1.
Faroe Islands
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The Faroe Islands, also spelled the Faeroes, is an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, about halfway between Norway and Iceland,320 kilometres north-northwest of Scotland. Its area is about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 49,188 in 2016, the Faeroe Islands is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm. The land of the Faeroes is rugged, and these islands have an oceanic climate, windy, wet, cloudy. Despite this island groups northerly latitude, temperatures average above freezing throughout the year because of the Gulf Stream, between 1035 and 1814, the Faeroes were part of the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the islands, the Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Faroese have control of most domestic matters, areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, the police department, the justice department, currency, and foreign affairs. However, as they are not part of the customs area as Denmark, the Faroe Islands have an independent trade policy. The islands also have representation in the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation, the people of the Faroe Islands also compete as national team in certain sports. In Danish, the name Færøerne may reflect an Old Norse word fær, the morpheme øerne represents a plural of ø in Danish. The Danish name thus translates as the islands of sheep, in Faroese, the name appears as Føroyar. Oyar represents the plural of oy, older Faroese for island, the modern Faeroese word for island is oyggj. In the English language, their name is sometimes spelled Faeroe, archaeological evidence shows settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods prior to the arrival of the Norse, the first between 400 and 600 and the second between 600 and 800. Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia. A Latin account of a made by Brendan, an Irish monastic saint who lived around 484–578. This association, however, is far from conclusive in its description, Dicuil, an Irish monk of the early 9th century, wrote a more definite account. 800, bringing Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language, according to Icelandic sagas such as Færeyjar Saga, one of the best known men in the island was Tróndur í Gøtu, a descendant of Scandinavian chiefs who had settled in Dublin, Ireland. Tróndur led the battle against Sigmund Brestursson, the Norwegian monarchy, a traditional name for the islands in Irish, Na Scigirí, possibly refers to the Skeggjar Beards, a nickname given to island dwellers
2.
Norwegian Sea
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The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west, in the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine ridge running between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. To the North, the Jan Mayen Ridge separates it from the Greenland Sea, unlike many other seas, most of the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is not part of a continental shelf and therefore lies at a great depth of about two kilometres on average. Rich deposits of oil and natural gas are found under the sea bottom and are being explored commercially, the coastal zones are rich in fish that visit the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic or from the Barents Sea for spawning. The warm North Atlantic Current ensures relatively stable and high temperatures, so that unlike the Arctic seas. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Norwegian Sea as follows, a line joining the southernmost point of West Spitzbergen to North Cape of Bear Island, through this island to Cape Bull and thence on to North Cape in Norway. The West coast of Norway between North Cape and Cape Stadt, from a point on the West coast of Norway in Latitude 61°00 North along this parallel to Longitude 0°53 West thence a line to the NE extreme of Fuglö and on to the East extreme of Gerpir in Iceland. The Southeastern limit of Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea was formed about 250 million years ago, when the Eurasian plate of Norway and the North American Plate, including Greenland, started to move apart. The existing narrow shelf sea between Norway and Greenland began to widen and deepen, the present continental slope in the Norwegian Sea marks the border between Norway and Greenland as it stood approximately 250 million years ago. In the north it extends east from Svalbard and on the southwest between Britain and the Faroes and this continental slope contains rich fishing grounds and numerous coral reefs. Settling of the shelf after the separation of the continents has resulted in landslides, the coasts of the Norwegian Sea were shaped during the last Ice Age. Large glaciers several kilometres high pushed into the land, forming fjords, removing the crust into the sea and this is particularly clear off the Norwegian coast along Helgeland and north to the Lofoten Islands. The Norwegian continental shelf is between 40 and 200 kilometres wide, and has a different shape from the shelves in the North Sea and it contains numerous trenches and irregular peaks, which usually have an amplitude of less than 100 metres, but can reach up to 400 metres. They are covered with a mixture of gravel, sand, and mud, deeper into the sea, there are two deep basins separated by a low ridge between the Vøring Plateau and Jan Mayen island. The southern basin is larger and deeper, with areas between 3,500 and 4,000 metres deep. The northern basin is shallower at 3, 200–3,300 metres, submarine thresholds and continental slopes mark the borders of these basins with the adjacent seas. To the south lies the European continental shelf and the North Sea, to the west, the Scotland-Greenland Ridge separates the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic. This ridge is on average only 500 metres deep, only in a few reaching the depth of 850 metres
3.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
4.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
5.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
6.
Gulf Stream
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The process of western intensification causes the Gulf Stream to be a northward accelerating current off the east coast of North America. At about 40°0′N 30°0′W, it splits in two, with the stream, the North Atlantic Drift, crossing to Northern Europe and the southern stream. The Gulf Stream influences the climate of the east coast of North America from Florida to Newfoundland, and it is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. Its presence has led to the development of strong cyclones of all types, the Gulf Stream is also a significant potential source of renewable power generation. The Gulf Stream may be slowing down as a result of climate change, the Gulf Stream is typically 100 kilometres wide and 800 metres to 1,200 metres deep. The current velocity is fastest near the surface, with the maximum speed typically about 2.5 metres per second. European discovery of the Gulf Stream dates to the 1512 expedition of Juan Ponce de León and its existence was also known to Peter Martyr dAnghiera. Benjamin Franklin became interested in the North Atlantic Ocean circulation patterns, Franklin asked Timothy Folger, his cousin twice removed, a Nantucket Island whaling captain, for an answer. Franklin worked with Folger and other experienced ship captains, learning enough to chart the Gulf Stream and he offered this information to Anthony Todd, secretary of the British Post Office, but it was ignored by British sea captains. Franklins Gulf Stream chart was published in 1770 in England, where it was mostly ignored, subsequent versions were printed in France in 1778 and the U. S. in 1786. The Gulf Stream proper is a current, driven largely by wind stress. The North Atlantic Drift, in contrast, is largely thermohaline circulation–driven, in 1958 the oceanographer Henry Stommel noted that very little water from the Gulf of Mexico is actually in the Stream. By carrying warm water northeast across the Atlantic, it makes Western, a river of sea water, called the Atlantic North Equatorial Current, flows westward off the coast of Central Africa. When this current interacts with the northeastern coast of South America, one passes into the Caribbean Sea, while a second, the Antilles Current, flows north and east of the West Indies. These two branches north of the Straits of Florida. The trade winds blow westward in the tropics, and the westerlies blow eastward at mid-latitudes and this wind pattern applies a stress to the subtropical ocean surface with negative curl across the north Atlantic Ocean. The resulting Sverdrup transport is equatorward, the conservation of potential vorticity also causes bends along the Gulf Stream, which occasionally break off due to a shift in the Gulf Streams position, forming separate warm and cold eddies. This overall process, known as western intensification, causes currents on the boundary of an ocean basin, such as the Gulf Stream
7.
Natural resource
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Natural resources are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, on earth it includes, sunlight, atmosphere, water, land along with all vegetation and animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances. Particular areas such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva are often characterized by the biodiversity and geodiversity existent in their ecosystems, Natural resources may be further classified in different ways. Natural resources are materials and components that can be found within the environment, every man-made product is composed of natural resources. Some natural resources such as sunlight and air can be found everywhere, however, most resources only occur in small sporadic areas, and are referred to as localised resources. There are very few resources that are considered inexhaustible – these are solar radiation, geothermal energy, the vast majority of resources are theoretically exhaustible, which means they have a finite quantity and can be depleted if managed improperly. There are various methods of categorizing natural resources, these include source of origin, stage of development, fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic matter. Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material, examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air and heavy metals including ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc. For example, petroleum occurs with sedimentary rocks in various regions, Actual resources — Actual resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and quality determined and are being used in present times. The development of a resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technology available. Reserve resources — The part of a resource which can be developed profitably in the future is called a reserve resource. Stock resources — Stock resources are those that have been surveyed, renewability is a very popular topic and many natural resources can be categorized as either renewable or non-renewable, Renewable resources — Renewable resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these resources, like sunlight, air, wind, water, etc. are continuously available, though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use. Non-renewable resources – Non-renewable resources either form slowly or do not naturally form in the environment, minerals are the most common resource included in this category. Some resources actually naturally deplete in amount without human interference, the most notable of these being radio-active elements such as uranium, of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. Once they are used they take millions of years to replenish. Resource extraction involves any activity that withdraws resources from nature and this can range in scale from the traditional use of preindustrial societies, to global industry. Extractive industries are, along with agriculture, the basis of the sector of the economy
8.
