1.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Body of water
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A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, generally on a planets surface. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, a body of water does not have to be still or contained, Rivers, streams, canals, and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are also considered bodies of water. Most are naturally occurring geographical features, but some are artificial, there are types that can be either. For example, most reservoirs are created by engineering dams, similarly, most harbors are naturally occurring bays, but some harbors have been created through construction. Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways, some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans. The term body of water can also refer to a reservoir of water held by a plant, note that there are some geographical features involving water that are not bodies of water, for example waterfalls, geysers and rapids. Arm of the sea - also sea arm, used to describe a sea loch, arroyo - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally. Artificial lake or artificial pond - see reservoir or impoundment, barachois - a lagoon separated from the ocean by a sand bar. Bay - an area of water bordered by land on three sides, similar to, but smaller than a gulf, bayou - a slow-moving stream or a marshy lake. Bight - a large and often only slightly receding bay, or a bend in any geographical feature, billabong - see Oxbow lake, a pond or still body of water created when a river changes course and some water becomes trapped. Boil - see Seep Brook - a small stream, canal - an artificial waterway, usually connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Channel - the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean consisting of a bed. See also stream bed and strait, earth scientists generally use the term to describe a circular or round inlet with a narrow entrance, though colloquially the term is sometimes used to describe any sheltered bay. Basin - a region of land where water from rain or snowmelt drains downhill into another body of water, such as a river, lake, creek - an inlet of the sea, narrower than a cove. Delta - the location where a river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, distributary or distributary channel - a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Draw - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, fjord - a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity. Glacier - a large collection of ice or a river that moves slowly down a mountain. Glacial Pothole - see Kettle Gulf - a part of a lake or ocean that extends so that it is surrounded by land on three sides, similar to, but larger than a bay, headland - an area of water bordered by land on three sides
4.
Sea
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A sea is a large body of salt water that is surrounded in whole or in part by land. More broadly, the sea is the system of Earths salty. The sea moderates Earths climate and has important roles in the cycle, carbon cycle. Although the sea has been traveled and explored since prehistory, the scientific study of the sea—oceanography—dates broadly to the British Challenger expedition of the 1870s. Owing to the present state of continental drift, the Northern Hemisphere is now equally divided between land and sea but the South is overwhelmingly oceanic. Salinity in the ocean is generally in a narrow band around 3. 5% by mass, although this can vary in more landlocked waters, near the mouths of large rivers. About 85% of the solids in the sea are sodium chloride. Deep-sea currents are produced by differences in salinity and temperature, surface currents are formed by the friction of waves produced by the wind and by tides, the changes in local sea level produced by the gravity of the Moon and Sun. The direction of all of these is governed by surface and submarine land masses, former changes in sea levels have left continental shelves, shallow areas in the sea close to land. The most diverse areas surround great tropical coral reefs, whaling in the deep sea was once common but whales dwindling numbers prompted international conservation efforts and finally a moratorium on most commercial hunting. Life may have started there and aquatic microbial mats are generally credited with the oxygenation of Earths atmosphere, the sea is an essential aspect of human trade, travel, mineral extraction, and power generation. It is the scene of activities including swimming, diving, surfing. However, population growth, industrialization, and intensive farming have all contributed to marine pollution. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is being absorbed in increasing amounts, lowering its pH in a known as ocean acidification. The shared nature of the sea has made overfishing an increasing problem, both senses of sea date to Old English, the larger sense has required a definite article since Early Middle English. Seas are generally larger than lakes and contain salt water, while the defining elements of size and being bounded are generally used, there is no formally accepted technical definition of sea among oceanographers. In international law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that all the ocean is the sea. Earth is the known planet with seas of liquid water on its surface, although Mars possesses ice caps
5.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
6.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
7.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
8.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
9.
Romanization of Russian
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Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic script into the Latin alphabet. Scientific transliteration, also known as the International Scholarly System, is a system that has used in linguistics since the 19th century. It is based on the Czech alphabet and formed the basis of the GOST, OST8483 was the first Soviet standard on romanization of Russian, introduced in 16 October 1935. This standard is an equivalent of GOST 16876-71 and was adopted as a standard of the COMECON. GOST7. 79-2000 System of Standards on Information, Librarianship and it is the official standard of both Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Machine readable passports is an adoption of an ICAO stadards for travel documents and it was used in Russian passports for a short period during 2010–2013. The standard was substituted in 2013 by GOST R ISO/IEC 7501-1-2013, which does not contain romanization, ISO/R9, established in 1954 and updated in 1968, was the adoption of the scientific transliteration by the International Organization for Standardization. It covers Russian and seven other Slavic languages, ISO9,1995 is the current transliteration standard from ISO. It is based on its predecessor ISO/R9,1968, which it deprecates, for Russian, the UNGEGN, a Working Group of the United Nations, in 1987 recommended a romanization system for geographical names, which was based on the 1983 version of GOST 16876-71. It may be found in some international cartographic products, American Library Association and Library of Congress romanization tables for Slavic alphabets are used in North American libraries and in the British Library since 1975. The formal, unambiguous version of the system requires some diacritics and two-letter tie characters, British Standard 2979,1958 is the main system of the Oxford University Press, and a variation was used by the British Library to catalogue publications acquired up to 1975. The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for Anglophones to read and pronounce, the portion of the system pertaining to the Russian language was adopted by BGN in 1944 and by PCGN in 1947. In Soviet international passports, transliteration was based on French rules, in 1997, with the introduction of new Russian passports, a diacritic-free English-oriented system was established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but this system was also abandoned in 2010. In 2006, GOST52535. 1-2006 was adopted, which defines technical requirements and standards for Russian international passports, in 2010, the Federal Migratory Service of Russia approved Order No. 26, stating that all names in the passports issued after 2010 must be transliterated using GOST52535. 1-2006. The standard was abandoned in 2013, finally in 2013, Order No.320 of the Federal Migratory Service of Russia came into force. It states that all names in the passports must be transliterated using the ICAO system. This system differs from the GOST52535. 1-2006 system in two things, ц is transliterated into ts, ъ is transliterated into ie, Scholarly ¹ Some archaic letters are transcribed in different ways
10.
Japanese language
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Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
11.
Romanization of Japanese
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The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is referred to in English as rōmaji. There are several different romanization systems, the three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization, and Nihon-shiki romanization. Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used, Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese and syllabic scripts which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, all Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. The word rōmaji literally means Roman letters, and in Japan it is often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself than to any specific form of romanized Japanese. The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography and it was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit priests used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the Nippo jisho, in general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan, the Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. The Nihon-shiki romanization was an outgrowth of that movement, several Japanese texts were published entirely in rōmaji during this period, but it failed to catch on. Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect, during the Allied occupation of Japan, the government of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers made it official policy to romanize Japanese. However, that failed and a more moderate attempt at Japanese script reform followed. Hepburn romanization generally follows English phonology with Romance vowels and it is an intuitive method of showing Anglophones the pronunciation of a word in Japanese. It was standardized in the USA as American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese, Hepburn is the most common romanization system in use today, especially in the English-speaking world. The Revised Hepburn system of romanization uses a macron to indicate long vowels. For example, the name じゅんいちろう, is written with the kana characters ju-n-i-chi-ro-u, without the apostrophe, it would not be possible to distinguish this correct reading from the incorrect ju-ni-chi-ro-u
12.
