1.
Exclusive economic zone
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It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf, the term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nmi limit. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters, generally, a states exclusive economic zone is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea, extending seaward to a distance of no more than 200 nautical miles out from its coastal baseline. The exception to this occurs when exclusive economic zones would overlap. When an overlap occurs, it is up to the states to delineate the actual maritime boundary, generally, any point within an overlapping area defaults to the nearest state. A states exclusive economic zone starts at the edge of its territorial sea. The exclusive economic zone stretches much further into sea than the territorial waters, thus, the exclusive economic zones includes the contiguous zone. The idea of allotting nations EEZs to give more control of maritime affairs outside territorial limits gained acceptance in the late 20th century. Initially, a countrys sovereign territorial waters extended 3 nautical miles or 6 km beyond the shore, in modern times, a countrys sovereign territorial waters extend to 12 nautical miles beyond the shore. One of the first assertions of exclusive jurisdiction beyond the territorial seas was made by the United States in the Truman Proclamation of September 28,1945. The exact extent of economic zones is a common source of conflicts between states over marine waters. One well-known example of such dispute was the Cod Wars between the United Kingdom and Iceland, Norway and Russia dispute both territorial sea and EEZ with regard to the Svalbard archipelago as it affects Russias EEZ due to its unique treaty status. A treaty was agreed in principle in April 2010 between the two states and subsequently ratified, resolving this demarcation dispute, the agreement was signed in Murmansk on September 15,2010. The South China Sea is the site of a dispute between several neighboring nations. Croatias ZERP in the Adriatic Sea caused friction with Italy and Slovenia, a wedge-shaped section of the Beaufort Sea is disputed between Canada and the United States, as the area reportedly contains substantial oil reserves. France claims a portion of Canadas EEZ for Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon based on a new definition of the continental shelf, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is entirely surrounded by Canadas EEZ. Mauritius claims EEZ for Tromelin from France and EEZ for British Indian Ocean Territory from the UK, Northern Cyprus claims a portion of Cyprus EEZ overlaps with that of Northern Cyprus in the south/southeastern part of the Cyprus island. Turkey claims a portion of Cypruss EEZ overlaps with its own EEZ, Lebanon claims that the agreement between Cyprus and Israel overlapped its own EEZ
2.
Atlantic
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
3.
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
4.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
5.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
6.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
7.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
8.
Subdivisions of Scotland
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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as council areas, which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as councils. The council areas have been in existence since 1 April 1996, historically, Scotland has been divided into 34 counties or shires. Although these no longer have any function, they are still used to some extent in Scotland for cultural and geographical purposes. Traditionally burghs have been the key unit of the government of Scotland, being highly autonomous entities. Even after the Acts of Union 1707, burghs continued to be the principal subdivision, until 1889 administration was on a burgh and parish basis. The years following 1889 saw the introduction of a hierarchy of local government administration comprising counties, counties of cities, large burghs, source,2011 Census for Scotland Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils. The Police and Fire Reform Act 2012 resulted in the merger of police and fire services on 1 April 2013 to form the Police Service of Scotland. Policing was the responsibility of the Cities and Burghs of Scotland, Police and fire service areas date from the era of regions and districts and island council areas. There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax, see also NHS Scotland Until 1 April 2014 the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area despite being located in South Lanarkshire. They are now part of NHS Lanarkshire, the Scottish Government has created seven Regional Transport Partnerships, for establishing transport policy in the regions. They broadly follow council area groupings and these areas in most cases resemble those of the pre-1975 administrative counties with Glasgow being the only current city to form a registration county. Although they have had no administrative function since 1930, they still exist and are used for statistical purposes such as the census. Many former civil parish areas also continue to form current registration districts and it should be noted that many boundary changes have occurred over the years and that an area currently derived from an old parish might no longer contain a place previously within that parish. The base level of sub-division in Scotland is that of communities, the main role of the CCs is to channel local opinion to larger local-government bodies. Otherwise, they have limited powers. There are around 1,200 communities in Scotland, not all communities have councils, some have joint councils. Scottish communities are the nearest equivalent to parishes in England. List of articles about local government in the United Kingdom ISO 3166-2, GB, subdivision codes for the United Kingdom
9.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
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Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local government council for Na h-Eileanan Siar council area of Scotland, comprising the Outer Hebrides. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local council in Scotland to have a Gaelic-only name. In 1975, the council was created as Western Isles Council,57 years after the creation of Na h-Eileanan an Iar for elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1999, there has also the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency of the Scottish Parliament. When the Bank of Credit and Commerce International collapsed in 1991, in 1997, the Western Isles Council was renamed as Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. General elections to the council are held on a five-year cycle, in 2007, under the Local Governance Act 2004, the single transferable vote system, together with multi-member wards, was used for the first time, each ward electing three or four councillors. This system is designed to produce a form of proportional representation, constitutional status of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles Lerwick Declaration Comhairle nan Eilean Siar website Ward maps, with links re councillors
10.
Islet
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An islet is a very small island. As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of isle, use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability. Cay or Key – an islet formed by the accumulation of sand deposits atop a reef Motu – A reef islet formed by broken coral and sand. River island – A small islet within the current of a river, rock – A rock, in the sense of a type of islet, is an uninhabited landform composed of rock, lying offshore, and having at most minimal vegetation. Sandbar – An exposed sandbar is another type of islet, Sea stack – A thin, vertical landform jutting out of a body of water. Skerry – A small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation, subsidiary islets – A more technical application is to small land features, isolated by water, lying off the shore of a larger island. Likewise, any emergent land in an atoll is called an islet. Tidal island – Often small islands lie off the mainland of an area, being connected to it in low tide. In the Caribbean and West Atlantic, islets are often called cays or keys, rum Cay in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys off Florida are examples of islets. In the Channel Islands, they are identified by the suffix -hou from the Norse -holm. In Scotland and Ireland, they are often called inches, from the Gaelic innis, which originally meant island, in Ireland they are often termed skerries. In and around Polynesia, islets are widely known by the term motu, in and around the River Thames in England, small islands are known as aits or eyots. One long-term dispute over the status of such an islet was that of Snake Island, there are thousands of islets on Earth, approximately 24,000 islands and islets in the Stockholm archipelago alone. The following is a list of example islets from around the world, Islands or Rocks, Is that the Real Question. The Treatment of Islands in the Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries, in Myron H. Nordquist, John Norton Moore, Alfred H. A. The Law of the Sea Convention, US Accession and Globalization
11.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
12.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
13.
Great Britain
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Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
14.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
15.
