1.
Subtropics
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The subtropics are geographic and climate zones located roughly between the tropic circle of latitude at 23.5 latitude and temperate latitudes. Subtropical climates are characterized by warm to hot summers and cool to mild winters with infrequent frost. Subtropical climates can occur at elevations within the tropics, such as in the southern end of the Mexican Plateau and in Vietnam. Six climate classifications use the term to define the various temperature. A great portion of the deserts are located within the subtropics. Within savanna regimes in the subtropics, a wet season is seen annually during the summer, within Mediterranean climate regimes, the wet season occurs during the winter. Areas bordering warm oceans are prone to heavy rainfall from tropical cyclones. Plants such as palms, citrus, mango, lychee, the tropics have been historically defined as lying between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, located at 23. 45° north and south latitude respectively. The poleward fringe of the subtropics is located at approximately 40° north and south latitude respectively, northern fringes of the type can go further north due to moderating effects of ocean streams, like in parts of Southern Europe due to heat transported by the Gulf Stream. Several methods have used to define the subtropical climate. In the Trewartha climate classification, a subtropical region should have at least eight months with a temperature greater than 10 °C. According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, there exists one large subtropical zone named the warm-temperate subtropical zone. According to the E. Neef climate classification, the zone is divided into two parts, Rainy winters of the west sides and Eastern subtropical climate. According to the Wilhelm Lauer & Peter Frankenberg climate classification, the zone is divided into three parts, high-continental, continental, and maritime. According to the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification, subtropical is one of six zones in the world. Heating of the earth near the equator leads to large amounts of upward motion and convection along the trough or Intertropical convergence zone. The upper-level divergence over the near-equatorial trough leads to air rising and moving away from the equator aloft, as the air moves towards the Mid-Latitudes, it cools and sinks, which leads to subsidence near the 30th parallel of both hemispheres. This circulation is known as the Hadley cell and leads to the formation of the subtropical ridge, many of the worlds deserts are caused by these climatological high-pressure areas, located within the subtropics
2.
Island arc
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An island arc is a type of archipelago, often composed of a chain of volcanoes, with arc-shaped alignment, situated parallel and close to a boundary between two converging tectonic plates. Most of these island arcs are formed as one oceanic plate subducts another one and. For example, large parts of the Andes/Central American/Canadian mountain chain may be known as a volcanic arc, on the other hand, the Aegean or Hellenic arc in the Mediterranean area, composed of numerous islands such as Crete, is an island arc, but is not volcanic. Parallel to it is the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, which is the island arc of the same tectonic system. There is some debate about the usefulness of the distinction between island arcs and volcanic arcs, the term volcanic island arc is merely a sub-classification of island arc. Island arcs are tectonically created arc-shaped mountain belts that are partly below sea level, essentially, they represent a specific geographic-topographic situation in which a mountain belt is partly submerged in ocean. Many of these are composed of volcanoes, and can thus be classified as volcanic island arcs. This process, called flux melting, generates low-density calc-alkaline magma that rises to intrude. The resulting volcano chain has the shape of an arc parallel to the convergent plate boundary, on the subducting side of the island arc is a deep and narrow oceanic trench, which is the trace at the Earth’s surface of the boundary between the downgoing and overriding plates. This trench is created by the pull of the relatively dense subducting plate pulling the leading edge of the plate downward. Multiple earthquakes occur along this boundary with the seismic hypocenters located at increasing depth under the island arc. Ocean basins that are being reduced by subduction are called remnant oceans as they will slowly be shrunken out of existence and this process has happened repeatedly in the geological history of the Earth. Insular Islands Intermontane Islands Back-arc basin High island Volcanic arc
3.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
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North Island
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The North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the slightly larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The islands area is 113,729 square kilometres, making it the worlds 14th-largest island and it has a population of 3,596,200. Twelve main urban areas are in the North Island, about 77% of New Zealands population lives in the North Island. Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, after a public consultation, the board officially named the island North Island or Te Ika-a-Maui in October 2013. In prose, the two islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite articles. It is normal to use the preposition in rather than on, for example Hamilton is in the North Island, maps, headings, tables and adjectival expressions use North Island without the. According to Māori mythology, the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui, Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe when he caught a great fish and pulled it from the sea. While he was not looking his brothers fought over the fish and this great fish became the North Island and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui. The mountains and valleys are believed to have formed as a result of Māuis brothers hacking at the fish. Until the early 20th Century, an alternative Māori name for the North Island was Aotearoa, in present usage, Aotearoa is a collective name for New Zealand as a whole. The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at US$102.863 billion in 2003, the island has an extensive flora and bird population, with numerous National Parks and other protected areas. Nine local government regions cover the North Island and all its adjacent islands, healthcare in the North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards. Organised around geographical areas of varying sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions
5.
