1.
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
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
3.
Tristan da Cunha
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Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is the name of both a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying 2,000 kilometres from the nearest inhabited land, Saint Helena and it is 3,360 kilometres from South America. As of January 2017, the island has 262 permanent inhabitants. Meanwhile, the islands are uninhabited, except for the personnel of a weather station on Gough Island. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and this includes Saint Helena and equatorial Ascension Island, some 3,730 kilometres to the north of Tristan. The islands were first recorded as sighted in 1506 by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha and he named the main island after himself, Ilha de Tristão da Cunha. It was later anglicised from its earliest mention on British Admiralty charts, some sources state that the Portuguese made the first landing in 1520, when the Lás Rafael captained by Ruy Vaz Pereira called at Tristan for water. The first undisputed landing was made on 7 February 1643 by the crew of the Dutch East India Company ship Heemstede, the Dutch stopped at the island four more times in the next 25 years, and in 1656 created the first rough charts of the archipelago. The first full survey of the archipelago was made by crew of the French corvette Heure du Berger in 1767, aubert made botanical collections and reported traces of human habitation, including fireplaces and overgrown gardens, probably left by Dutch explorers in the 17th century. The first permanent settler was Jonathan Lambert, from Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Lambert publicly declared the islands his property and named them the Islands of Refreshment. Three of the four men died in 1812, however, the survivor among the three permanent settlers, Thomas Currie remained as a farmer on the island. In 1816, the United Kingdom annexed the islands, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa, the occupation also prevented the United States from using Tristan da Cunha as a cruiser base, as it had during the War of 1812. The islands were occupied by a garrison of British Marines and a civilian population gradually grew, whalers set up bases on the islands for operations in the Southern Atlantic. However, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the transition from sailing ships to coal-fired steam ships. They were no longer needed as a port for lengthy sail voyages. In 1867, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, the main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, was named in honour of his visit. On 15 October 1873, the Royal Navy scientific survey vessel HMS Challenger docked at Tristan to conduct geographic and zoological surveys on Tristan, Inaccessible Island, in his log, Captain George Nares recorded a total of 15 families and 86 individuals living on the island. After an especially difficult winter in 1906, and years of hardship since the 1880s and those remaining on Tristan held a meeting and decided to refuse, thus deepening the islands isolation
4.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
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Its name was Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force giving the three islands equal status within the territory. Despite this change, the territory is still commonly referred to as simply Saint Helena after its main island. Similarly, the demonym Saint Helenians and the name for the local nationality is commonly understood to include Ascension Islanders and Tristanians. Administratively, the territory is divided into the three parts as the territorys geography, namely Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Each is governed by a council, the island of St Helena is then further divided into eight districts. The Portuguese found Saint Helena uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and they imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Though they formed no permanent settlement, the island became important for the collection of food. Englishman Sir Francis Drake very probably located the island on the lap of his circumnavigation of the world. In 1657, the English East India Company was granted a charter to govern Saint Helena by Oliver Cromwell, and the following year the Company decided to fortify and colonise the island with planters. The first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, a fort was completed and a number of houses were built. After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a Royal Charter giving it the right to fortify. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York and heir apparent, later King James II of England. The Kingdom of England became part of the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1801, the most important and first settled, the island of Saint Helena, had been governed by the East India Company since 1659. For similar reasons Tristan da Cunha was annexed as a dependency of the Cape Colony on 14 August 1816, for a short period just prior, Tristan da Cunha had been inhabited by a private American expedition who named the territory the Islands of Refreshment. The political union between these colonies began to shape on 12 September 1922, when by letters patent Ascension Island became a dependency of Saint Helena. Lightly populated Tristan da Cunha, even today more than an outpost with a population of less than three hundred, followed suit on 12 January 1938. The United Kingdom and the United States still jointly operate the airfield on Ascension, which serves as a space-based communications, signals intelligence. One of only four GPS satellite ground antennas is located there, between Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha is the Tropic of Capricorn
5.
World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
6.
Ramsar Convention
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The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands and it is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971. The most recent COP12 was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, cOP13 will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018. The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,231 Ramsar Sites in March 2016 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres. The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom with 170, the Ramsar Sites Information Service is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar Site. As of 2016 there are 18 Transboundary Ramsar Sites, as of 2016 there are 15 Ramsar Regional Initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other known as International Organization Partners. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the Conference of the Parties and as members of the Scientific. Conference of the Parties Conference of the Parties is the Conventions governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty and this ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee The Standing Committee is the executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one, the Secretariat The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention’s activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, the 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity, in 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries
7.
High island
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In geology, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to such islands from low islands. Volcanic islands normally arise above a so-called hotspot and this hampers or hinders human settlement on many low islands. Atoll Low island Volcanic arc Micronesian culture, High island and low island cultures at Britannica. com
8.
British Overseas Territories
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The 14 British Overseas Territories are territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are the parts of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories. These territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union, though the Cyprus SBAs are subject to EU law and use the Euro. Most of the territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence. The rest are either uninhabited or have a population of military or scientific personnel. They share the British monarch as head of state, the term British Overseas Territory was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, replacing the term British Dependent Territory, introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981. Prior to 1 January 1983, the territories were referred to as British Crown Colonies. With the exceptions of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Territories retain permanent civilian populations. Permanent residency for the 7,000 or so living in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri. Collectively, the Territories encompass a population of about 250,000 people, the vast majority of this,660,000 square miles, constitutes the British Antarctic Territory. The current minister responsible for the Territories excluding the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas is Baroness Anelay, Minister of State for the Commonwealth, the other three territories are the responsibility of Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. The first, unofficial, colony was Newfoundland, where English fishermen routinely set up camps in the 16th century. It is now a province of Canada known as Newfoundland and Labrador and it retains strong cultural ties with Britain. English colonisation of North America began officially in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, st. Georges town, founded in Bermuda in that year, remains the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, but generally underestimated or unacknowledged roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic Empires. These include maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, separate self-governing colonies federated to become Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Rhodesia. These and other large self-governing colonies had become known as Dominions by the 1920s, the Dominions achieved almost full independence with the Statute of Westminster. Through a process of following the Second World War, most of the British colonies in Africa, Asia
9.
