1.
West Maui Mountains
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Since its last eruption approximately 320,000 years ago, the West Maui Mountains have undergone substantial stream erosion. The three moku or districts of west Maui are Lāhaina, Kāʻanapali, and Wailuku, Wailuku is also known as Pūʻalikomohana, or Nā Wai ʻEhā which means the four waters. The 4 waters are the ahupuaʻa, which are Waikapū, Wailuku, Waiʻehu, the port of Lāhainā lies on the southwestern slope. The summit peak is called Puʻu Kukui, at 5,788 feet elevation, puu Kukui translates into candlenut hill. Established in 1988, the Puʻu Kukui Preserve is the largest private preserve in the State of Hawaii. Since 1994, the 8, 661-acre preserve has been managed by Maui Land & Pineapple Company in participation with The Nature Conservancy and these groups work together to protect the watershed lands of the West Maui mountain. The West Maui Mountains were formed through at least three series of volcanic eruptions during its shield building period, starting 1.4 million years ago. The mountains used to be over 13,000 feet high, rocks from the latest major shield-building eruptions are call the Honolua volcanics, which are roughly 500,000 years old. However, there were several re-juvenated stage eruptions more recently, the last dating to roughly 320,000 years ago
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.
National Natural Landmark
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The National Natural Landmarks Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership, the program was established on May 18,1962, by United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. The program aims to encourage and support voluntary preservation of sites that illustrate the geological and ecological history of the United States and it also hopes to strengthen the publics appreciation of the countrys natural heritage. As of November 2016,599 sites have been added to the National Registry of National Landmarks, the registry includes nationally significant geological and ecological features in 48 states, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The National Park Service administers the NNL Program and if requested, land acquisition by the federal government is not a goal of this program. National Natural Landmarks are nationally significant sites owned by a variety of land stewards, the legislative authority for the National Natural Landmarks Program stems from the Historic Sites Act of August 21,1935, the program is governed by federal regulations. The NNL Program does not have the features of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Thus, designation of a National Natural Landmark presently constitutes only an agreement with the owner to preserve, insofar as possible, administration and preservation of National Natural Landmarks is solely the owners responsibility. Either party may terminate the agreement after they notify the other, the UKs Site of Special Scientific Interest list is a rough equivalent. The NNL designation is made by the Secretary of the Interior after in-depth scientific study of a potential site, all new designations must have owner concurrence. The selection process is rigorous, to be considered for NNL status, since establishment of the NNL program, a multi-step process has been used to designate a site for NNL status. Since 1970, the steps have constituted the process. A natural area inventory of a region is completed to identify the most promising sites. After landowners are notified that the site is being considered for NNL status, the evaluation report is peer reviewed by other experts to assure its soundness. The report is reviewed further by National Park Service staff, the site is reviewed by the Secretary of the Interiors National Park Advisory Board to determine that the site qualifies as an NNL. The findings are provided to the Secretary of the Interior who approves or declines, landowners are notified a third time informing them that the site has been designated an NNL. Each major natural history theme can be subdivided into various sub-themes. The NNL program does not require designated properties to be owned by public entities, lands under almost all forms of ownership or administration have been designated—federal, state, local, municipal and private
4.
Eiffel Tower
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The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed, the Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world,6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is 324 metres tall, about the height as an 81-storey building. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres on each side, due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres. Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in France after the Millau Viaduct, the tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top levels upper platform is 276 m above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union, tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually only accessible by lift. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853, sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffels scheme and its rivals, which, after some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel was to all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition. He later established a company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and these objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the column of bolted sheet metal. Gustave Eiffel responded to criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. Will it not also be grandiose in its way, and why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible
5.
Hawaiian language
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The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaiʻi, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is a language of the state of Hawaii. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitution in 1839 and 1840, Hawaiian was essentially displaced by English on six of seven inhabited islands. In 2001, native speakers of Hawaiian amounted to under 0. 1% of the statewide population, linguists were unsure that Hawaiian and other endangered languages would survive. Nevertheless, from around 1949 to the present day, there has been an increase in attention to. Public Hawaiian-language immersion preschools called Pūnana Leo were started in 1984, the first students to start in immersion preschool have now graduated from college and many are fluent Hawaiian speakers. The federal government has acknowledged this development, for example, the Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 changed the names of several national parks in Hawaiʻi, observing the Hawaiian spelling. A pidgin or creole language spoken in Hawaiʻi is Hawaiian Pidgin and it should not be mistaken for the Hawaiian language nor for a dialect of English. The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters, five vowels and seven consonants and it contains an additional consonantal sound okina which is a glottal stop. The island name was first written in English in 1778 by British explorer James Cook and they wrote it as Owhyhee or Owhyee. Explorers Mortimer and Otto von Kotzebue used that spelling, the initial O in the name is a reflection of the fact that unique identity is predicated in Hawaiian by using a copula form, o, immediately before a proper noun. Thus, in Hawaiian, the name of the island is expressed by saying O Hawaiʻi, the Cook expedition also wrote Otaheite rather than Tahiti. The spelling why in the name reflects the pronunciation of wh in 18th-century English, the spelling hee or ee in the name represents the sounds, or. Putting the parts together, O-why-ee reflects, an approximation of the native pronunciation. American missionaries bound for Hawaiʻi used the phrases Owhihe Language and Owhyhee language in Boston prior to their departure in October 1819 and they still used such phrases as late as March 1822. However, by July 1823, they had begun using the phrase Hawaiian Language, in Hawaiian, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi means Hawaiian language, as adjectives follow nouns. Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family and it is closely related to other Polynesian languages, such as Marquesan, Tahitian, Māori, Rapa Nui, and less closely to Samoan and Tongan. According to Schütz, the Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly 300 CE followed by waves of immigration from the Society Islands
6.
