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Saudi Red Sea Authority, GEOSA Issue First Nautical Chart for Sindalah Island

Saudi Red Sea Authority, GEOSA Issue First Nautical Chart for Sindalah Island
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Saudi Red Sea Authority, GEOSA Issue First Nautical Chart for Sindalah Island

Saudi Red Sea Authority, GEOSA Issue First Nautical Chart for Sindalah Island

The Saudi Red Sea Authority (SRSA) and the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GEOSA) have collaborated to produce the first high-resolution paper and electronic navigational nautical chart of Sindalah Island in the NEOM region based on the latest international standards and in accordance with International Hydrographic Organization standards, in addition to producing four other maps of the NEOM region.
This collaboration was initiated by SRSA as part of its mandates, which include identifying navigation routes for marine activities within Saudi Arabia’s geographical scope, as well as developing and updating them in coordination with relevant entities to ensure environmental protection and preservation, SPA reported.
GEOSA has implemented the highest standards for producing and updating nautical charts, which include data on depths, coral reefs, islands, navigation hazards, and tidal information to enhance marine safety in Saudi Arabia’s coastal areas and to support smart decision making.
These charts provide reliable and secure geospatial marine data that will contribute to planning and development efforts in line with Saudi Vision 2030, facilitating investment attraction in coastal tourism while providing navigational data to ease the entry and exit of yachts and other watercraft to Sindalah and other islands. It also enhances marine safety and environmental protection by applying the highest security and safety standards through buoys and navigational aids.
The SRSA began its journey toward building and regulating the coastal tourism sector in 2021 to enhance integration between the relevant entities by issuing licenses and permits, developing the necessary policies and strategies, determining infrastructure requirements, preserving the marine environment, enabling investment, and promoting navigational and marine tourism activities, which will reflect as an added value to the national economy.
Meanwhile, GEOSA is working to regulate the surveying and geospatial information sector and related imaging activities in Saudi Arabia. This includes adopting and developing the national geospatial infrastructure, the national geodetic reference, national geodetic networks, hydrographic surveying, and providing data, products, services, electronic applications, topographic and aerial maps, and maritime navigation charts relevant to the sector.

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Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
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Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)

Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms - and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low‑frequency booms through dense foliage.

The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive.

“Finally we've been able to quantify that chimps drum rhythmically - they don't just randomly drum,” lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna told AFP.

The findings lend fresh weight to the theory that the raw ingredients of human music were present before our evolutionary split from chimpanzees six million years ago.

For the new study, Eleuteri and colleagues - including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St Andrews in the UK and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome - compiled more than a century's worth of observational data.

After cutting through the noise, the team focused on 371 high-quality drumming bouts recorded from 11 chimpanzee communities across six populations living in both rainforest and savannah-woodland habitats across eastern and western Africa.

Their analysis showed that chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent - the timing of their strikes is not random.

Distinct differences also emerged between subspecies: western chimpanzees tended to produce more evenly timed beats, while eastern chimpanzees more frequently alternated between shorter and longer intervals.

Western chimps also drummed more frequently, kept a quicker tempo, and began drumming earlier in their signature chimp calls, made up of rapid pants and hoots.

The researchers do not yet know what is driving the differences - but they propose that it might signify differences in social dynamics.

The western chimps' faster, predictable pulse might promote or be evidence of greater social cohesion, the authors argue, noting that western groups are generally less aggressive toward outsiders.

By contrast, the eastern apes' variable rhythms could carry extra nuance - handy for locating or signaling companions when their parties are more widely dispersed.

Next, Hobaiter says she would like to study the data further to understand whether there are intergenerational differences between rhythms within the same groups.

“Music is not only a difference between different musical styles, but a musical style like rock or jazz, is itself going to evolve over time,” she said.

“We're actually going to have to find a way to tease apart group and intergenerational differences to get at that question of whether or not it is socially learned,” she said. “Do you have one guy that comes in with a new style and the next generation picks it up?”