1.
Southeastern (train operating company)
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London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern, is a British train operating company in South East England. Southeastern also provides services along High Speed 1 from London St. Pancras, on 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent franchise, replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South Eastern franchise. Southeastern serves the main London stations of Charing Cross, Victoria, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, London Bridge, Waterloo East, the Southeastern network has a route mileage of 540, with 179 stations. About 70% of its services run to and from London and it is owned by Govia, a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, which also operates the neighbouring Southern franchise, which overlaps with Southeastern in some areas. The companys formal name, under which it mounted its bid for the franchise, is London, the managing director is David Statham, formerly MD of First Capital Connect. Since the privatisation of British Rail, the franchise to run trains in this area has been held by three different companies, the first company to win the South Eastern franchise, on 14 October 1996, was Connex, which operated it under the name Connex South Eastern. Connex gained a reputation for unreliable services, but it was for financial management that its franchise was cut short by the Strategic Rail Authority on 9 November 2003. Train services were taken over by South Eastern Trains, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SRA/Department for Transport created for the purpose. This would see the existing South Eastern franchise combined with the new high-speed services to be operated on High Speed 1 to form a new Integrated Kent Franchise. In December 2008, as part of the agreement, responsibility for the Redhill to Tonbridge Line was handed over to Southern. Southeastern high-speed services began operations on 14 December 2009. In March 2009 the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed for reconstruction as part of the Thameslink Programme, Southeastern services previously terminating at Blackfriars, mostly from Sevenoaks via the Catford loop, were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford. As a result of change, Southeastern now operates these services jointly with Thameslink using 20 dual-voltage Class 319 sets as well as newly built Class 377 Electrostars. Following the Department for Transports review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, in 2013, the coalition government extended Southeasterns franchise, without competitive tender, from 31 March 2014 to June 2018. The Southeastern franchise is now set to be extended until December 2018, the Olympic Javelin or Javelin was a high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of games, between St Pancras International station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service, two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour, the British Olympic Association applied to register Javelin as a UK trademark on 19 July 2005 and this was granted on 2 June 2006
2.
Compass rose
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It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional magnetic compass. The modern compass rose has eight principal winds, 8-point compass roses us the eight principal winds—that is, the four cardinal directions plus the four intercardinal or ordinal directions, at angles of difference of 45°. 16-point compass roses are constructed by bisecting the angles of the winds to come up with intermediate compass points, known as half-winds. The names of the half-winds are simply combinations of the winds to either side. 32-point compass roses are constructed by bisecting these angles, and coming up with quarter-winds at 11 1⁄4° angles of difference, north-by-east is one quarter wind from North towards East, Northeast-by-north is one quarter wind from Northeast toward North. Naming all 32 points on the rose is called boxing the compass, the 32-point rose has the uncomfortable number of 11 1⁄4° between points, but is easily found by halving divisions and may have been easier for those not using a 360° circle. Using gradians, of which there are 400 in a circle, linguistic anthropological studies have shown that most human communities have four points of cardinal direction. The names given to these directions are usually derived from either locally-specific geographic features or from celestial bodies or from atmospheric features, most mobile populations tend to adopt sunrise and sunset for East and West and the direction from where different winds blow to denote North and South. The ancient Greeks originally maintained distinct and separate systems of points, the four Greek cardinal points were based on celestial bodies and used for orientation. The four Greek winds were confined to meteorology, nonetheless, both systems were gradually conflated, and wind names came to eventually denote cardinal directions as well. To restore balance, Timosthenes of Rhodes added two more winds to produce the classical 12-wind rose, and began using the winds to denote geographical direction in navigation, eratosthenes deducted two winds from Aristotles system, to produce the classical 8-wind rose. The Romans adopted the Greek 12-wind system, and replaced its names with Latin equivalents, e. g. Septentrio, Subsolanus, Auster, Favonius, uniquely, Vitruvius came up with a 24-wind rose. According to the chronicler Einhard, the Frankish king Charlemagne himself came up with his own names for the classical 12 winds and he named the four cardinal winds on the roots Nord, Ost, Sund and Vuest. Intermediate winds were constructed as simple compound names of these four and these Carolingian names are the source of the modern compass point names found in nearly all modern west European languages. The following table gives an equivalence of the classical 12-wind rose with the modern compass directions. The sidereal compass rose demarcates the compass points by the position of stars in the night sky, arab navigators in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, who depended on celestial navigation, were using a 32-point sidereal compass rose before the end of the 10th century. The other thirty points on the rose were determined by the rising and setting positions of fifteen bright stars. Reading from North to South, in their rising and setting positions, the true position of these stars is only approximate to their theoretical equidistant rhumbs on the sidereal compass
3.
Compass
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A compass is an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows direction relative to the geographic cardinal directions, or points. Usually, a called a compass rose shows the directions north, south, east. When the compass is used, the rose can be aligned with the geographic directions, so, for example. Frequently, in addition to the rose or sometimes instead of it, North corresponds to zero degrees, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90 degrees, south is 180, and west is 270. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearings, which are stated in this notation. The magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the Chinese Han Dynasty, the first usage of a compass recorded in Western Europe and the Islamic world occurred around the early 13th century. The magnetic compass is the most familiar compass type and it functions as a pointer to magnetic north, the local magnetic meridian, because the magnetized needle at its heart aligns itself with the horizontal component of the Earths magnetic field. The needle is mounted on a pivot point, in better compasses a jewel bearing. When the compass is level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillations to die out. In navigation, directions on maps are usually expressed with reference to geographical or true north, the direction toward the Geographical North Pole, the rotation axis of the Earth. Depending on where the compass is located on the surface of the Earth the angle between north and magnetic north, called magnetic declination can vary widely with geographic location. The local magnetic declination is given on most maps, to allow the map to be oriented with a parallel to true north. The location of the Earths magnetic poles slowly change with time, the effect of this means a map with the latest declination information should be used. Some magnetic compasses include means to compensate for the magnetic declination. The first compasses in ancient Han dynasty China were made of lodestone, the compass was later used for navigation during the Song Dynasty of the 11th century. Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone, dry compasses began to appear around 1300 in Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the magnetic compass. Modern compasses usually use a needle or dial inside a capsule completely filled with a liquid
4.