Fishing
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Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild, techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. Fishing may include catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans, the term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales where the term whaling is more appropriate. According to United Nations FAO statistics, the number of commercial fishermen. Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries, in 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms, with an additional 7.4 kilograms harvested from fish farms. In addition to providing food, modern fishing is also a recreational pastime, Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back to at least the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Isotopic analysis of the remains of Tianyuan man, a 40. Archaeology features such as middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival. During this period, most people lived a lifestyle and were, of necessity. However, where there are examples of permanent settlements such as those at Lepenski Vir. The British dogger was a type of sailing trawler from the 17th century. The Brixham trawler that evolved there was of a build and had a tall gaff rig. They were also sufficiently robust to be able to tow large trawls in deep water, the great trawling fleet that built up at Brixham, earned the village the title of Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries. The small village of Grimsby grew to become the largest fishing port in the world by the mid 19th century, an Act of Parliament was first obtained in 1796, which authorised the construction of new quays and dredging of the Haven to make it deeper. It was only in the 1846, with the expansion in the fishing industry. The foundation stone for the Royal Dock was laid by Albert the Prince consort in 1849, the dock covered 25 acres and was formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1854 as the first modern fishing port. The elegant Brixham trawler spread across the world, influencing fishing fleets everywhere, by the end of the 19th century, there were over 3,000 fishing trawlers in commission in Britain, with almost 1,000 at Grimsby. These trawlers were sold to fishermen around Europe, including from the Netherlands, twelve trawlers went on to form the nucleus of the German fishing fleet
9.
Hydropower
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Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. A trompe, which compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at a distance. In the late 19th century, hydropower became a source for generating electricity, cragside in Northumberland was the first house powered by hydroelectricity in 1878 and the first commercial hydroelectric power plant was built at Niagara Falls in 1879. In 1881, street lamps in the city of Niagara Falls were powered by hydropower, since the early 20th century, the term has been used almost exclusively in conjunction with the modern development of hydroelectric power. In China and the rest of the Far East, hydraulically operated pot wheel pumps raised water into crop or irrigation canals, the power of a wave of water released from a tank was used for extraction of metal ores in a method known as hushing. The method was first used at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines in Wales from 75 AD onwards, hushing was also widely used in Britain in the Medieval and later periods to extract lead and tin ores. It later evolved into hydraulic mining when used during the California Gold Rush and these include an endless belt with jugs attached, a cow-powered shadoof, and a reciprocating device with hinged valves. In 1753, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical-, the growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, water was the source of power for new inventions such as Richard Arkwrights water frame. In the 1830s, at the peak in US canal-building, hydropower provided the energy to transport barge traffic up. Technological advances had moved the water wheel into an enclosed turbine or water motor. Francis, while working as engineer of Lowells Locks and Canals company. He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design and his mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed confident design of high efficiency turbines to exactly match a sites specific flow conditions. The Francis reaction turbine is still in use today. Hydraulic power networks used pipes to carrying pressurized water and transmit power from the source to end users. The power source was normally a head of water, which could also be assisted by a pump and these were extensive in Victorian cities in the United Kingdom. A hydraulic power network was developed in Geneva, Switzerland. The world-famous Jet dEau was originally designed as the relief valve for the network
10.
Geographic coordinates
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
11.
Enniberg
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Cape Enniberg is a cliff located on the Island of Viðoy. It is 754 metres high, thus one of the highest promontories in the world, Enniberg is the northernmost point of the Faroe Islands. From the landside, only experienced mountain climbers with a local guide should attempt to scale the cliff. As a normal hiker, one can reach a certain height on the trail without a problem. However, as in the rest of the Faroes, fog can roll in suddenly, at the southern foot of the nearby 844-metre-high mountain, Villingadalsfjall, lies the picturesque town of Viðareiði. All summer long, as long as there is good weather, people come not only to see the cliffs imposing size, but also the famous bird colony found there. The colony is the most important in the archipelago, extreme points of the Faroe Islands
12.
Munkurin
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Munkurin is the southernmost point of the Faroe Islands. Munkurin is an 11 metre high rock, also known as Sumbiarsteinur, the rock is one of a group of skerries, called Flesjarnar,5 km south of the island Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. The sound between Flesjarnar and Suðuroy is notorious for its strong current, Flesjarnar are a group of rocks, located 5 km south of Akraberg in Suðuroy. One source mentions another reason for the name Munkurin, and that is before the islet collapsed, the article mentions that the Monk was 70 feet high. Munkurin is now 11 metres high, but it used to be higher earlier, before it collapsed the bird northern gannet used to nest there, but since it collapsed the birds dont nest there any more, they nest in Mykineshólmur. It happens sometimes that the rock looks white from land, lucas Jacobson Debes, Natürliche und Politische Historie der Inseln Färöe. The German book is translated from Danish, writer, C. G. Mengel, Copenhagen / Leipzig 1757. Extreme points of the Faroe Islands A Map of the Faroe Islands Also based on the German version of Wikipedia, visitsuduroy. fo Photos on Flickr related to Munkurin
13.
Nautical mile
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A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as exactly 1852 meters. Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to a number of meters. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, there is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, nm is used by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces, mīlia. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles, around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance, as one degree is 1/360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a circle. These sexagesimal units originated in Babylonian astronomy, Gunter used Snells circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude.3 metres. Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, in 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke Spheroid, the United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the nautical mile in 1954.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. Conversion of units Orders of magnitude
14.
Oceanic climate
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Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 °C in the warmest month, and above 0 °C in the coldest month. It typically lacks a dry season, as precipitation is evenly dispersed throughout the year. Oceanic climates generally have cool summers and mild to cool winters, Oceanic climates are most dominant in Europe, where they spread much farther inland than in other continents. Oceanic climates can have much storm activity as they are located in the belt of the stormy westerlies, many oceanic climates have frequent cloudy or overcast conditions due to the near constant storms and lows tracking over or near them. Precipitation is both adequate and reliable throughout the year in oceanic climates, extended months of rain and cloudy conditions are common in oceanic climates. Seattle is an example of this, between October and May, Seattle experiences high rainfall and is mostly or partly cloudy six out of every seven days. In most areas with a climate, precipitation comes in the form of rain for the majority of the year. However, some areas with this climate see some snowfall annually during winter, outside of Australia and parts of New Zealand, most areas with an oceanic climate experience at least one snowstorm per year. In the poleward locations of the climate zone, snowfall is more frequent. Overall temperature characteristics of the oceanic climates feature cool temperatures and infrequent extremes of temperature, summers are cool, with the warmest month having a mean temperature below 22 °C. Poleward of the latter is a zone of the subpolar oceanic climate, with long and cold winters and cool. Examples of this climate include parts of coastal Iceland in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile, Oceanic climates are not necessarily always found in coastal locations on the aforementioned parallels, however, in most cases oceanic climates parallel higher middle latitude oceans. The polar jet stream, which moves in a west to east direction across the middle latitudes, advancing low pressure systems, storms, in coastal areas of the higher middle latitudes, the prevailing onshore flow creates the basic structure of most oceanic climates. Oceanic climates are a product and reflection of the adjacent to them. In summer, high pressure pushes the prevailing westerlies north of many oceanic climates. As a result of the Gulf Stream, west-coast areas located in high latitudes like Ireland, the UK, Oceanic climates in Europe occur mostly in Northwest Europe, from Ireland and Great Britain eastward to central Europe. Most of France, Germany, Norway, the north coast of Spain, examples of oceanic climates are found in London, Bergen, Dublin, Berlin, Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Biarritz, Bayonne, Zürich, Copenhagen and Paris. With decreasing distance to the Mediterranean Sea, the climate of Northwest Europe gradually changes to the subtropical dry-summer or Mediterranean climate of southern Europe
15.
