and they should also summarize the reason why the author believes the nominee is deserving and also could include a short summary of accomplishments. A one-line email stating "so-and-so deserves the award" is not an acceptable letter of support. Most of the time the awards committee does not know award nominees personally, so good letters of nomination and support are critical.

Another important qualification for this award is that nominee should be an NSS member for the past two years.

Nomination deadline for the award is November 15th, 2005. Nominations can be sent to the Bicking award subchair either via email or in hardcopy. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Pat Kambesis
Bicking Award Committee Subchair
Dept. of Geography & Geology
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY 42101
pnkambesis@juno.com
270-745-5201

1rst Central American Congress of Speleology

The Anthros Costa Rica Grotto will be sponsoring the 1rst Central American Congress of Speleology.

We will be in charge of the vertical course that is part of the Congress, and also several short presentations will be made by our Grotto related to responsible caving, safety, rescue, Central American cave database, etc. 

You are all invited; Honduras is a very nice place and good for caving, the same as Costa Rica and other countries in Central America. 

www.anthros.org