North
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North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west, North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. The word north is related to the Old High German nord, the Latin word borealis comes from the Greek boreas north wind, north, which, according to Ovid, was personified as the son of the river-god Strymon, the father of Calais and Zetes. Septentrionalis is from septentriones, the seven plow oxen, a name of Ursa Maior, the Greek ἀρκτικός is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word Arctic. For example, in Lezgian, kefer can mean both disbelief and north, since to the north of the Muslim Lezgian homeland there are areas formerly inhabited by non-Muslim Caucasian, in many languages of Mesoamerica, north also means up. The direction north is associated with colder climates because most of the worlds land at high latitudes is located in the Northern Hemisphere. By convention, the top side of a map is often north, to go north using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 0° or 360°. North is specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction, on any rotating non-astronomical object, north denotes the side appearing to rotate counter-clockwise when viewed from afar along the axis of rotation. Magnetic north is of interest because it is the direction indicated as north on a properly functioning magnetic compass, the difference between it and true north is called the magnetic declination. But simple generalizations on the subject should be treated as unsound, maps intended for usage in orienteering by compass will clearly indicate the local declination for easy correction to true north. Maps may also indicate grid north, which is a term referring to the direction northwards along the grid lines of a map projection. The visible rotation of the sky around the visible celestial pole provides a vivid metaphor of that direction corresponding to up. Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to up in the hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, prior to worldwide communication, anything. On the contrary, it is of interest that Chinese and Islamic culture even considered south as the top end for maps. Up is a metaphor for north, the notion that north should always be up and east at the right was established by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. While the choice of north over south as prime direction reflects quite arbitrary historical factors and their folk definitions are, respectively, where the sun rises and where it sets. The true folk-astronomical definitions of east and west are the directions, an angle from the prime direction. Being the default direction on the compass, north is referred to frequently in Western popular culture, some examples include, The phrase north of X is often used by Americans to mean more than X or greater than X, i. e
5.
South
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South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. It is one of the four directions or compass points. South is the polar opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west, the word south comes from Old English sūþ, from earlier Proto-Germanic *sunþaz, possibly related to the same Proto-Indo-European root that the word sun derived from. By convention, the side of a map is south. To go south using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 180°, alternatively, in the Northern Hemisphere outside the tropics, the Sun will be roughly in the south at midday. True south is the direction towards the end of the axis about which the earth rotates. The South Pole is located in Antarctica, magnetic south is the direction towards the south magnetic pole, some distance away from the south geographic pole. Roald Amundsen, from Norway, was the first to reach the South Pole, on 14 December 1911, the Global South refers to the socially and economically less-developed southern half of the globe. 95% of the Global North has enough food and shelter, in the South, on the other hand, only 5% of the population has enough food and shelter. It lacks appropriate technology, it has no political stability, the economies are disarticulated, in the card game bridge, one of the players is known for scoring purposes as South. South partners with North and plays against East and West, in Greek religion, Notos, was the south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn. The dictionary definition of south at Wiktionary
6.
East
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East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the direction from west. This is similar to Old High German *ōstar to the east, Latin aurora dawn, Ēostre, a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal points. By convention, the hand side of a map is east. This convention has developed from the use of a compass, which places north at the top, to go east using a compass for navigation, one sets a bearing or azimuth of 90°. East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, the practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing mankinds original home. Hence, some Christian churches have been oriented towards the east. Easting Oriental The dictionary definition of east at Wiktionary
7.
West
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West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the direction from east. The word West is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages, as is apparent in the Gothic term vasi, it stems from the same Indo-European root that gave the Sanskrit vas-ati and vesper in Latin. To go west using a compass for navigation, one needs to set a bearing or azimuth of 270°, West is the direction opposite that of the Earths rotation on its axis, and is therefore the general direction towards which the Sun appears to constantly progress and eventually set. Moving continuously west is following a circle of latitude, the phrase the West is often spoken in reference to the Western world, which includes the European Union, the Americas, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in the Western Roman Empire, during the Cold War the West was often used to refer to the NATO camp as opposed to the Warsaw Pact and non-aligned nations. The expression survives, with an ambiguous meaning. In Chinese Buddhism, the West represents movement toward the Buddha or enlightenment, the ancient Aztecs believed that the West was the realm of the great goddess of water, mist, and maize. In Ancient Egypt, the West was considered to be the portal to the netherworld, Ancient Egyptians also believed that the Goddess Amunet was a personification of the West. The Celts believed that beyond the sea off the edges of all maps lay the Otherworld. According to the Bible, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River westward into the Promised Land, in Islam, while in India, people pray facing towards the west as in respect to India, Mecca is in the West-ward direction. In American literature moving West has sometimes symbolized gaining freedom, perhaps as an association with the settling of the Old West, the dictionary definition of west at Wiktionary
8.