North Atlantic Current
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The North Atlantic Current, also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current that extends the Gulf Stream north-eastward. The NAC originates from where the Gulf Stream turns north at the Southeast Newfoundland Rise, the NAC flows northward east of the Grand Banks, from 40°N to 51°N, before turning sharply east to cross the Atlantic. It transports more warm water to northern latitudes than any other boundary current. It reaches speeds of 2 knots near the North American coast, directed by topography, the NAC meanders heavily but, in contrast to the meanders of the Gulf Stream, the NAC meanders remain stable without breaking off into eddies. The colder parts of the Gulf Stream turn northward near the tail of the Grand Banks at 50°W where the Azores Current branches off to flow south of the Azores, from there the NAC flow north-eastward east of the Flemish Cap. Approaching the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it turns eastward and becomes much broader. It then splits into a colder, north-eastern branch and an eastern branch. West of Continental Europe, it splits into two major branches, one branch goes southeast, later to become the Canary Current as it passes northwest Africa and turns southwest. The other major branch continues north along the coast of Northwestern Europe, other branches include the Irminger Current and the Norwegian Current. The North Atlantic Current, together with the Gulf Stream, have a reputation for having a considerable warming influence on European climate. The principal cause for differences in climate between North America and Europe is, however, winds rather than ocean currents. North Atlantic Oscillation Ocean gyre Physical oceanography Notes Sources The North Atlantic Current, elizabeth Rowe, Arthur J. Mariano, Edward H. Ryan, The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies
16.
Climate of the Arctic
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The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. There is an amount of variability in climate across the Arctic. Some parts of the Arctic are covered by ice year-round, average January temperatures range from about −34 °C to 0 °C, and winter temperatures can drop below −50 °C over large parts of the Arctic. Average July temperatures range from about −10 to +10 °C, with land areas occasionally exceeding 30 °C in summer. The Arctic consists of ocean that is surrounded by land. As such, the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water, in summer, the presence of the nearby water keeps coastal areas from warming as much as they might otherwise. There are different definitions of the Arctic, the most widely used definition, the area north of the Arctic Circle, where, on the June solstice, the sun does not set is used in astronomical and some geographical contexts. This definition of the Arctic can be divided into four different regions. The Canadian Arctic Archipelago includes the large and small islands, except Greenland, on the Canadian side of the Arctic, the entire island of Greenland, although its ice sheet and ice-free coastal regions have different climatic conditions. Due to the lack of population centres in the Arctic, weather and climate observations from the region tend to be widely spaced and of short duration compared to the midlatitudes. Much of the exploration of the Arctic was motivated by the search for the Northwest and Northeast Passages. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century expeditions were largely driven by traders in search of these shortcuts between the Atlantic and the Pacific and these forays into the Arctic did not venture far from the North American and Eurasian coasts, and were unsuccessful at finding a navigable route through either passage. National and commercial expeditions continued to expand the detail on maps of the Arctic through the eighteenth century and these early explorations did provide a sense of the sea ice conditions in the Arctic and occasionally some other climate-related information. By the early 19th century some expeditions were making a point of collecting more detailed meteorological, oceanographic, and geomagnetic observations, beginning in the 1850s regular meteorological observations became more common in many countries, and the British navy implemented a system of detailed observation. As a result, expeditions from the half of the nineteenth century began to provide a picture of the Arctic climate. The first major effort by Europeans to study the meteorology of the Arctic was the First International Polar Year in 1882 to 1883, eleven nations provided support to establish twelve observing stations around the Arctic. The observations were not as widespread or long-lasting as would be needed to describe the climate in detail, in 1884 the wreckage of the Jeanette, a ship abandoned three years earlier off Russias eastern Arctic coast, was found on the coast of Greenland. This caused Fridtjof Nansen to realize that the sea ice was moving from the Siberian side of the Arctic to the Atlantic side
17.
Fjord
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Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion. Norways coastline is estimated at 29,000 kilometres with 1,190 fjords, a fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by the rebounding of Earths crust as the ice load, in some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea, Sognefjord, Norway, fjords generally have a sill or shoal at their mouth caused by the previous glaciers reduced erosion rate and terminal moraine. In many cases this causes extreme currents and large saltwater rapids. Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the worlds strongest tidal current and these characteristics distinguish fjords from rias, which are drowned valleys flooded by the rising sea. Drammensfjorden is cut almost in two by the Svelvik ridge, a moraine that during the ice cover was under sea level. During the winter there is usually little inflow of freshwater. Surface water and deeper water are mixed during winter because of the cooling of the surface. In the deep there is still fresh water from the summer with less density than the saltier water along the coast. Offshore wind, common in the areas during winter, sets up a current on the surface from the inner to the outer parts. This current on the surface in turn pulls dense salt water from the coast across the fjord threshold, during the summer season there is usually a large inflow of river water in the inner areas. This freshwater gets mixed with saltwater creating a layer of water with a slightly higher surface than the ocean which in turn sets up a current from the river mouths towards the ocean. This current is more salty towards the coast and right under the surface current there is a reverse current of saltier water from the coast. In the deeper parts of the fjord the cold water remaining from winter is still, fjords with a shallow threshold this deep water is not replaced every year and low oxygen concentration makes the deep water unsuitable for fish and animals. In the most extreme cases there is a constant barrier of freshwater on the surface, gaupnefjorden branch of Sognefjorden is strongly affected by freshwater as glacial river flow in. Velfjorden has little inflow of freshwater, as late as 2000, some coral reefs were discovered along the bottoms of the Norwegian fjords. These reefs were found in fjords from the north of Norway to the south, the marine life on the reefs is believed to be one of the most important reasons why the Norwegian coastline is such a generous fishing ground
18.
Whale
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Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are a grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, the two parvorders of whales, baleen whales and toothed whales, are thought to have split apart around 34 million years ago. The whales comprise eight extant families, Balaenopteridae, Balaenidae, Cetotheriidae, Eschrichtiidae, Monodontidae, Physeteridae, Kogiidae, Whales are creatures of the open ocean, they feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. So extreme is their adaptation to life underwater that they are unable to survive on land. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres and 135 kilograms dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres and 190 metric tons blue whale, the sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on earth. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the females are larger than males, baleen whales have no teeth, instead they have plates of baleen, a fringe-like structure used to expel water while retaining the krill and plankton which they feed on. They use their throat pleats to expand the mouth to take in huge gulps of water, balaenids have heads that can make up 40% of their body mass to take in water. Toothed whales, on the hand, have conical teeth designed for catching fish or squid. Some species, such as whales, are well adapted for diving to great depths to catch squid. Whales have evolved from land-living mammals, as such they must breathe air regularly, though they can remain submerged for long periods. They have blowholes located on top of their heads, through air is taken in. They are warm-blooded, and have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin, with streamlined fusiform bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers, whales can travel at up to 20 knots, though they are not as flexible or agile as seals. Whales produce a variety of vocalizations, notably the extended songs of the humpback whale. Although whales are widespread, most species prefer the waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Species such as humpbacks and blue whales are capable of travelling thousands of miles without feeding, males typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them, mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for one to two years. Once relentlessly hunted for their products, whales are now protected by international law, the North Atlantic right whales nearly became extinct in the twentieth century, with a population low of 450, and the North Pacific gray whale population is ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN
19.