North Uist
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North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. According to the 2011 Census, there are 887 Gaelic speakers on North Uist, North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of 117 square miles, slightly smaller than South Uist, North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula via Grimsay, to Berneray, and to Baleshare. With the exception of the south east, the island is very flat, some of the lochs contain a mixture of fresh and tidal salt water, giving rise to some complex and unusual habitats. The northern part of the island is part of the South Lewis, Harris and North Uist National Scenic Area, the main settlement on the island is Lochmaddy, a fishing port and home to a museum, an arts centre and a camera obscura. Caledonian MacBrayne ferries sail from the village to Uig on Skye, as well as from the island of Berneray, Lochmaddy also has Taigh Chearsabhagh - a museum and arts centre with a cafe, small shop and post office service. Nearby is the Uist Outdoor Centre, the islands main villages are Sollas, Hosta, Tigharry, Hougharry, Paible, Grimsay and Cladach Kirkibost. Other settlements include Clachan Carinish, Knockquien, Port nan Long, Greinetobht and Scolpaig, Loch Portain is a small hamlet on the east coast – some 9 miles from Lochmaddy, with sub areas of Cheesebay and Hoebeg. According to the 2001 census North Uist had a population of 1,271, the Vikings arrived in the Hebrides in 800AD where they had large settlements. The island is known for its birdlife, including corncrakes, Arctic terns, gannets, corn buntings, the RSPB has a nature reserve at Balranald. Despite limited facilities, the athletics club has performed well at local, regional and national athletics competitions. In Donald Munros A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides of 1549, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are described as one island of Ywst. Starting in the south of island, he described the division between South Uist and Benbecula where the end heirof the sea enters, and cuts the countrey be ebbing and flowing through it. Further north of Benbecula he described North Uist as this countrey is called Kenehnache of Ywst, that is in Englishe, some have given the etymology of Uist from Old Norse meaning west, much like Westray in the Orkney Islands. Another speculated derivation from Uist in Old Norse is Ívist, derived from vist meaning an abode, dwelling, a Gaelic etymology is also possible, with I-fheirste meaning Crossings-island or Fords-island, derived from I meaning island and fearsad meaning estuary, sand-bank, passage across at ebb-tide. Place-names derived from fearsad include Fersit, and Belfast, Mac an Tàilleir suggests that a Gaelic derivation of Uist may be corn island. In the 18th century the population of the combined Uists rose dramatically. In 1755, the Uists estimated combined population was 4,118, by 1794 it rose to 6,668, the pre-clearance population of North Uist was about 5,000 and it has dwindled to about 1,300 in 2011
16.
Outer Hebrides
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The Outer Hebrides, also known as the Western Isles, Innse Gall or the Long Isle or Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands are geographically coextensive with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. They form part of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, Scottish Gaelic is the predominant spoken language, although in a few areas English speakers form a majority. Most of the islands have a formed from ancient metamorphic rocks. The 15 inhabited islands have a population of 27,100. From Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis is roughly 210 kilometres, There are various important prehistoric structures, many of which pre-date the first written references to the islands by Roman and Greek authors. The Western Isles became part of the Norse kingdom of the Suðreyjar, control of the islands was then held by clan chiefs, principal of whom were the MacLeods, MacDonalds, Mackenzies and MacNeils. The Highland Clearances of the 19th century had an effect on many communities. Much of the land is now under control and commercial activity is based on tourism, crofting, fishing. Sea transport is crucial and a variety of services operate between the islands and to mainland Scotland. Modern navigation systems now minimise the dangers but in the past the stormy seas have claimed many ships, religion, music and sport are important aspects of local culture, and there are numerous designated conservation areas to protect the natural environment. The islands form an archipelago whose major islands are Lewis and Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra. Lewis and Harris has an area of 217,898 hectares and is the largest island in Scotland and it incorporates Lewis in the north and Harris in the south, both of which are frequently referred to as individual islands, although they are connected by land. The island does not have a name in either English or Gaelic. The largest islands are deeply indented by arms of the sea such as Loch Ròg, Loch Seaforth, There are also more than 7,500 freshwater lochs in the Outer Hebrides, about 24% of the total for the whole of Scotland. North and South Uist and Lewis in particular have landscapes with a percentage of fresh water. Harris has fewer large bodies of water but has innumerable small lochans, Loch Langavat on Lewis is 11 kilometres long, and has several large islands in its midst, including Eilean Mòr. Although Loch Suaineabhal has only 25% of Loch Langavats surface area, of Loch Sgadabhagh on North Uist it has been said that there is probably no other loch in Britain which approaches Loch Scadavay in irregularity and complexity of outline
17.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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The Convention, concluded in 1982, replaced four 1958 treaties. UNCLOS came into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation to ratify the treaty, as of June 2016,167 countries and the European Union have joined in the Convention. It is uncertain as to what extent the Convention codifies customary international law, there is, however, a role played by organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, the International Whaling Commission, and the International Seabed Authority. All waters beyond national boundaries were considered international waters, free to all nations, in the early 20th century, some nations expressed their desire to extend national claims, to include mineral resources, to protect fish stocks, and to provide the means to enforce pollution controls. Other nations were quick to follow suit, between 1946 and 1950, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador extended their rights to a distance of 200 nautical miles to cover their Humboldt Current fishing grounds. Other nations extended their territorial seas to 12 nautical miles, by 1967, only 25 nations still used the old 3-mile limit, while 66 nations had set a 12-nautical-mile territorial limit and eight had set a 200-nautical-mile limit. As of 28 May 2008, only two countries use the 3-mile limit, Jordan and Palau. That limit is used in certain Australian islands, an area of Belize, some Japanese straits, certain areas of Papua New Guinea. In 1956, the United Nations held its first Conference on the Law of the Sea at Geneva, in 1960, the United Nations held the second Conference on the Law of the Sea, however, the six-week Geneva conference did not result in any new agreements. Generally speaking, developing nations and third world countries participated only as clients, allies, or dependents of the United States or the Soviet Union, with no significant voice of their own. The issue of varying claims of territorial waters was raised in the UN in 1967 by Arvid Pardo of Malta, in an attempt to reduce the possibility of groups of nation-states dominating the negotiations, the conference used a consensus process rather than majority vote. With more than 160 nations participating, the conference lasted until 1982, the resulting convention came into force on 16 November 1994, one year after the 60th state, Guyana, ratified the treaty. The convention introduced a number of provisions, the convention set the limit of various areas, measured from a carefully defined baseline. The areas are as follows, Internal waters Covers all water, the coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters, territorial waters Out to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Fishing, polluting, weapons practice, and spying are not innocent, Nations can also temporarily suspend innocent passage in specific areas of their territorial seas, if doing so is essential for the protection of its security. Archipelagic waters The convention set the definition of Archipelagic States in Part IV, a baseline is drawn between the outermost points of the outermost islands, subject to these points being sufficiently close to one another. All waters inside this baseline are designated Archipelagic Waters, the state has sovereignty over these waters, but subject to existing rights including traditional fishing rights of immediately adjacent states
18.
