Dear Customer,

New Sea Colour Product

Regular users will have already seen the sea colour images that we have had running on our web site for the last few weeks. Through an arrangement with the WA Land Information Authority (Landgate), we will be trialling a free sea colour product until the 28th of September 2007 for all of our subscribers and on the free 7 day old data for non subscribers. In the trial product, areas of water that are rich in phytoplankton (baitfish food) are shown in green shades. Areas that contain little or no phytoplankton are shown in dark blue. (Fig to right is a sample Sea Colour image on 17 May of SE Australia)

Sea colour information is only available from the MODIS sensors on board the Aqua and Terra satellites and only from day-time passes (because even satellites have trouble seeing colour in the dark!). So in practice this means that at most there will be 1-2 sea colour datasets per day over each part of the Australian coast. Some days there may be none at all because of scheduling issues at the ground stations and because of cloud cover. After September we also will have more east coast images when a mechanical problem at the Hobart receiving station has been repaired.

Future plans
The trial product is a simplified version of what we are hoping to introduce on seasurface.com if there is sufficient interest and if it is economical to do so. Click here to see a sample, an animation and explanation of what we have in mind.

Survey of Users
In order to improve our service to you we have designed a survey to hear your views and feedback to gauge if there is sufficient interest in this new product and to ascertain if it is economical for us to continue with its development and introduction.

As from today once you have had a look at 3 sea colour images, the survey will automatically appear and to continue to use this product you will need to complete the survey. It should only take about 5 minutes to complete and then you can return to using the product for the remainder of the trial period free of charge. We look forward to receiving your very important views. The importance of sea colour and temperature have also been emphasised in Alister McGlashan's latest DVD on Billfishing (See right hand column 'Special DVD Offer').

New Web Site Launched

We have recently launched our new web site and from the feedback we have received users have been extremely happy with it.

On the new front page you will find links to:
* an easy to find list of Australian tournaments, including contact details of the organisers;
* a link to weather reports for your area from the Bureau of Metereology;
* an image gallery of snaps from happy anglers (Your snaps are welcome); and
* easy to find information on what new announcements we have made recently, including back copies of our newsletters.

You will also find advertisements from some of our sponsors all of whom help to keep the costs of the services we provide as cost effective as we can make them. Please help by supporting as many of them as possible.

If you are a fishing club secretary or official and would like to add information on upcoming tournaments to our site or make some news announcements please forward the information to us at: info@earthinsite.com.

Good fishing !