Wind power
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Wind power is the use of air flow through wind turbines to mechanically power generators for electric power. The net effects on the environment are far less problematic than those of power sources. Wind farms consist of individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network. Onshore wind is a source of electric power, competitive with or in many places cheaper than coal or gas plants. Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than on land, and offshore farms have less visual impact, small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide electric power to isolated off-grid locations. Wind power gives variable power which is consistent from year to year. It is therefore used in conjunction with other power sources to give a reliable supply. As the proportion of power in a region increases, a need to upgrade the grid. In addition, weather forecasting permits the power network to be readied for the predictable variations in production that occur. As of 2015, Denmark generates 40% of its power from wind. In 2014 global wind power capacity expanded 16% to 369,553 MW, yearly wind energy production is also growing rapidly and has reached around 4% of worldwide electric power usage,11. 4% in the EU. Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind, for more than two millennia wind-powered machines have ground grain and pumped water. Wind power was available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later. Wind-powered pumps drained the polders of the Netherlands, and in regions such as the American mid-west or the Australian outback, wind pumps provided water for live stock. The first windmill used for the production of power was built in Scotland in July 1887 by Prof James Blyth of Andersons College. Blyth offered the surplus power to the people of Marykirk for lighting the main street, however. The Brush wind turbine had a rotor 17 metres in diameter and was mounted on an 18 metres tower, although large by todays standards, the machine was only rated at 12 kW. The connected dynamo was used either to charge a bank of batteries or to operate up to 100 incandescent light bulbs, with the development of electric power, wind power found new applications in lighting buildings remote from centrally-generated power
20.
Petroleum
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Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earths surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation and it consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock, Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a variety of materials. Concern over the depletion of the earths finite reserves of oil, the burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming. The word petroleum comes from Greek, πέτρα for rocks and Greek, the term was found in 10th-century Old English sources. It was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, and is now important across society, including in economy, politics and technology. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China, early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. The mythological origins of the oil fields at Yenangyaung, and its hereditary monopoly control by 24 families, Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century, both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. In 1848 Young set up a small business refining the crude oil, Young eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. The production of oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated 17 October 1850. In 1850 Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E. W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian, the worlds first oil refinery was built in 1856 by Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America, edwin Drakes 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is popularly considered the first modern well
21.
Gas
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Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter. A pure gas may be made up of atoms, elemental molecules made from one type of atom. A gas mixture would contain a variety of pure gases much like the air, what distinguishes a gas from liquids and solids is the vast separation of the individual gas particles. This separation usually makes a colorless gas invisible to the human observer, the interaction of gas particles in the presence of electric and gravitational fields are considered negligible as indicated by the constant velocity vectors in the image. One type of commonly known gas is steam, the gaseous state of matter is found between the liquid and plasma states, the latter of which provides the upper temperature boundary for gases. Bounding the lower end of the temperature scale lie degenerative quantum gases which are gaining increasing attention, high-density atomic gases super cooled to incredibly low temperatures are classified by their statistical behavior as either a Bose gas or a Fermi gas. For a comprehensive listing of these states of matter see list of states of matter. The only chemical elements which are stable multi atom homonuclear molecules at temperature and pressure, are hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. These gases, when grouped together with the noble gases. Alternatively they are known as molecular gases to distinguish them from molecules that are also chemical compounds. The word gas is a neologism first used by the early 17th-century Flemish chemist J. B. van Helmont, according to Paracelsuss terminology, chaos meant something like ultra-rarefied water. An alternative story is that Van Helmonts word is corrupted from gahst and these four characteristics were repeatedly observed by scientists such as Robert Boyle, Jacques Charles, John Dalton, Joseph Gay-Lussac and Amedeo Avogadro for a variety of gases in various settings. Their detailed studies ultimately led to a relationship among these properties expressed by the ideal gas law. Gas particles are separated from one another, and consequently have weaker intermolecular bonds than liquids or solids. These intermolecular forces result from interactions between gas particles. Like-charged areas of different gas particles repel, while oppositely charged regions of different gas particles attract one another, transient, randomly induced charges exist across non-polar covalent bonds of molecules and electrostatic interactions caused by them are referred to as Van der Waals forces. The interaction of these forces varies within a substance which determines many of the physical properties unique to each gas. A comparison of boiling points for compounds formed by ionic and covalent bonds leads us to this conclusion, the drifting smoke particles in the image provides some insight into low pressure gas behavior
22.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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Relative humidity
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Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest and it requires less water vapor to attain high relative humidity at low temperatures, more water vapour is required to attain high relative humidity in warm or hot air. Humans are sensitive to high humidity because the body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration. Perspiration evaporates from the more slowly under humid conditions than under arid. For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C and the humidity is zero percent. If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the air temperature. In other words, if the air is 24 °C and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the rate as it would if it were 27 °C. The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the effect of temperature. In cold climates, the temperature causes lower capacity for water vapour to flow about. Dry cracked skin can result from dry air, low humidity causes tissue lining nasal passages to dry, crack and become more susceptible to penetration of Rhinovirus cold viruses. Low humidity is a cause of nosebleeds. The use of a humidifier in homes, especially bedrooms, can help with these symptoms, indoor relative humidities should be kept above 30% to reduce the likelihood of the occupants nasal passages drying out. Humans can be comfortable within a range of humidities depending on the temperature—from thirty to seventy percent—but ideally between 50% and 60%. Very low humidity can create discomfort, respiratory problems, and aggravate allergies in some individuals, in the winter, it is advisable to maintain relative humidity at 30 percent or above. Extremely low relative humidities may also cause eye irritation, wooden furniture can shrink, causing the paint that covers these surfaces to fracture. When the temperature is low and the humidity is high. When relative humidity approaches 100 percent, condensation can occur on surfaces, leading to problems with mold, corrosion, decay, condensation can pose a safety risk as it can promote the growth of mold and wood rot as well as possibly freezing emergency exits shut. The basic principles for buildings, above, also apply to vehicles, in addition, there may be safety considerations
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Sunshine duration
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It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
25.