Tonga
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Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 750 square kilometres scattered over 700,000 square kilometres of the southern Pacific Ocean and it has a population of 103,000 people of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu. Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres in a north-south line and it is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east, Kermadec to the southwest, and New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the farther west. Tonga became known in the West as the Friendly Islands because of the reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the festival, the yearly donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga. According to the writer William Mariner, the wanted to kill Cook during the gathering. From 1900 to 1970, Tonga had British protected state status, the country never relinquished its sovereignty to any foreign power. In many Polynesian languages including Tongan, the word tonga means south, the name of Tonga is cognate to the Hawaiian region of Kona. In Malay, the name of Tonga is also cognate to the word Tenggara, an Austronesian-speaking group linked to the archaeological construct known as the Lapita cultural complex reached and inhabited Tonga around 1500–1000 BCE. Scholars have much debated the exact dates of the settlement of Tonga. Not much is known before European contact because of the lack of a writing system, in the 15th century and again in the 17th, civil war erupted. The Tongan people first encountered Europeans in 1616 when the Dutch vessel Eendracht, captained by Willem Schouten, later came other Dutch explorers, including Jacob Le Maire, and in 1643 Abel Tasman. In 1845, the young warrior, strategist, and orator Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into a kingdom. He held the title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but had been baptised by Methodist missionaries with the name Siaosi in 1831. Tonga became a state under a Treaty of Friendship with Britain on 18 May 1900. The treaty posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British Consul, under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government. The Tongan monarchy follows a succession of hereditary rulers from one family. The 1918 flu pandemic, brought to Tonga by a ship from New Zealand, killed 1,800 Tongans, the Treaty of Friendship and Tongas protection status ended in 1970 under arrangements established by Queen Salote Tupou III prior to her death in 1965
6.
Raoul Island
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The area of the island, including fringing islets and rocks mainly in the northeast, but also a few smaller ones in the southeast, is 29.38 km2. The highest elevation is Moumoukai Peak, at an elevation of 516 m, although Raoul is the only island in the Kermadec group large enough to support settlement, it lacks a safe harbour, and landings from small boats can only be made in calm weather. Considering offshore islets and rocks, the northernmost island of New Zealand is Nugent Island, about 100 metres in diameter, the coordinates of the northernmost point are 29°13′52″S 177°52′09″W. Napier Island stretches almost as far north as Nugent Island, which reaches just a few metres further north, stone implements of the Polynesian type have been found on Raoul Island, and there is indication of a prehistoric settlement. But the island was uninhabited when first sighted by Western sailors, the island was named after Joseph Raoul, quartermaster of the Recherche, when it was sighted on 16 March 1793. Captain William Raven of the whaler Britannia sighted the island on 6 March 1796 and called it Sunday Island, Captain Henry Mangles Denham of HMS Herald charted the island in 1854. The last regular occupants, Tom Bell and his wife Frederica, from 27 May to 16 June 1917, the German raider Wolf, under the command of Korvettenkapitän Karl August Nerger, anchored in the protected bay to undertake engine overhaul and maintenance. During this period Wolf captured the New Zealand steamship Wairuna and the American sailing bark Winslow, commandeering all cargo, the New Zealand government has permanently manned Raoul Island Station since 1937. It includes a government meteorological and radio station and hostel for Department of Conservation officers and volunteers, the station stands on the northern terraces of the island, about 50 m in elevation above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. Raoul Island Station represents the northernmost outpost of New Zealand, two Holocene calderas are found at Raoul. The older caldera cuts the center of Raoul Island is about 2.5 km ×3.5 km long and wide respectively. Denham caldera, formed during a major explosive eruption about 2200 years ago, truncated the western side of the island and is 6.5 km ×4 km long. Its long axis is parallel to the fabric of the Havre Trough that lies west of the volcanic arc. The Denham caldera was named for the nearby Denham Bay, itself named by Capt Henry Mangles Denham in Herald who came to complete a survey of the island on 2 July 1854. His son Fleetwood James Denham died from a fever, and was buried near the beach at the head of Denham Bay. The brass plaque heading this grave has been preserved, three small lakes, Blue Lake, Green Lake and Tui Lake are located in the northern caldera of Raoul Island. The plains surrounding the lakes are called Pumice Flats, Raoul Island has a humid subtropical climate. The scientific categorisation of the flora and fauna of the began in 1854 when HMS Herald, captained by Henry Mangles Denham
7.