Weather station
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The measurements taken include temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Wind measurements are taken with as few other obstructions as possible, while temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation, manual observations are taken at least once daily, while automated measurements are taken at least once an hour. Weather conditions out at sea are taken by ships and buoys, which slightly different meteorological quantities such as sea surface temperature, wave height. Drifting weather buoys outnumber their moored versions by a significant amount, the instrumentation may be specialized to allow for periodic recording otherwise significant manual labour is required for record keeping. Automatic transmission of data, in a such as METAR, is also desirable as many weather stations data is required for weather forecasting. A personal weather station is a set of measuring instruments operated by a private individual, club, association. The quality, number of instruments, and placement of personal weather stations can vary widely, making the determination of which stations collect accurate, meaningful, personal weather stations also typically involve a digital console that provides readouts of the data being collected. These consoles may interface to a computer where data can be displayed, stored. Personal weather stations may be operated solely for the enjoyment and education of the owner, however some owners share their results with others and they do this by either by manually compiling data and distributing it, distributing data over the internet internet, or sharing data via amateur radio. The Citizen Weather Observer Program is a service which facilitates the sharing of information from weather stations. This data is submitted through use of software, a personal computer, each weather station submitting data to CWOP will also have an individual Web page that depicts the data submitted by that station. The Weather Underground Internet site is popular destination for the submittal. As with CWOP, each station submitting data to The Weather Underground has a unique Web page displaying their submitted data, the UK Met Offices Weather Observations Website also allows such data to be shared and displayed. A weather ship was a ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and it was also meant to aid in search and rescue operations and to support transatlantic flights. The establishment of weather ships proved to be so useful during World War II that the International Civil Aviation Organization established a network of 13 weather ships in 1948. Of the 12 left in operation in 1996, nine were located in the northern Atlantic ocean while three were located in the northern Pacific ocean, the agreement of the weather ships ended in 1990. Weather ship observations proved to be helpful in wind and wave studies, the last weather ship was MS Polarfront, known as weather station M at 66°N, 02°E, run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. MS Polarfront was removed from service January 1,2010, since the 1960s this role has been largely superseded by satellites, long range aircraft and weather buoys
10.
Nightingale Island
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Nightingale Island is an active volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean,3 square kilometres in area, part of the Tristan da Cunha group of islands. They are administered by the United Kingdom as part of the territory of Saint Helena, Ascension. Nightingale Island is part of the Nightingale Islands, which also includes islets Middle Island, all three are uninhabited, but are regularly visited for scientific purposes and research. Nightingale has two peaks on its north end, one is 337 metres high while the other is 293 metres high. The rest of the island is ringed by cliffs, however, these cliffs are not nearly as high as those surrounding Nightingales neighbour Inaccessible Island, which is approximately 16 km away and has cliffs approximately 300m high. Thus human access is easier on Nightingale than on Inaccessible. The island is a volcano, composed of early and late stage ash deposits, massive Trachytic lava flows have been extruded in the past. Before 2004, the last eruption may have been over 39,000 years ago, the two nearby islets are called Stoltenhoff and Middle. Large amounts of kelp surround the island, which makes it difficult to anchor ships in bad weather, Nightingale Island has an oceanic climate similar to the other Tristan da Cunha islands. Nightingale was possibly sighted along with Tristan da Cunha in 1506 by Tristão da Cunha and it was originally named Gebrooken Eyland by the Dutch ship the Nachtglas under Jan Jacobszoon in January 1656, who found no safe anchorage, the first landing was not made until 1696. French captain DEtchevery also visited the island in September 1767, first recording the two nearby islets now named Stoltenhoff and Middle, the island was later renamed after British captain Gamaliel Nightingale, who explored the island in 1760. Nightingale has been said to contain pirate loot, captain John Thomas, on an expedition to the South Atlantic, supposedly left a fortune of Spanish doubloons and pieces-of-eight in caves on Nightingale for safekeeping. However, no recovery of this treasure has ever been confirmed, in 1811, the American pirate Jonathan Lambert laid claim to Tristan and its neighbouring islands. He wanted to call Inaccessible Pinsard Island, and Nightingale Lavel Island and he was successful in his claim, but he died less than one year later. In 1961, the 2, 060-metre high shield volcano on Tristan da Cunha erupted and forced the inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha to evacuate to Nightingale and they eventually moved to the United Kingdom, returning to Tristan in 1963. Wildlife conservation efforts are ongoing on Nightingale, the previous conservation workers sheds were severely damaged during a storm produced by an extratropical cyclone in 2001 that reportedly included winds up to 120 mph. Repair is ongoing, but to continue carrying out the conservation work, the United Kingdom established funding for a conservation effort on Nightingale for 2004–06. A six-hour-long earthquake swarm occurred on Nightingale Island on 29 July 2004, followed by sightings of floating phonolitic pumice, before daybreak on 16 March 2011, the Maltese-registered MS Oliva cargo carrier ran aground at Spinners Point on the islands northwestern shore
11.