Cardinal direction
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The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials, N, E, S, W. East and west are at angles to north and south, with east being in the clockwise direction of rotation from north. Intermediate points between the four cardinal directions form the points of the compass, the intermediate directions are northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. To keep to a bearing is not, in general, the same as going in a straight direction along a great circle, conversely, one can keep to a great circle and the bearing may change. Thus the bearing of a path crossing the North Pole changes abruptly at the Pole from North to South. When traveling East or West, it is only on the Equator that one can keep East or West, anywhere else, maintaining latitude requires a change in direction, requires steering. However, this change in direction becomes increasingly negligible as one moves to lower latitudes, the Earth has a magnetic field which is approximately aligned with its axis of rotation. A magnetic compass is a device uses this field to determine the cardinal directions. Magnetic compasses are used, but only moderately accurate. The position of the Sun in the sky can be used for orientation if the time of day is known. In the morning the Sun rises roughly in the east and tracks upwards, in the evening it sets in the west, again roughly and only due west exactly on the equinoxes. This method does not work well when closer to the equator since, in the northern hemisphere. Conversely, at low latitudes in the hemisphere the sun may be to the south of the observer in summer. If they move clockwise, the sun will be in the south at midday, because of the Earths axial tilt, no matter what the location of the viewer, there are only two days each year when the sun rises precisely due east. On all other days, depending on the time of year, for all locations the sun is seen to rise north of east from the Northward equinox to the Southward equinox, and rise south of east from the Southward equinox to the Northward equinox. There is a method by which an analog watch can be used to locate north and south. The Sun appears to move in the sky over a 24-hour period while the hand of a 12-hour clock face takes twelve hours to complete one rotation. In the northern hemisphere, if the watch is rotated so that the hand points toward the Sun
9.
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
10.
Mariner's compass
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A compass is an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows direction relative to the geographic cardinal directions, or points. Usually, a called a compass rose shows the directions north, south, east. When the compass is used, the rose can be aligned with the geographic directions, so, for example. Frequently, in addition to the rose or sometimes instead of it, North corresponds to zero degrees, and the angles increase clockwise, so east is 90 degrees, south is 180, and west is 270. These numbers allow the compass to show azimuths or bearings, which are stated in this notation. The magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the Chinese Han Dynasty, the first usage of a compass recorded in Western Europe and the Islamic world occurred around the early 13th century. The magnetic compass is the most familiar compass type and it functions as a pointer to magnetic north, the local magnetic meridian, because the magnetized needle at its heart aligns itself with the horizontal component of the Earths magnetic field. The needle is mounted on a pivot point, in better compasses a jewel bearing. When the compass is level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillations to die out. In navigation, directions on maps are usually expressed with reference to geographical or true north, the direction toward the Geographical North Pole, the rotation axis of the Earth. Depending on where the compass is located on the surface of the Earth the angle between north and magnetic north, called magnetic declination can vary widely with geographic location. The local magnetic declination is given on most maps, to allow the map to be oriented with a parallel to true north. The location of the Earths magnetic poles slowly change with time, the effect of this means a map with the latest declination information should be used. Some magnetic compasses include means to compensate for the magnetic declination. The first compasses in ancient Han dynasty China were made of lodestone, the compass was later used for navigation during the Song Dynasty of the 11th century. Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone, dry compasses began to appear around 1300 in Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the magnetic compass. Modern compasses usually use a needle or dial inside a capsule completely filled with a liquid
11.
Course (navigation)
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In navigation, a vessels or aircrafts course is the compass direction along which the vessel or aircraft is to be steered. It is to be distinguished from the vessel or aircrafts heading, the line connecting the objects consecutive positions on the ground is referred to as the ground track. The track the object was intended to follow is called the route, for ships and aircraft, the route is represented by the great circle line that connects the previous waypoint with the next waypoint. The responsibility of a navigator is to make the track coincide as much as possible with the route, the direction of the route is called the route course. Course exceptionally, and arguably erroneously, may refer to the route, such as in a course deviation indicator, in which case it no longer constitutes an angle. The direction of the circle line that runs from the current position to the next waypoint is called the course to steer. The tracking angle is the angle between the course to steer and the course, the heading is the direction to which the nose of the object is pointing, its orientation. Directions are typically measured clockwise from north, either true or magnetic, in degrees from 0° to 359°, in aviation, north is usually expressed as 360° instead of 0°. For land based vehicles, heading and course are typically identical, but for aircraft the action of wind, heading is the angle between the direction in which the objects nose is pointing and a reference direction. Deviation only depends on the vehicles own magnetic field and the heading, the compass heading has to be corrected first for deviation, which yields the magnetic heading. Correcting this for variation yields true heading, an aircrafts heading is the direction that the aircrafts nose is pointing. It is referenced by using either the magnetic compass or heading indicator, using standard instrumentation, it is in reference to the local magnetic north direction. True heading is in relation to the lines of meridian, the units are degrees from north in a clockwise direction. North is 0°, east is 90°, south is 180°, note that, due to wind forces, the direction of movement of the aircraft, or track, is not the same as the heading. The nose of the aircraft may be pointing due west, for example, the angle between heading and track is known as the drift angle. Crab angle is the amount of correction an aircraft must be turned into the wind in order to maintain the desired course and it is opposite in direction to the drift angle and approximately equal in magnitude for small angles. An aircraft can have instruments on board that show to the pilot the aircraft heading, the autopilot can be programmed to maintain either the aircraft heading or its course. In the event of a headwind or tailwind, heading and course in an aircraft are the same, for a ship at sea, if a current is running parallel to the heading, then the course is the same as the heading
12.