Polynesia
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Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including the language family, culture, and beliefs. Historically, they were experienced sailors who used stars to navigate at night, the term Polynesia was first used in 1756 by French writer Charles de Brosses, and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont dUrville proposed a restriction on its use during a lecture to the Geographical Society of Paris, historically, these islands have also been referred to as the South Sea Islands. Polynesia is characterized by an amount of land spread over a very large portion of the mid. Most Polynesian islands and archipelagos, including the Hawaiian Islands and Samoa, are composed of volcanic islands built by hotspots, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Ouvéa, the Polynesian outlier near New Caledonia, are the unsubmerged portions of the largely sunken continent of Zealandia. At first, the Pacific plate was subducted under the Australian plate, the Alpine Fault that traverses the South Island is currently a transform fault while the convergent plate boundary from the North Island northwards is called the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone. The volcanism associated with subduction zone is the origin of the Kermadec. Out of approximately 300,000 or 310,000 square kilometres of land, over 270,000 km2 are within New Zealand, the Zealandia continent has approximately 3,600,000 km2 of continental shelf. The oldest rocks in the region are found in New Zealand and are believed to be about 510 million years old, the oldest Polynesian rocks outside of Zealandia are to be found in the Hawaiian Emperor Seamount Chain, and are 80 million years old. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle, geographically, the Polynesian Triangle is drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian Triangle are Samoa, Tonga, there are also small Polynesian settlements in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Caroline Islands, and in Vanuatu. An island group with strong Polynesian cultural traits outside of this triangle is Rotuma. The people of Rotuma have many common Polynesian traits but speak a non-Polynesian language, some of the Lau Islands to the southeast of Fiji have strong historic and cultural links with Tonga. However, in essence, Polynesia is a term referring to one of the three parts of Oceania. Some islands of Polynesian origin are outside the triangle that geographically defines the region. The Phoenix Islands and Line Islands, most of which are part of Kiribati, are geographically Polynesian islands, tracing Polynesian languages places their prehistoric origins in the Malay Archipelago, and ultimately, in Taiwan. Between about 3000 and 1000 BC speakers of Austronesian languages began spreading from Taiwan into Island Southeast Asia, there are three theories regarding the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia
8.
Lady Penrhyn (1786 ship)
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Lady Penrhyn was built on the River Thames in 1786 as a slave ship. For her first voyage she transported convicts to New South Wales as part of the First Fleet, on her voyage back to Britain she was the first European vessel to pass by the Kermadec Islands, and the Penrhyn Atoll in the Cook Islands. She also carried a cargo for the British East India Company, the French captured her in the West Indies in 1811 and scuttled her. Lady Penrhyn was designed as a ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade. She was part-owned by William Compton Sever, who served as master on her voyage to Australia. Lady Penrhyn left Portsmouth on 13 May 1787, at Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia and she carried 101 female convicts, and three officers and 41 other ranks of the New South Wales Marine Corps, as well as her crew. She was part of a convoy of ships, the so-called First Fleet, which brought over 1000 convicts, marines. John Turnpenny Altree was surgeon to the convicts, and Arthur Bowes Smyth was surgeon to the crew, Bowes Smyth then took charge of the prisoners on the ship when Altree fell ill at Tenerife and in Governor Arthur Phillip’s opinion had proved unequal to the task. The list of stores unloaded from Lady Penrhyn on 25 March at Port Jackson has been quoted in books on the First Fleet. In Sydney Cove 1788 by John Cobley the amount of rice unloaded is given as 8 bram and this amount has been repeated in various books on the First Fleet. Bram, however, is not a unit of measurement and the log entry lists the amount of rice as 8 barrels. Lady Penrhyn also carried the first horses that came to Australia and these are believed to have consisted of one stallion, one colt, three mares, and two fillies from Cape Town, South Africa. Her owners had obtained a license to sail to the northwest coast from the South Sea Company, accordingly, she departed Sydney Cove on 5 May 1788 and sailed north with the intention of purchasing furs in Kamchatka for resale in China. Her course was chosen to minimise interaction with Russian vessels, as trade in Kamchatka furs was considered by Russia to be smuggling. On 31 May, Sever sighted the Kermadec Islands — he named Macauley Island after McCaulay and Curtis Island after William Curtis. She then visited and named Penrhyn Island—the atoll of Tongareva in the Cook Islands—on 8 August, arriving at Macao on 19 October 1788, captain Sever left Whampoa on 8 January 1789 and Lady Penrhyn crossed the Second Bar on 14 January. She reached St Helena on 19 May and arrived at The Downs on 10 August, in 1789 Lady Penrhyn was sold to Wedderburn & Co. London and used in a run to Jamaica
9.