Inaccessible Island
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Inaccessible Island is an extinct volcano with Cairn Peak reaching 449 m. The island is 14 km2 in area, rising out of the South Atlantic Ocean 45 km south-west of Tristan da Cunha. It is part of the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha which is part of the territory of the United Kingdom known as Saint Helena, Ascension. Along with Gough Island, Inaccessible Island is a wildlife reserve. The island sits approximately 17 nautical miles to the southwest of the island of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. Mostly desolate and inhospitable the island has one small landing site named Port David on the northwestern most point, jacobszoon originally named it Nachtglas island. There are two explanations for the name Inaccessible island, one is that on maps the newly found island was referred to as inaccessible because the Dutch crew who landed were not able to reach its interior. The other claims that French captain dEtcheverry renamed the island in 1778 after not being able to land, in 1803, US sealers led by Amasa Delano made landfall on the island. The Stoltenhoff brothers, who arrived on Inaccessible from Germany in 1871, however, due to the scarcity of food, they were overjoyed to be rescued in 1873 during HMS Challengers visit to examine the flora and fauna there. The South African author Eric Rosenthal chronicled the Stoltenhoffs adventure in 1952, the nearby Stoltenhoff Island is named after the brothers. In 1922, the Shackleton–Rowett Expeditions ship, the Quest, stopped by Inaccessible briefly, in 1938, the Norwegian Scientific Expedition spent three weeks on the island, during which time they managed to gain access to the plateau and extensively catalogued plants, birds, and rocks. Another attempt at mapping the island was made during the Royal Societys expedition of 1962 to Tristan da Cunha, like many other explorers before them, the scientists were not able to reach the interior of the island. Inaccessible Island was declared a reserve under the Tristan da Cunha Conservation Ordinance of 1976. Tristan islanders, however, were permitted to harvest seabirds from the island. In 1997, Inaccessible Islands territorial waters out to 22 km were declared a reserve under the Tristan da Cunha Conservation Ordinance of 1976. Currently, only guides from Tristan are allowed to take visiting cruise ships to Inaccessible, indeed, in 2004 Inaccessible Island was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gough Island to create a new site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands. It has frequently noted on lists of unusual place names. At least three confirmed shipwrecks have occurred off the coast of Inaccessible Island, the first, and most dramatic, was that of Blenden Hall, a British ship which set sail in 1821 with 54 passengers and crew aboard with destination Bombay
12.
South Georgia Island
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South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic that is part of the British Overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 167.4 kilometres long and 1.4 to 37 km wide. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by a commercial Spanish ship named León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756
13.
Cape Town
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Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
14.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
15.
Gough and Inaccessible Islands
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Gough and Inaccessible Islands is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. It consists of Gough Island and Inaccessible Island, the islands are uninhabited apart from the personnel of a weather station. They are Important Bird Areas and Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, the spectacled petrel is believed to nest only on Inaccessible Island. Gough Island was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1995, in 2004 the site was extended. The marine zone of Gough Island was extended from 3 to 12 miles, the site was renamed Gough and Inaccessible Islands. The selection criteria for the site do not include its geomorphic interest
16.
Vasco da Gama
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Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India was the first to link Europe and Asia by a route, connecting the Atlantic and the Indian oceans and, in this way, the West. Da Gamas discovery of the sea route to India was significant and opened the way for an age of global imperialism, traveling the ocean route allowed the Portuguese to avoid sailing across the highly disputed Mediterranean and traversing the dangerous Arabian Peninsula. After decades of trying to reach the Indies, with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks. Unopposed access to the Indian spice routes boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire, the spices obtained from Southeast Asia were primarily pepper and cinnamon at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe. Portugal maintained a monopoly of these commodities for several decades. Da Gama led two of the Portuguese armadas destined for India, the first and the fourth, the latter was the largest and departed for India four years after his return from the first one. For his contributions, Da Gama was appointed the Governor of India in 1524, under the title of Viceroy, Vasco da Gama remains a leading figure in the history of exploration. Numerous homages have been made worldwide to celebrate his explorations and accomplishments, the Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas, was written in his honour. His first trip to India is widely considered a milestone in world history, in March 2016, researchers announced that thousands of artifacts and vessel remains had been recovered from the ship Esmeralda, one of Da Gamas armada, found off the coast of Oman. Vasco da Gama was born in 1460 or 1469 in Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal, Sines, one of the few seaports on the Alentejo coast, consisted of little more than a cluster of whitewashed, red-tiled cottages, occupied chiefly by fisherfolk. Vasco da Gamas father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand and he rose in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. Estêvão da Gama was appointed alcaide-mór of Sines in the 1460s, Estêvão da Gama married Isabel Sodré, a daughter of João Sodré, scion of a well-connected family of English origin. Her father and her brothers, Vicente Sodré and Brás Sodré, had links to the household of Infante Diogo, Duke of Viseu, and were prominent figures in the military Order of Christ. Vasco da Gama was the third of five sons of Estêvão da Gama and Isabel Sodré – in order of age, Paulo da Gama, João Sodré, Vasco da Gama, Pedro da Gama, Vasco also had one known sister, Teresa da Gama. Little is known of da Gamas early life, the Portuguese historian Teixeira de Aragão suggests that he studied at the inland town of Évora, which is where he may have learned mathematics and navigation. It has been claimed that he studied under Abraham Zacuto, an astrologer and astronomer, around 1480, da Gama followed his father and joined the Order of Santiago. The master of Santiago was Prince John, who ascended to the throne in 1481 as King John II of Portugal, John II doted on the Order, and the da Gamas prospects rose accordingly
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Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
