Satellite Sleuth Closes in on Noah's Ark Mystery

space.com ^ | 09 March 2006 | Leonard David

[S0122017]

EXCLUSIVE: Satellite Sleuth Closes in on Noah's Ark Mystery

By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 09 March 2006 06:34 am ET

High on Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey, there is a baffling mountainside "anomaly," a feature that one researcher claims may be something of biblical proportions.

Images taken by aircraft, intelligence-gathering satellites and commercial remote-sensing spacecraft are fueling an intensive study of the intriguing oddity. But whether the anomaly is some geological quirk of nature, playful shadows, a human-made structure of some sort, or simply nothing at all—that remains to be seen.

Whatever it is, the anomaly of interest rests at 15,300 feet (4,663 meters) on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat, and is nearly submerged in glacial ice. It would be easy to call it merely a strange rock formation.

But at least one man wonders if it could be the remains of Noah's Ark—a vessel said to have been built to save people and selected animals from the Great Flood, the 40 days and 40 nights of deluge as detailed in the Book of Genesis.

The Genesis blueprint of the Ark detailed the structure as 6:1 length to width ratio (300 cubits by 50 cubits). The anomaly, as viewed by satellite, is close to that 6:1 proportion.

Newfound optimism

Identifying the Ararat anomaly has been a 13-year-long quest of Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond's School of Continuing Studies in Virginia.

Taylor has been a national security analyst for more than 30 years, also serving as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

"I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Taylor told SPACE.com/LiveScience. He points to a "new and significant development," a high-resolution image taken by DigitalGlobe's impressive QuickBird satellite and shown here publicly for the first time [alternate version with no annotation].

"I'm calling this my satellite archeology project," Taylor said. It's an effort that has now included use of QuickBird, GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images taken by the various U.S. intelligence agencies.

Making the mountain transparent

Taylor said his goal is straightforward: Combining this imagery to make the Ararat anomaly transparent to the public, as well as to the discerning, dispassionate eyes of scientists, imagery analysts, and other experts.

"I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," Taylor said.

As for the saga of Noah's Ark, he is quick to note that there are those who say it is fable while some take it as truth.

Nevertheless, the anomaly may not be a ridge line of ice, snow and possibly rock, but an artificial ridge line, Taylor said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions."

While chiding the intelligence communities to release more of their closely guarded satellite imagery, Taylor said that soon-to-fly commercial remote sensing spacecraft are sure to help his archeological undertaking.

"We've got three new birds that are going up. I'm using all my clout, rapport and lobbying to, hopefully, have them at least fly calibration runs over Mt. Ararat," Taylor said. Those images would make the mountain even more transparent, he said.

Will it float?

Meanwhile, Taylor has an ever-expanding network of experts to help tease out the truth about the anomaly.

For example, satellite imagery analyst Rod Franz of SunTek Media Group/RiteImage, Inc., located in Henderson, Nevada, has taken a look at imagery provided by Taylor of the Ararat anomaly and carried out additional analysis of the area. As director of training for the firm, Franz sharpened his skills by serving nearly 25 years as a military intelligence imagery analyst.

For the anomaly assessment, the same software tools used for studying government and commercial remote sensing data were employed, Franz told SPACE.com/LiveScience. Ground distances and scales of the anomaly were determined. That software also has the ability to adjust brightness, haze, sharpness, contrast and other factors of the area of interest, he said.

"Along with many other image manipulation functions ... I also used the pseudo-color function trying to determine if I could detect anything under the ice and snow," Franz said.

The face of the anomaly measured 1,015 feet (309 meters) across, Franz said. "I also found the shape of the anomaly appears to fit on a circle. I am not sure what this means, if anything, but I find it curious."

Given that length, Taylor pointed out, the anomaly dwarfs the Titanic and Bismarck in size, and equals the size of the largest modern aircraft carrier. That analysis would seem to call into question whether the anomaly is a wooden ship and raises a key question: If a boat were truly that huge, would it float?

There are also experts in remote sensing who offer a skeptical view.

"Image interpretation is an art," said Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing.