Brittany
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Brittany is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Brittany has also referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and its land area is 34,023 km². Since reorganisation in 1956, the administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, at the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department, in 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes, Rennes, and Brest. Brittany is the homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, the word Brittany, along with its French, Breton and Gallo equivalents Bretagne, Breizh and Bertaèyn, derive from the Latin Britannia, which means Britons land. This word had been used by the Romans since the 1st century to refer to Great Britain and this word derives from a Greek word, Πρεττανικη or Βρεττανίαι, used by Pytheas, an explorer from Massalia who visited the British Islands around 320 BC. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica, which close to the sea. Another name, Letauia, was used until the 12th century and it possibly means wide and flat or to expand and it gave the Welsh name for Brittany, Llydaw. Later, authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth used the terms Britannia minor, breton-speaking people may pronounce the word Breizh in two different ways, according to their region of origin. Breton can be divided into two dialects, the KLT and the dialect of Vannes. KLT speakers pronounce it and would write it Breiz, while the Vannetais speakers pronounce it, the official spelling is a compromise between both variants, with a z and an h together. In 1941, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh, on its side, Gallo language has never had a widely accepted writing system and several ones coexist. For instance, the name of the region in that language can be written Bertaèyn in ELG script, or Bertègn in MOGA, Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic. This population was scarce and very similar to the other Neanderthals found in the whole of Western Europe and their only original feature was a distinct culture, called Colombanian. One of the oldest hearths in the world has found in Plouhinec
10.
Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
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Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni dEntrecasteaux was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, antoine Bruni dEntrecasteaux is commonly referred to simply as Bruni dEntrecasteaux or Bruny dEntrecasteaux, which is a compound surname. Bruni dEntrecasteaux was born to Dorothée de Lestang-Parade and Jean Baptiste Bruny and his father was a member of the Parlement of Provence. Antoine Bruni dEntrecasteaux was educated at a Jesuit school and reportedly intended to become a priest in the Society of Jesus, but his father intervened and enlisted him in the French Navy in 1754. In the action that secured the Balearic Islands for Spain, Bruni dEntrecasteaux was a midshipman aboard the 26-gun Minerve and his further naval career as a junior officer was uneventful, and he appears in this period to have done general service in the French Navy. For a time Bruni dEntrecasteaux was Assistant Director of ports and arsenals, during this service he opened up a new route to Canton by way of the Sunda Strait and the Moluccas, for use during the south-east monsoon season. He was then appointed Governor of the French colony of Isle de France, in September 1791, the French Assembly decided to send an expedition in search of Jean-François de La Pérouse, who had not been heard of since leaving Botany Bay in March 1788. Bruni dEntrecasteaux was selected to command this expedition and he was given a frigate, Recherche, with Lieutenant Jean-Louis dHesmity-dAuribeau as his second-in-command and Rossel among the other officers. A similar ship, Espérance, was placed under Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, a distinguished hydrographical engineer, Beautemps-Beaupré, served as the hydrographer of the expedition. When the expedition left Brest on 28 September 1791, Entrecasteaux was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, DEntrecasteaux was next to follow Pérouses intended route in the Pacific. On 20 April 1792, that land was in sight, for the next five weeks, until 28 May 1792, the Frenchmen carried out careful boat explorations which revealed in detail the beautiful waterways and estuaries in the area. The work this officer did in the field was excellent, and his charts, the atlas contains 39 charts, of which those of Van Diemens Land were the most detailed, they remained the source of the English charts of the area for many years. On 16 May, dEntrecasteaux commenced to sail the ships through the channel, port Esperance, the Huon River, and other features were discovered, named, and charted, the admirals names being given to the channel and the large island separated by it from the mainland. On 28 May 1792 the ships sailed into the Pacific to search for La Pérouse, on 17 June they arrived off the Isle of Pines, south of New Caledonia. From there, dEntrecasteaux sailed northward along the western coast of New Caledonia, on 6 December land was sighted near Cape Leeuwin, and named DEntrecasteaux Point. This event was celebrated by feastings and parties, one result of which was that the smith on board Recherche, the weather proved boisterous, and the ships failed to find King George III Sound, originally discovered by Vancouver. As they sailed further east, they penetrated numerous islands and dangerous shoals, while the Frenchmen were still in that dangerous area, on 12 December a violent storm descended upon them, and both ships were nearly wrecked. Fortunately, however, they found an anchorage where they were able to out the worst of the gale
11.