Territorial waters
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Adjustment of these boundaries is called, in international law, maritime delimitation. Normally, the baseline from which the sea is measured is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal state. Straight baselines can alternatively be defined connecting fringing islands along a coast, across the mouths of rivers, or with certain restrictions across the mouths of bays. An indentation shall not, however, be regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as, or larger than, the baseline across the bay must also be no more than 24 nautical miles in length. Waters landward of the baseline are defined as waters, over which the state has complete sovereignty. Lakes and rivers are considered internal waters, however, archipelagic states may designate certain sea lanes through these waters. A states territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles from its baseline, if this would overlap with another states territorial sea, the border is taken as the median point between the states baselines, unless the states in question agree otherwise. A state can also choose to claim a territorial sea. Conflicts still occur whenever a coastal nation claims an entire gulf as its territorial waters while other nations recognize the more restrictive definitions of the UN convention. In the U. S. federal system, individual states exercise ownership up to 3 nautical miles from shore and this will typically be 12 nautical miles wide, but could be more, or less, if it would otherwise overlap another states contiguous zone. However, unlike the sea, there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts. The United States invoked a contiguous zone out to 24 nmi on 24 September 1999, an exclusive economic zone extends from the outer limit of the territorial sea to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline, thus it includes the contiguous zone. A coastal nation has control of all resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration. Indeed, the economic zone is still popularly, though erroneously. Article 76 gives the definition of continental shelf of coastal countries. For the physical geography definition, see the continental shelf page, coastal states have the right of exploration and exploitation of its natural resources, however other states could lay cables and pipelines if they are authorised by the coastal state. The foot of the slope is determined as the point of maximum change in the gradient at its base. The portion of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit is known as the extended continental shelf
19.
Nautical mile
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A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as exactly 1852 meters. Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to a number of meters. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, there is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, nm is used by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces, mīlia. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles, around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance, as one degree is 1/360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a circle. These sexagesimal units originated in Babylonian astronomy, Gunter used Snells circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude.3 metres. Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, in 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke Spheroid, the United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the nautical mile in 1954.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. Conversion of units Orders of magnitude
20.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level, the Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by Dr David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act is believed by Ben Robertson to have been diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition, the full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellors Department, the Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner, who is now known as the Information Commissioner. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act, a second freedom of information law is in existence in the UK, the Freedom of Information Act 2002. It was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, to public bodies over which the Holyrood parliament. For these institutions, it fulfils the same purpose as the 2000 Act, around 120,000 requests are made each year. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively, journalists requests took up more of officials time than businesses and individuals requests. The Act cost £35.5 million in 2005, the act implements what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. Before its introduction, there had no right of access to government by the general public. The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper, entitled Your Right to Know by Dr David Clark, the white paper was met with widespread enthusiasm, and was described at the time as being almost too good to be true by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was more limited in scope than the initial white paper. Public Authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions, in principle, the freedom of information act applies to all public authorities within the United Kingdom, a full list of public authorities for the purposes of the act is included in Schedule 1. A few government departments are expressly excluded from the scope of the act, as government departments are closed and created, the act must be continually updated. It is important to note that for public authorities listed under Schedule 1 the act has limited effect. For example, the BBC is subject to the act only for information which is not held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, to prevent its journalistic activities from possible compromise. The scope of this provision was considered in the recent High Court decision of BBC v Sugar an internal BBC document examining the BBC coverage of the Middle East for potential bias. The appellants in that case argued that the document had been produced for both operational and journalistic reasons, and so should not be covered by the partial exemption provided in the act
21.
Harris, Scotland
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Harris is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not a itself, Harris is often referred to as the Isle of Harris, which is the former postal county. A person from Harris is known as a Hearach, according to the 2011 Census, there are 1,212 Gaelic speakers in the Harris area. Harris is most likely to be the island referred to as Adru on Ptolemys map of the British Isles, in Old Norse, a Hérað was a type of administrative district, and the name may derive from that. An alternative origin is the Norse Hærri, meaning higher - a reference to the high hills, most of the place names on Harris are Gaelicized Old Norse. The Gaelic name Na Hearadh was also a term for the Rinns of Islay. Harris divides naturally into northern and southern parts which are separated by West and East Loch Tarbert and these halves are joined by a narrow isthmus at the main settlement of Tarbert. The bedrock of Harris is largely Lewisian gneisses, which were laid down in the Precambrian period, one of these intrusions forms the summit plateau of the mountain Roinebhal. The rock here is anorthosite, and is similar in composition to rocks found in the mountains of the Moon, Harris is a part of historic Inverness-shire, and was administered as such under older administrative divisions. In the 2001 census, Harris had a resident population of 1,916. It is part of the South Lewis, Harris and North Uist National Scenic Area, North Harris, adjoining Lewis, contains Clisham, the highest mountain in the Outer Hebrides at 799 metres. Beyond Tarbert, the furthest settlement is Hushinish on the west coast, a bridge from the east coast links Harris to the island of Scalpay. In March 2003 the 25, 300-hectare North Harris Estate was purchased by the North Harris Trust, in April 2006 the Trust hosted the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company conference Community Energy, Leading from the Edge in Tarbert. In early 2008 the Trust received planning consent for three 86 metre wind turbines to be located at Monan. In 2008 Mike Russell, the Scottish environment minister announced that the North Harris Trust had begun canvassing local opinion about a proposal to create Scotlands third national park in the area. The southern part of Harris is less mountainous, with numerous unspoilt and its main settlements are Rodel, known for its medieval kirk of St. Clement, the most elaborate surviving medieval church in the Hebrides after Iona Abbey, and Leverburgh. A ferry sails from the latter to Berneray, an island off the coast of North Uist, the road which runs along the east coast of south Harris is known colloquially as the Golden Road as it cost so much money to build, when it was built in 1897. It runs from Tarbert to Rodel through the area of Harris known as Bays and through the townships of Lickisto, Geocrab, Manish
22.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
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The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade is the senior minister at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Government of Ireland. The Ministers office is located at Iveagh House, on St Stephens Green in Dublin, from 1922 until 1971 the title of the office was Minister for External Affairs. The current office holder is Charles Flanagan, TD, Anglo-Irish Division – deals with Anglo-Irish relations and Northern Ireland. Cultural Division – administers the states Cultural Relations Programme, European Union Division – coordinates the states approach within the European Union. Development Cooperation Division – responsible for the Irish Aid programme and for Irish international development policy, passport and Consular Division – is responsible for the issuing of passports to Irish citizens. Political Division – is responsible for political issues and manages the states participation in the EUs Common Foreign. Protocol Division – is responsible for the organisation and management of visits of VIPs to the state, the Minister has responsibility for the relations between Ireland and foreign states. Irish cabinets since 1919 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
23.