Kamchatka Peninsula
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The Kamchatka Peninsula is a 1, 250-kilometre-long peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about 270,000 km2. It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Okhotsk to the west, immediately offshore along the Pacific coast of the peninsula runs the 10, 500-metre deep Kuril–Kamchatka Trench. The Kamchatka Peninsula, the Commander Islands, and Karaginsky Island constitute the Kamchatka Krai of the Russian Federation, the vast majority of the 322,079 inhabitants are ethnic Russians, but there are also about 13,000 Koryaks. More than half of the lives in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and nearby Yelizovo. The Kamchatka peninsula contains the volcanoes of Kamchatka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kamchatka receives up to 2,700 mm of precipitation per year. The summers are cool, and the winters tend to be rather stormy though rarely producing lightning. Politically, the forms part of Kamchatka Krai. The southern tip is called Cape Lopatka, the circular bay to the north of this on the Pacific side is Avacha Bay with the capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. North up the Pacific side, the four peninsulas are called Shipunsky Point, Kronotsky Point, Kamchatsky Point, North of Ozernoy is the large Karaginsky Bay, which features Karaginsky Island. Northeast of this lies Korfa Bay with the town of Tilichiki, on the opposite side is the Shelikhov Gulf. The Kamchatka or Central Range forms the spine of the peninsula, along the southeast coast runs the Vostochny or Eastern Range. Between these lies the central valley, the Kamchatka River rises northwest of Avacha and flows north down the central valley, turning east near Klyuchi to enter the Pacific south of Kamchatsky Point at Ust-Kamchatsk. In the nineteenth century a trail led west from near Klychi over the mountains to the Tegil river, North of Tegil is Koryak Okrug. South of the Tegil is the Icha River, just south of the headwaters of the Kamchatka, the Bistraya River curves southwest to enter the Sea of Okhotsk at Bolsheretsk, which once served as a port connecting the peninsula to Okhotsk. South of the Bistraya flows the Golygina River, another highway connects local capital with Bolsheretsk. Bus service is available on both roads, most other roads are gravel-covered or coverless ground, requiring off-road capable vehicles. There is semi-regular passenger transportation with aircraft, the obvious circular area in the central valley is the Klyuchevskaya Sopka, an isolated volcanic group southeast of the curve of the Kamchatka River. West of Kronotsky Point is the Kronotsky Biosphere Reserve with the Valley of Geysers, at the southern tip is the Southern Kamchatka Wildlife Refuge with Kurile Lake
13.
Kuril Islands
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There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. It consists of Greater Kuril Ridge and Lesser Kuril Ridge, the total land area is 10,503.2 square kilometres and the total population is 19,434. All the islands are currently under Russian jurisdiction, Japan claims the two southernmost large islands as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute. The disputed islands are known in Japan as the countrys Northern Territories, the name Kuril originates from the autonym of the aboriginal Ainu, the islands original inhabitants, kur, meaning man. It may also be related to names for other islands that have traditionally inhabited by the Ainu people, such as Kuyi or Kuye for Sakhalin. In Japanese, the Kuril Islands are known as the Chishima Islands, once the Russians reached the islands in the 18th century they found a pseudo-etymology from Russian kurit due to the continual fumes and steam above the islands from volcanoes. The Kuril Islands form part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific Ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire, the chain has around 100 volcanoes, some 40 of which are active, and many hot springs and fumaroles. The climate on the islands is generally severe, with long, cold, stormy winters and short, the average annual precipitation is 30–40 inches, most of which falls as snow. The chain ranges from temperate to sub-Arctic climate types, and the vegetative cover ranges from tundra in the north to dense spruce. The highest elevations on the islands are Alaid volcano on Atlasov Island at the end of the chain. The soils are generally productive, owing to the influxes of volcanic ash and, in certain places. However, many of the steep, unconsolidated slopes are susceptible to landslides, only the southern most island has large areas covered by trees, while more northerly islands have no trees, or spotty tree cover. Invertebrates, Extensive kelp beds surrounding almost every island provide habitat for sea urchins, various mollusks and countless other invertebrates. Many species of squid provide a principal component of the diet of many of the marine mammals. Fish, Further offshore, walleye pollock, Pacific cod, several species of flatfish are of the greatest commercial importance, the long term fluctuations in the range and distribution of human settlements along the Kuril island presumably tracked the pinniped ranges. In historical times, fur seals were exploited for their fur in the 19th and early 20th centuries and several of the largest reproductive rookeries. In contrast, commercial harvest of the seals and Steller sea lions has been relatively insignificant on the Kuril islands proper. Since the 1960s there has been no additional harvest and the pinniped populations in the Kuril islands appear to be fairly healthy
14.
Island
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An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, an island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, an island may be described as such, despite the presence of an artificial land bridge. Example, Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, there are two main types of islands in the sea, continental and oceanic. The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland, Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin aqua. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology, continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earths mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere. This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere, continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent. A special type of island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent is rifted. Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some of its carrying capacity. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable, oceanic islands are islands that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, the few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are Saint Peter and Paul Rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, one type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring, examples are the Aleutian Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The only examples in the Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles, another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples, Iceland, which is the second largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. A third type of oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the tectonic plate above it
15.
Hokkaido
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Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is the second largest island of Japan, and the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city, about 43 km north of Hokkaido lies Sakhalin island, Russia, whereas to its east and north-east are the disputed Kuril Islands. Hokkaido was settled by the Ainu, Nivkh, and Orok before recorded history, the Nihon Shoki, finished in 720 AD, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima, which is believed to be present-day Hokkaido. During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaido conducted trade with Dewa Province, from the Middle Ages, the people in Hokkaido began to be called Ezo. Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezochi Ezochi or Ezogashima, the Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese. During the Muromachi period, the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima Peninsula, as more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a war, takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain, and defeated the opposition in 1457. Nobuhiros descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae-han, which was granted trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama. The Matsumae familys economy relied upon trade with the Ainu and they held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period in 1868. The Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state, medieval military leaders in northern Honshū maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura Shogunate and Ashikaga Shogunate. Feudal strongmen sometimes located themselves within medieval institutional order, taking shogunal titles, in fact many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society. The Matsumae clan were of Yamato descent like other ethnic Japanese people, the Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as the 8th century, and as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed, there were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was Shakushains Revolt in 1669–1672, in 1789, a smaller movement, the Menashi-Kunashir Rebellion, was also crushed. After that rebellion the terms Japanese and Ainu referred to clearly distinguished groups, in 1799–1821 and 1855–1858 the Edo Shogunate took direct control over Hokkaido in response to a perceived threat from Russia
16.