Meteorology
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Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century, the 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data, Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local, regional, Meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology, the interactions between Earths atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Meteorology has application in diverse fields such as the military, energy production, transport, agriculture. The word meteorology is from Greek μετέωρος metéōros lofty, high and -λογία -logia -logy, varāhamihiras classical work Brihatsamhita, written about 500 AD, provides clear evidence that a deep knowledge of atmospheric processes existed even in those times. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology, Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive achievements described in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle and they are all called swooping bolts because they swoop down upon the Earth. Lightning is sometimes smoky, and is then called smoldering lightning, sometimes it darts quickly along, at other times, it travels in crooked lines, and is called forked lightning. When it swoops down upon some object it is called swooping lightning, the Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs. The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather, in 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. According to Toufic Fahd, around the 9th century, Al-Dinawari wrote the Kitab al-Nabat, ptolemy wrote on the atmospheric refraction of light in the context of astronomical observations. St. Roger Bacon was the first to calculate the size of the rainbow. He stated that a rainbow summit can not appear higher than 42 degrees above the horizon, in the late 13th century and early 14th century, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and Theodoric of Freiberg were the first to give the correct explanations for the primary rainbow phenomenon. Theoderic went further and also explained the secondary rainbow, in 1716, Edmund Halley suggested that aurorae are caused by magnetic effluvia moving along the Earths magnetic field lines. In 1441, King Sejongs son, Prince Munjong, invented the first standardized rain gauge and these were sent throughout the Joseon Dynasty of Korea as an official tool to assess land taxes based upon a farmers potential harvest. In 1450, Leone Battista Alberti developed a swinging-plate anemometer, and was known as the first anemometer, in 1607, Galileo Galilei constructed a thermoscope
12.
Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
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The Department of Conservation is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealands natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Authority is provided to advise DOC, in addition there are 13 conservation boards for different areas around the country that provide for interaction between DOC and the public. This Act also set out the majority of the Departments responsibilities and roles, as a consequence of Conservation Act all Crown land in New Zealand designated for conservation and protection became managed by the Department of Conservation. All of the land under its control is protected for conservation, ecological, scenic, scientific, historic or cultural reasons. DOC also administers the Nature Heritage Fund, and is responsible for fire control. In addition to its work managing land and providing for recreation in New Zealand and this is particularly a concern amongst some farmers and other industries that are major users of neighbouring land, many of whom have been affected by decisions of the department. After a number of years of falling budgets, in 2013 the department announced it would be slashing 140 jobs, the Department of Conservation moved into a new headquarters, Conservation House, on Manners Street, Wellington in 2006. It is the first green building in New Zealand to be given a 5-star rating, having won numerous environmental awards, including a top 10 placing by Grist Magazine. The site was originally a cinema operated by the Hoyts Group from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. The Department serves 1 portfolio and 3 ministers, New Zealand has 13 national parks, and a wide number of other conservation lands with varying levels of environmental protection, called the conservation estate in total. About one third of this estate, generally the land considered most valuable, has been protected from mining since 1997 via being listed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, in 1995,14 people died when a viewing platform maintained by the Department of Conservation collapsed. Immediately following the tragedy, all of the departments 106 viewing platforms throughout New Zealand were checked, fifteen platforms were closed for repairs. A Commission of Inquiry that followed the tragedy revealed that the department had acted illegally and negligently in constructing the viewing platform. Many people in New Zealand criticised the government for the situation, and Denis Marshall. In March 2006, an eruption at the Green Lake of Raoul Island. At the exact time of the eruption, Mr Kearney is thought to have been taking measurements of the lake as part of a programme for monitoring volcanic activity. Five other DOC workers, who were living on the island, were forced to evacuate back to New Zealand shortly after the eruption. Searches for Mr Kearney, which have been inhibited by the remote location
13.