Government of Ireland
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The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in the Republic of Ireland. The structure of the Government of Ireland is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland, the Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach. The deputy prime minister is called the Tánaiste, and is nominated by the Taoiseach from among the members of the Government, the Government must consist of between seven and fifteen members, according to the Constitution of Ireland. Every member of the Government must be a member of the parliament of Ireland, no more than two members of the Government may be members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas. Therefore, all members of the Government must be members of Dáil Éireann. The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance must be members of the Dáil, the 7 to 15 Members of Government are generally referred to as The Cabinet. The Taoiseach is nominated by Dáil Éireann, the house of the Oireachtas. Other members of the Government are nominated by the Taoiseach, approved by Dáil Éireann, Members of the government are often styled cabinet ministers, as opposed to Ministers of State, called junior ministers, who are not in the cabinet. A minister is usually in charge of a Department of State, occasionally a minister without portfolio is appointed who is a minister and a member of the Government but not a Minister of the Government. Non members have no voting rights at Cabinet but may participate fully and normally receive circulated Cabinet Papers on the same basis as a full member of Government. The Government is advised by the Attorney General, who is not formally a member of the Government, the Chief Whip may attend meetings of the cabinet, but is not a member of the Government. In addition, the Government can choose other Ministers of State and this person is informally known as a Super Junior Minister. The current Super Junior Ministers are Paul Kehoe and Finian McGrath, Office of the President The Office of President was established by The Constitution. The President is elected directly by the people, the term of office is 7 years and a President may not serve more than 2 terms. The President must reside in or near Dublin, st. Patrick’s Hall, Dublin Castle, is the venue for Inauguration ceremonies, at which each President takes an oath as provided in the Constitution. The President represents all the people when undertaking official engagements at home, the President is Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces. There have been nine different holders of the office – Michael D. Higgins is the current President. The formal powers, the President, who does not have an executive or policy role, exercises them on the advice of the Government. Additional functions can be conferred on the President by law, a special Commission acts whenever the President is absent
24.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders
25.
Goidelic languages
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The Goidelic /ɡɔɪˈdɛlɪk/ or Gaelic languages form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle of Man to Scotland, there are three modern Goidelic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, the last of which died out in the 20th century but has since been revived to some degree. The word Gaelic by itself is used to refer to Scottish Gaelic and is thus ambiguous. The names used in the languages themselves are derived from Old Irish Goídelc, the medieval mythology of the Lebor Gabála Érenn places its origin in an eponymous ancestor of the Gaels, and inventor of the language, Goídel Glas. Medieval Gaelic literature tells us that the kingdom of Dál Riata emerged in western Scotland during the 6th century, the traditional view was that Dál Riata was founded by Irish migrants, but this is no longer universally accepted. Dál Riata grew in size and influence, and Gaelic language, the oldest written Goidelic language is Primitive Irish, which is attested in Ogham inscriptions from about the 4th century. The forms of speech are very close, and often identical, to the forms of Gaulish recorded before. Classical Gaelic, otherwise known as Early Modern Irish, covers the period from the 13th to the 18th century and this is often called Classical Irish, while Ethnologue gives the name Hiberno-Scottish Gaelic to this standardised written language. As long as written language was the norm, Ireland was considered the Gaelic homeland to the Scottish literati. Later orthographic divergence has resulted in standardised pluricentristic orthographies, Manx orthography, which was introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, was based on English and Welsh practice and so never formed part of this literary standard. Irish is one of the Republic of Irelands two official languages along with English, historically the predominant language of the island, it is now mostly spoken in parts of the south, west, and northwest of Ireland. At present, the Gaeltachtaí are primarily found in Counties Cork, Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, in the Republic of Ireland 1,774,437 regard themselves as able to speak Irish. Of these,77,185 speak Irish on a daily basis outside school, the 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 people had some knowledge of Irish. Combined, this means that one in three people on the island of Ireland can understand Irish to some extent, although a large percentage of these do not speak it fluently. The Irish language has been recognised as an official and working language of the European Union, Irelands national language was the twenty-third to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language. Some people in the north and west of mainland Scotland and most people in the Hebrides still speak Scottish Gaelic, but the language has been in decline. There are now believed to be approximately 60,000 native speakers of Scottish Gaelic in Scotland and its historical range was much larger. For example, it was the language of most of the rest of the Scottish Highlands until little more than a century ago
26.
Skerry
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A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for human habitation, it may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack, the term skerry is derived from the Old Norse sker, which means a rock in the sea. The Old Norse term sker was brought into the English language via the Scots language word spelled skerrie or skerry. In Scottish Gaelic, it appears as sgeir, e. g. Sula Sgeir, in Irish as sceir, in Welsh as sgeri, a skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They also, in areas of the world, are rested upon by animals such as seals or birds. Skerries are most commonly formed at the outlet of fjords where submerged glacially formed valleys at right angles to the coast join with other cross valleys in a complex array. By this channel one can travel through a protected passage almost the entire 1,600 km route from Stavanger to North Cape, the Blindleia is a skerry-protected waterway that starts near Kristiansand in southern Norway, and continues past Lillesand. The inside passage provides a route from Seattle, Washington to Skagway. Yet another such skerry-protected passage extends from the Straits of Magellan north for 800 km along the west coast of the South American continent, the Swedish coast along Bohuslän is likewise guarded by skerries. Even the east coast of Sweden, in the Baltic Sea, has many big skärgårdar, the southwestern coast of Finland also has a great many skerries, so many, in fact, that they form an archipelago. This area is experiencing post-glacial rebound that connects the islands as they break sea level, revealing till deposits. The skerries exist as small islands before uplift of adjacent terrain changes the classification of this landform into a tombolo. The most southerly skerries are perhaps the Skrap Skerries off South Georgia
27.
Petrus Plancius
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Petrus Plancius was a Flemish/Dutch/Netherlandish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland and he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, because of fear of religious prosecution by the Inquisition Plancius fled from Brussels to Amsterdam after the city fell into Spanish hands in 1585. He strongly believed in the idea of a North East passage through North America until the failure of Willem Barentszs third voyage in 1597 seemed to preclude the possibility of such a route. In 1592 Plancius published his best known world map titled Nova et exacta Terrarum Tabula geographica et hydrographica, apart from maps, he published journals and navigational guides and developed a new method for determining longitude. He also introduced the Mercator projection for navigational maps, Plancius was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company for which he drew over 100 maps. Plancius was closely acquainted with Henry Hudson, an explorer of the New World, in 1589 Plancius collaborated with the Amsterdam cartographer Jacob Floris van Langren on a 32. In 1595 Plancius asked Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser, the pilot on the Hollandia. Also notable is the inclusion of Achernar as Alpha Eridani, in 1612 Plancius introduced the following eight constellations on a 26. Of the latter constellations, only Camelopardalis and Monoceros are still found on modern star charts, the minor planet 10648 Plancius commemorates his contributions in celestial and terrestrial cartography
28.
Archipelago
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An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi-, in Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Archipelago was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands. It is now used to refer to any group or, sometimes. Archipelagos may be isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which form an archipelago, archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots, but may also be the result of erosion, deposition, and land elevation. Depending on their origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands, continental fragments. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, the Bahamas, Greece, Hawaii, the largest archipelagic state in the world by area and population is Indonesia. Island arc List of landforms List of archipelagos by number of islands List of archipelagos List of islands Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Archipelago
29.