Maui
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The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the 17th-largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the State of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui Countys four islands, bigger than Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, in 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444, third-highest of the Hawaiian Islands, behind that of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. Kahului is the largest census-designated place on the island with a population of 26,337 as of 2010 and is the commercial and financial hub of the island, Wailuku is the seat of Maui County and is the third-largest CDP as of 2010. Other significant places include Kīhei, Lahaina, Makawao, Pukalani, Pāʻia, Kula, Haʻikū, native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the islands name in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. According to that legend, Hawaiʻiloa named the island of Maui after his son, the earlier name of Maui was ʻIhikapalaumaewa. The Island of Maui is also called the Valley Isle for the isthmus between its northwestern and southeastern volcanoes and the numerous large valleys carved into both mountains. Mauis diverse landscapes are the result of a combination of geology, topography. Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a volcanic doublet, formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them, the older, western volcano has been eroded considerably and is cut by numerous drainages, forming the peaks of the West Maui Mountains. Puʻu Kukui is the highest of the peaks at 5,788 feet. The larger, younger volcano to the east, Haleakalā, rises to more than 10,000 feet above sea level, the eastern flanks of both volcanoes are cut by deeply incised valleys and steep-sided ravines that run downslope to the rocky, windswept shoreline. The valley-like Isthmus of Maui that separates the two volcanic masses was formed by sandy erosional deposits, although considered to be dormant by volcanologists, Haleakalā is certainly capable of further eruptions. Maui is part of a larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago and this, and the extreme insularity of the Hawaiian Islands account for the strong marine influence on Mauis climate. Gross weather patterns are determined by elevation and orientation towards the Trade winds. Mauis rugged, irregular topography produces marked variations in conditions, air swept inland on the Trade winds is shunted one way or another by the mountains, valleys, and vast open slopes. This complex three-dimensional flow of air results in striking variations in speed, cloud formation. Maui displays a unique and diverse set of conditions, each of which is specific to a loosely defined sub-region of the island
7.
Hawaii
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Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States of America, having received statehood on August 21,1959. Hawaii is the only U. S. state located in Oceania and it is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is the only U. S. state not located in the Americas, the state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian archipelago, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight main islands are—in order from northwest to southeast, Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The last is the largest island in the group, it is called the Big Island or Hawaiʻi Island to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania, Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U. S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii is the 8th-smallest and the 11th-least populous, but the 13th-most densely populated of the fifty U. S. states. It is the state with an Asian plurality. The states coastline is about 750 miles long, the fourth longest in the U. S. after the coastlines of Alaska, Florida, the state of Hawaii derives its name from the name of its largest island, Hawaiʻi. A common Hawaiian explanation of the name of Hawaiʻi is that was named for Hawaiʻiloa and he is said to have discovered the islands when they were first settled. The Hawaiian language word Hawaiʻi is very similar to Proto-Polynesian *Sawaiki, cognates of Hawaiʻi are found in other Polynesian languages, including Māori, Rarotongan and Samoan. According to linguists Pukui and Elbert, lsewhere in Polynesia, Hawaiʻi or a cognate is the name of the underworld or of the home, but in Hawaii. A somewhat divisive political issue arose in 1978 when the Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as an official state language. The title of the constitution is The Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution uses The State of Hawaii, diacritics were not used because the document, drafted in 1949, predates the use of the okina and the kahakō in modern Hawaiian orthography. The exact spelling of the name in the Hawaiian language is Hawaiʻi. In the Hawaii Admission Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the government recognized Hawaii as the official state name. Official government publications, department and office titles, and the Seal of Hawaii use the spelling with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length
8.