Sidney Holland
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Sir Sidney George Holland GCMG CH was the 25th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation of the New Zealand National Party, Sidney Holland was born in Greendale in the Canterbury region of the South Island, the youngest child and fourth son of a family of eight children. His father, Henry Holland, was a farmer and merchant, during the First World War, Holland enlisted as a territorial in the New Zealand Army in 1915 and later rose to the rank of second lieutenant. He saw action during the Battle of Messines before being invalidated home after contracted a severe illness, due to his injuries, Holland was hospitalised for six months and lost a lung. Holland was a prominent sportsman and sports administrator, representing Canterbury at provincial, after retiring from playing, he managed the New Zealand representative hockey team on an unbeaten tour of Australia in the 1932 and was a prominent hockey referee. Holland later married Florence Drayton in 1920 and the couple raised a family of two boys and two girls, according to his biographer Barry Gustafson, Holland was raised as a Methodist but later became an Anglican. Following his father Henry Hollands election to the New Zealand Parliament in 1925, Sidney served as his fathers private secretary. Due to this experience, Holland gained a knowledge and interest in parliamentary politics. As a result of his experiences, Holland developed a distaste for Communism. Holland successfully retained the Christchurch North seat despite the Labour Partys landslide victory during that election, in 1940, Sidney Holland replaced Nationals first non-interim leader Adam Hamilton as the leader of the National Party. Prior to becoming the Partys leader, he had served as Hamiltons parliamentary secretary, as leader of the National Party, Holland sought to win the support of the partys farming constituency by establishing a farm in North Canterbury and breeding Romney sheep and Aberdeen Angus cattle. In addition, he also countered other rival conservative parties like the Liberal Party, the Soldiers Movement, and this merger helped strengthen Nationals support base by unifying opposition to the Labour Party. Holland served as Leader of the Opposition for nearly ten years until the National Party won the 1949 general election and he represented the Christchurch North electorate from 1935 to 1946, and then the Fendalton electorate from 1946 to 1957. The resignation of two former Reform Party MPs helped strengthen Hollands control over the party caucus and organization. During the 1943 and 1946 general elections, National slowly eroded Labours parliamentary majority, while the Labour Party still remained in power, it was forced to contend with a more vigorous opposition National Party. Under Hollands leadership, National repeatedly attacked the Labour Partys socialism, big government bureaucracy, collectivism, and this strategy secured Nationals electoral victory on 30 November 1949. The Sidney Holland National Government implemented economic reforms, dismantling many state controls including butter and his government also emphasized individualism, personal freedom, and private enterprise in accordance with its 1949 electoral platform. One of Hollands first acts as Prime Minister was to abolish the Legislative Council, as a result, the New Zealand Parliament became a unicameral body consisting solely of the House of Representatives
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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
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Macauley Island
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Macauley Island is a volcanic island in New Zealands Kermadec Islands, approximately halfway between New Zealands North Island and Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The islands topography is simple, being a single high-sided plateau, macauleys highest point is 238 m Mount Haszard, and it forms part of the rim of a caldera centred 8 km to the north-west, atop a large submarine volcano. The volcanos last eruption was in 4360 BC ±200 years, lady Penrhyn had delivered convicts to New South Wales as part of the First Fleet and was proceeding to the north west coast of America refer to trade furs and thence to Macao. A castaway depot was established on Macauley Island in 1889, which was regularly serviced until 1918, the island is a breeding site for large numbers of black-winged and white-necked petrels. The island also holds a population of the Kermadec red-crowned parakeet, former populations of