Azimuth
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An azimuth is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system. An example is the position of a star in the sky, the star is the point of interest, the reference plane is the horizon or the surface of the sea, and the reference vector points north. The azimuth is the angle between the vector and the perpendicular projection of the star down onto the horizon. Azimuth is usually measured in degrees, the concept is used in navigation, astronomy, engineering, mapping, mining and artillery. In land navigation, azimuth is usually denoted alpha, α, azimuth has also been more generally defined as a horizontal angle measured clockwise from any fixed reference plane or easily established base direction line. Today, the plane for an azimuth is typically true north, measured as a 0° azimuth. Moving clockwise on a 360 degree circle, east has azimuth 90°, south 180°, there are exceptions, some navigation systems use south as the reference vector. Any direction can be the vector, as long as it is clearly defined. Quite commonly, azimuths or compass bearings are stated in a system in which either north or south can be the zero, the reference direction, stated first, is always north or south, and the turning direction, stated last, is east or west. The directions are chosen so that the angle, stated between them, is positive, between zero and 90 degrees. If the bearing happens to be exactly in the direction of one of the cardinal points and this is the reason why the X and Y axis in the above formula are swapped. If the azimuth becomes negative, one can always add 360°, the formula in radians would be slightly easier, α = atan2 Caveat, Most computer libraries reverse the order of the atan2 parameters. We are standing at latitude φ1, longitude zero, we want to find the azimuth from our viewpoint to Point 2 at latitude φ2, longitude L. The difference is usually small, if Point 2 is not more than 100 km away. Various websites will calculate geodetic azimuth, e. g. GeoScience Australia site, formulas for calculating geodetic azimuth are linked in the distance article. Normal-section azimuth is simpler to calculate, Bomford says Cunninghams formula is exact for any distance, replace φ2 with declination and longitude difference with hour angle, and change the sign. There is a variety of azimuthal map projections. They all have the property that directions from a point are preserved
13.
Clockwise
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Rotation can occur in two possible directions. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds in the direction as a clocks hands, from the top to the right, then down and then to the left. The opposite sense of rotation or revolution is counterclockwise or anticlockwise, in a mathematical sense, a circle defined parametrically in a positive Cartesian plane by the equations x = cos t and y = sin t is traced counterclockwise as t increases in value. Before clocks were commonplace, the terms sunwise and deasil, deiseil and even deocil from the Scottish Gaelic language, widdershins or withershins was used for counterclockwise. The terms clockwise and counterclockwise can only be applied to a rotational motion once a side of the plane is specified. For example, the rotation of the Earth is clockwise when viewed from above the South Pole. Clocks traditionally follow this sense of rotation because of the clocks predecessor, clocks with hands were first built in the Northern Hemisphere, and they were made to work like sundials. In order for a sundial to work, it must be placed looking northward. Then, when the Sun moves in the sky, the shadow cast on the side of the sundial moves with the same sense of rotation. This is why hours were drawn in sundials in that manner, note, however, that on a vertical sundial, the shadow moves in the opposite direction, and some clocks were constructed to mimic this. The best-known surviving example is the clock in the Münster Cathedral. Occasionally, clocks whose hands revolve counterclockwise are nowadays sold as a novelty, historically, some Jewish clocks were built that way, for example in some synagogue towers in Europe, to accord with right-to-left reading in the Hebrew language. In 2014 under Bolivian president Evo Morales, the clock outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo, typical nuts, screws, bolts, bottle caps, and jar lids are tightened clockwise and loosened counterclockwise in accordance with the right-hand rule. Almost all threaded objects obey this rule except for a few left-handed exceptions described below, sometimes the opposite sense of threading is used for a special reason. A thread might need to be left-handed to prevent operational stresses from loosening it, for bicycle pedals, the one on the left must be reverse-threaded to prevent it unscrewing during use. Similarly, the whorl of a spinning wheel uses a left-hand thread to keep it from loosening. A turnbuckle has right-handed threads on one end and left-handed threads on the other, in trigonometry and mathematics in general, plane angles are conventionally measured counterclockwise, starting with 0° or 0 radians pointing directly to the right, and 90° pointing straight up. However, in navigation, compass headings increase clockwise around the face, starting with 0° at the top of the compass
14.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
15.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
16.
Classical compass winds
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Ancient wind roses typically had twelve winds and thus twelve points of orientation, sometimes reduced to eight or increased to twenty-four. Originally conceived as a branch of meteorology, the wind rose had only a tentative relationship with actual navigation. The Classical 12-point wind rose was eventually displaced by the compass rose. It is uncertain when or why the sense of geographic orientation and direction became associated with winds. It is probable that for ancient settled populations, local landmarks were the initial. Astral phenomena, in particular the position of the sun at dawn, the association of geographic direction with wind was another source. Local directional names were used to refer to the winds, eventually giving the wind itself a proper name and this was likely furthered by sailors who, far from landmarks at sea, nonetheless recognized a particular wind by its qualities and referred to it by a familiar name. The final step, completing the circle, was to use the names of the winds to denote general cardinal directions of the compass rose. This would take a longer to work itself through. In the Hebrew Bible, there is frequent reference to four cardinal directions, the association of cardinal directions with winds is implied at several places in the Old Testament. Four winds are referred to in the Bible in several places, kedem is used frequently as the name of a scorching wind that blows from the east. There are several passages referring to the scattering of people to all the winds, unlike the Biblical Israelites, the early Greeks maintained two separate and distinct systems of cardinal directions and winds, at least for a while. Astral phenomena were used to define four cardinal points, arctos, anatole, mesembria, heraclitus, in particular, suggests that a meridian drawn between the north and its opposite could be used to divide East from West. Homer already spoke of Greeks sailing with Ursa Major for orientation, the identification of the Pole Star as the better indicator of the North seems to have emerged a little later. Distinct from these points, the ancient Greeks had four winds. The peoples of early Greece reportedly conceived of only two winds – the winds from the north, known as Boreas, and the winds from the south, but two more winds – Eurus from the east and Zephyrus from the west – were added soon enough. The etymology of the names of the four archaic Greek winds is uncertain, among tentative propositions is that Boreas might come from boros, an old variant of oros. An alternative hypothesis is that it may come from boros meaning voracious, another is that it comes from the phrase ἀπὸ τῆς βoῆς, a reference to its violent and loud noise
17.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
18.