Sakhalin
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Sakhalin is a large Russian island in the North Pacific Ocean, lying between 45°50 and 54°24 N. It is Russias largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast, Sakhalin, which is similar in shape to and about one third the size of Honshu, is just off the east coast of Russia, and just north of Japan. The population was 497,973 as of the 2010 census, made up of mostly ethnic Russians, the indigenous peoples of the island are the Ainu, Oroks and Nivkhs. Sakhalin was claimed by both Russia and Japan over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries and these disputes sometimes involved military conflict and divisions of the island between the two powers. Most Ainu on Sakhalin moved to Hokkaido, only 43 kilometres to the south, the island is known in Russian as Сахалин. In Chinese, it is known as Kuye, in Japanese, it is known as Karafuto or, borrowing the Russian appellation, as Saharin. The spelling Saghalien may be found in historical texts, the European names derive from misinterpretation of a Manchu name ᠰ᠊ᠠᡴᡥᠠᠯᡳᡟᠠ᠊ᠠ ᡠ᠊ᠯᠠ ᠠ᠊ᠩᡤᠠ ᡥ᠊ᠠᡩᡩᠠ sahaliyan ula angga hada. Sahaliyan, the word that has borrowed in the form of Sakhalin. Its Japanese name, Karafuto, supposedly comes from Ainu kamuy kar put ya mosir, the name was used by the Japanese during their possession of its southern part. Sakhalin was inhabited in the Neolithic Stone Age, a later population familiar with bronze left traces in earthen walls and kitchen-middens on Aniva Bay. Among the indigenous people of Sakhalin are the Ainu in the half, the Oroks in the central region. Chinese chronicled the Xianbei and Hezhe tribes, who had a way of life based on fishing, the Mongol Empire made some efforts to subjugate the native people of Sakhalin starting in about 1264 CE. According to Yuanshi, the history of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols militarily subdued the Guwei. The Nivkhs and the Oroks were subjugated earlier, whereas the Ainu people submitted to the Mongols later, following their subjugation, Gǔwéi elders made tributary visits to Yuan posts located at Wuleihe, Nanghar, and Boluohe until the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty in China. In the early Ming dynasty, the relationship was re-established. Chinese of the Ming dynasty knew the island as Kuyi or Kuwu, there is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. Under the Ming dynasty, commerce in Northeast Asia and Sakhalin was placed under the system for subjugated peoples, a Ming boundary stone still exists on the island. In an early attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ootomari on Sakhalins southern end in 1679
17.
Siberia
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Siberia is an extensive geographical region, and by the broadest definition is also known as North Asia. Siberia has historically been a part of Russia since the 17th century, the territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. It stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the borders of Mongolia. With an area of 13.1 million square kilometres, Siberia accounts for 77% of Russias land area and this is equivalent to an average population density of about 3 inhabitants per square kilometre, making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth. If it were a country by itself, it would still be the largest country in area, the origin of the name is unknown. Some sources say that Siberia originates from the Siberian Tatar word for sleeping land, another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the Sirtya, a folk, which spoke a language that later evolved into the Ugric languages. This ethnic group was assimilated to the Siberian Tatar people. The modern usage of the name was recorded in the Russian language after the Empires conquest of the Siberian Khanate, a further variant claims that the region was named after the Xibe people. The Polish historian Chycliczkowski has proposed that the name derives from the word for north. He said that the neighbouring Chinese, Arabs and Mongolians would not have known Russian and he suggests that the name is a combination of two words, su and bir. The region is of significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch. Specimens of Goldfuss cave lion cubs, Yuka and another woolly mammoth from Oymyakon, a rhinoceros from the Kolyma River. The Siberian Traps were formed by one of the largest known volcanic events of the last 500 million years of Earths geological history. They continued for a million years and are considered a cause of the Great Dying about 250 million years ago. At least three species of human lived in Southern Siberia around 40,000 years ago, H. sapiens, H. neanderthalensis, the last was determined in 2010, by DNA evidence, to be a new species. Siberia was inhabited by different groups of such as the Enets, the Nenets, the Huns, the Scythians. The Khan of Sibir in the vicinity of modern Tobolsk was known as a prominent figure who endorsed Kubrat as Khagan of Old Great Bulgaria in 630, the Mongols conquered a large part of this area early in the 13th century. With the breakup of the Golden Horde, the autonomous Khanate of Sibir was established in the late 15th century, turkic-speaking Yakut migrated north from the Lake Baikal region under pressure from the Mongol tribes during the 13th to 15th century
18.
Shelikhov Gulf
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Shelikhov Gulf is a large gulf off the northwestern coast of Kamchatka, Russia. It is located in the corner of the Sea of Okhotsk. Its southwest corner is formed by the Pyagin Peninsula, Yam Gulf and it is named after Russian explorer Grigory Shelikhov. Shelikhov Gulf should not be confused with much smaller Shelikhov Bay, Shelikhov Gulf was frequented by American whaleships hunting bowhead and gray whales between 1849 and 1874. They also traded with the natives for fish and reindeer, on 11 August 1867, the barque Stella, of New Bedford, Capt. Ebenezer F. Nye, was wrecked on Krayny in the northeastern arm of the gulf. Two men were killed as the barque was smashed to pieces on the rocks, the rest of the crew were split among several vessels. In the spring and summer beluga whales aggregate in the bays and estuaries at the head of Shelikhov Gulf to feed on spawning herring, smelt, in the spring bowhead whales can also be seen in the gulf
19.
Okhotsk
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Okhotsk is an urban locality and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. It was the main Russian base on the Pacific coast from about 1650 to 1860 and it is located at the east end of the Siberian River Routes on the Sea of Okhotsk where the Okhota and the Kukhtuy Rivers join to form a poor but usable harbor. In 1639 the Russians first reached the Pacific 65 miles southeast at the mouth of the Ulya River, in 1647 Semyon Shelkovnikov built winter quarters at Okhotsk. In 1649 a fort was built, in 1653 Okhotsk was burned by the local Lamuts. In 1682 Okhotsk had eight dwellings and five other buildings, when the Russians entered the Kamchatka Peninsula they had to travel overland from the north. In 1714, Peter the Great sent a party of shipbuilders to Okhotsk to allow access to the furs of Kamchatka. In 1715, they built the Vostok and in 1716–17 Kozma Sokolov sailed it to Kamchatka, for the next 145 years Okhotsk was the main Russian seaport on the Pacific, supplying Kamchatka and other coastal settlements. In 1731 the Siberian Military Flotilla was established here, in 1736, Okhotsk was moved two miles downstream to a spit of land at the mouth of the Okhota, converting the ostrog into a proper port. Vitus Berings two Pacific expeditions brought in numbers of people and the first scholars and expert sailors. In 1742 there were 57 buildings,45 other buildings in the Berings expedition settlement, anton de Vieira, of Portuguese origin, was the towns governor at that time. From 1737 to 1837 there was a salt works several miles west on the coast that produced 14–36 tons annually, in 1827 it was worked by 150 exiles and about 100 guards and overseers. Berings men found valuable sea otters east of Kamchatka, Fur hunters began island-hopping along the Aleutian Islands. Furs were brought back to Okhotsk and carried inland, mostly to be sold to the Chinese at Kyakhta, the Russian-American Company was founded in 1799 with its base at Okhotsk. In 1822 the English traveler Captain John Cochrane ranked Okhotsk just after Barnaul as the neatest, cleanest and most pleasant town he had seen in Siberia, from at least 1715 it was clear that Okhotsk was a poor site. In addition to the difficult track inland, the harbor was poor, around 1750 there were only 37 peasant families and a number of Yakut cattlemen. There was so little pasture in the area that pack horses sometimes had to be returned to Yakutsk unloaded, the harbor was ice-free from May to November but the sailing season was only four months from June through September. The town was built on a low narrow spit blocking the mouths of the two rivers, the harbor inside the spit was large, but three quarters of it was a mud flat during low water. Large ships could only cross the bar on an incoming or outgoing high tide, ice-choked water during the spring breakup frequently flooded the town, as did high surf on a number of occasions
20.