goats and kiore have been eradicated. The island forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, the island’s flora is predominantly sedges and ferns, with Cyperus and Hypolepis prominent. The original forest cover of the island had been burnt off, the goats were eradicated by the New Zealand Wildlife Service in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In order to protect the wildlife, Macauley is managed as a nature reserve by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. In 2006, DOC used aerial drops of poison bait in order to remove introduced rats, royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Rats removed from Macauley Island. Status of Kermadec red-crowned parakeets and the effects of a proposed kiore eradication programme. Wellington, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
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Curtis Island, New Zealand
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Curtis Island is an island in the southwest Pacific. It is an island with an elevation of 130 m. Together with neighboring Cheeseman Island it belongs to the Kermadec Islands, politically it is part of New Zealand. The Kermadec Islands lie halfway between North Island, New Zealand and Tonga at approximately the latitude of the Gold Coast, lady Penryn had delivered convicts to New South Wales as part of the First Fleet and was proceeding to Macao. The island is a site for the masked booby. It forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it is an important site for nesting seabirds, List of islands of New Zealand List of volcanoes in New Zealand Greene, T. C. Status of Kermadec red-crowned parakeets and the effects of a proposed kiore eradication programme. Wellington, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
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Cheeseman Island
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Cheeseman Island is a 7.6 ha rocky volcanic island in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is named after Thomas Frederick Cheeseman of the Auckland Museum - who was on board the New Zealand Government steamer Stella when it visited the island in 1887 and it neighbours Curtis Island to the east and lies about 20 km south of Macauley Island. They are part of the Kermadec Islands, an outlying island group of New Zealand. The Kermadec Islands lie halfway between the North Island of New Zealand and Tonga at approximately the latitude of the Gold Coast, apart from a short stretch of its west coast, the island is bordered by cliffs, making access from the sea difficult. It is rugged and rocky, with woody vegetation. The island forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, seabirds breeding on the island include Kermadec and black-winged petrels, Kermadec little shearwaters and sooty terns. List of islands of New Zealand Greene, T. C, status of Kermadec red-crowned parakeets and the likely effects of a proposed kiore eradication programme. Wellington, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
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Nugent Island
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Nugent Island is the most northerly island in the Kermadec Islands and the most northerly part of New Zealand. It is one of the group to the north-east of Raoul Island and it is circular and approximately 100 metres across. It forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it is an important site for nesting seabirds, list of islands of New Zealand New Zealand outlying islands
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L'Esperance Rock
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LEsperance Rock, formerly French Rock, and previously Brind Rock, is the southernmost islet in the Kermadec Islands, to the north of New Zealand. It is 80 km south of Curtis Island and 600 km northeast of East Cape on New Zealands North Island at 31°26′S 178°54′W, the smaller LHavre Rock lies 8 km to the north-west of LEsperance, it is a reef that barely reaches the surface. LEsperance Rock is 250 m in diameter with an area of 4.8 ha and it rises to a height of 70 m. The island forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area and it is the site of a substantial breeding colony of grey noddies. Masked boobies have also recorded breeding there. 2012 Kermadec Islands eruption and pumice raft List of islands of New Zealand New Zealand outlying islands Greene, status of Kermadec red-crowned parakeets and the likely effects of a proposed kiore eradication programme. Wellington, Department of Conservation, New Zealand
20.