St Kilda, Scotland
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St Kilda is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom, three other islands were also used for grazing and seabird hunting. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area, the origin of the name St Kilda is a matter of conjecture. The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including Michael Powells film The Edge of the World, St Kilda may have been permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180. The entire remaining population was evacuated from Hirta in 1930, currently, the only year-round residents are military personnel, a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months. The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and it became one of Scotlands six World Heritage Sites in 1986 and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities. Parties of volunteers work on the islands in the summer to restore the ruined buildings that the native St Kildans left behind. They share the island with a military base established in 1957. Two different early sheep types have survived on these islands, the Soay, a Neolithic type, and the Boreray. The islands are a ground for many important seabird species including northern gannets, Atlantic puffins. The St Kilda wren and St Kilda field mouse are endemic subspecies, various theories have been proposed for the word Kildas origin, which dates from the late 16th century. No saint is known by the name, Martin Martin, who visited in 1697, believed that the name is taken from one Kilder, who lived here, and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name. Maclean similarly suggests it may come from a corruption of the Old Norse name for the spring on Hirta, Childa, Steel adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the H with a somewhat guttural quality, making the sound they used for Hirta almost Kilta. Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, leniting to /h/, e. g. ann an Tirte and gu Hirte. Maclean further suggests that the Dutch may have made a cartographical error, and confused Hirta with Skildar. Quine hypothesises that the name is derived from a series of errors, starting with the use of the Old Icelandic Skildir. This, so the hypothesis goes, was transcribed in error by Lucas J. Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing r and with a stop after the S. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by others, creating the form that has used for several centuries
30.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
31.
Folklore
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Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes and they include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations like Christmas and weddings, folk dances, each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next, for folklore is not taught in a formal school curriculum or studied in the fine arts. Instead these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstration, the academic study of folklore is called folkloristics. To fully understand folklore, it is helpful to clarify its component parts and it is well-documented that the term was coined in 1846 by the Englishman William Thoms. He fabricated it to replace the contemporary terminology of popular antiquities or popular literature, the second half of the compound word, lore, proves easier to define as its meaning has stayed relatively stable over the last two centuries. Coming from Old English lār instruction, and with German and Dutch cognates, it is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group, the concept of folk proves somewhat more elusive. When Thoms first created this term, folk applied only to rural, frequently poor, a more modern definition of folk is a social group which includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. Folk is a concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family. This expanded social definition of folk supports a view of the material, i. e. the lore. These now include all things people make with words, things they make with their hands, Folklore is no longer circumscribed as being chronologically old or obsolete. The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a group and how they are transmitted. Transmission is a part of the folklore process. Without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, for folklore is also a verb. These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, the folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, in direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within the social group. Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the significance of these beliefs, customs, for these cultural units would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group
32.
Shipping Forecast
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The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime, the forecasts sent over the Navtex system use a similar format and the same sea areas. The waters around the British Isles are divided into 31 sea areas, also known as weather areas There are four broadcasts per day at the times,0048 – transmitted on FM. Includes weather reports from an extended list of stations at 0052. The broadcast finishes at approximately 0058,0520 – transmitted on FM and LW. Includes weather reports from coastal stations at 0525, and an inshore waters forecast at 0527,1201 – normally transmitted on LW only. 1754 – transmitted only on LW on weekdays, as an opt-out from the PM programme, the unique and distinctive sound of these broadcasts has led to their attracting an audience much wider than that directly interested in maritime weather conditions. Many listeners find the repetition of the names of the sea areas almost hypnotic, in October 1859, the steam clipper Royal Charter was wrecked in a strong storm off Anglesey,450 people lost their lives. Due to this loss, Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy introduced a service for shipping in February 1861. This remained the United Kingdoms Met Office primary responsibility for some time afterwards, in 1911, the Met Office began issuing marine weather forecasts which included gale and storm warnings via radio transmission for areas around Great Britain. This service was discontinued during and following the First World War, today, although most ships have onboard technology to provide the Forecasts information, they still use it to check their data. On Friday 30 May 2014, for the first time in more than 90 years, staff at Broadcasting House were reading out the report but it was not transmitted. Listeners instead heard BBC World Service, the 31 sea areas covering the waters around the British Isles are as defined by the map shown here, The areas were already roughly as listed above by 1949. Later modifications include the introduction of Fisher in 1955, when Dogger was split in two, Heligoland was renamed German Bight a year later. Around 1983, the Minches sea area was merged with Hebrides, in 1984, the areas in the North Sea were coordinated with those of neighbouring countries, introducing North Utsire and South Utsire and reducing Viking in size. Finisterre was renamed FitzRoy in 2002, to avoid confusion with the sea area of the name used in the marine forecasts produced by the French. In the forecast, areas are named in a clockwise direction. However, a forecast for Trafalgar is found only in the 0048 forecast – other forecasts do, however, Viking, Forties, Dogger, Fisher, Sole and Bailey are named after sandbanks
33.
Met Office
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The Met Office is the United Kingdoms national weather service. It is an agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy led by CEO, Rob Varley and chief scientist. The Met Office makes meteorological predictions across all timescales from weather forecasts to climate change, the Met Office was established in 1854 as a small department within the Board of Trade under Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy as a service to mariners. The loss of the vessel, the Royal Charter, and 459 lives off the coast of Anglesey in a violent storm in October 1859 led to the first gale warning service. FitzRoy established a network of 15 coastal stations from which visual gale warnings could be provided for ships at sea, the new electric telegraph enabled rapid dissemination of warnings and also led to the development of an observational network which could then be used to provide synoptic analysis. The Met Office started in 1861 to provide forecasts to newspapers. Publication of forecasts ceased in May 1866 after FitzRoy’s death but recommenced in April 1879, in 1936 the Met Office split with services to the Royal Navy being provided by its own forecasting services. It became an agency of the Ministry of Defence in April 1990. It has a worldwide presence – including a centre in Aberdeen. Royal Navy weather forecasts are provided by naval officers, not Met Office personnel. The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office and broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the Met Office issues Severe Weather Warnings for the United Kingdom through the National Severe Weather Warning Service. These warn of events that may affect transport infrastructure and endanger peoples lives. In March 2008, the system was improved and a new stage of warning was introduced, on 10 November, the first named storm was Abigail. The principal weather products for UK customers are 36-hour forecasts from the operational 1, the Met Offices Global Model forecast has consistently been in the top 3 for global weather forecast performance in independent verification to WMO standards. Products for other regions of the globe are sold to customers abroad, if necessary, forecasters may make adjustments to the computer forecasts. Data is stored in the Met Offices own PP-format, formed in 2009, the Flood Forecasting Centre is a joint venture between the Environment Agency and the Met Office to provide flood risk guidance for England and Wales. The Centre is jointly staffed from both parent organisations and is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter, in Scotland this role is performed by the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, a joint venture between the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office. The Met Office makes seasonal forecasts and distributes them to customers and users globally, Met Office research has broken new ground in seasonal forecasting for the extratropics and has demonstrated its abilities in its seasonal predictions of the North Atlantic Oscillation
34.