Wailuku, Hawaii
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Wailuku is a census-designated place in Maui County, Hawaiʻi, United States. The population was 15,313 at the 2010 census and it is the county seat of Maui County. Wailuku is located just west of Kahului, at the mouth of the ʻĪao Valley, there are two ancient temples near Wailuku, called heiau — the Halekiʻi Heiau and the Pihanakalani Heiau. Both date back hundreds of years and were used for religious purposes by the native Hawaiians, Wailuku is served by Kahului Airport. Wailuku is located at 20°53′31″N 156°30′8″W between the CDPs of Waihee-Waiehu to the north, Kahului to the east, and Waikapu to the south. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 5.7 square miles, of which 5.3 square miles is land and 0.42 square miles. The three moku or districts of west Maui are Lāhaina, Kāʻanapali, and Wailuku, Wailuku is also known as Pūʻalikomohana, or Nā Wai ʻEhā which means the four waters. The four waters are the ahupuaʻa, which are Waikapū, Wailuku, Waiʻehu, the area was a center of power and population in pre-historic Hawaii. In the mid-1800s it was changed when New England missionaries brought their religious beliefs, western skills and implements. By the 1860s the Wailuku Sugar Company and other plantations were busy growing and milling sugarcane, miles of ditches were dug, bringing irrigation water from deep in the mountains to the vast fields of central Maui, and the sugar industry flourished. Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers immigrated to Maui from all parts of the world to toil in the fields and they came from China, Japan, Okinawa, Korea, the Philippines, Europe, America - bringing ethnic, cultural and religious diversity to their new home. Many settled in Wailuku, where houses, schools, churches, temples, shops, banks, many homes and buildings in Wailuku town date from that earlier heyday. They offer a window into the past, providing a glimpse of plantation times, with its simple pleasures, along High Street, century-old Monkeypod trees and handsome residences reflect the town’s prosperity in the 1920s. Many private and public buildings have architectural and historical significance, beyond this stylish neighborhood are the narrow lanes where modest bungalow, amidst colorful gardens, preserve the flavor of old Wailuku. On upper Main Street, are remnants of the missionary era, a tiny graveyard contains tombstones of Hawaiian Ali’i and missionary families. Further uphill are the Alexander House and Bailey House, now an excellent museum displaying ancient Hawaiian artifacts and missionary period rooms, a turn on Ilina Street to the top of Vineyard Street brings you to an interesting cemetery with lovely views of the Iao Valley and West Maui Mountains. Follow Vineyard downhill through a charming neighborhood clustered around the Iao Congregational Church, the mature trees, varied architecture and serene vistas recreate the atmosphere of bygone days. As you approach the center of town, new buildings mingle with old, in the business district, where false fronts and art deco facades stand shoulder to shoulder, sidewalks are shaded by canopies, inviting you to stroll and explore the charms of Old Wailuku Town
9.
Volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
10.
Hawaiian tropical rainforests
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The Hawaiian tropical rainforests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of 6,700 km2 in the windward lowlands, coastal mesic forests are found at elevations from sea level to 300 m. Mixed mesic forests occur at elevations of 750 to 1,250 m, moist bogs and shrublands exist on montane plateaus and depressions. In the lush, moist forests high in the mountains, trees are draped with vines, orchids, ferns and this ecoregion includes one of the worlds wettest places, the slopes of Mount Waiʻaleʻale, which average 460 in of rainfall per year. Coastal mesic forests are found on the slopes of the major islands from sea level to 300 m. These forests have been dominated by the native hala and hau and naturalized kukui and milo for the past 1, the Polynesian-introduced noni, pia, and kī are also common in this zone. Other native species include pololei, ʻākia, loulu fan palms, ʻōhiʻa lehua, the forest canopy, dominated by koa and ʻōhiʻa lehua, is somewhat open, but tree density is rather high. Other trees and shrubs include pāpala, olopua, hame, mēhame, kōpiko, ʻōpiko, ʻiliahi, hōlei, poʻolā, kōlea lau nui, kauila, nioi, aʻiaʻi, and hōʻawa. Wet forests generally occur from 1,250 to 1,700 m and they receive 3,000 to 11,250 mm of rain per year. ʻŌhiʻa lehua is the dominant canopy species in wet forests, other trees include kāwaʻu, ʻalani, ʻōhiʻa ha, kōlea lau nui, ʻohe, and olomea as well as hāpuʻu. ʻApeʻape, ʻoha wai, hāhā, kāmakahala, kanawao, Phyllostegia spp, ʻākala, kāmanamana, Pilea peploides, māmaki, olonā, and ʻalaʻala wai nui are common understory plants. Vines include maile and hoi kuahiwi, puaʻakuhinia and ʻōlapa are epiphytic flowering plants found in wet forests. Epiphytic ferns, such as Adenophorus spp. ohiaku, Ophioglossum pendulum, ʻākaha, ʻēkaha, epyphytic mosses include Acroporium fuscoflavum, Rhizogonium spiniforme, and Macromitrium owahiense. Loulu fan palms may tower over the forest canopy, bogs are found in montane regions where rainfall exceeds drainage. Dominant vegetation in bogs are shrubs, sedges, and grasses, larger shrubs and small trees grow on bog perimeters or on raised hummocks. Oreobolus furcatus, and Rhynchospora rugosa are common sedges, shrubs include ʻōhelo kau laʻau and ʻōhelo, while grasses are represented by Dichanthelium spp. dwarf varieties of ʻōhiʻa lehua are the most seen trees on the edges of bogs. The ferns wāwaeʻiole, ʻamaʻu, and uluhe grow in bogs, rare plants include liliwai, naʻenaʻe, and Argyroxiphium spp
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