Russian Far East
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The Russian Far East is the Russian part of the Far East, i. e. the extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. The Far Eastern Federal District, which covers this area, borders with the Siberian Federal District to the west. The Far Eastern Federal District has land borders with the Peoples Republic of China and North Korea to the south west and maritime borders with Japan, although traditionally considered part of Siberia, the Russian Far East is categorized separately from Siberia in Russian regional schemes. In Russia, the region is referred to as just Far East. What is known in English as the Far East is usually referred to as the Asia-Pacific Region, primorskaya Oblast was established as a separate administrative division of the Russian Empire in 1856, with its administrative center at Khabarovsk. Until 2000, the Russian Far East lacked officially defined boundaries, a single term Siberia and the Far East was often used to refer to Russias regions east of the Urals without drawing a clear distinction between Siberia and the Far East. Since 2000, the term Far East has been used in Russia to refer to the federal district. Defined by the boundaries of the district, the Far East has an area of 6.2 million square kilometers—over one-third of Russias total area. Russia in the early 1900s persistently sought a warm water port on the Pacific Ocean for the navy as well as to facilitate maritime trade, the recently established Pacific seaport of Vladivostok was operational only during the summer season, but Port Arthur in Manchuria was operational all year. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the failure of the 1903 negotiations between Japan and the Tsarss government, Japan chose war to protect its domination of Korea and adjacent territories. Russia, meanwhile, saw war as a means of distracting its populace from government repression, Japan issued a declaration of war on 8 February 1904. However, three hours before Japans declaration of war was received by the Russian Government, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur, eight days later Russia declared war on Japan. Japan also received the southern half of the Island of Sakhalin from Russia, between 1937 and 1939, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin deported over 200,000 Koreans to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, fearing that the Koreans might act as spies for Japan. Many Koreans died on the way in cattle due to starvation, illness. Many community leaders were purged and executed, Koryo-saram were not allowed to travel outside of Central Asia for the next 15 years, Koreans were also not allowed to use the Korean language and its use began to become lost with the involvement of Koryo-mar and the use of Russian. Development of numerous remote locations relied on GULAG labour camps during Stalins rule, after that, the large-scale use of forced labour waned and was superseded by volunteer employees attracted by relatively high wages. Indeed, Japan turned its interests to Soviet territories. Conflicts between the Japanese and the Soviets frequently happened on the border of Manchuria between 1938 and 1945, the first confrontation occurred in Primorsky Krai, the Battle of Lake Khasan was an attempted military incursion of Manchukuo into the territory claimed by the Soviet Union
21.
Shiretoko National Park
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Shiretoko National Park covers most of the Shiretoko Peninsula at the northeastern tip of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. The word Shiretoko is derived from an Ainu word sir etok, one of the most remote regions in all of Japan, much of the peninsula is only accessible on foot or by boat. The park is best known as the home of Japans largest brown bear population and for offering views of Kunashiri Island, ownership of which Japan, the park has a hot springs waterfall called Kamuiwakka Falls. Kamui wakka means water of the gods in Ainu, the forests of the park are temperate and subalpine mixed forests, the main tree species include Sakhalin fir, Ermans birch and Mongolian oak. Beyond the forest limit there are impenetrable Siberian Dwarf Pine thickets, in 2005, UNESCO designated the area a World Heritage Site, advising to develop the property jointly with Kuril Islands of Russia as a transboundary World Heritage Peace Park
22.
Sea of Japan
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The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, and the Asian mainland. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean and it is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean and this isolation also reflects in the fauna species and in the water salinity, which is lower than in the ocean. The sea has no islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas. Few rivers discharge into the sea and their contribution to the water exchange is within 1%. The seawater has a concentration of dissolved oxygen that results in high biological productivity. Therefore, fishing is the dominant economic activity in the region, the intensity of shipments across the sea has been moderate owing to political issues, but it is steadily increasing as a result of the growth of East Asian economies. The sea is called Rìběn hǎi or originally Jīng hǎi in China, Yaponskoye more in Russia, Chosŏn Tonghae in North Korea, a naming dispute exists about the sea name, with South and North Korea promoting the English translation of its native name East Sea. In Europe, the sea is called Mer du Japon in French, Japanisches Meer in German, Mar del Giappone in Italian, in Southeast Asia, the sea is called Laut Jepun in Malay, Laut Jepang in Indonesian, and Dagat Hapon in Filipino. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Japan Sea as follows, the Northeastern limit of the Eastern China Sea and the Western limit of the Inland Sea. A line running from Nagoya Saki in Kyûsyû through the islands of Uma Sima, from the extremity of Siriya Saki to the extremity of Esan Saki. A line joining Sôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki, from Cape Tuik to Cape Sushcheva. The Sea of Japan was once a landlocked sea when the bridge of East Asia existed. The onset of formation of the Japan Arc was in Early Miocene, the Early Miocene period also corresponds to incipient opening of the Japan Sea, and the northern and southern parts of the Japanese archipelago that were separated from each other. During the Miocene, there was expansion of Sea of Japan, the northern part of the Japanese archipelago was further fragmented at later periods until the orogenesis of the northeastern Japanese archipelago began in the later Late Miocene. The southern part of the Japanese archipelago remained as a large landmass. The land area had expanded northward in the Late Miocene, the orogenesis of high mountain ranges in the northeastern Japan started in Late Miocene and it lasts in Pliocene also
23.
Sakhalin Gulf
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Sakhalin Gulf is a gulf in the Sea of Okhotsk between continental Russia and the northern tip of Sakhalin Island. The width of the gulf reaches up to 160 km and it is covered with ice from mid-November until late April, but north winds can leave the bay blocked with ice until July. The port of Moskalvo is located on the shore of the Sakhalin Gulf. Sakhalin Gulf was frequented by American and Russian whaleships targeting bowhead whales between 1848 and 1874 and they also traded with the natives for fish. On 6–7 September 1854, the ship City, of New Bedford, most of her crew made it to Sakhalin Island, but seven men, including the first officer, perished on a raft from the wreck of the bark Peruvian. They were able to reach the Russian village of Petrovsk and boarded a brig for home, in the summer beluga whales aggregate at the head of Sakhalin Gulf to feed on spawning salmon
24.
Gulf of Tartary
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It is 900 kilometres long, 4–20 m deep, and 7.3 kilometres wide at the narrowest point. Tartary is a name used by Europeans to refer to a vast region covering Inner Asia, Central Asia. The toponym is derived from the Medieval ethnonym Tartars, which was applied to various Turco-Mongol semi-nomadic empires, since the Manchus rise to prominence in 1644, the name Tartars became applied to them as well, and Manchuria became known to the Europeans as the Chinese Tartary. Accordingly, when La Pérouse charted most of the strait between Sakhalin and the mainland Chinese Tartary in 1787, the body of water received the name of the Strait of Tartary. The Tartar Strait was a puzzle to European explorers since, when approached from the south, it becomes increasingly shallow, in 1787 La Perouse decided not to risk it and turned south even though locals had told him that Sakhalin was an island. In 1797 William Broughton also decided that the Gulf of Tartary was a bay, in 1805 Adam Johann von Krusenstern failed to penetrate the strait from the north. Mamiya Rinzōs journey of 1808 was little known to Europeans, gennady Nevelskoy passed the strait from the north in 1848. The Russians kept this a secret and used it to evade a British fleet during the Crimean War, s-117 was a Soviet Shchuka class submarine that was lost on or about 15 December 1952, due to unknown causes in the Strait of Tartary in the Sea of Japan. The boat may have collided with a ship or struck a mine. All forty-seven crewmen died in the incident. S, congressman, Larry McDonald, strayed into the Soviet air space and was attacked by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor just west of Sakhalin Island. The plane came down on the waters off the only land mass. An intensive naval search by the U. S. with assistance of Japanese, the Russians claimed it would raise the temperature of the Sea of Japan by an average of 35 degrees. Since 1973, a ferry operates across the strait, connecting the port of Vanino. Looking at the map, one could think that the Strait of Tartary would provide a convenient connection for boats sailing from the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk, however, according to the SASCO that operates that shipping line, their ships rarely travel that way. The usual winter route from Vanino to Magadan is via Tsugaru Strait, and around Hokkaido, a tunnel under the strait, to provide a road and/or rail connection between Sakhalin and the mainland, was begun under Joseph Stalin, but abandoned incomplete after his death. Renewed calls for either a tunnel or a bridge have made by politicians in recent years. Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Parusa. narod. ru, Tatar Strait—Strait of Tartary—
25.