Amateur radio
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The amateur radio service is established by the International Telecommunication Union through the International Telecommunication Regulations. National governments regulate technical and operational characteristics of transmissions and issue individual stations licenses with a call sign. Prospective amateur operators are tested for their understanding of key concepts in electronics, according to an estimate made in 2011 by the American Radio Relay League, two million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio. About 830,000 amateur radio stations are located in IARU Region 2 followed by IARU Region 3 with about 750,000 stations, a significantly smaller number, about 400,000, are located in IARU Region 1. The origins of amateur radio can be traced to the late 19th century, the First Annual Official Wireless Blue Book of the Wireless Association of America, produced in 1909, contains a list of amateur radio stations. This radio callbook lists wireless telegraph stations in Canada and the United States, as with radio in general, amateur radio was associated with various amateur experimenters and hobbyists. Amateur radio enthusiasts have significantly contributed to science, engineering, industry, research by amateur operators has founded new industries, built economies, empowered nations, and saved lives in times of emergency. Ham radio can also be used in the classroom to teach English, map skills, geography, math, science, the term ham radio was first a pejorative that mocked amateur radio operators with a 19th-century term for being bad at something, like ham-fisted or ham actor. It had already used for bad wired telegraph operators. Subsequently, the community adopted it as a moniker, much like the Know-Nothing Party, or other groups. Other, more entertaining explanations have grown up throughout the years, the many facets of amateur radio attract practitioners with a wide range of interests. Many amateurs begin with a fascination of radio communication and then combine other personal interests to make pursuit of the hobby rewarding, some of the focal areas amateurs pursue include radio contesting, radio propagation study, public service communication, technical experimentation, and computer networking. Amateur radio operators use various modes of transmission to communicate, the two most common modes for voice transmissions are frequency modulation and single sideband. FM offers high quality audio signals, while SSB is better at long distance communication when bandwidth is restricted. Radiotelegraphy using Morse code, also known as CW from continuous wave, is the extension of landline telegraphy developed by Samuel Morse. Morse, using internationally agreed message encodings such as the Q code, a similar legacy mode popular with home constructors is amplitude modulation, pursued by many vintage amateur radio enthusiasts and aficionados of vacuum tube technology. Demonstrating a proficiency in Morse code was for years a requirement to obtain an amateur license to transmit on frequencies below 30 MHz. Following changes in regulations in 2003, countries are no longer required to demand proficiency
35.
Rockall Basin
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The Rockall Basin is a large sedimentary basin that lies to the west of Ireland and the United Kingdom beneath the major deepwater area known as the Rockall Trough. It is named after Rockall, an islet lying 301.4 km west of St Kilda. The nature of the crust beneath the Rockall Trough has long been a matter of debate, there are indications that the Rockall Basin developed within an earlier rift system, which is likely to be of Triassic to Middle Jurassic in age, by analogy with the nearby Slyne-Erris Basins. The age of the main phase in the Rockall Basin is strongly debated, with Late Jurassic, Early-, Mid-. The discoveries show that, at least locally, there is a petroleum system. Rights to exploit these resources are disputed between the UK, Ireland, Iceland and Denmark and this topic is addressed in Rockall Bank dispute. At the southern end, the trough opens into the Porcupine abyssal plain, one of the features of the Rockall Trough is the Anton Dohrn Seamount. It lies 600 metres beneath the surface, rising 1,500 metres from the surrounding seabed, the plateau was formed approximately 55 million years ago, a continental fragment formed between Greenland and Europe when the ancient continent of Laurasia was split apart by plate tectonics. The Rockall Islet is the highest point of the plateau, rising 21 m above sealevel and it is made of a type of peralkaline granite. The petroleum and natural gas resources in the area have been the source of tensions between the governments of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The area supports cold water coral colonies and carbonate mound fields such as the Logachev Mounds, Porcupine Seabight Slyne-Erris Basin R. S. Haszeldine and M. J. Russell. The Late Carboniferous northern North Atlantic Ocean, implications for hydrocarbon exploration from Britain to the Arctic, in, J. Brooks and K. W. Glennie Petroleum Geology of North West Europe, Graham and Trotman, London, 1163–1175. Irish Rockall Basin region – a standard nomenclature system. Petroleum Affairs Division, Dublin, Special Publications, N. C. Morewood, G. D. Mackenzie, P. M. Shannon, B. M. OReilly, P. W. Readman and J. Makris. The crustal structure and regional development of the Irish Atlantic Margin, in, A. G. Dore and B. A. Vining Petroleum Geology, North-West Europe and Global Perspectives – Proceedings of the 6th Petroleum Geology Conference, 1023–1033, Geological Society, London. Friendsoftheirishenvironment. net, Rockall Basin Pip. ie, Rockall Basin
36.
Helen's Reef
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Named for the brigantine Helen of Dundee, bound for Quebec, foundered at Hasselwood Rock in 1824, the crew left most of the passengers to drown, including seven women and six children. It is within the 12-nautical-mile radius territorial waters of Rockall, which is claimed by the UK as of 1955 and this claim was previously long disputed by Ireland, but the dispute is resolved as of 31 March 2014. The skerries are covered at high tide or in rough seas, in 1812 the survey vessel Leonidas foundered on the reef. On 28 June 1904 the 3,318 ton DFDS steamer SS Norge, with 795 people including 240 children on board bound for New York,635 lives were lost with most of the 163 survivors being taken to Stornoway. The wreck was found a later in 48 metres of water
37.
Soay, St Kilda
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Soay is an uninhabited islet in the St Kilda archipelago, Scotland. The name is from Old Norse Seyðoy, meaning Island of Sheep, the island is part of the St Kilda World Heritage Site and home to a primitive breed of sheep. It is the westernmost point of land in Scotland, and also the westernmost point in the United Kingdom, two sea stacks, Stac Shoaigh,61 metres, and Stac Biorach,73 metres, lie between. The island covers about 96.8 hectares and reaches a height of 378 metres, the island is formed of a breccia of gabbro and dolerites and is a single mountain peak rising from the sea-bed, without Ice-Age erosion. Along with the rest of the archipelago, Soay is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and it is unlikely that this island ever had permanent habitation. Men from Hirta would stay for a few days while gathering wool, feral Soay sheep are a relict population of the first sheep brought to northern Europe around 5000BC. They were kept for their wool, which was plucked, not shorn, only occasionally were the sheep killed for meat. When the neighbouring island of Hirta became uninhabited, Soay sheep were introduced there too, another somewhat less primitive breed lives on another island in the group, the Boreray. The islands cliffs hold breeding colonies of seabirds, including gannet, fulmar, storm petrel, Manx shearwater, razorbill, great skua, Leachs petrel. History of St Kilda List of outlying islands of Scotland Lítla Dímun, a similar island in the Faroes, formerly home to a similar breed of primitive sheep
38.