"One has to be familiar with Sun lighting effects on the shape of observed features," El-Baz said. "Very slight changes in slope modify shadow shapes that affect the interpretations. Up to this time, all the images I have seen can be interpreted as natural landforms. The feature that has been interpreted as the 'Ararat Anomaly' is to me a ledge of rock in partial shadow, with varied thickness of snow and ice cover.

Visual truth serum

Thanks to more satellite imagery in the offing, as well as other studies underway, Taylor said his remote archeological research is on the upswing.

There is an ultimate end-game. That is, on-the-spot ground truth ... and Taylor hopes his research findings will catalyze a top-notch expedition to the area. "It is whatever it is," he said.

But for now, satellite remote sensing to carry out archeological "digs" from space will fill in for an in-the-field expedition.

Just a few weeks ago, for example, NASA scientists utilizing space- and aircraft-based remote sensing hardware and techniques uncovered Maya ruins hidden in the rainforests of Central America for more than 1,000 years.

"For explorers, imagery from GeoEye's Ikonos satellite married with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite data has become as indispensable as water and freeze dried food for any expedition. One does not want to leave home without it," said Mark Brender, GeoEye Vice President for communications and marketing, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia.

For researchers, imagery from space like those provided by GeoEye provides "the ultimate high shot" and a contextual view you could never get from observations on the ground or even from a plane, Brender told SPACE.com/LiveScience. "It's visual truth serum."

[S0122017]

BTW 1) I do not believe that that object really is a ship (way too large). 2) I do believe that it can't be ruled out that it is artifical, it may be something like a fort, which actually was suggested by one researcher. 3) I do not believe there really was a flood that covered every bit of land, but tsunamis and flooding that destroyed coastal city's of ancient human civilisations worldwide. 4) I do not believe all animals where put aboard a ship. I can believe that Noah/Utnapistim saved pairs/part of his farm stock, and perhaps some other market animals.

Also there have been two ships found on Ararat before, one case verified the other almost certain, and several anchors-stones. Unfortunately it was mostly ignored by main stream science and religions alike. The scientist ignored them because of the Noah's arc 'touch' and abrahamic religions ignored it because the ships wheren't big enough to cary all animals (good luck finding one :) ).

[S0122017]

DigitalGlobe's QuickBird commercial remote sensing satellite imaged the Mt. Ararat "anomaly" in 2003. This image has never seen by the public until now. The anomaly is surrounded below by very rugged-looking strato-volcanic rock; however, the texture of the feature in question is relatively smooth and appears to be made of a different substance. Credit: DigitalGlobe


Annotated QuickBird image rendered by former satellite intelligence analyst, Rod Franz, now Training Manager for Imagery Analysis with Las Vegas-based SunTek Media Group, an intelligence community/Pentagon contractor. The anomaly’s length has been put at 1,015 feet using special imagery analyst software that measures each pixel in the QuickBird image. Each pixel is 2 feet in length or .62 meters. Credit: Rod Franz


Declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Keyhole-9 satellite image of a panoramic shot of Mt. Ararat, taken on Dec. 20, 1973. The "anomaly" is circled in red by researcher Porcher Taylor. Several years ago, the CIA declassified over 55,000 satellite images of various places around the world, including this image. Credit: CIA/Porcher Taylor


Canadian Space Agency's RADARSAT-1 image of Mt. Ararat. This radar image is 8-meter resolution, the highest commercial capability in the world. Circled in red is the "anomaly" location on the northwest corner of Ararat's Western Plateau at 15,300 feet. Since a radar satellite is not optical, but shoots back radio beams of solid structures, this image confirms, according to researchers, that the anomaly is not the effect of shadows. Credit: RADARSAT-1 data (c) Canadian Space Agency. Processed and distributed by RADARSAT International Inc., a subsidiary of MDA.

[S0122017]

ping

[mtbopfuyn]

I tend to agree with you. What's really annoying is every time some local claims he's seen it, when asked to take anyone to it they suddenly can't remember where it was.

[S0122017]

This is how the site looked anno 1949. Experts claim that whatever it is, it has been sliding.
An image from the June 19, 1949 U.S. Air Force Mission that captured a panoramic view of what is simply called "the Ararat Anomaly".