Sicilian language
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Sicilian is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It is also spoken in southern and central Calabria, in the parts of Apulia, Salento, and Campania, on the Italian peninsula. The Ethnologue describes Sicilian as being distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a language and is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO. Some assert that Sicilian represents the oldest Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin, Sicilian has the oldest literary tradition of the Italic languages. Sicilian is currently spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily, the latter are found in the countries which attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States, Canada, Australia and Argentina. In the past two or three decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the zones of northern Italy and indeed the rest of the European Union. It is not used as an official language anywhere, even within Sicily, there is currently no central body, in Sicily or elsewhere, that regulates the language in any way. However, since its inception in 1951, the Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani in Palermo has been researching and publishing information on the Sicilian language. The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, further, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. However, Italy has signed this treaty, but the Italian Parliament has not ratified it, the term Calabro-Sicilian refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian, or a dialect closely related to Sicilian, is spoken in central and southern Calabria. Sicilianu is the name of the language in Sicily itself, the term Siculu describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC. It can also be used as an adjective to qualify, or further elaborate on, the very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both. Ruffino 2001 Before the Roman conquest, Sicily was occupied by populations considered indigenous, including Sicels, Sicani, Elymians, the Greek language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that there remain pre-Indo-European words in Sicilian of an ancient Mediterranean origin, of the three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were Indo-European, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans. The following table, listing words for twins, illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various sub-strata of the Sicilian language, a similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily during the 3rd century BC, the words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features. g. of a fruit timpa crag, cliff. The Sicels are a source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin, dudda mulberry, the latter would bring with them the Vulgar Latin from that region, a language not too different from that to be found in central Italy at the time
19.
Catalan language
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Catalan is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It is the national and only language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands. It also has status in the commune of Alghero, situated on the northwestern coast of the island of Sardinia. All these territories are often called Catalan Countries. 4% with Catalan and 47. 5% only Spanish, in order to integrate newcomers, the Generalitat de Catalunya spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories. Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees, during the Low Middle Ages it saw a golden age as the literary and dominant language of the Crown of Aragon, and was widely used all over the Mediterranean. The union of Aragon with the territories of Spain in 1479 marked the start of the decline of the language. In 1659 Spain ceded Northern Catalonia to France, and Catalan was banned in both states in the early 18th century, 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, which culminated in the 1913 orthographic standardization, and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic. However, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration, there is no parallel in Europe for such a large, bilingual, non-state speech community. Catalan dialects are relatively uniform, and are mutually intelligible and they are divided into two blocks, Eastern and Western, differing mostly in pronunciation. The terms Catalan and Valencian are two varieties of the same language, there are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community. Catalan shares many traits with its neighboring Romance languages, thus, the similarities are naturally most notable with eastern Occitan. Nouns have two genders, and two numbers, pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, in terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages. The word Catalan derives from the territory of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology, in English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain. It is attested a language name since at least 1652, Catalan can be pronounced as /ˈkætəlæn/, /kætəˈlæn/ or /ˈkætələn/. The endonym is pronounced /kə. təˈɫa/ in the Eastern Catalan dialects, in the Valencian Community, the term valencià is frequently used instead. The names Catalan and Valencian are two names for the same language, see also status of Valencian below. By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south
20.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
21.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
22.
Portolan chart
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Portolan or portulan charts are navigational maps based on compass directions and estimated distances observed by the pilots at sea. They were first made in the 13th century in Italy, and later in Spain and Portugal, with the advent of widespread competition among seagoing nations during the Age of Discovery, Portugal and Spain considered such maps to be state secrets. The English and Dutch relative newcomers found the description of Atlantic and Indian coastlines extremely valuable for their raiding, the word portolan comes from the Italian adjective portolano, meaning related to ports or harbors, or a collection of sailing directions. Portolan maps all share the characteristic rhumbline networks, which emanate out from compass roses located at points on the map. These, better called windrose lines, are generated by observation and the compass, as Leo Bagrow states. the word is wrongly applied to the sea-charts of this period, since a loxodrome gives an accurate course only when the chart is drawn on a suitable projection. Cartometric investigation has revealed that no projection was used in the early charts and these charts, actually rough maps, were based on accounts by medieval Europeans who sailed the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. Such charts were later drafted for coastal resources in the Atlantic, frequently drawn on sheepskin vellum, portolan charts show coastal features and ports. During that period, smaller ships could use more of the coastline as harbours than in the present era and they might need to seek refuge more often, and crews intentionally beached some ships for maintenance and repairs. Thus, mariners sought to learn of protected bays or flat beaches, not only for safe harbour, thus the grid lines varied slightly for charts produced in different eras, due to the natural changes of the Earths magnetic declination. These lines are similar to the compass rose displayed on later maps, all portolan charts have wind roses, though not necessarily complete with the full thirty-two points, the compass rose. Seems to have been a Catalan innovation, the portolan combined the exact notations of the text of the periplus or pilot book with the decorative illustrations of a medieval T and O map. In addition, the charts provided realistic depictions of shores and they were meant for practical use by mariners of the period. Portolans were most useful in close quarters identification of landmarks, portolani were also useful for navigation in smaller bodies of water, such as the Mediterranean, Black, or Red Seas. The oldest extant portolan is the Carta Pisana, dating from approximately 1296 and this led towards two families of Portolan charts, the ones that are purely nautical and those that are nautical and geographical. The Catalan portolan charts are of second type, being usually made in Majorca. The copious number of Italian Portolan charts begins in mid-s. XIII, with the oldest called Carta Pisana and they introduced a novelty in the nautical cartography for they are geographical maps, all with common stylistic representation of certain accidents and geographical areas. The masterpiece of the Majorcan Portolan charts is the Catalan Atlas made by Abraham Cresques in 1375, Abraham Cresques was a Majorcan Jew who worked at the service of Pedro IV of Aragon. In his buxolarum workshop he was helped by his son Jafuda, the Atlas is a World Map, that is, world map and regions of the Earth with the various peoples who live there
23.