Tory Island
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Tory Island, or simply Tory, is an island 14.5 kilometres off the north-west coast of County Donegal in Ireland. It is also known in Irish as Oileán Thoraí or, historically, the main spoken language on the island is Irish, although English is spoken to communicate with visitors. Tory is part of the Donegal Gaeltacht and Ulster Irish is the main Irish dialect in use, the island is approximately 5 kilometres long and 1 kilometre wide. The 2002 census recorded a population of 133, the population is divided among four towns – An Baile Thoir, An Baile Thiar, An Lár and Úrbaile. In August 2010, the King of Tory confirmed that there were 96 people living on the island, petrol and diesel are available from Tory Oil at prices significantly higher than on the mainland. Tory has no airport, but has regular connections from mainland County Donegal. The ferry travels daily from April to October and five times a week for the rest of the year, the ferry does not take cars, but holds up to 70 passengers. During the winter months, sea crossings may not be due to rough seas – but from November to March. The later Fomorian king Balor of the eye also lived here. Balor would imprison Ethlinn in a tower built atop Tor Mór, Tor Mór is the islands highest point. A monastery was founded on Tory in the 6th century by Colmcille, the monastery dominated life on the island until 1595, when it was plundered and destroyed by English troops, waging a war of suppression against local chieftains. The monasterys bell tower is the largest structure to survive and was built in the 6th or 7th century, the Battle of Tory Island, the last action in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, took place at sea nearby. The loss was kept a secret in Britain until 14 November 1918. The sinking was witnessed and photographed by passengers on RMS Olympic sister ship of RMS Titanic, since the 1950s, the island has been home to a small community of artists, and has its own art gallery. The English artist Derek Hill was associated with the Tory artist community, reflecting a long-standing tradition, a king is chosen by consensus of the islanders. The current Rí Thoraí is painter Patsy Dan Rodgers, the king has no formal powers, though duties include being a spokesperson for the island community and welcoming people to the island. Power is generated on the island today from three diesel electricity generators and these have a total capacity of 4 MW and burn through approximately 500 litres of fuel every day. Public attention was focused on the island in 2009 when a resident was awarded a payout following a court case after his house was demolished
39.
County Donegal
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County Donegal is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region of the Republic of Ireland and is in the province of Ulster and it is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. Donegal County Council is the council for the county and Lifford serves as the county town. The population of the county is 158,755 according to the 2016 census and it has also been known as Tyrconnell, after the historic territory of the same name. In terms of size and area, it is the largest county in Ulster, uniquely, County Donegal shares a small border with only one other county in the Republic of Ireland – County Leitrim. The greater part of its border is shared with three counties of Northern Ireland, County Londonderry, County Tyrone and County Fermanagh. While Lifford is the county town, Letterkenny is by far the largest town in the county with a population of 19,588, Letterkenny and the nearby city of Derry form the main economic axis of the northwest of Ireland. Indeed, what became the City of Derry was officially part of County Donegal up until 1610, there are two Gaeltacht districts in the west, The Rosses, centred on the town of Dungloe, and Gweedore. Another Gaeltacht district is located in the north-west, Cloughaneely, centred on the town of Falcarragh, the most northerly part of the island of Ireland is the location for three peninsulas of outstanding natural beauty, Inishowen, Fanad and Rosguill. The main population centre of Inishowen, Irelands largest peninsula, is Buncrana, in the east of the county lies the Finn Valley. The Laggan district is centred on the town of Raphoe, according to the 1841 Census, County Donegal had a population of 296,000 people. As a result of famine and emigration, the population had reduced by 41,000 by 1851, by the time of the 1951 Census the population was only 44% of what it had been in 1841. The 2006 Census, undertaken by the States Central Statistics Office, had County Donegals population standing at 147,264, according to the 2011 Census, the countys population had grown to 161,137. It has an indented coastline forming natural sea loughs, of which both Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle are the most notable. The Slieve League cliffs are the sixth-highest sea cliffs in Europe, the climate is temperate and dominated by the Gulf Stream, with warm, damp summers and mild wet winters. Two permanently inhabited islands, Arranmore and Tory Island, lie off the coast, Irelands second longest river, the Erne, enters Donegal Bay near the town of Ballyshannon. The River Erne, along with other Donegal waterways, has been dammed to produce hydroelectric power, the River Foyle separates part of County Donegal from parts of both counties Londonderry and Tyrone. A survey of the marine algae of County Donegal was published in 2003
40.
Rockall
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Rockall /ˈrɒkɔːl/ is an uninhabited granite islet within the exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom, situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. Its rough distances from the closest large islands are,430 km north-west of Ireland,460 km west of Great Britain and 700 km south of Iceland. The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland,370 km to the east, the United Kingdom incorporated Rockall in 1955. However, such features are entitled to a territorial sea extending 12 nautical miles, historically, Ireland did not recognise Britains claim to the rock or the territorial sea surrounding it. With effect from 31 March 2014, the UK and Ireland published EEZ limits which resolved any disputes over the extent of their respective EEZs, no other state has disputed our claim to the islet. The origin and meaning of the name Rockall are uncertain, the Old Norse name for the islet, Ròcal, may contain the element fjall, meaning mountain. It has also suggested that the name is from the Norse *rok, meaning foaming sea. Another idea is that it derives from the Gaelic Sgeir Rocail, dutch mapmakers P. Plancius and C. Claesz show an island called Rookol northwest of Ireland on their Map of New France, the first literary reference to the island, where it is called Rokol, is found in Martin Martins A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland published in 1703. This book gives an account of a voyage to the archipelago of St. Kilda, and from it lies Rokol, a small rock sixty leagues to the westward of St. Kilda, the inhabitants of this place call it Rokabarra. In the 20th century, the location of the islet became a major interest due to the oil and fishing rights. Lord Kennet said of it in 1971, There can be no place more desolate, despairing and it gives its name to one of the sea areas named in the shipping forecast provided by the British Meteorological Office. Rockall has been a point of interest for adventurers and amateur radio operators who have landed on or briefly occupied the islet. Fewer than 20 individuals have ever confirmed to have landed on Rockall. In a House of Commons debate in 1971, William Ross, MP for Kilmarnock, said, the islet of Rockall is one of the few pinnacles of the surrounding Helens Reef. It is located 301.3 km, or 162.7 nmi west of the island of Soay, St Kilda, Scotland, rockalls location was precisely determined by Nick Hancock during his 2014 expedition. The surrounding elevated seabed is called the Rockall Bank, lying directly south from a known as the Rockall Plateau. It is separated from the Outer Hebrides by the Rockall Trough, in 1956 the British scientist James Fisher referred to the island as the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world
41.