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The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in prestige terms by Robert Falcon Scotts concurrent Discovery Expedition and its achievements included the establishment of a manned meteorological station, the first in Antarctic territory, and the discovery of new land to the east of the Weddell Sea. Its large collection of biological and geological specimens, together with those from Bruces earlier travels, Bruce had spent most of the 1890s engaged on expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic regions, and by 1899 was Britains most experienced polar scientist. Bruce reacted by obtaining independent finance, his venture was supported and promoted by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the expedition has been described as by far the most cost-effective and carefully planned scientific expedition of the Heroic Age. Despite this, Bruce received no honour or recognition from the British Government. After the SNAE, Bruce led no more Antarctic expeditions, although he made regular Arctic trips. The SNAEs permanent memorial is the Orcadas weather station, which was set up in 1903 as Omond House on Laurie Island, South Orkneys and he also spent time working voluntarily under the oceanographer Dr John Murray, helping to classify specimens collected during the Challenger expedition. In 1892 Bruce gave up his studies altogether, and embarked on a voyage to the Antarctic in the whaler Balaena. On his return, he began organising an expedition of his own to South Georgia, claiming that the taste I have had has made me ravenous, but he could not obtain funding. He then worked at a station on the summit of Ben Nevis. This vessel was owned by Prince Albert of Monaco, an oceanographer who became a friend. His recent experiences made it unlikely that there was any person in the British Isles at that time better qualified. Bruces letter, which detailed all his relevant qualifications, was acknowledged, by then, Bruces ideas had progressed away from his original expectation of a junior post on the scientific staff. He now proposed a ship for the expedition, separately financed from Scottish sources. This proposal was denounced by RGS president Sir Clements Markham as mischievous and, in this way the idea of a distinctive Scottish National Antarctic expedition was born. Bruce was supported by the wealthy Coats family, who were prepared to give whole-hearted financial backing to a Scottish expedition under his leadership, however, as a result he had acquired the lasting enmity of Markham. In the autumn of 1901, Bruce purchased a Norwegian whaler, Hekla, during the following months, the ship was completely rebuilt as an Antarctic research vessel, with two laboratories, a darkroom, and extensive specialist equipment. Two huge revolving cylinders, each carrying 6,000 fathoms of cable, were fitted to the deck to enable deep-sea trawling for marine specimens
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Scotia (barque)
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Scotia was a barque that was built in 1872 as the Norwegian whaler Hekla. She was purchased in 1902 by William Spiers Bruce and refitted as a vessel for use by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. After the expedition, she served as a sealer, patrol vessel and she was destroyed by fire in January 1916. The ship was 139 feet 6 inches, with a beam of 28 feet 9 inches and she had a draught of 15 feet 6 inches. The ship was assessed at 375 GRT, Hekla was built as a barque in 1872 by Jørgensen & Knudsen, Drammen for S. S. Svendsen of Sandefjord. She was used as a sealer, making voyages to the east coast of Greenland from 1872–82, in 1896, she was sold to N. Bugge, Tønsberg. She was sold in 1898 to A/S Sæl- og Hvalfangerskib Hekla, Hekla was sold in 1900 to A/S Hecla, Sandefjord, operated under the management of Anders Marcussen. In 1902, she was purchased by William Spiers Bruce for kr 45,000 and she was renamed Scotia and was rebuilt by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company for use as a research vessel by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. The ship was strengthened internally, with beams 25 inches thick added to resist the pressure of ice whilst in the Antarctic, a new steam engine was fitted, which drove a single screw propeller. It could propel the vessel at 7 knots, the work was supervised by Fridtjof Nansen. When the conversion of the ship was complete, she was inspected by Colin Archer, thomas Robertson was appointed captain of Scotia. He had twenty years experience of sailing in the Arctic and Antarctic on board the whalers Active, Sea trials of the rebuilt ship were conducted in August 1902. Scotia sailed on 2 November 1902 for the Antarctic and she arrived at the Falkland Islands on 6 January 1903, She then sailed to Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands where she arrived on 25 March. Scotia overwintered in Scotia Bay, where she was frozen in for eight months and she departed for the Falkland Islands on 27 November, en route for Buenos Aires, Argentina where she underwen a refit. Scotia returned to Laurie Island on 14 February 1904, sailing eight days later for the Weddell Sea and she departed from the Antarctic on 21 March. Calling at Saint Helena in June, she arrived at Millport, Cumbrae, Ayrshire on 21 July, following the expedition, it was planned that Scotia would see further use by the universities of Scotland as a research vessel. However, she was sold by auction in an effort to some of the costs of the expedition. She served as a sealer and whaler until 1913, operating off the coast of Greenland, following the loss of Titanic, she was then chartered by the Board of Trade for use as a weather ship on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, warning shipping of icebergs
19.
William Speirs Bruce
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William Speirs Bruce FRSE was a Scottish naturalist, polar scientist and oceanographer who organized and led the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the South Orkney Islands and the Weddell Sea. Among other achievements, the established the first permanent weather station in Antarctica. In 1892 Bruce gave up his studies at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by Arctic voyages to Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen, between 1907 and 1920 Bruce made many journeys to the Arctic regions, both for scientific and for commercial purposes. His failure to mount any major exploration ventures after the SNAE is usually attributed to his lack of public relations skills, powerful enemies, and his fervent Scottish nationalism. By 1919 his health was failing, and he experienced several spells in hospital before his death in 1921, in recent years, following the centenary of the Scottish Expedition, efforts have been made to give fuller recognition to his role in the history of scientific polar exploration. William Speirs Bruce was born at 43 Kensington Gardens Square in London, the child of Samuel Noble Bruce, a Scottish physician. His middle name came from another branch of the family, its spelling, as distinct from the more common Spiers. William passed his childhood in the familys London home at 18 Royal Crescent, Holland Park, under the tutelage of his grandfather. There were regular visits to nearby Kensington Gardens, and sometimes to the Natural History Museum, according to Samuel Bruce these outings first ignited young Williams interest in life and nature. In 1879, at the age of 12, William was sent to a boarding school, Norfolk County School in the village of North Elmham. He succeeded at his attempt, and was ready to start his medical studies in the autumn of 1887. During the summer of 1887, Bruce travelled north to Edinburgh to attend a pair of vacation courses in natural sciences, the experience of Granton, and the contact with some of the foremost contemporary natural scientists, convinced Bruce to stay in Scotland. He abandoned his place at UCL, and enrolled instead in the school at the University of Edinburgh. Here he worked under Dr John Murray and his assistant John Young Buchanan, the Dundee Whaling Expedition, 1892–93, was an attempt to investigate the commercial possibilities of whaling in Antarctic waters by locating a source of right whales in the region. Scientific observations and oceanographic research would also be carried out in the four whaling ships, Balaena, Active, Diana, Bruce was recommended to the expedition by Hugh Robert Mill, an acquaintance from Granton who was now librarian to the Royal Geographical Society in London. Although it would curtail his medical studies, Bruce did not hesitate. The four ships sailed from Dundee on 6 September 1892, the relatively short expedition—Bruce was back in Scotland in May 1893—failed in its main purpose, and gave only limited opportunities for scientific work
20.
Solar eclipse of September 12, 2034
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An annular solar eclipse will occur on September 12,2034. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moons apparent diameter is smaller than the Suns, blocking most of the Suns light, an annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Animated path Each member in a series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours at alternating nodes of the Moons orbit. The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years, lasting about 5 cycles, eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years
21.