Ice dam
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An ice dam occurs when water builds up behind a blockage of ice. Ice dams form either when glacier blocks a river and forms a lake or when ice chunks in a river are blocked by something and build up to form a dam, Glacial ice dams have historically resulted in massive outburst floods. River ice jams can cause flooding upstream during the jam, flooding downstream when the jam releases, Ice jams on a lake or ocean occur during the spring break-up if wind driven ice piles up along a shoreline. The movement of a glacier may flow down a valley to a confluence where the other carries a unfrozen river. Some of the largest glacial floods in North American history were from Lake Agassiz, in modern times, the Hubbard Glacier regularly blocks the mouth of Russell Fjord at 60° north on the coast of Alaska. A similar event takes place after irregular periods in the Perito Moreno Glacier, roughly every four years the glacier forms an ice dam against the rocky coast, causing the waters of the Lago Argentino to rise. When the water pressure is too high, then the giant bridge collapses in what has become a major tourist attraction and this sequence occurred last on March 4,2012, the previous having taken place four years before, in July 2008. Finally this Glacial Lake Missoula burst through the ice dam and exploded downstream, because such ice dams can re-form, these Missoula Floods happened at least 59 times, carving Dry Falls below Grand Coulee. An ice blockage on a river is often called an ice jam. An ice jam is a dam on a formed by blocks of ice. Defined by the International Association of Hydraulic Research Working Group on River Ice Hydraulics an ice jam is a. a stationary accumulation of fragmented ice or frazil that restricts flow and this definition includes what some scientists call an ice dam as a. bottom accumulation of anchor ice. Ice jam floods are less predictable and potentially more destructive than open-water flooding, Ice jam floods also may occur during freezing weather, and may leave large pieces of ice behind, but they are much more localized than open-water floods. Ice jams also damage an economy by causing river-side industrial facilities such as hydro-electric generating stations to shut down, the United States averages 125 million dollars in losses to ice jams per year. Ice jams on rivers usually occur in the springtime as the ice begins to break up. The break-up process is described in three phases, pre-break-up, break-up and final drive, pre-break-up usually begins with increased springtime river flow, water level, and temperatures fracturing the river ice and separating it from the shore. Changes in river height from dam releases may also affect the pre-break-up, smaller jams may dislodge, flow downstream and form a larger jam. During the final drive, a large jam will dislodge and take out the remaining jams, Ice jams usually occur in spring, but they can happen as winter sets in when the downstream part becomes frozen first. Ice jams also occur at sharp bends in the river, at man-made objects such as bridge piers, northerly flowing rivers tend to have more ice jams because the upper, more southerly reaches thaw first and the ice gets carried downstream into the still-frozen northerly part
26.
Amur River
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The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the worlds tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China. The largest fish species in the Amur is the kaluga, attaining a length as great as 5.6 metres, historically, it was common to refer to a river simply as water. The word for water is similar in a number of Asiatic languages, mul in Korean, muren in Mongolian, the name Amur may have evolved from a root word for water, coupled with a size modifier for Big Water. The Chinese name for the river, Heilong Jiang, means Black Dragon River in Chinese, and its Mongolian name, Khar mörön, means Black River. The river rises in the hills in the part of Northeast China at the confluence of its two major affluents, the Shilka River and the Ergune River, at an elevation of 303 metres. It flows east forming the border between China and Russia, and slowly makes an arc to the southeast for about 400 kilometres, receiving many tributaries. At Huma, it is joined by a tributary, the Huma River. Afterwards it continues to south until between the cities of Blagoveschensk and Heihe, it widens significantly as it is joined by the Zeya River. At the confluence with the Songhua the river turns northeast, now flowing towards Khabarovsk, now the river spreads out dramatically into a braided character, flowing north-northeast through a wide valley in eastern Russia, passing Amursk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The valley narrows after about 200 kilometres and the river flows north onto plains at the confluence with the Amgun River. Shortly after, the Amur turns sharply east and into an estuary at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, in many historical references these two geopolitical entities are known as Outer Manchuria and Inner Manchuria, respectively. The Chinese province of Heilongjiang on the bank of the river is named after it. The name Black River was used by the Manchu and the Ta-tsing Empire who regarded this river as sacred, the Amur River is an important symbol of, and geopolitical factor in, Chinese–Russian relations. The Amur was especially important in the following the Sino–Soviet political split in the 1960s. For many centuries the Amur Valley was populated by the Tungusic and Mongol people, for many of them, fishing in the Amur and its tributaries was the main source of their livelihood. Until the 17th century, these people were not known to the Europeans, and little known to the Han Chinese, the term Yupi Dazi was used for the Nanais and related groups as well, owing to their traditional clothes made of fish skins. This Ming Dynasty Aigun was located on the bank to the later Aigun that was relocated during the Qing Dynasty. In any event, the Ming presence on the Amur was as short-lived as it was tenuous, soon after the end of the Yongle era, Russian Cossack expeditions led by Vassili Poyarkov and Yerofey Khabarov explored the Amur and its tributaries in 1643–44 and 1649–51, respectively
27.
Salinity
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Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water. This is usually measured in g salt k g sea water, a contour line of constant salinity is called an isohaline – or sometimes isohale. Salinity in rivers, lakes, and the ocean is conceptually simple, conceptually the salinity is the quantity of dissolved salt content of the water. Salts are compounds like sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, the concentration of dissolved chloride ions is sometimes referred to as chlorinity. Operationally, dissolved matter is defined as that which can pass through a fine filter. Salinity can be expressed in the form of a mass fraction, Seawater typically has a mass salinity of around 35 g/kg, although lower values are typical near coasts where rivers enter the ocean. Rivers and lakes can have a range of salinities, from less than 0.01 g/kg to a few g/kg. The Dead Sea has a salinity of more than 200 g/kg, whatever pore size is used in the definition, the resulting salinity value of a given sample of natural water will not vary by more than a few percent. A bottled seawater product known as IAPSO Standard Seawater is used by oceanographers to standardize their measurements with enough precision to meet this requirement, measurement and definition difficulties arise because natural waters contain a complex mixture of many different elements from different sources in different molecular forms. The chemical properties of some of these depend on temperature and pressure. Many of these forms are difficult to measure with high accuracy, different practical definitions of salinity result from different attempts to account for these problems, to different levels of precision, while still remaining reasonably easy to use. For many purposes this sum can be limited to a set of eight major ions in natural waters, the major ions dominate the inorganic composition of most natural waters. Exceptions include some pit lakes and waters from some hydrothermal springs, the concentrations of dissolved gases like oxygen and nitrogen are not usually included in descriptions of salinity. However, carbon dioxide gas, which when dissolved is partially converted into carbonates and bicarbonates, is often included. Silicon in the form of acid, which usually appears as a neutral molecule in the pH range of most natural waters. The term salinity is, for oceanographers, usually associated with one of a set of measurement techniques. As the dominant techniques evolve, so do different descriptions of salinity, the distinctions between these different descriptions are important to physical oceanographers but are obscure and confusing to nonspecialists. Salinities were largely measured using titration-based techniques before the 1980s, titration with silver nitrate could be used to determine the concentration of halide ions to give a chlorinity
28.