Bora (wind)
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The Bora is a northern to north-eastern katabatic wind in the Adriatic, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Poland, Russia and Turkey. The same root is found in the name of the Greek mythological figure of Boreas/Βορέας, historical linguists speculate that the name may derive from a Proto-Indo-European root *gworh- meaning mountain and giving rise to Germanic burg and berg. A similar pattern is seen in the name of the buran winds of central Asia. In Modern Greek, the word describes a intense summer rain that lasts for a few minutes. In Croatian burno means violently and is used to describe the weather. The changeable Bora can often be felt all over Montenegrin Littoral, Dalmatia, Istria, the Slovenian Littoral, Trieste, the Bora is most common during the winter. As the air grows even colder and thus denser at night and its initial temperature is so low that even with the warming occasioned by its descent it reaches the lowlands as a cold wind. The area where some of the strongest bora winds occur is the Velebit mountain range in Croatia, Bora occurs because these two divided masses tend to equalize. Sailing during the Bura can be challenging and it requires caution, short, high waves with white crests are its characteristics, making the navigation difficult. The small drops formed by the wind create a so-called sea smoke that reduces the visibility significantly, experienced seamen have a proverb, When Bura sails, you dont. Near the towns of Senj, Stara Novalja, Karlobag and the portal of the Sveti Rok Tunnel in Croatia. On 21 December 1998 the speed of a gust on the Maslenica Bridge was measured at a speed of 248 kilometres per hour. During 22 to 25 December 2003 on A1 highway near Sveti Rok Tunnel new record was measured at speed of 304 kilometers per hour. In February 2012, during the Eastern European Cold Wave, the shoreline in Senj froze and snow piled up after a 150 km/h bora plummeted the temperature to −14 °C, the bora ripped the trees from the soil and destroyed roofs of houses. On the island of Pag, the bora threw fish out of the sea, in many Croatian coastal cities, fresh water froze inside the pipes. Because the region separates the lower Adriatic coast from the Julian Alps range and they have influenced the regions traditional lifestyle and architecture. Towns on the coast, where the bora frequently occurs, are built densely with narrow streets in part because of the wind, buildings in several towns and villages in Slovenia and the Province of Trieste have stones on their roofs to prevent the tiles from being blown off. A strong bora will often be reported on Italian television news, Slovenian towns where the strongest bora occurs are Ajdovščina, Vipava and, to a lesser extent, Nova Gorica
24.
Tramontane
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Tramontane /trəˈmɒnteɪn/ is a classical name for a northern wind. The exact form of the name and precise direction varies from country to country, the word came to English from Italian tramontana, which developed from Latin trānsmontānus, beyond/across the mountains, referring to the Alps in the North of Italy. In Spain the wind is called the tramuntana in Catalan and tramontana in Spanish, Galician, the wind also lends its name to the Serra de Tramuntana in Majorca. On the Croatian Adriatic coast it is called tramontana, with a number of local variations, like levant, it is considered a transitional wind, associated with the change of weather, which frequently transforms into bora. Like bora, it is a strong wind capable of generating large waves, the tramontane in France is a strong, dry cold wind from the north or from the northwest. The high-pressure air flows south, gathering speed as moves downhill and is funnelled between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, according to French sources, the name was used in its present form at the end of the 13th century by Marco Polo, in 1298. It was borrowed from the Latin transmontanus and the Italian tramontana, meaning not just across the mountains but also the North Star, the French term tresmontaine, cited as early as 1209 and still used in the 15th century, was borrowed directly from the Latin. The word moved from Latin into French with the meanings North Star, in 1636 the French expression perdre la tramontane meant to be disoriented. The continuous howling noise of the tramontane is said to have an effect upon the psyche. In his poem Gastibelza, Victor Hugo has the character say. In Greece, tramountána is used as a term to define not only the northern wind. In Italy it is called tramontana and it is a northeasterly or northerly winter wind that blows from the Alps and Apennines to the Italian coast. It is very prevalent on the west coast of Italy and Northern Corsica and it is caused by a weather system from the west following a depression on the Mediterranean. It is strongest before sunrise, when it can reach speeds of 70 km/h and it is a fresh wind of the fine weather mistral type. In Slovenia a word tramontana is used for a northerly wind that blows from the Alps to the Venice bay over Trieste, Slovenian coast. It has a nature and it often quickly turns to a bora. With its hurricane powers it can uproot trees and it often damages boats as it crashes them to the coast
25.