Temperate climate
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In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of Earth lie between the tropics and the polar regions. The temperatures in these regions are relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle, the south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle. In some climate classifications, the zone is often divided into several smaller climate zones. These include Humid subtropical climate, Mediterranean climate, oceanic, subtropical climates are located between 23. 5° and 35. 0° north or south latitude on the eastern or leeward sides of landmasses. This climate has long, generally hot, summers and short, mild winters and these climates may occur in southern Asia, the southeastern United States, parts of eastern Australia, and in eastern coastal South America. Mediterranean climates, occur between 30° and 42° north and south latitude, on the sides of landmasses. This climate has hot summers and short mild winters, however, seasonal rainfall is the opposite of that of the subtropical humid type. These climates occur near the rimlands of the Mediterranean Sea, in western Australia, in California, the oceanic climates occur in the higher middle latitudes, between 45° and 60° north and south latitude. They are created by the flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have cool summers and cool winters, annual rainfall is spread throughout the entire year. Regions with this climate include Western Europe, northwestern North America, the Continental climates occur in middle latitudes, between 35° or 40° to 55°. These climates are normally inland or on sides of landmasses. They feature warm to hot summers and cold winters, with a large temperature variation. Regions with this climate include northern temperate Asia, the northern United States, southern Canada, the vast majority of the worlds human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the northern hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land. The richest temperate flora in the world is found in southern Africa, geographical zone Habitat Köppen climate classification Middle latitudes Polar circle Subtropics
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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
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Roaring Forties
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The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. The boundaries of the Roaring Forties are not consistent, and shift north or south depending on the season, similar but stronger conditions occur in more southerly latitudes and are referred to as the Furious Fifties and Shrieking or Screaming Sixties. Hot air rises at the Equator and is pushed towards the poles by cooler air travelling towards the Equator and this travel in the 30 to 60 degree zone combines with the rotation of the earth to move the air currents from west to east, creating westerly winds. Unlike the northern hemisphere, the tracts of open ocean below 40th parallel south mean that higher windspeeds — the Roaring Forties — can develop. Similar but stronger wind conditions are prevalent closer to the South Pole, these are referred to as the Furious Fifties, and the Shrieking or Screaming Sixties. The latitude ranges for the Roaring Forties and similar winds are not consistent, shifting towards the South Pole in the southern summer, and towards the Equator in the southern winter. It was first used by Dutch explorer Hendrik Brouwer in his Brouwer Route, discovered in 1611, to run the easting down was the phrase used to describe the fast passages achieved in the Roaring Forties. Round-the-world sailors also take advantage of the Roaring Forties to speed travel times, Clipper route Horse latitudes Winds in the Age of Sail Antarctic Circumpolar Current Clipper Ships in Heavy Weather
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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
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Deutscher Wetterdienst
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It is attached to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The DWDs principal tasks include warning against weather-related dangers and monitoring and rating climate changes affecting Germany, the organization runs atmospheric models on their supercomputer for precise weather forecasting. The DWD also manages the national archive and one of the largest specialized libraries on weather. The DWD was formed in 1952 when the services of the western occupation zones were merged. In 1954, the Federal Republic of Germany joined the World Meteorological Organization, in 1975 the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts was formed for numerical weather prediction up to ten days in advance. In 1990, following the reunification, the services of the German Democratic Republic were incorporated in the DWD. Since the 1990s, the DWD has continuously reduced the number of manned weather stations, the DWD does not expect a reduction in forecast quality, given techniques like weather radar or satellites, which have significantly improved weather data collection. The German Meteorological Office runs a global model of its own. They developed the High Resolution Regional Model in 1999, which is run within the operational and research meteorological communities. The German non-hydrostatic Lokal-Modell for Europe has been run since 2002, since March 2009, the DWD operates a NEC SX-9 with a peak performance of 109 teraFLOPS to help in the weather forecasting process. Since 2005, the DWD has been publishing regional warnings against heat with the aim to reduce heat related fatalities and this decision was made because of the hot summer in 2003, when estimated 7000 people died from direct or indirect effects of the heat. Additionally it sends out sea weather reports as radioteletype and faxes, since 2006, the pollen warnings can be subscribed to for free on the DWD web site. Within its duty of primary meteorological information, the DWD offers a daily weather report for Germany which can be subscribed to by email on their official website. DWD offers free access to its climate data and its work is based on the German Meteorological Office Act. Currently, the DWD consists of roughly 2600 occupants, besides the DWD central in Offenbach, there are regional centers in Hamburg, Potsdam, Leipzig, Essen, Stuttgart and Munich
28.
Blechnum
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Blechnum is a genus of between 150–220 species of ferns with a cosmopolitan distribution, in the family Blechnaceae in the eupolypods II clade of the order Polypodiales. By far the greatest species diversity is in tropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere, with only a few species reaching cool temperate latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, most are herbaceous plants, but a few species are tree ferns with stems up to 3 m tall. Blechnum varies from most ferns in having a separation of sterile and fertile fronds in the same plant, selected species Blechnum arcuatum Blechnum ambiguum Kaulf. Blechnum dendrophilum Blechnum discolor Blechnum durum Blechnum eburneum Blechnum filiforme Blechnum fluviatile Blechnum fullagarii Blechnum geniculatum Blechnum gibbum Blechnum gracile Kaulf, Blechnum gregsonii Tindale Blechnum howeanum Blechnum indicum Burm. f. Blechnum lineare Blechnum magellanicum Blechnum membranaceum Mett, Blechnum minus Blechnum monomorphum Blechnum nigrum Blechnum nipponicum Makino Blechnum novae-zelandiae T. C. Chambers & P. A. Farrant Blechnum nudum Mett. Blechnum occidentale L. Blechnum orientale L. Blechnum palmiforme C. Chr. in Christoph, Blechnum patersonii Blechnum penna-marina Kuhn Blechnum petiolare Blechnum procerum T. C. Chambers & P. A. Farrant Blechnum schomburgkii C. Chr. Blechnum socialis Blechnum tabulare Blechnum vittatum Brack, Blechnum wattsii, Tindale Hard Water Fern The circumscription of the genus has varied since it was established by Linnaeus in 1753. Some authors have put many of its species in a segregate genus Lomaria, DNA taxonomy indicates that the genus Doodia is embedded in Blechnum. Several species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens, germplasm Resources Information Network, Blechnum Flora of North America, Blechnum Trees and shrubs in the Andes of Ecuador, Blechnum Flora of China, Blechnum species list Huxley, A. ed. Moore, D. M. Flora of Tierra del Fuego
29.