Mykines, Faroe Islands
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Mykines is the westernmost of the 18 main islands of the Faroe Archipelago. It lies west of 7.5 degrees W, effectively putting it in the UTC-1 region, however, Mykines uses Greenwich Mean Time like the rest of the Faroes. The only settlement on the island is also called Mykines, on the northern side of the island is the valley Korkadalur, where there are great columns of basalt, called the Stone-wood. To the west of Mykines is the 1 km long islet Mykineshólmur, with several sea stacks clustered at its western end, a 40 m long footbridge connects its eastern end with Mykines. Mykines belongs to the oldest part of the Faroe Islands and was formed about 60 million years ago, in the sound between Mykines and Mykineshólmur, Holmgjogv, one can see one of the most copious such flows on the Faroes, with a depth of about 50 m. Mountain hares have been introduced, and inhabit the mountain area, the Mykines house mouse is endemic for Mykines, and this might suggest an early introduction, maybe as early as in the 6th century by the Irish monks, who cultivated this island. Its closest relative was the now extinct St Kilda house mouse, large numbers of puffins and gannets inhabit Mykines and Mykineshólmur. On the rocks at the edge there are colonies of cormorants while the eroded tuff layers in the cliffs make perfect nesting ledges for guillemots. On the grassy slopes above the cliffs, thousands of puffins have their burrows. It has been suggested that the name Mykines is pre-Norse in origin, coming from muc-innis and this may be a reference to whales, which are known as muc-mhara in Gaelic. 1953 – the second bridge over Holm Gjogv was built 1970 – flight from Bergen to Vágar Airport crashed in bad weather on Mykines on 26 September, eight of the 34 passengers lost their lives, and the badly wounded were airlifted away by helicopter. A marble memorial was placed in the Church,1970 – Mykines lighthouse was automated and the last man moved from the Holm, which had been occupied continuously from 1909 by a varying population of up to 22 people. Although there are 40 houses in the village, only six are inhabited year-round, earlier Mykines was one of the largest villages in the Faroes, with a population of 170 people in 1940. From 1911 to 2004 Mykines was a community but in 2005 it merged administratively with Sørvagur kommune. Famous people from Mykines include painter Sámal Joensen-Mikines
26.
Akraberg
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Akraberg is the southern tip of Suðuroy,5 km south from the village Sumba, Faroe Islands. The name Akraberg derives from akur, five kilometres south of Akraberg is the southernmost point of The Faroe Islands, a rock called Munkurin, also called Sumbiarsteinur, which is one of a group of six rocks. This group of rocks are called Flesjarnar, the sound between Suðuroy and Munkurin is notorious for its strong current, it is called Røstin, the poet Poul F. Joensen mentioned it in one of his poems. Røstin rísin rann. The waters south of Sumba are notorious for their unpredictability, here lies a series of rocky skerries below and above sea level, and the meeting of currents, together with wind and weather, create dangerous conditions for boats and ships. The situation became more hazardous in 1884 when the high cliff Munkurin on the southernmost rock, Sumbiarsteinur, crashed into the sea, in 1909, a lighthouse and some family houses were built in Akraberg. The lighthouse itself is 14m tall, it consists of a cylindrical tower with red landtern roof. It was fitted with guy wires to withstand the drag on this southern headland. The focal plane is located at 94 m above sea level, if needed, a fog horn may be sounded every 60 seconds. Today, there are two houses and a lighthouse, but there are no inhabitants. The last family who lived there was the lighthouse keeper Hans Petur Kjærbo and they lived there during a terrible hurricane in December 1988, which later has been called The Christmas Hurricane. Luckily the house was very strong built and didnt get blasted away by the strong wind, but much damage had been done on their car, the soil and parts of the house, a window was blown out. Much damage happened in the Faroe Islands that night, many houses were blasted away by the hurricane, after that the lighthouse keeper and his family moved away from Akraberg, and nobody has lived there since then, except for tourists who rent one of the two houses there. The lighthouse is now automatic, but it needs attention regularly, Hans Petur Kjærbo is still a lighthouse keeper, but now he workes not only in Akraberg but also attends most of the other lighthouses in the Faroe Islands. Near Akraberg stands the medium wave station of Kringvarp Føroya, the Faroese broadcasting network, the antenna consists of a 141 metres tall guyed mast and can be received also in parts of Northern and Western Europe. The removal of dried peat from the torvløð and the use of the platforms led to a gradual increase in torvlað height. General comparisons are made with peat mounds from the British Isles and these features are of unknown antiquity, but they have been associated with the possible pre-Viking presence of Irish monks or priests. According to Faroese legends and folk songs a Frisian colony was in Akraberg from the year 1040 until The Black Death killed most of them around 1350. A few of them, a man called Bóndin í Akrabergi was said to have survived the Black Death and after that he, the Frisians remained heathen a long time after the rest of the Faroe Islands were Christianized
27.
Kirkja
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Kirkja is a village on the island of Fugloy, Faroe Islands. It is located on the south-tip of the island, and its land is stretching all over the side of the island. Here archaeologists have located an old settlement that has probably only a part-time settlement used either by people from Kirkja or Hattarvik. Kirkja means church and Fugloy means bird-island in Faroese, Kirkja thereby offers panoramas in the Faroes, making it a tourist attraction. List of towns in the Faroe Islands Media related to Kirkja at Wikimedia Commons Faroeislands. dk, Kirkja Images and description of all cities on the Faroe Islands
28.
Fugloy
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Not to be confused with the Scottish island of Foula. Fugloy is the eastern-most island in the Faroe Islands, the name means bird island, and refers to the large number of birds that nest on the islands cliffs. There are two settlements, Kirkja on the south-coast and Hattarvík on the east-coast, Fugloy is special because of the stone-material consisting of basalt stratum, making the island very steep and inaccessible. The Eystfelli cliffs, which are 448m are located on the east coast, nearby on the 47 metre high sea stack Stapin there is also a lighthouse, a natural arch feature and what looks like the outline of an Egyptian Pharaoh. Fugloy was also a site for the now extinct great auk. On the east side of the island there is a ledge called Gorfuglarókin Garefowl Ledge. Grey seals are regular visitors to the coastlines of Fugloy, mountain hares were introduced by humans, and inhabit the higher altitudes on the island. Fugloy has its own subspecies of house mouse Mus musculus domesticus, in contrast to the other Norðoyar islands, Fugloy is green and fertile all the way up to the mountain tops. Some rare plants are found on the island, e. g. the Fugloy Eyebright Euphrasia foulaensis, the island has been populated since the Viking age. One of the most important stories of the island is that of the Floksmenn and they were a flock of rebels, in the Middle Ages, from Fugloy. The most notorious of the separatists, were Høgni Nev, Rógvi Skel, Hálvdan Úlvsson and these men controlled and ravaged the northern parts of the Faroe Islands for a long time. This is one of the most important separatist myths of the Faroe islands, the smarter Sjúrður við Kellingará was forced to go the more militant way of rebellion by Høgni Nev and Hálvdan Ulvsson who were more criminally minded. All the four men were caught and sentenced to death. Because the harbour of Fugloy is not protected by breakwaters, it has stopped any form of growth since the early 20th century. The islands only income has been agriculture and some fishing, the Faroese parliament has tried to work out plans for the future of the island, such as the island getting electricity in the 1960s. In the 1980s a road from Kirkja to Hattarvík was built, when the population was at its peak at the beginning of the 20th century, there were around 250-300 people living there. Due to a change in lifestyles and norms, island life has become less popular, today, there are only five people living all year around in Hattarvík and some 20 in Kirkja. There are few jobs on the islands, one shop and few jobs on the harbour are all there are
29.