Levant (wind)
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The levant is an easterly wind that blows in the western Mediterranean Sea and southern France, an example of mountain-gap wind. In Roussillon it is called llevant and in Corsica levante, in the western Mediterranean, particularly when the wind blows through the Strait of Gibraltar, it is called the Viento de Levante or the Levanter. It is also known as the Solano, when blowing moderately or strongly, the levant causes heavy swells on the Mediterranean. Usually gentle and damp, the levant frequently brings clouds and rain, when it brings good weather, it is known as the levant blanc. It thus referred to the Eastern direction of the rising sun, the name of the wind pattern comes from the levante, the perceived origin point of the rain, and it is used to describe both east and the wind coming from the east. The opposite of the levante is the poniente, Levante originates from the verb levantar and refers to the fact that the sun rises from the east. In the same way, poniente comes from the verb poner, both of these terms, levante and poniente, are commonly used in Spanish sea terminology to indicate directions, east and west, while at sea. The wind rises in the central Mediterranean or around the Balearic Islands, the winds are moist carrying fog and precipitation in the eastern side of the Strait, but dry in the western side, as the moisture rains on the mountains between Algeciras and Tarifa. The Levanter winds can occur at any time in the year, such an inversion provides a cap that contains the low-level air and results in greater topographic blocking and the acceleration of the airflow through the gap forming the Strait. Under such circumstances, the winds can go from a moderate or fresh easterly over the Alboran Sea to gale strength on the western side of the Strait. Sometimes the levanter forms a cloud over the Rock of Gibraltar. However, this is not always the case and a set of conditions is required for its formation. Near the surface, the levanter is moist, but is unsaturated. As the moist air, which must be capped to be stable and so unable to rise by convection, is forced to rise over the Rock, when the wind speed is too low, the air is blocked and unable to rise to form the cloud. At high wind speeds, the turbulent mixing to the lee of the Rock distributes the moisture through a deep layer. Often it dissolves immediately west of the Rock in these turbulent windy conditions, in suitable conditions, the characteristic pennant cloud forms downwind. It usually extends about 5 km west from the top of the Rock in a turbulent plume and this cloud hangs over the centre of the city of Gibraltar, while there is usually sunny weather in to the north and south from the southern outskirts of the city. Around dawn, the flow is relatively smooth through the cloud, formation of the cloud is classically very near the top of the ridge-line of the Rock at nearly 400 m altitude, but the base is usually a little lower in the turbulent flow to the west
26.
Sirocco
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It arises from a warm, dry, tropical airmass that is pulled northward by low-pressure cells moving eastward across the Mediterranean Sea, with the wind originating in the Arabian or Sahara deserts. The Sirocco causes dusty dry conditions along the northern coast of Africa, storms in the Mediterranean Sea, the Siroccos duration may be as short as half a day or may last several days. Many people attribute health problems to the Sirocco, either because of the heat and dust along the African coastal regions, the dust within the Sirocco winds can cause abrasion in mechanical devices and penetrate buildings. Sirocco winds with speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour are most common during autumn and they reach a peak in March and in November when it is very hot, with a maximum speed of about 100 km/h. When combined with a tide, the Sirocco can cause the Acqua Alta phenomenon in the Venetian Lagoon. Winds of the world Names of Winds Local Mediterranean winds Sirocco
27.
Mistral (wind)
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It is most common in the winter and spring, and strongest in the transition between the two seasons. Periods of the wind exceeding 30 km/h for more than sixty-five hours have been reported and it affects the northeast of the plain of Languedoc and Provence to the east of Toulon, where it is felt as a strong west wind. It has a major influence all along the Mediterranean coast of France, the name mistral comes from the Languedoc dialect of the Occitan and means masterly. The same wind is called mistrau in the Provençal variant of Occitan, mestral in Catalan, maestrale in Italian and Corsican, maistràle or bentu maestru in Sardinian, and majjistral in Maltese. The mistral is usually accompanied by clear, fresh weather, and it can reach speeds of more than 90 km/h, particularly in the Rhone Valley. Its average speed during the day can reach about 50 km/h, the mistral usually blows in winter or spring, though it occurs in all seasons. It sometimes lasts only one or two days, frequently lasts several days, and sometimes more than a week. The mistral takes place each time there is an anticyclone, or area of pressure, in the Bay of Biscay. The conditions for a mistral are even more favorable when a cold rainy front has crossed France from the northwest to the southeast as far as the Mediterranean. This cold, dry wind usually causes a period of cloudless skies and luminous sunshine, there is also, however, the mistral noir, which brings clouds and rain. The mistral noir occurs when the Azores High is extended and draws in unusually moist air from the northwest, the mistral reaches its maximum speed not at the narrowest part of the Rhone Valley, south of Valence, but much farther south, where the Valley has widened. Also, the wind occurs not just in the Valley, but high above in the atmosphere, the mistral is very strong at the summit of Mont Ventoux,1900 meters in elevation, though the plain below is very wide. Other contributing factors to the strength of the mistral are the accumulation of masses of air, whose volume is greater, pouring down the mountains. This is similar to a wind, but unlike a foehn wind the descent in altitude does not significantly warm the mistral. The causes and characteristics of the mistral are very similar to those of the Tramontane, in France, the mistral particularly affects Provence, Languedoc east of Montpellier, as well as all of the Rhone Valley from Lyon to Marseille, and as far southeast as Corsica and Sardinia. The mistral usually blows from the north or northwest, but in certain pre-alpine valleys and along the Côte dAzur, sometimes it also blows from the north-north-east toward the east of Languedoc as far as Cap Béar. Frequently, the mistral will affect only one part of the region, when the mistral blows from the west, the mass of air is not so cold and the wind only affects the plain of the Rhone delta and the Côte dAzur. The good weather is confined to the coast of the Mediterranean, the Côte dAzur generally has a clear sky and warmer temperatures
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Bearing (navigation)