Nature reserve
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Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws, early reservations often had a religious underpinning, such as the evil forest areas of West Africa which were forbidden to humans, who were threatened with spiritual attack if they went there. Sacred areas taboo from human entry to fishing and hunting are known by ancient cultures worldwide. The worlds first modern nature reserve was established in 1821 by the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton around his estate in Walton Hall and he spent £9000 on the construction of a 3 mile long,9 ft tall wall to enclose his park from poachers. He tried to encourage birdlife by planting trees and hollowing out trunks for owls to nest in and he also invented artificial nest boxes to house starlings, jackdaws and sand martins and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce little owls from Italy. Drachenfels was protected as the first state-designated nature reserve in modern-day Germany, in Australia, a nature reserve is the title of a type of protected area used in the jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. The term “nature reserve” is defined in the relevant statutes used in those states and territories rather than by a national statute. As of 2014,1767 out of a total of 10339 protected areas listed within the Australian National Reserve System used the term “nature reserve in their names, in Brazil, nature reserves are classified as ecological stations or biological reserves by the National System of Conservation Units. Their main objectives are preserving fauna and flora and other natural attributes, visits are allowed only with permission, and only for educational or scientific purposes. Changes to the ecosystems in both types of reserve are allowed to restore and preserve the balance, biological diversity. Ecological stations are allowed to change the environment within strictly defined limits for the purpose of scientific research. A wildlife reserve in Brazil is also protected, and hunting is not allowed, there are 30 nature reserves in Egypt which cover 12% of Egyptian land. Those nature reserves were built according to the laws no, 102/1983 and 4/1994 for protection of the Egyptian nature reserve. Egypt announced a plan from to build 40 nature reserves from 1997 to 2017, to protect the natural resources. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast, denmark has three national parks and several nature reserves, some of them inside the national park areas. The largest single reserve is Hanstholm Nature Reserve, which covers 40 km2 and is part of Thy National Park, in Sweden there are 29 national parks. The first of them were established in 1909, in fact, Sweden was the first European country that established 9 national parks. There are almost 4,000 nature reserves in Sweden and they comprise about 85% of the surface that is protected by the Swedish Enironmental Code
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Ecosystem
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An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles, as ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces. Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun and it generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and they also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entities—invariably, they are subject to disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can have different characteristics simply because they contain different species. The introduction of species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types of species present, although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance, classifying ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards effective ecosystem management, but there is no single, agreed-upon way to do this. The term ecosystem was first used in 1935 in a publication by British ecologist Arthur Tansley, Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of materials between organisms and their environment. He later refined the term, describing it as The whole system, including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment. Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates, Tansley later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope. G. Raymond Lindeman took these ideas one step further to suggest that the flow of energy through a lake was the driver of the ecosystem. Most mineral nutrients, on the hand, are recycled within ecosystems. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, external factors, also called state factors, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem
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Seabird
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Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene, in general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases and they feed both at the oceans surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely, Seabirds and humans have a long history together, they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way. There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. In the words of two scientists, The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater. However, by all of the Sphenisciformes and Procellariiformes, all of the Pelecaniformes except the darters. The phalaropes are usually included as well, since although they are waders, loons and grebes, which nest on lakes but winter at sea, are usually categorized as water birds, not seabirds. Although there are a number of sea ducks in the family Anatidae that are truly marine in the winter, many waders and herons are also highly marine, living on the seas edge, but are also not treated as seabirds. Seabirds, by virtue of living in a depositional environment, are well represented in the fossil record. In the Paleogene the seas were dominated by early Procellariidae, giant penguins, modern genera began their wide radiation in the Miocene, although the genus Puffinus might date back to the Oligocene. The highest diversity of seabirds apparently existed during the Late Miocene, Seabirds have made numerous adaptations to living on and feeding in the sea. Wing morphology has been shaped by the niche an individual species or family has evolved, so that looking at a wings shape, longer wings and low wing loading are typical of more pelagic species, while diving species have shorter wings. Seabirds also almost always have webbed feet, to aid movement on the surface as well as assisting diving in some species. The Procellariiformes are unusual among birds in having a sense of smell, which is used to find widely distributed food in a vast ocean. Salt glands are used by seabirds to deal with the salt they ingest by drinking and feeding, the excretions from these glands are almost pure sodium chloride
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Tristan albatross
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The Tristan albatross is a large seabird from the albatross family. One of the albatrosses of the genus Diomedea, it was only widely recognised as a full species in 1998. Albatrosses belong to the family Diomedeidae of the order Procellariiformes, along with shearwaters, petrels, storm petrels, first, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns, although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between 7 and 9 horny plates, Albatrosses also produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators as well as a rich food source for chicks. Other studies have shown it to be the most genetically distinct member of the wandering albatross superspecies and this may be due to it diverging from their common ancestor before all its relatives, or because it underwent particularly strong genetic drift. Among the major experts, BirdLife International has split this species, Jeff Clements has not yet, Diomedea antipodensis breaks into Diomedea referring to Diomedes, whose companions turned to birds. It is practically indistinguishable from the wandering albatross at sea, the Tristan albatross is smaller and has a darker back. The Tristan albatross is 110 cm and has a wingspan of up to 3.05 m, the Tristan albatross also never attains the full white plumage of the wandering albatross, and its bill is about 25 mm shorter. The Tristan albatross feeds on fish and cephalopods and they breed biennially and will nest in wet heath from 400 to 700 m in elevation. They are monogamous, and do not start breeding until they are about 10 years old, there have been sightings near Brazil and also off the coast of Australia. Tristan albatrosses are endemic to the islands of the Tristan da Cunha group, the majority of the worlds population nest on Gough Island, around 1500 pairs. On some years a pair breeds on Inaccessible Island and they were formerly threatened by introduced species, rats, cats and pigs, but these have now been removed from their breeding islands. However, this resulted in the population of mice, Mus musculus, increasing to the point where they would eat, even though the chicks are huge compared to the mice, they do not know how to defend themselves appropriately. Today the main threat to the species is believed to be long-line fishing, recent counts suggest that the population on Gough has decreased by 28% over 46 years, whereas population modelling predicts annual decline rates of 2. 9–5. 3%. More recent modelling, conducted over three generations since 1980, suggests an equivalent to a >96% reduction over in population size over three generations, since declines began. The rate of decline is therefore placed here in the band of 80–100% over three generations, formerly classified as an endangered species by the IUCN, it was suspected to be more threatened than generally assumed and undergoing a marked decline. Following the evaluation of its status, this was found to be correct, and they have an occurrence range of 14,000,000 km2 and a breeding range of 80 km2