Sandur, Faroe Islands
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Sandur is a village on the south coast of the island of Sandoy in the Faroe Islands. The Sandur hoard, dating to the end of the 11th century, in January 2010 the population stood at 558. The Municipality of Sandur consists of the village of Sandur only, Sandur is an old site of the thing where every year the local Várting was held. Excavations here have unearthed a stave church from the 11th century, in 1988 the modern church suffered a devastating fire in which all of the churchs silver melted. The fire turned out to be arson, in the following year the church was restored, just in time for its 150th anniversary. In 1863 while extending the churchyard a treasure of silver was found consisting of 98 coins from the 11th century, furthermore in 1989 archaeologists discovered a pagan burial ground from the times of Viking occupation. The burial included the skeleton of a woman from the Faroe Islands in a grave 150 cm long. The grave also included three beads of amber, a glass bead, and a knife. In the open-air museum of the Danish national museum close to Copenhagen one can see a water-mill which originally, the local museum Sands Bygdasavn is open in summer. It displays objects of everyday life belonging to the ancestors of the local inhabitants, Sandur can be reached from Tórshavn via the ferry ports Gamlarætt and Skopun. From there along the lake Sandsvatn on Road 30 to Sandur, all villages on the island can be reached by bus from Sandur. They are therefore suitable for day trips, due to the topography of the island walking-tours are suitable for casual strolling and cyclists. Popular trips are to Søltuvík on the west coast, Skarvanes in the south, the small passenger only ferry MV Sildberin departs Sandur for Skúvoy, an island to the south. Particularly interesting is the tour in the Faroese rowboat Hvíthamar from Sandur to the rocks on the west coast or to Skúvoy. Boatbuilder Jóan Petur Clementsen himself is rowing, the campsite á Munkinum is one of the camping sites on Sandoy. The other two camping sites are in Húsavík and Dalur, in addition Sandsvatn and Gróthúsvatn are attractive places for fishing. The Hotel Ísansgarður has been reconstructed, the tourist information in Sandur provides up-to-date information on private accommodation and holiday homes. The Art Museum of Sandur is open from May to October every day except for Monday from 14, in wintertime it is open Sundays from 14, 00-16,00
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Sandoy
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Sandoy is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region includes this island along with Skúvoy. As of 2011, the largest population center on the island is the village of Sandur with a population of 599, other settlements include Skarvanes, Skopun, Skálavík, Húsavík and Dalur. Sandoy gets its name from the beach at Sandur. It is the island with dunes. There are similarly named islands, Sanday in the Orkney Islands, Sanday in the Inner Hebrides, a proposal has been approved by the Faroese parliament to build a tunnel connecting Sandoy with the more populous Streymoy to the north. Construction is not intended to be completed until 2021, the island is considered the best island for agriculture due to its fertile sandy soil. The largest potato farm in the country is located on the island, and people who have gardening interests have generally an easier time getting plants to grow here. The island supports 6.878 sheep, lambs are not included, list of islands of the Faroe Islands Sandoyar travel guide from Wikivoyage The dictionary definition of Sandoy at Wiktionary Media related to Sandoy at Wikimedia Commons
31.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
32.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to improve understanding and stewardship of the environment. In addition to its employees, over 11,000 as of 2015, NOAA research. NOAA plays several roles in society, the benefits of which extend beyond the U. S. economy and into the larger global community. NOAA supplies information to its customers and partners pertaining to the state of the oceans and this is clearly manifest in the production of weather warnings and forecasts through the National Weather Service, but NOAAs information products extend to climate, ecosystems, and commerce as well. A Provider of Environmental Stewardship Services, NOAA is also the steward of U. S. coastal and marine environments. A Leader in Applied Scientific Research, the five fundamental activities are, Monitoring and observing Earth systems with instruments and data collection networks. Understanding and describing Earth systems through research and analysis of that data, assessing and predicting the changes of these systems over time. Engaging, advising, and informing the public and partner organizations with important information, managing resources for the betterment of society, economy and environment. NOAA formed a conglomeration of several existing agencies that were among the oldest in the federal government, NOAA was established within the Department of Commerce via the Reorganization Plan No.4 of 1970. In 2007 NOAA celebrated 200 years of service with its ties to the United States Coast, the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is a uniformed service of men and women who operate NOAA ships and aircraft, and serve in scientific and administrative posts. And in addition more than a dozen staff offices, including the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, the NOAA Central Library and this is done through a collection of national and regional centers,13 river forecast centers, and more than 120 local weather forecast offices. They are charged with issuing weather and river forecasts, advisories, watches and they issue more than 734,000 weather and 850,000 river forecasts, and more than 45,000 severe weather warnings annually. NOAA data is relevant to the issues of global warming. The NWS operates NEXRAD, a network of Doppler weather radars which can detect precipitation. Many of their products are broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio, a network of transmitters that broadcasts weather forecasts, severe weather statements, watches. The National Ocean Service focuses on ensuring that ocean and coastal areas are safe, healthy, in 1960 TIROS-1, NOAAs first owned and operated geostationary satellite was launched. Since 1966 NESDIS has managed polar orbiting satellites and since 1974 it has operated geosynchronous satellites, in 1979 NOAAs first polar-orbiting environmental satellite was launched
33.
Geography of Europe
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Europe is traditionally defined as one of seven continents. Physiographically, it is the peninsula of the larger landmass known as Eurasia, Asia occupies the eastern bulk of this continuous landmass. Europes eastern frontier is delineated by the Ural Mountains in Russia, the southeast boundary with Asia is not universally defined, but the modern definition is generally the Ural River or, less commonly, the Emba River. The boundary continues to the Caspian Sea, the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa, the western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean. There is ongoing debate on where the centre of Europe falls. Some geographical texts refer to a Eurasian continent given that Europe is not surrounded by sea, in terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas and nearby islands. The two largest peninsulas are mainland Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea, three smaller peninsulas—Iberia, Italy and the Balkans—emerge from the southern margin of the mainland. The Balkan peninsula is separated from Asia by the Black and Aegean Seas, Italy is separated from the Balkans by the Adriatic Sea, and from Iberia by the Mediterranean Sea, which also separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains and Ural River, land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases, the former is of North Atlantic volcanic formation, while the latter consist of upland areas once joined to the mainland until cut off by rising sea levels. These two halves are separated by the chains of the Pyrenees and the Alps/Carpathians. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the Scandinavian mountains, the major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the Celtic Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea complex, and the Barents Sea. The geology of Europe is hugely varied and complex, and gives rise to the variety of landscapes found across the continent. Figures for the population of Europe vary according to definition of European boundaries is used. The population within the physical geographical boundaries was 731 million in 2005 according to the United Nations. In 2010 the population is 857 million, using a definition which includes the whole of the countries of Russia. Population growth is slow, and median age comparatively high in relation to the worlds other continents
34.
Geography of Albania
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Albania is a small predominantly mountainous country in Southeastern Europe and has a total area of 28,748 km2. Albania shares borders with four European countries, Montenegro in the northwest, Kosovo in the northeast, Macedonia in the west, Albanias coastline length on the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea is 476 km. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea and the strategically important Strait of Otranto, with the exception of the coastline, all Albanian borders are artificial. They were established in principle at the 1912–1913 conference of ambassadors in London, division of the lake district among three states required that each of them have a share of the lowlands in the vicinity. Such an artificial distribution, once made, necessarily affected the borderlines to the north and south, the border that runs generally north from the lakes, although it follows the ridges of the eastern highlands, stays sixteen to thirty-two kilometers west of the watershed divide. For the most part, there is no natural boundary from the highlands to the Adriatic, although Lake Shkodër and a portion of the Buna River south of it were used to mark Albanias northwest border. From the lake south and southwest to the Ionian Sea. There are four geographical regions in Albania, the Northern Mountain Range, the Southern Mountain Range, the Western Lowlands. The coastal lowlands have typically Mediterranean weather, the highlands have a Mediterranean continental climate, in both the lowlands and the interior, the weather varies markedly from north to south. The lowlands have mild winters, averaging about 7 °C, summer temperatures average 32 °C, humidity is low. In the southern lowlands, temperatures average about 5 °C in the winter and 30 °C during the summer, inland temperatures are affected more by differences in elevation than by latitude or any other factor. Low winter temperatures in the mountains are caused by the air mass that dominates the weather in Eastern Europe. Northerly and northeasterly winds blow much of the time, average summer temperatures are lower than in the coastal areas and much lower at higher elevations, but daily fluctuations are greater. Daytime maximum temperatures in the basins and river valleys are very high. Average precipitation is heavy, a result of the convergence of the airflow from the Mediterranean Sea. Because they usually meet at the point where the terrain rises, vertical currents initiated when the Mediterranean air is uplifted also cause frequent thunderstorms. Many of these storms are accompanied by local winds and torrential downpours. When the continental air mass is weak, Mediterranean winds drop their moisture farther inland, when there is a dominant continental air mass, cold air spills onto the lowland areas, which occurs most frequently in the winter
35.