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Absolute bearing refers to the angle between the magnetic North or true North and an object. For example, an object to the East would have a bearing of 90 degrees. Relative bearing refers to the angle between the forward direction, and the location of another object. For example, a relative bearing of 0 degrees would be dead ahead. Bearings can be measured in mils or degrees, the bearing consists of 2 characters and 1 number, first, the character is either N or S. Third, the representing the direction of the angle away from the reference ray - thus, either E. The angle value will always be less than 90 degrees, for example, if Point B is located exactly southeast of Point A, the bearing from Point A to Point B is S 45° E. The US Army defines the azimuth between Point A and Point B as the angle, measured in the direction, between the north reference ray and Ray AB. For example, if the bearing between Point A and Point B is S 45° E, the azimuth between Point A and Point B is 135°, the angle value in a bearing can be specified in the units of degrees, mils, or grad. An azimuth is specified in the same angle units, a bearing can be taken on another vessel to aid piloting. A bearing can be taken to a fixed or moving object in order to target it with gunfire or missiles and this is mainly used by ground troops when using an air-strike on the target. A bearing can be taken to a person or vessel in distress in order to go to their aid or, the latter is not the same as the direction toward the magnetic north pole due to magnetic anomalies. It should be close to the magnetic bearing.9 degrees. Measured in this way, a bearing is referred to as an azimuth by the US Army but not by armies in other English speaking nations, if the reference direction is north, the bearing is termed an absolute bearing. In a contemporary land navigation context, true, magnetic, and grid bearings are measured in this way, with true north, magnetic north. In aircraft navigation, an angle is measured from the aircrafts track or heading. If the aircraft encounters a target that is not ahead of the aircraft and not on an identical track, in marine navigation, starboard bearings are green and port bearings are red. Thus, in navigation, a target directly off the starboard side would be Green090 or G090
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Navigation
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Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. The field of navigation includes four categories, land navigation, marine navigation, aeronautic navigation. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks, all navigational techniques involve locating the navigators position compared to known locations or patterns. Navigation, in a sense, can refer to any skill or study that involves the determination of position and direction. In this sense, navigation includes orienteering and pedestrian navigation, for information about different navigation strategies that people use, visit human navigation. In the European medieval period, navigation was considered part of the set of seven mechanical arts, early Pacific Polynesians used the motion of stars, weather, the position of certain wildlife species, or the size of waves to find the path from one island to another. Maritime navigation using scientific instruments such as the mariners astrolabe first occurred in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, the perfecting of this navigation instrument is attributed to Portuguese navigators during early Portuguese discoveries in the Age of Discovery. Open-seas navigation using the astrolabe and the compass started during the Age of Discovery in the 15th century, the Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route, in 1492 the Spanish monarchs funded Christopher Columbuss expedition to sail west to reach the Indies by crossing the Atlantic, which resulted in the Discovery of America. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. The fleet of seven ships sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Southern Spain in 1519, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, some ships were lost, but the remaining fleet continued across the Pacific making a number of discoveries including Guam and the Philippines. By then, only two galleons were left from the original seven, the Victoria led by Elcano sailed across the Indian Ocean and north along the coast of Africa, to finally arrive in Spain in 1522, three years after its departure. The Trinidad sailed east from the Philippines, trying to find a path back to the Americas. He arrived in Acapulco on October 8,1565, the term stems from 1530s, from Latin navigationem, from navigatus, pp. of navigare to sail, sail over, go by sea, steer a ship, from navis ship and the root of agere to drive. Roughly, the latitude of a place on Earth is its angular distance north or south of the equator, latitude is usually expressed in degrees ranging from 0° at the Equator to 90° at the North and South poles. The height of Polaris in degrees above the horizon is the latitude of the observer, similar to latitude, the longitude of a place on Earth is the angular distance east or west of the prime meridian or Greenwich meridian. Longitude is usually expressed in degrees ranging from 0° at the Greenwich meridian to 180° east and west, sydney, for example, has a longitude of about 151° east. New York City has a longitude of 74° west, for most of history, mariners struggled to determine longitude
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Wind rose
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A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Historically, wind roses were predecessors of the rose, as there was no differentiation between a cardinal direction and the wind which blew from such a direction. Using a polar coordinate system of gridding, the frequency of winds over a period is plotted by wind direction. The direction of the longest spoke shows the direction with the greatest frequency. Before the development of the rose, a wind rose was included on maps in order to let the reader know which directions the 8 major winds blew within the plan view. No differentiation was made between cardinal directions and the winds blew from said directions. North was depicted with a fleur de lis, while east was shown as a Christian cross to indicate the direction of Jerusalem from Europe, presented in a circular format, the modern wind rose shows the frequency of winds blowing from particular directions over a specified period. The length of each spoke around the circle is related to the frequency that the blows from a particular direction per unit time. Each concentric circle represents a different frequency, emanating from zero at the center to increasing frequencies at the outer circles, a wind rose plot may contain additional information, in that each spoke is broken down into color-coded bands that show wind speed ranges. Wind roses typically use 16 cardinal directions, such as north, NNE, NE, in terms of angle measurement in degrees, North corresponds to 0°/360°, East to 90°, South to 180° and West to 270°. Compiling a wind rose is one of the steps taken in constructing airport runways, as aircraft typically perform their best take-offs. Pelorus Compass rose Rhumbline network Wind Rose Data for the U. S
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