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Atlantic petrel
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The Atlantic petrel is a gadfly petrel endemic to the South Atlantic Ocean. The species feeds mostly on squid, which comprises 87% of its diet in some studies, it will feed on lanternfishes as they ascend to the surface at night. Although the species exists in large numbers, the population being estimated at around 5 million birds. It is restricted to just two breeding islands and has declined due to exploitation for food. It is also thought to be threatened by introduced house mice. It was formerly classified as a species by the IUCN. However, new research has demonstrated the impact of predation by mice. Consequently, it was uplisted to endangered status in 2008, birdLife International,2008 IUCN Redlist status changes. BirdLife International, Atlantic Petrel Species Factsheet, distribution of the Atlantic Petrel Pterodroma incerta at sea. & Cooper, J. Diet of the Atlantic Petrel Pterodroma incerta during breeding season at South Atlantic Gough Island
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Gough moorhen
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The Gough moorhen is a medium-sized, almost flightless bird that is similar to the common moorhen, but is smaller, stockier, and has shorter wings. The bird has a distinctive yellow-tipped red bill and red frontal shield and its first account was written in 1888 by the polar explorer George Comer, whom the specific name comeri commemorates. This bird is only on two remote islands in the South Atlantic. The Gough moorhen was originally endemic to Gough Island, but was introduced to Tristan da Cunha in 1956 and they propose that the extinct moorhen of Tristan and the moorhens that live on Gough and Tristan today be regarded as subspecies. On Gough Island, it appears that the future is secure with the island being a nature reserve. In the mid-1990s, it was estimated that 2,500 breeding pairs existed on Gough Island, however, on Tristan da Cunha, it is not classified as a native species and therefore is not protected. ARKive - images and movies of the Gough Island moorhen Description of a new gallinule, allen, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol.4, Art.6,1892. P. 57-58 Official Gough Island website website A. J. Beintema
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Gough finch
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The Gough finch or Gough bunting is a critically endangered songbird species. In particular it shares some characteristics with the South American genus Melanodera which may be its nearest mainland relative. Another species of finch was described from Gough Island, Nesospiza jessiae and this species was later identified as juveniles of the Gough finch. The Gough finch is 22 to 26 cm in length and weighs 50–56 g and it is endemic to the remote Gough Island, part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, and nearby stacks, in the South Atlantic. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland and subantarctic grassland and it was formerly classified as a Vulnerable species by the IUCN. Consequently, it was uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2008, the origin of the land birds of Tristan da Cunha. Fieldiana,37, pp. 139–166. PDF fulltext Ridgely, the Birds of South America, vol. Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions, doi,10. 1098/rsbl.2007.0120 PMID17412667 PDF fulltext Supplementary video Supplementary image Vuilleumier, F.1991. A Quantitative Survey of Speciation Phenomena in Patagonian Birds
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BirdLife International
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It is the worlds largest partnership of conservation organisations, with over 120 partner organisations. BirdLife International was founded as in 1922 the International Council for Bird Preservation by American ornithologists T. Gilbert Pearson and it changed its name in 1993 to BirdLife International. In addition to the programmes, there are global programmes. Together these programmes help the partnership to focus and work on common priorities and they provide the framework for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating conservation work. BirdLife International publishes a magazine, World Birdwatch, which contains recent news and authoritative articles about birds, their habitats. BirdLife International is the official Red List authority for birds, for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in the 2012 assessment,1,313 species of birds are considered threatened with extinction. This represents 13% of the 10,064 extant bird species in the world
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Northern rockhopper penguin
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Recent studies show the northern rockhopper penguin, Moseleys rockhopper penguin, or Moseleys penguin distinct from the southern rockhopper penguin. A study published in 2009 showed that the population of the northern rockhopper had declined by 90% since the 1950s, for this reason, the northern rockhopper penguin is classified as endangered. Many taxonomists have yet to recognize the split, although some are beginning to do so, more than 99% of northern rockhoppers breed on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island in the south Atlantic Ocean. The rockhopper penguin was split into three subspecies in 1992, the southern, eastern and northern rockhopper penguin. Additionally, the rockhopper penguin is larger than the other two subspecies. Proof that the three subspecies were truly different, in terms of more than isolation and some morphological features, was found in the mitochondrial sequences of the three species. It was found E. c. filholi and E. c. chrysocome were not as different genetically as E. c. moseleyi was to the two subspecies. The level of differentiation was similar to the genetic difference found in other penguin subspecies groups. Another way that scientists were able to differentiate the different subspecies of rockhoppers were in the parasites that fed off each separate rockhopper penguin species, penguins are parasitised by 15 species of chewing lice in two genera, Austrogoniodes and the monotypic Nesiotinus. The northern rockhopper penguin feeds on krill and other sea life such as crustaceans, squid, octopus and it breeds in colonies in a range of locations from sea level or on cliff sides, to sometimes inland. The Northern form, found in Amsterdam and Gough island, is isolated from the Crozet. They are monophyletic, meaning they have a split in the mitochondria DNA trees which forms two subspecies, the northern and southern rockhopper penguin, another interesting difference between the two subspecies is their mating ritual. They both use different songs and head ornaments in their mating signals, the reproductive isolation has led to not only physical difference but also behavioral. The adults feed their chicks lower trophic level prey than they themselves consume, during breeding season the adults eat zooplankton and then transition to fish, showing they favor future reproduction. The current population is estimated to be between 100, 000–499,999 breeding pairs at Gough Island,18,000 to 27,000 pairs at Inaccessible Island, and 3,200 to 4,500 at Tristan da Cunha. Declines at the Atlantic Ocean sites show a decline of 2. 7% per year, other possible factors in the decline include disturbance and pollution from ecotourism and fishing, egg-harvesting, and predation and competition from subantarctic fur seals. Surveys show that the birds are at risk of infection by goose barnacles, house mice have been introduced into their environment by human sea expeditions. The mice have proven to be invasive, and consume northern rockhopper eggs, in order to preserve the birds, a culling of the mice is being considered