This is how it looked in 2000:


The first sat really does look ship-like. And it really does look like it slipped.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/noahs_ark_010823-2.html

[S0122017]

Last but not least, an image of another exposed anomaly laying next to it. The Trinity Foundation claims it could be a part of the ship broken off. You could also see it as a part of a fort or a large stone. Still, the color is different from the rest of the mountain and it looks a little bit like the back of a ship. In later photo's it is no longer visible and probably covered in snow and/or slipped further downhill.



According to press materials supplied by Shamrock -- The Trinity Corporation, this satellite view shows Noah's Ark jutting out from the snow on Mt. Ararat. Image Courtesy of Digital Globe

[S0122017]

Im not a creationist but i want some folk here to discuss Noah's arc... So.. feel like joining? Otherwise i went to all this trouble of posting for nothing .

[sit-rep]

Friggin snow drifts...my high school education tells me that.

[trashcanbred]

It looks like a ridge to me but I am not an "expert". Why doesn't someone just go there and settle this thing once and for all.

[showme_the_Glory]

No expedition has ever made the trek to Ararat to dig down with a few test holes to see what it really is?

[Lee N. Field]

Ummm. It's been a long time since the Genesis flood. Likely there's nothing left.

[RoadTest]

I'll talk about it. The issue is of fundamental (there's that word!) importance. Tied to a potential discovery of the ark is the fact of creation and the Bible's timeline, as well as the factualness of Biblical accounts, which are, today, widely discounted as fairy tales for Sunday school chidren.

Not only is it intimately associated with the evolution/creation controversy, but it would stand as another witness of God's truthfulness.

[Glacier Honey]

Looks like a ridge to me to - one that has been affected by the weather over the years.

It it was "Noah's Arc", it would have been moved down the mountain by now and broken to pieces by the glacier or snow field.

Just my humble opinion.

Why not just send someone up there.

[VanDeKoik]

You've got tot be kidding me.

Is this supposed to be a serious news story?

[arkham]

That can't be Noah's Arc...cause I saw the Arc in my toast just this morning.

[trashcanbred]

Well... do you see an ark in these photos? I am no expert but I have seen a lot of satellite pictures of mountain ranges and this looks like... a ridge. A simple ridge with some outcropping.

For years they have been saying that the ark is on Mt. Ararat. So if this is that important why not send a serious expedition there to prove it once and for all. If it does prove to be true, then you are right it would really make people rethink the account of the flood.

[Dog Gone]

Photo evidence does not lie.

[Glacier Honey]

Exactly. I am a Christian but I don't see an ARC in these photos.

Either way I would think what ever belief you support you would want to prove to the other that this was or was not the arc

[LIConFem]

"Exactly. I am a Christian but I don't see an ARC in these photos. "

I see an arc (albeit with a rather large radius). But I don't see an ark.

< /smartarse> ;o)

[Aliska]

That's roughly 2-3 miles up. It's hard to imagine water going that high. In the 60's or 70's I had a cheap paperback book I read about this, a couple of guys got close to something high on some mountain in the region and took photographs of it. It looked like a darkened, preserved wooden box of some kind.

Now I realize that a lot of those books are probably fake, photos could have been fake, can't remember the title, but the photos do stick in my mind. That was when a few people could still get in there.

It would be pretty neat to find the preserved remains of something that ancient; I know a lot of places in the OT have been confirmed, but it mostly remains a mystery when you try to prove anything using archaeology.

Who was it, Edgar Cayce or someone who suggested that after the flood (which doesn't seem to have covered the entire earth as we know it, some argue how it could have been possible) that the earth shifted on its axis, the waters were concentrated at each pole where they froze? Still, if they all melted, I don't know if the seas would rise that high. There has to be more to it. It seems scientists drilling cores in the ice at the poles seem to think it goes back eons.

The problem seems to be they don't want anybody up there snooping around for religious and other reasons. Turkey is death on anyone who finds ancient artifacts and tries to smuggle them out of the country.

That's about all I can add. I don't like to poke fun at all your hard work, and it does raise a few questions in my mind, but it could be just that, an anomaly, unusual rock formation, etc., a la the face on Mars.