Geography of Andorra
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Andorra is a small, landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountain range and bordered by Spain and France. With an area of 468 km², it is the sixth smallest country in Europe, Andorra consists predominantly of rugged mountains, the highest being the Coma Pedrosa at 2,942 metres, and the average elevation of Andorra is 1,996 metres. These are dissected by three valleys in a Y shape that combine into one as the main stream, the Gran Valira river. There are, on average,300 days per year of sunshine, phytogeographically, Andorra belongs to the Atlantic European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Andorra belongs to the ecoregion of Pyrenees conifer, landslides and avalanches are the main natural hazards. There are frequent earthquakes below Richter magnitude 2, there is no historical record of any damaging earthquakes in Andorra, but the Andorran government has studied the possibility of a future one. All of Andorra is mountainous, and in total, there are 65 mountain peaks, the highest mountain is Coma Pedrosa, which rises to 2,942 m in the northwest of Andorra near the French and Spanish borders. In the east, near where the borders of the two meet, lies Pic d’Envalira and Pic dels Pessons. A lake, Estany de lEstanyó, and a mountain, Pic de l’Estanyó lie just east of El Serrat and are only by hiking trail. Andorra is drained almost entirely by a single basin whose main river, there are two main tributaries and six smaller open basins. These basins gave the name by which the region was traditionally known, there are also several much smaller drainage basins that span Andorras borders with France and Spain. The most notable of these is the Pic de Maià basin whose main river, Andorra has 172 lakes, of which the largest is Estanys de Juclar near Pic de Noé in the north east. The climate in Andorra varies greatly with elevation, regions above the Alpine tree line at about 2, 100–2,400 m have an alpine climate and alpine tundra. Snow completely covers the valleys for several months. There are, on average,300 days per year of sunshine, average daily peak insolation varies from 1150 W/m2 in June to 280 W/m2 in December. The average annual temperature varies from 11 °C in Sant Julià de Lòria in the south, to 8 °C in La Massana in the centre, and to 2 °C in Arcalis in the north. The average daily high and low temperatures in Escaldes-Engordany are, respectively,28 °C and 15 °C in July, average annual precipitation is 1,071.9 mm for the whole country, but it varies across the country, increasing with elevation and from south to north. The driest parish is Sant Julià de Lòria in the south, annual precipitation can exceed 1,220 mm the highest mountainous areas
36.
Geography of Armenia
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Armenia is a landlocked country in the Transcaucasia region, between the Black and Caspian Seas, bordered on the north and east by Georgia and Azerbaijan and on the south and west by Iran and Turkey. The terrain is mountainous and flat, with fast flowing rivers and few forests. The climate is continental, hot summers and cold winters. The land rises to 4,095 m above sea-level at Mount Aragats, pollution from toxic chemicals such as DDT is not helping the already poor soil quality in many parts of the country. Armenia is trying to address its environmental problems and it has established a Ministry of Nature Protection and introduced taxes for air and water pollution and solid waste disposal, whose revenues are used for environmental protection activities. Armenia is interested in cooperating with other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Armenian Government is working toward closing the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant as soon as alternative energy sources are identified. Geographic coordinates, 40°00′N 45°00′E Armenia is located in southern Transcaucasia, modern Armenia term means Republic of Armenia which occupies part of historical Armenia, whose ancient centres were in the valley of the Araks River and the region around Lake Van in Turkey. Armenia is bordered on the north by Georgia, on the east by Azerbaijan, on the southwest by the Nagorno-Karabagh, on the south by Iran, and on the west by Turkey. Twenty-five million years ago, a geological upheaval pushed up the Earths crust to form the Armenian Plateau, the Lesser Caucasus range extends through northern Armenia, runs southeast between Lake Sevan and Azerbaijan, then passes roughly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to Iran. Thus situated, the mountains make travel from north to south difficult, geological turmoil continues in the form of devastating earthquakes, which have plagued Armenia. In December 1988, the second largest city in the republic, about half of Armenias area of approximately 29,800 km2 has an elevation of at least 2,000 m, and only 3% of the country lies below 650 m. The lowest points are in the valleys of the Araks River and the Debet River in the far north, elevations in the Lesser Caucasus vary between 2,640 and 3,280 m. To the southwest of the range is the Armenian Plateau, which slopes southwestward toward the Araks River on the Turkish border, the plateau is masked by intermediate mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes. The largest of these, Mount Aragats,4,095 meters high, is also the highest point in Armenia, most of the population lives in the western and northwestern parts of the country, where the two major cities, Yerevan and Gyumri, are located. The valleys of the Debet and Akstafa rivers form the chief routes into Armenia from the north as they pass through the mountains, Lake Sevan,72.5 km across at its widest point and 376 km long, is by far the largest lake. It lies 2,070 m above sea level on the plateau, terrain is most rugged in the extreme southeast, which is drained by the Bargushat River, and most moderate in the Araks River valley to the extreme southwest. Most of Armenia is drained by the Araks or its tributary, the Hrazdan, temperatures in Armenia generally depend upon elevation. Mountain formations block the moderating influences of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, creating wide seasonal variations with cold snowy winters
37.
Geography of Austria
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Austria is a small, predominantly mountainous country in Central Europe, approximately between Germany, Italy and Hungary. It has an area of 83,879 km², about twice the size of Switzerland. The westernmost third of the somewhat pear-shaped country consists of a corridor between Germany and Italy that is between 32 km and 60 km wide. The rest of Austria lies to the east and has a maximum width of 280 km. The country measures almost 600 km in length, extending from Lake Constance on the Austrian-Swiss-German border in the west to the Neusiedler See on the Austrian-Hungarian border in the east. The contrast between two lakes – one in the Alps and the other a typical steppe lake on the westernmost fringe of the Hungarian Plain – illustrates the diversity of Austrias landscape. The provinces of Burgenland and Vienna were established after World War I, most of Burgenland had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary, but it had a predominantly German-speaking population and hence became Austrian. Administrative and ideological reasons played a role in the establishment of Vienna as an independent province, each province has a provincial capital with the exception of Vienna, which is a province in its own right in addition to being the federal capital. In Vienna, the City Council and the function as a provincial parliament and provincial governor. Geographic coordinates, 47°20′N 13°20′E Austria may be divided into three geographical areas. The Danube has its source near Donaueschingen in southwestern Germany and flows through Austria before emptying into the Black Sea, three major ranges of the Alps – the Northern Calcareous Alps, Central Alps, and Southern Calcareous Alps – run west to east through Austria. The Central Alps, which consist largely of a base, are the largest and highest ranges in Austria. At 3,797 m, Großglockner is the highest mountain in Austria, as a general rule, the farther east the Northern and Central Alps run, the lower they become. The altitude of the mountains also drops north and south of the central ranges, as a geographic feature, the Alps literally overshadow other landform regions. Austrias least mountainous landscape is southeast of the low Leithagebirge, which forms the lip of the Viennese Basin. Notable is the Manhartsberg a granite ridge which separates Waldviertel from Weinviertel, the 35 highest mountains in Austria, Land-use patterns in Austria change from Alpine to non-Alpine regions. Approximately one-tenth of Austria is barren or unproductive, that is, just over 40% of Austria is covered by forests, the majority of which is in Alpine regions. Less than one-fifth of Austria is arable and suitable for conventional agriculture, the percentage of arable land in Austria increases in the East as the country becomes less alpine
38.
