THE SHIFTING SANDS OF SOMERTON BEACH, PART 4....MORE GOOGLE EARTH IMAGES....Dr JOHN LUICK....

 

GOOGLE EARTH PRO....
REVEALING IMAGES....

This image shows a Google Earth view of the junction of The Esplanade and Bickford Terrace which joins from the right. You should be able to make out the red line that indicates the distance between the edge of the pathway alongside the road and the beach floor. 

You will note that the pathways and road combined appear to be considerably wider than the 1948 images would suggest. It would appear that the council has built out the edge of the existing roadway to include a waterside path.

As you can see the rock beach wall is quite steep as a result of the road/footpath extension which in turn most likely lead to the installation of the diagonal pathway that you can see in the next image:

Download link for Google Earth Pro (Free)

By way of explanation, the marked image above shows the location of the diagonal pathway as highlighted in black. It also shows how debris has been washed up to the high water line.

The dimensions show us that the pathway edge is at 7.9 metres elevation and the beach floor at that point is 3.65 metres. That means that the distance from the edge of the pathway to the beach floor 

= 4.25 metres.

In the first post of this series and using the dimensions of the steps we had initially calculated the measurement from the road edge to the beach floor to be 3.55 metres (see original post here..)

If this measurement of 4.25 metres is found to be correct then it may have a significant impact on the question of just when the body of the Somerton Man was placed on the beach. I say 'may' because there are a number of variables that need to be properly taken into account and to do that necessarily means that we need further professional advice and input.

EXPERT WITNESS: Dr. JOHN LUICK

At this point I need to hand over to the Expert Witness, Dr. John Luick. Adelaide based Dr. Luick is a leading if not the leading authority on Tides and tide related matters, he is not only renowned in Australia but internationally as is evidenced by his very recent award of a major project in the Middle East. 

Dt. John has been extraordinarily generous with his knowledge, guidance and advice over the past month or more and has taken a real interest in the Somerton Man case. Without his help and input we would clearly not have made the progress we have to date, it is very much appreciated.

You can read more about Dr Luick here...

As mentioned, Dr John has recently taken on a major project in the Middle East and thus the time he has available is strictly limited, he has said that he will review the information that I send to him as and when he is able to do so.