Freezing point
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The melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid at atmospheric pressure. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium, the melting point of a substance depends on pressure and is usually specified at standard pressure. When considered as the temperature of the change from liquid to solid. Because of the ability of some substances to supercool, the point is not considered as a characteristic property of a substance. For most substances, melting and freezing points are approximately equal, for example, the melting point and freezing point of mercury is 234.32 kelvins. However, certain substances possess differing solid-liquid transition temperatures, for example, agar melts at 85 °C and solidifies from 31 °C to 40 °C, such direction dependence is known as hysteresis. The melting point of ice at 1 atmosphere of pressure is close to 0 °C. In the presence of nucleating substances the freezing point of water is the same as the melting point, the chemical element with the highest melting point is tungsten, at 3687 K, this property makes tungsten excellent for use as filaments in light bulbs. Many laboratory techniques exist for the determination of melting points, a Kofler bench is a metal strip with a temperature gradient. Any substance can be placed on a section of the strip revealing its thermal behaviour at the temperature at that point, differential scanning calorimetry gives information on melting point together with its enthalpy of fusion. A basic melting point apparatus for the analysis of crystalline solids consists of an oil bath with a transparent window, the several grains of a solid are placed in a thin glass tube and partially immersed in the oil bath. The oil bath is heated and with the aid of the melting of the individual crystals at a certain temperature can be observed. In large/small devices, the sample is placed in a heating block, the measurement can also be made continuously with an operating process. For instance, oil refineries measure the point of diesel fuel online, meaning that the sample is taken from the process. This allows for more frequent measurements as the sample does not have to be manually collected, for refractory materials the extremely high melting point may be determined by heating the material in a black body furnace and measuring the black-body temperature with an optical pyrometer. For the highest melting materials, this may require extrapolation by several hundred degrees, the spectral radiance from an incandescent body is known to be a function of its temperature. An optical pyrometer matches the radiance of a body under study to the radiance of a source that has been previously calibrated as a function of temperature, in this way, the measurement of the absolute magnitude of the intensity of radiation is unnecessary. However, known temperatures must be used to determine the calibration of the pyrometer, for temperatures above the calibration range of the source, an extrapolation technique must be employed
29.
Japanese archipelago
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It consists of islands from the Sakhalin island arc and the Northeastern Japan arc. The term Home Islands was used at the end of World War II to define the area of Japan to which its sovereignty, the term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japans colonies and other territories in the first half of the 20th century. The archipelago consists of 6,852 islands, of which 430 are inhabited, the four main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, Honshu is the largest and referred to as the Japanese mainland. Sakhalin, part of the Russian Federation, is considered to be geographically part of the Japanese archipelago. Changes to the Japanese archipelago over time, Geography of Japan List of islands of Japan 37°30′52″N 137°42′44″E, center of mass
30.
International Hydrographic Organization
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The International Hydrographic Organization is the inter-governmental organisation representing hydrography. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the seas, oceans. It does this through the setting of standards, the co-ordination of the endeavours of the worlds national hydrographic offices. The IHO enjoys observer status at the United Nations where it is the competent authority on hydrographic surveying. When referring to hydrography and nautical charting in Conventions and similar Instruments, it is the IHO standards, the IHO was established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau. The present name was adopted in 1970 as part of a new international Convention on the IHO adopted by the member nations. The former name International Hydrographic Bureau was retained to describe the IHO secretariat until 8 November 2016, there were substantial differences in hydrographic procedures charts, and publications. In 1889, an International Maritime Conference was held at Washington, D. C. similar proposals were made at the sessions of the International Congress of Navigation held at Saint Petersburg in 1908 and the International Maritime Conference held at Saint Petersburg in 1912. In 1919 the hydrographers of Great Britain and France cooperated in taking the steps to convene an international conference of hydrographers. London was selected as the most suitable place for this conference, and on 24 July 1919 and this is still the major purpose of the IHO. As a result of the conference, a permanent organization was formed, the IHB, now the IHO, began its activities in 1921 with 18 nations as members. The Principality of Monaco was selected as the seat of the organization as a result of the offer of Albert I, the IHO develops hydrographic and nautical charting standards. These standards are adopted and used by its 86 member countries and others in their surveys, nautical charts. Much has been done in the field of standardisation since the Bureau was founded, the IHO has encouraged the formation of Regional Hydrographic Commissions. Each RHC coordinates the national surveying and charting activities of countries within each region, the 15 RHCs plus the IHO Hydrographic Commission on Antarctica effectively cover the world. The IHO, in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, directs the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans programme, in 2010 the IHO introduced a new, contemporary hydrographic geospatial standard for modelling marine data and information, known as S-100. S-100 and any dependent product specifications are underpinned by an on-line registry accessible via the IHO website, S-100 is aligned with the ISO19100 series of geographic standards, thereby making it fully compatible with contemporary geospatial data standards. Because S-100 is based on ISO19100, it can be used by other providers for their maritime-related data
31.
Cape Nosappu
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Cape Nosappu is a point on the Nemuro Peninsula, Nemuro, Japan which is the easternmost point in Hokkaidō. It is also the easternmost point in Japan which is open to the public and it is located where the waters from the Pacific Ocean meet those from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Cape Nosappu Lighthouse is the oldest in Hokkaidō, built in 1872, the cape is very close to the Habomai Archipelago, which is administered by Russia. The closest island, Signalny Rock, is just 3.7 km away, as such, Russian patrol boats frequently appear on the strait. However, Japan claims the sovereignty over these islands, consequently, the cape houses a lot of monuments dealing with Japanese claims on the territories, such as the House of Nostalgia for the Homeland, the Bridge on the Four Islands, and others
32.
Cape Lopatka
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Cape Lopatka is the southernmost point of Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, with the rural locality of Semenovka at its southernmost point. Cape Lopatka lies about 11 km north of Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Kuril Islands, Cape Lopatka also serves as the northernmost area of habitation by the Ainu people. In 1737, Cape Lopatkas highest tsunami was recorded at 64 m, however, the extreme winds make it feel much colder. Summers are mild, but extraordinarily cloudy with annual sunshine hours about 1,050 per year, sunshine is actually most likely in the wettest months of September and October when the heavy rain removes the low-level fog, but clear days are extremely rare at any time of year
33.