James Fisher (naturalist)
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James Maxwell McConnell Fisher was a British author, editor, broadcaster, naturalist and ornithologist. He was also an authority on Gilbert White and made over 1,000 radio. Fisher was the son of Kenneth Fisher, his uncle was the Cheshire naturalist Arnold Boyd. He was educated at Eton, and began studying medicine at Magdalen College, Oxford and he took part in the Oxford Arctic expedition in 1933 as ornithologist. After university he joined London Zoo as an assistant curator, and he later became a leading member of the RSPB and IUCN, a member of the National Parks Commission and vice-chairman of the Countryside Commission. As well as writing his own books, he was an editor of Collins New Naturalist series and he was the resident ornithologist in the regular Nature Parliament series broadcast in the 1950s on BBC radio as part of Childrens Hour. It is likely that his writing and broadcasting played a significant role in the growth of interest in birdwatching in the United Kingdom in the post-Second World War period and he was awarded the British Trust for Ornithologys Bernard Tucker Medal in 1966. He was married to Margery Lilian Edith Turner, and they had 6 children and he died in a car crash in September 1970. After Fishers death he was commemorated in two ways, a public appeal allowed the seabird island of Copinsay, Orkney, to be purchased as a permanent nature reserve dedicated to his name. Also, his papers were purchased by Bruce Coleman and John Burton. 1939, Animals as Friends and how to Keep Them with Margaret Shaw,1939 Birds as Animals 1939 The Living Thoughts of Darwin with Julian Huxley. 1941 The Natural History of Selborne editor of Gilbert Whites work,1941 Watching Birds (Pelican, paperback—sold over 3 million copies. H. K.1956 Adventure of the Sea 1956 Birds and Beasts 1956 Rockall 1956 Wild America,1957 The Wonderful World of the Sea 1958 Adventure of the Air 1958 Shackleton and the Antarctic with Margery Turner Fisher. 1959 The Wonderful World of the Air 1960 Nature, Earth, Plants,1961 The Doubleday Pictorial Library of Nature, earth, plants, animals with Julian Huxley. 1964 Shell Nature Book with Geoffrey Grigson,1964 The World of Birds with Roger Tory Peterson. 1966 The Migration of Birds illustrated by Crispin Fisher,1971 Birds, an introduction to ornithology posthumously with Roger Tory Peterson. 1973 List of Mammals which Have Become Extinct or are Possibly Extinct Since 1600 posthumously with H. A. Goodwin,1974 Watching Birds posthumously with Jim Flegg, illustrated by Crispin Fisher. 1983 Darwin posthumously with Julian Huxley and Antonello La Vergata,1931 Marion Isabel Newbigin, Julian Huxley, Trevor Samuel Muffitt, Ernst Bernhard Almquist, Richard Elmhirst Biological Foundations in Education, a textbook for teacher training
42.
Hasselwood Rock
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Hasselwood Rock is a skerry adjacent to Rockall in the North Atlantic. Its upper part is the cone of an extinct volcano,200 metres north of the larger outcrop of Rockall. The rock is approximately 1 metre above low water,13 metres in diameter and it is covered at high tide and in heavy seas, often only visible as breaking waves. There are no sources of water on the rock, which is uninhabitable. The only other rocks in the area, those of Helens Reef, are almost 2 kilometres to the north-east, expeditions and landings have not been reported. The brigantine Helen of Dundee, bound for Quebec, foundered at Hasselwood Rock in 1824, on 28 June 1904, SS Norge, a Danish passenger liner, ran aground on Hasselwood Rock. Over 635 people died during the sinking, among them 225 Norwegians
43.
Wind wave
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In fluid dynamics, wind waves, or wind-generated waves, are surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. They result from the wind blowing over an area of fluid surface, Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves on Earth range in size from small ripples, to waves over 100 ft high, when directly generated and affected by local winds, a wind wave system is called a wind sea. After the wind ceases to blow, wind waves are called swells, more generally, a swell consists of wind-generated waves that are not significantly affected by the local wind at that time. They have been generated elsewhere or some time ago, wind waves in the ocean are called ocean surface waves. Wind waves have an amount of randomness, subsequent waves differ in height, duration. The key statistics of wind waves in evolving sea states can be predicted with wind wave models, although waves are usually considered in the water seas of Earth, the hydrocarbon seas of Titan may also have wind-driven waves. The great majority of large breakers seen at a result from distant winds. Water depth All of these work together to determine the size of wind waves. Further exposure to that wind could only cause a dissipation of energy due to the breaking of wave tops. Waves in an area typically have a range of heights. For weather reporting and for analysis of wind wave statistics. This figure represents an average height of the highest one-third of the waves in a time period. The significant wave height is also the value a trained observer would estimate from visual observation of a sea state, given the variability of wave height, the largest individual waves are likely to be somewhat less than twice the reported significant wave height for a particular day or storm. Wave formation on a flat water surface by wind is started by a random distribution of normal pressure of turbulent wind flow over the water. This pressure fluctuation produces normal and tangential stresses in the surface water and it is assumed that, The water is originally at rest. There is a distribution of normal pressure to the water surface from the turbulent wind. Correlations between air and water motions are neglected, the second mechanism involves wind shear forces on the water surface
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Coral
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Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in colonies of many identical individual polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans, a coral group is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is an animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening, an exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning, polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon and these are commonly known as zooxanthellae and the corals that contain them are zooxanthellate corals. Such corals require sunlight and grow in clear, shallow water, other corals do not rely on zooxanthellae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3,000 metres. Some have been found on the Darwin Mounds, north-west of Cape Wrath, Corals have also been found as far north as off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands. In his Scala Naturae, Aristotle classified corals as zoophyta, animals that had characteristics of plants and were therefore hypothetically in between animals and plants, the Persian polymath Al-Biruni classified sponges and corals as animals, arguing that they respond to touch. The phylogeny of Anthozoans is not clearly understood and a number of different models have been proposed, within the Hexacorallia, the sea anemones, coral anemones and stony corals may constitute a monophyletic grouping united by their eight-fold symmetry and cnidocyte trait. The Octocorallia appears to be monophyletic, and primitive members of this group may have been stolonate, the cladogram presented here comes from a 2014 study by Stampar et al. which was based on the divergence of mitochondrial DNA within the group and on nuclear markers. Corals are classified in the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria and they are divided into three subclasses, Hexacorallia, Octocorallia, and Ceriantharia. The Hexacorallia include the stony corals, the sea anemones and the zoanthids and these groups have polyps that generally have 6-fold symmetry. The Octocorallia include blue coral, soft corals, sea pens and these groups have polyps with 8-fold symmetry, each polyp having eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. Fire corals are not true corals, being in the order Anthomedusa of the class Hydrozoa, Corals are sessile animals in the class Anthozoa and differ from most other cnidarians in not having a medusa stage in their life cycle. The body unit of the animal is a polyp, most corals are colonial, the initial polyp budding to produce another and the colony gradually developing from this small start
Scotland
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