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Sooty albatross
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The sooty albatross, dark-mantled sooty albatross or dark-mantled albatross, is a species of bird in the albatross family. They breed on islands and range at sea across the Southern Ocean from South America to Australia. Sooty albatrosses are a type of albatross that belongs to Diomedeidae family and comes from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, first, they have nasal passages which attach to the upper bill called naricorns. Although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill, finally, they produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides which is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators as well as being a food source for chicks. They also have a gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies. It excretes a richly saline solution from the nose, the sooty albatross is a medium-sized albatross, measuring about 85 cm, with a 2 m wingspan. Adult body mass ranges from 2.1 to 3.4 kg and it is sooty-brown with darker shading on the sides of its head. It has a white crescent above and behind its eye and its bill is black with an orange or yellow sulcus. The tail of this albatross is wide diamond-shaped, juveniles are similar to adults, although they can have paler feathers on the nape and upper back, possibly creating confusion with light-mantled albatross. Their diet consists of squid, crustaceans, cephalopods, fish, the sooty albatross is a colonial bird, although not to the same degree as other albatrosses, as their colonies usually consist of 50 to 60 pairs. They will build their nests on cliffs and steep slopes, although are able to mate annually, they normally only do so biennially. This albatross nests on islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean and they forage in both oceans north to about 30°S. The IUCN ranks the sooty albatross as endangered with a range of 40,800,000 km2. A1998 estimate placed the population at 42,000 adult birds, populations have shrunk 75% over the last 90 years, although the rate of reduction has recently slowed. The 21st century has so far seen stable populations at Gough Island and this species is not excessively affected by longline fisheries, but instead by domestic cats eating eggs and chicks on Amsterdam Island and the Kerguelen Islands. Avian cholera, pasteurellosis, and erysipelas are major threats, studies and surveys are conducted to assist in slowing its demise. Also, in 2007, the Crozet Islands, Amsterdam Island, sooty Albatross – BirdLife Species Factsheet
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Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross
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The Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross is a large seabird in the albatross family. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek, Thalassarche is from thalassa, sea and arkhe, command, and chlororhynchos is from khloros, yellow, and rhunkhos, bill. This small mollymawk was once considered conspecific with the Indian yellow-nosed albatross, some authorities still consider these taxa to be conspecific, such as the Clements checklist and the SACC, which recognizes that a proposal is needed. Mollymawks are a type of albatross that belong to Diomedeidae family and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. First, they have passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce an oil made up of wax esters. This is used against predators as well as a rich food source for chicks. They also have a gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies. It excretes a high saline solution from their nose, the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross averages 81 cm in length. It is a black and white mollymawk with a grey head and large eye patch. Its bill is black with a yellow culminicorn and a pink tip and it has a blackish grey saddle, tail and upperwing, and its underparts are predominantly white. Its underwing and primaries show a black margin. The juvenile is similar to the adult but with a white head and it can be differentiated from the Indian yellow-nosed by its darker head. Salvins albatross also has a head but has much broader wings. This mollymawk feeds on squid, fish and crustacea, like all albatrosses they are colonial, but unusually they will build their nests in scrub or amongst Blechnum tree ferns. Like all mollymawks they build nests of mud, peat, feathers. They do this in September or early October, and the chick fledges in late March to April, Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses nest on islands in the mid-Atlantic, including Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island
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Broad-billed prion
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The broad-billed prion is a small seabird, but the largest prion, with grey upperparts plumage, and white underparts. It has many names that have been used such as blue-billed dove-petrel, broad-billed dove-petrel, long-billed prion, common prion, icebird. The broad-billed prion is a member of the Pachyptila genus, and they in turn are members of the Procellariidae family, and the Procellariiformes order. The prions are small and typically eat just zooplankton, however as a member of the Procellariiformes, first, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. Although the nostrils on the prion are on top of the upper bill, the bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. They produce an oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This can be sprayed out of their mouths as a defence against predators and as a rich food source for chicks. Finally, they also have a gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies. It excretes a high saline solution from their nose, Pachyptila, the word, comes from the Greek words pakhus and ptilon. Pakhus means thick or stout and ptilon means a feather, also from the Greek language, prion comes from the word priōn meaning a saw, which is in reference to its serrated edges of its bill. The broad-billed prion has traditional prion colours, blue-grey upperparts, white underparts, and it also has a black crown, a dark eye stripe, and a black-tipped tail. The head pattern is distinct and the tail band is less extensive than that of the similar fairy prion. It has a broad flat bill with comb-like fringes called lamellae and this is a large prion measuring 25 to 30 cm long, with a wingspan of 57 to 66 cm and weighing on average 160 to 235 g. They are social birds, however their courtship displays happen at night or in their burrows, when they need to defend their nests they are very aggressive with calling, posturing, and neck-biting. They are gregarious, and eat crustaceans, squid, and fish and they utilize a technique called hydroplaning, where the bird flies with its bill in the water, skimming water in, and then filtering the food. This prion doesnt follow fishing boats regularly, breeding begins on the coastal slopes, lava fields, or cliffs of the breeding islands in July or August, as they lay their single egg in a burrow type nest. Both parents incubate the egg for 50 days, and then spend another 50 days raising the chick, the main predators are skuas, although on some islands, cats and rats have reduced this prion’s numbers drastically. Colonies disperse from December onwards, although some remain in the vicinity of the breeding islands
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Kerguelen petrel
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The Kerguelen petrel is a small slate-grey seabird in the family Procellariidae. The species has been described as an oddball, being placed for a long time in Pterodroma before being split out in 1942 into its own genus Aphrodroma. The species attends its colonies nocturnally, breeding in burrows in wet soil, the burrows usually face away from the prevailing wind. A single egg is laid per breeding season, the egg is unusually round for the family, the egg is incubated by both parents for 49 days. After hatching the chick fledges after 60 days, Kerguelen Petrel Photos Specimens of the Kerguelen Petrel in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
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. PMID 17412667.
Saint Helena
Ascension Island
Tristan da Cunha