Iony Island
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Iony Island, or Jonas Island, formerly Ostrov Svyatogo Iony, is a small island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Iony Island is the island in the Sea of Okhotsk that is located in the open sea. All other islands in the Okhotsk Sea are either coastal islands or they belong to the Kuril island chain and it is 1.6 km in length and 850 m wide and rises to a height of 165 m. The island is barren and conical in shape with sheer cliffs rising to heights of 30 to 45 m. Several rocks lie off the island, including a group of four 9 to 12 m high rocks about 800 m to the north-northwest, the island is often enveloped in dense fog due to cold bottom water upwelling to the surface. The flood tidal current off the island sets west, while the ebb sets to the east or east-southeast. These currents may reach up to 1.5 to 2 knots during spring tides and create numerous eddies, small whirlpools, administratively Iony belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. As early as 1849 whaleships had reached Jonas Island, the fleet would usually reach the area by late May or early June, spending a few weeks cruising for whales before sailing to the south and west, following the retreating ice. Some would go ashore to take advantage of the bounty of seabirds and pinnipeds residing on the rocky shores. On 3 June 1855 the ship Edgar, of Cold Spring, was wrecked on the island during a fog, the ship then caught or was set on fire. Ships sent boats ashore to salvage what they could of the reported 1,200 to 1,600 bbls of oil that had been aboard the ship, schooners hunted fur seals on the island between 1889 and 1896. At least 2,250 were caught, with a peak of 879 by four schooners in 1890, the island is a breeding ground for the Steller sea lion. List of islands of Russia Khabarovsk Krai
34.
Khabarovsk Krai
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Khabarovsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Russian Far East. It lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, but also occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, the administrative center of the krai is the city of Khabarovsk. The indigenous people of the area are various Tungusic peoples and Amur Nivkhs, in terms of area, it is the fourth-largest federal subject within Russia. Taiga and tundra in the north, swampy forest in the central depression, Khabarovsk Krai has a severely continental climate with its northern areas being subarctic with stronger maritime summer moderation in the north. This is because of the influence of the East Asian monsoon in summer, in 1643, Vassili Poyarkovs boats descended the Amur, returning to Yakutsk by the Sea of Okhotsk and the Aldan River, and in 1649–1650 Yerofey Khabarov occupied the banks of the Amur. The resistance of the Chinese, however, obliged the Cossacks to quit their forts, although the Russians were thus deprived of the right to navigate the Amur River, the territorial claim over the lower courses of the river was not settled in the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689. The area between Uda River and Greater Khingan mountain range was left undemarcated and the Sino-Russian border was allowed to fluctuate, later in the nineteenth century, Nikolay Muravyov would conduct an aggressive policy with China by claiming that the lower reaches of the Amur River belonged to Russia. In 1852, a Russian military expedition under Muravyov explored the Amur, the Sino-Russian border was later further delineated in the Treaty of Peking of 1860 when the Ussuri Territory, which was previously a joint possession, became Russian. Modern Khabarovsk Krai was established on October 20,1938, when the Far Eastern Krai was split into the Khabarovsk, since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Khabarovsk Krai is the law of the krai. The Legislative Duma of Khabarovsk Krai is the regional standing legislative body, the Legislative Duma exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The Krai Administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official, Khabarovsk Krai is the most industrialized territory of the Far East of Russia, producing 30% of the total industrial products in the Far Eastern Economic Region. The machine construction industry consists primarily of a highly developed military-industrial complex of large-scale aircraft-, the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association is currently one of among the krais most successful enterprises, and for years has been the largest taxpayer of the territory. In the Amur basin, there is some cultivation of wheat. The administrative center, Khabarovsk, is at the junction of the Amur River, the regions own mineral resources are underdeveloped. According to the 2010 Census,91. 8% of the population are Russians,2. 1% Ukrainians,0. 8% Nanais,0. 6% Tatars,0. 6% Koreans,55,038 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, in addition to the Nanai, other indigenous groups include the Evenks and Evens in the northern part of the province, and Ulchs in the lower Amur river. Some Nivkhs, a fishing people speaking an isolate language
35.
Pinniped
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Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, there are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids, Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg southern elephant seal, which is also the largest carnivoran. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers, though not as fast in the water as dolphins, seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to themselves through the water, while phocids. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body, by comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have a tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape predators, like sharks. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates, but a few, like the seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks, male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female, although the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a number of females than those of ice- or water-breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating, pups are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea, Seals produce a number of vocalizations, notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the complex songs of Weddell seals
36.
Sea lion
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Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short, thick hair, big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they comprise the family Otariidae, eared seals and their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. They have a lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about 300 kg and is about 8 ft long, the largest sea lion is Stellers sea lion, which can weigh 1,000 kg and grow to a length of 10 ft. Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their weight at a single feeding. Together with the fur seals, they constitute the family Otariidae, until recently, sea lions were grouped under a single subfamily called Otariinae, whereas fur seals were grouped in the subfamily Arcocephalinae. This division was based on the most prominent common feature shared by the fur seals and absent in the sea lions, namely the dense underfur characteristic of the former. Recent genetic evidence, however, strongly suggests Callorhinus, the genus of the fur seal, is more closely related to some sea lion species than to the other fur seal genus, Arctocephalus. Therefore, the fur seal/sea lion subfamily distinction has been eliminated from many taxonomies, Sea lions are related to the walrus and the seal. Nonetheless, all fur seals have certain features in common, the fur, generally smaller sizes, farther and longer foraging trips, smaller and more abundant prey items, and greater sexual dimorphism. All sea lions have certain features in common, in particular their coarse, short fur, greater bulk, for these reasons, the distinction remains useful. The family Otariidae contains the 14 extant species of fur seals and this is consistent with the fossil record which suggests that this genus diverged from the line leading to the remaining fur seals and sea lions about 6 million years ago. The phylogenetic relationships within the family and the distances among some taxa highlight inconsistencies in the current taxonomic classification of the family. Arctocephalus is characterized by ancestral character states such as dense underfur and it was from this basal line that both the sea lions and the remaining fur seal genus, Callorhinus, are thought to have diverged. Physiology dictates thermoregulation, osmoregulation, reproduction, metabolic rate, and many other aspects on sea lion ecology including but not limited to their ability to dive to great depths. The sea lions bodies control heart rate, gas exchange, digestion rate, the high pressures associated with deep dives cause gases such as nitrogen to build up in tissues which are then released upon surfacing, possibly causing death. One of the sea lions deal with the extreme pressures is by limiting the amount of gas exchange that occurs when diving. The sea lion allows the alveoli to be compressed by the water pressure thus forcing the surface air into cartilage lined airway just before the gas exchange surface
37.
Seabird
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Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene, in general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases and they feed both at the oceans surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely, Seabirds and humans have a long history together, they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way. There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. In the words of two scientists, The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater. However, by all of the Sphenisciformes and Procellariiformes, all of the Pelecaniformes except the darters. The phalaropes are usually included as well, since although they are waders, loons and grebes, which nest on lakes but winter at sea, are usually categorized as water birds, not seabirds. Although there are a number of sea ducks in the family Anatidae that are truly marine in the winter, many waders and herons are also highly marine, living on the seas edge, but are also not treated as seabirds. Seabirds, by virtue of living in a depositional environment, are well represented in the fossil record. In the Paleogene the seas were dominated by early Procellariidae, giant penguins, modern genera began their wide radiation in the Miocene, although the genus Puffinus might date back to the Oligocene. The highest diversity of seabirds apparently existed during the Late Miocene, Seabirds have made numerous adaptations to living on and feeding in the sea. Wing morphology has been shaped by the niche an individual species or family has evolved, so that looking at a wings shape, longer wings and low wing loading are typical of more pelagic species, while diving species have shorter wings. Seabirds also almost always have webbed feet, to aid movement on the surface as well as assisting diving in some species. The Procellariiformes are unusual among birds in having a sense of smell, which is used to find widely distributed food in a vast ocean. Salt glands are used by seabirds to deal with the salt they ingest by drinking and feeding, the excretions from these glands are almost pure sodium chloride
38.