Geography of Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan is situated in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. About the size of Portugal or the state of Maine, Azerbaijan has a land area of approximately 86,600 square kilometers. Of the three Transcaucasian states, Azerbaijan has the greatest land area, located in the region of the southern Caucasus Mountains, Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea to the east, Georgia and Russia to the north, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the southwest and west. A small part of Nakhchivan also borders Turkey to the northwest, the capital of Azerbaijan is the ancient city of Baku, which has the largest and best harbor on the Caspian Sea and has long been the center of the republics oil industry. The elevation changes over a short distance from lowlands to highlands. Except for its eastern Caspian shoreline and some areas bordering Georgia, to the northeast, bordering Russias Dagestan Autonomous Republic, is the Greater Caucasus range, to the west, bordering Armenia, is the Lesser Caucasus range. To the extreme southeast, the Talysh Mountains form part of the border with Iran, the highest elevations occur in the Greater Caucasus, where Mount Bazar-dyuzi rises 4,466 meters above sea level. The Mtkvari, the longest river in the Caucasus region, forms the delta, the Mingechaur Reservoir, with an area of 605 square kilometers that makes it the largest body of water in Azerbaijan, was formed by damming the Kura in western Azerbaijan. The waters of the reservoir provide hydroelectric power and irrigation of the Kura-Aras plain, most of the countrys rivers are not navigable. About 15% of the land in Azerbaijan is arable, Azerbaijan is nearly surrounded by mountains. The Greater Caucasus range, with the country’s highest elevations, lies in the north along the border with Russia, the country’s highest peak, Bazardyuze Dagi, rises to 4,485 m in this range near the Azerbaijan-Russia border. The Lesser Caucasus range, with elevations up to 3,500 m, the Talish Mountains form part of the border with Iran at the southeast tip of the country. Kobustan Mountain, located near Baku, is carved by deep ravines, from which bubble mud volcanoes, the climate varies from subtropical and humid in the southeast to subtropical and dry in central and eastern Azerbaijan. Along the shores of the Caspian Sea it is temperate, while the mountain elevations are generally cold. Baku, on the Caspian, enjoys mild weather that averages 4 °C in January and 25 °C in July, physiographic conditions and different atmosphere circulations admit 8 types of air currents including continental, sea, arctic, tropical currents of air that formulates the climate of the Republic. The maximum annual precipitation falls in Lenkeran and the minimum in Absheron, the maximum daily precipitation of 334 mm was observed at the Bilieser Station in 1955. Air and water pollution are widespread and pose great challenges to economic development, major sources of pollution include oil refineries and chemical and metallurgical industries, which in the early 1990s continued to operate as inefficiently as they had in the Soviet era. Air quality is poor in Baku, the center of oil refining
39.
Geography of Belarus
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Belarus, a landlocked, generally flat country without natural borders, occupies an area of 207,600 square kilometers, or slightly smaller than the United Kingdom or the state of Kansas. Its neighbors are Russia to the east and northeast, Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west and its extension from north to south is 560 km, from west to east is 650 km. Belaruss level terrain is broken up by the Belarusian Range, a swathe of elevated territory of individual highlands and its highest point is the 346-meter Mount Dzyarzhynskaya, named for Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of Cheka. Northern Belarus has hilly landscape with lakes and gently sloping ridges created by glacial debris. In the south, about one-third of the territory around the Pripiac River is taken up by the low-lying swampy plain of Palyessye, shared with Ukraine, Poland. Belaruss 3,000 streams and 4,000 lakes are major features of the landscape and are used for floating timber, shipping, and power generation. Major rivers are the west-flowing Western Dvina and Nyoman rivers, and the south-flowing Dniapro River with its tributaries, the Berezina, Sozh, the Prypyat River has served as a bridge between the Dnepr, flowing to Ukraine and the Vistula in Poland since the period of Kievan Rus. Glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its numerous lakes, lake Narach, the countrys largest lake, covers 79.6 square kilometers. Other big lakes are Osveya, Chervonoye, Lukomlskoye and Dryvyaty, lake Drysvyaty is situated on the border of Belarus and Lithuania. The deepest lake in Belarus is Doŭhaje, Chervonoye is the most shallow among the large lakes, with a maximum depth of 4 m. The majority of lakes are situated in Northern Belarus. In Braslaw and Ušačy districts, lakes cover more than 10% of their territory, nearly one-third of the country is covered with pushchas, large unpopulated tracts of forests. Share of area covered with forests ranges from 34% in the Brest, forests cover 36–37. 5% of the Minsk, Mahilioŭ and Vitsebsk regions. Districts with the highest percentage of area covered by forests are Rasony and Lielčycy, level of woodiness had declined during history – from 60% in 1600 AD to 22% in 1922, but started to increase in the middle of the 20th century. The Belavezhskaya Pushcha in the far west is the oldest and most magnificent of the forests, because of the proximity of the Baltic Sea, the country has a temperate continental climate. Winters last between 105 and 145 days, and summers last up to 150 days, the average temperature in January is −6 °C, and the average temperature for July is about 18 °C, with high humidity. Average temperature for July ranges from 17.5 °C in the north,18. 5–19 °C in the south, for January, it ranges from −4.5 °C in the southwest to −8 °C in the northeast. Average annual precipitation ranges from 550 to 700 millimeters and is sometimes excessive, the highest average yearly precipitation is recorded in Navahrudak
40.
Geography of Belgium
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Belgium is a federal state located in Western Europe, bordering the North Sea. Belgium shares borders with France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Belgium comprises the regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Total renewable water resources,18.3 cu km Freshwater withdrawal, total,6.22 cu km/yr per capita,589, Belgium has also 3,462 square kilometers of sea territories in the North Sea. On 29 May 2000,2,000 square meters were granted by the Netherlands to Belgium, compared to other countries, Belgium is 1.5 times larger than Wales in the United Kingdom and about the size of Maryland in the United States. Belgium is actually used as an unit of measurement in comparing country sizes. Belgium has three geographical regions, the coastal plain in the north-west, the central plateau. The coastal plain consists mainly of dunes and polders. Polders are areas of land, close to or below sea level that have been reclaimed from the sea, from which they are protected by dikes or, further inland, the second geographical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area that has many valleys and is irrigated by many waterways. Here one can also find rougher land, including caves and small gorges, the third geographical region, called the Ardennes, is more rugged than the first two. It is a forested plateau, very rocky and not very good for farming. This is where much of Belgiums wildlife can be found, Belgiums highest point, the Signal de Botrange is located in this region at only 694 metres. Belgium has relatively few lakes, and none of any great size. Notable natural regions include the Ardennes, Campine and High Fens, all of Belgium is drained into the North Sea, except the municipality of Momignies, which is drained by the Oise river into the English Channel. Three major rivers flow into the sea, the Scheldt, the Meuse, Other rivers are the Rupel, Senne, Sambre, Lesse, Ourthe, Lys and Dijle. The main lakes include the Lake Genval, Lake Bütgenbach, Lake Eau dHeure, Lake Gileppe, Lake Eupen, Belgium has also many artificial waterways or canals, among others the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal, the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, the Canal du Centre and the Albert Canal. The Belgian climate, like most of northwest Europe, is maritime temperate, Belgium usually has cool winters but temperatures as low as -16 °C have been registered and summers are comfortably warm but temperatures can occasionally rise as high as 30 °C. Belgiums highest point is the Signal de Botrange at 694 meters above the sea level and this is a list of the extreme points of Belgium, the points that are farther north, south, east, west, high or low than any other location
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