Seamount
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A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the waters surface, and thus is not an island. Seamounts are typically formed from volcanoes that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from the seafloor to 1. They are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least 1,000 m above the seafloor, the peaks are often found hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface, and are therefore considered to be within the deep sea. During their evolution over time, the largest seamounts may reach the sea surface where wave action erodes the summit to form a flat surface. Seamounts and guyots are most abundant in the North Pacific Ocean, in recent years, several active seamounts have been observed, for example Loihi in the Hawaiian Islands. Because of their abundance, seamounts are one of the most common marine ecosystems in the world, interactions between seamounts and underwater currents, as well as their elevated position in the water, attract plankton, corals, fish, and marine mammals alike. Their aggregational effect has been noted by the fishing industry. There are ongoing concerns on the impact of fishing on seamount ecosystems. 95% of ecological damage is done by bottom trawling, which scrapes whole ecosystems off seamounts, because of their large numbers, many seamounts remain to be properly studied, and even mapped. Bathymetry and satellite altimetry are two technologies working to close the gap, there have been instances where naval vessels have collided with uncharted seamounts, for example, Muirfield Seamount is named after the ship that struck it in 1973. Seamounts can be found in every ocean basin in the world, a seamount is technically defined as an isolated rise in elevation of 1,000 m or more from the surrounding seafloor, and with a limited summit area, of conical form. If small knolls, ridges and hills less than 1,000 m in height are included there are over 100,000 seamounts in the world ocean. Most seamounts are volcanic in origin, and thus tend to be found on oceanic crust near mid-ocean ridges, mantle plumes, and island arcs. Overall, seamount and guyot coverage is greatest as a proportion of area in the North Pacific Ocean. The Arctic Ocean has only 16 seamounts and no guyots, the 9,951 seamounts mapped cover an area of 8,088,550 km2. The largest seamount has an area of 15,500 km2, guyots cover a total area of 707,600 km2 and have an average area of 2,500 km2, more than twice the average size of seamounts. Nearly 50% of guyot area and 42% of the number of guyots occur in the North Pacific Ocean, the largest three guyots are all in the North Pacific, the Kuko Guyot, Suiko Guyot and the Pallada Guyot. Seamount chain redirects here, for a broader coverage related to this topic, Seamounts are often found in groupings or submerged archipelagos, a classic example being the Emperor Seamounts, an extension of the Hawaiian Islands
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Kermadec Islands
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The Kermadec Islands /kərˈmædɛk/ are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean 800–1,000 km northeast of New Zealands North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand,33 km2 in total area and nowadays uninhabited, except for the permanently manned Raoul Island Station, the northernmost outpost of New Zealand. Polynesian people settled the Kermadec Islands in around the 14th century, the islands were named for the Breton captain Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec, who visited the islands as part of the dEntrecasteaux expedition in the 1790s. European settlers, initially the Bell family, lived on the islands from the nineteenth century until 1937. One of the Bell daughters, Elsie K. Morton, recounted the experience there in her memoir. The Station consists of a government meteorological and radio station, and a hostel for Department of Conservation officers and volunteers and it lies on the northern terraces of Raoul Island, at an elevation of about 50 m, above the cliffs of Fleetwood Bluff. It is the northernmost inhabited outpost of New Zealand, the islands lie within 29° to 31. 5° south latitude and 178° to 179° west longitude, 800–1,000 km northeast of New Zealands North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The centre of the Kermadec Islands group is located at approximately 29°16′37″S 177°55′24″W, the total area of the islands is 33.08 km2. The climate of the islands is subtropical, with a mean temperature of 22.4 °C in February and 16.0 °C in August. Rainfall is approximately 1,500 mm annually, with rainfall from October through January. The group includes four islands and some isolated rocks, which are, from north to south. It is located at 29°16′0″S 177°55′10″W,900 km south-southwest of Ata, the southernmost island of Tonga, Raoul Island has an area of 29.06 km2 with neighboring island, Haszard Island. Macdonald Rock is about 4 km north of Macauley Island at 30°11′S 178°26′W, Curtis Island, the third largest, is located at 30°32′32″S 178°33′39″W,35 km south-southwest of Macauley Island,137 m high, area 0.59 km2 with neighbouring Cheeseman Island. Nugent Island is the northernmost island and it is located at 29°13′54″S 177°52′09″W. It is approximately 100 metres across, LEsperance Rock, formerly French Rock, is 80 km south-southwest of Curtis Island at 31°26′S 178°54′W,250 m in diameter,0.05 km2 in area,70 m high. LHavre Rock, about 8 km north-northwest of LEsperance Rock near 31°21′S 178°59′W Seamounts north and south of the Kermadec Islands are an extension of the running from Tonga to New Zealand. The subducting Pacific Plate created the Kermadec Trench, an 8 km deep submarine trench, the islands lie along the undersea Kermadec Ridge, which runs southwest from the islands towards the North Island of New Zealand and northeast towards Tonga. The four main islands are the peaks of volcanoes that rise high enough from the seabed to project above sea level, there are several other volcanoes in the chain that do not reach sea level, but form seamounts with between 65 and 1500 m of water above their peaks
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New Zealand
Cook Islands
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