Of Thermoclines and Open Spaces

The sudden temperature change between the warmish surface water of the ocean and colder deeper zone is known as the thermocline. The thermocline effects the way sounds move through water (the warmer the faster), so sound waves can hit it and bounce all kinds of weird directions. The phenomenon is connected to detections of a pulse signal from Malaysia Air Flight 370, making it still hard to pinpoint, even though the black box signals are an encouraging lead.

But I received a signal of different kind, similarly bouncing, a couple of days ago during a visit to Boston. That’s Boston Common above, a stunning example of devoted public space in a city with space at a premium. While not the biggest or perhaps best such park in the world, it makes Boston a proper city – considerate of its population as a place for people to breath, sit, walk, hold hands, fly a kite, propose. The Common makes the urban density not only more appealing, but workable and livable. It might have 99 other problems but those aren’t one.

Image: author photo(s) clumsily spliced using fancy software.