Crested auklet
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The crested auklet is a small seabird of the family Alcidae, distributed throughout the northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. The species feeds by diving in deep waters, eating krill and it nests in dense colonies of up to 1 million individuals in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. It often breeds in colonies with the least auklet, a smaller congener. The species is known for its ornaments, found in both males and females. These include colorful plumage with a forehead crest, a striking scent recalling citrus fruit, the total population is around 6 million, almost half in North America. It is in general considered to be of least concern, though the Alaskan population faces additional threats from predation, the crested auklet was first identified in 1769 by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who named it Aethia cristatella. The genus Aethia includes four auklet species, there are no subspecies of crested auklet. The family Alcidae consists of species of shorebirds including other auklets, puffins, razorbills, guillemots. The crested auklet can measure 18–27 cm in length, 34–50 cm in wingspan and they have a reddish-orange and yellow tipped bill, yellowish white irises, and white auricular plumes from their eyes to their ears. Their bodies, wings, and tails are dark sooty grey, while their legs and feet are grey. The males and females are similar, although the females have slightly smaller and less curved bills. Crested auklets are known for their forehead crests, which is made of black forward-curving feathers and these forehead crests are highly variable, and can have between two and twenty three narrow forward curving feathers. The average auklet has 12 crest feathers, which are of variable length, auklets have auricular plumes and a bright orange bill with curved accessory plates. Like forehead crests, these vary widely within auklet populations. The crested auklet is recognized primarily by two characteristics during the breeding season, the first is its crest, a group of bristle feathers located on top of its head above its eyes. The second is a social odor that the auklets produce during the breeding season and this odor originates from tiny wick feathers, located in a small patch of skin between the shoulder blades. In winter plumage, their bills are smaller and dull yellow and they lack accessory plates and their crest and auricular plumes are reduced. Juveniles are similar to adults, but without auricular and crest plumes
39.
Okhotsk culture
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Fundamental Okhotsk elements remained, however, such as the bear cult. Kisao Ishizuki of the Sapporo University claimed that the people of the Okhotsk culture was recorded under the name Mishihase on the Japanese record Nihon Shoki, the Okhotsk Culture, a Maritime Culture of the Southern Okhotsk Sea Region. Prehistoric Maritime Adaptations of the Circumpolar Zone, sato, Takehiro, Amano, Tetsuya, Ono, Hiroko, Ishida, Hajime, Kodera, Haruto, Matsumura, Hirofumi, Yoneda, Minoru, Masuda, Ryuichi. Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis
40.
Maarten Gerritsz Vries
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Not much is known about the life of de Vries. He was probably born in Harlingen, Netherlands, in 1589 and he is best remembered for his 1643 expedition to the north-western Pacific Ocean to discover the coast of Tartaria, on account of Anthony van Diemen, the governor in Batavia. This was the expedition to look for legendary gold and silver islands in the Pacific. The two ships, the Castricum under De Vries and the Breskens under Hendrick Cornelisz Schaep left Batavia, after a stop in Ternate in the Moluccas they continued their journey on April 4. The Breskens arrived in a bay and was received friendly by the population of Yamada on Honshu. Six weeks later the Breskens again sailed to Yamada, probably while they had a good time, in the evening they organized a party with a samurai and most probably some Japanese women. The next day, July 29, ten members of the crew, including the captain were invited by the women to come to a farm where they would receive fresh vegetables and fish. The unarmed crew was offered sake and rice, but captured, the Japanese feared Spanish Jesuits had come to land. As a result, bakufu officials were anxious about the problem of coastal defenses. However, after it was understood that the crew were Dutch and not Catholics, after Jan van Elserac had arrived the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu sent them in December to Deshima. The crew had to wait nine months for the ship to Taiwan while the Breskens had left Honshu already at the end of July searching for the Gold. The Castricum passed between the islands of Iturup and Urup, the strait between the islands being later named Vries Strait after its discoverer, and entered the Sea of Okhotsk. The Dutch sailed north, without encountering any land, until being driven south-west toward the shores of Hokkaido. Then they sailed again, discovering Cape Aniva, Gulf of Patience. After another excursion, now east into the Pacific, the Castricum returned to Japanese waters, the two ships sailed to Fort Zeelandia and returned to Batavia in mid-December 1643. Maarten Gerritsz Vries died on board from disease after leading an attempt to invade the Philippines
41.
Ayan, Russia
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The area was poor in fish and shipbuilding timber, but there was said to be a coal deposit nearby. A survey was done in 1840 and work started in 1843 under Vasily Zavoyko of the Russian-American Company, in 1845, an overland route was established to Yakutsk. Several expeditions went south from Ayan to explore the Amur region, in 1849, the naval center was again shifted to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Zavoyko became governor there. American and Russian whaleships cruised for bowhead and gray whales off Ayan between 1854 and 1866 and they also entered the port for repairs and supplies as well as for shelter from storms. In September 1856, the ship Alexander Coffin, Capt. Isaiah Purrington, of New Bedford, was condemned, on 10 August, the vessel had run aground Makanrushi during a heavy fog. She was refloated and had to be jury-rigged to reach the port, all the crew and cargo were saved. During the Crimean War, Ayan was still an important harbor, the harbor was taken by the British fleet on July 9,1855. Yet the harbor and the village had been vacated prior to that by the inhabitants. The coast batteries had been destroyed by the Russians, the guns were buried, the objective of the British fleet was to destroy all Russian ships they could find. Apart from a steam tug there were none. The tug had been pulled on shore and was about to be buried at the time of the occupation, the British troops destroyed the tug through an explosion. With the Amur Annexation in 1860, forces were shifted south to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, the Alaska Purchase in 1867 and the end of the Russian-American company further reduced Ayans importance. Many leading experts of diverse professions joined the exodus of merchants that had discontinued commercial traffic resulting from the trade in the region, the Yakutsk-Ayan Track supplied Ayan from Yakutsk from 1844 to 1867. Because the Maya flows north, it took thirteen to twenty-three days to go north, in 1845, the Russian-American Company established ferries and 23 families of settlers, and in 1852, the government spent 20,000 rubles rebuilding the route and settled 211 persons. The remoteness of Ayan resulted in its steady depopulation, in 1922, Ayan was one of the centers of the Yakut Revolt against Lenins government. The Red Army besieged Anatoly Pepelyayevs forces in Ayan in June 1923, the fall of Ayan on June 16 marked the end of the Russian Civil War. Ayan served as the center of the Okhotsk-Evenk National Okrug until 1934. Ayan is served by the Munuk Airport, Ayan has a subarctic climate with severe winters only marginally moderated by its maritime location and mild, wet summers
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Russian-American Company
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The Russian-American Company Under the Supreme Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the United American Company. The company was chartered by Tsar Paul I in the Ukase of 1799 and it was Russias first joint-stock company, and came under the direct authority of the Ministry of Commerce of Imperial Russia. The Minister of Commerce Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev was an influence upon the early Companys affairs. In 1801, the headquarters were moved from Irkutsk to Saint Petersburg. Bodega Bay, California was initially named Rumyantsev Bay was named in his honour during the Russian-California period of Fort Ross, the Russian government appointed an official with the title correspondent to maintain oversight of company affairs, the first being Nikolai Rezanov. This role was expanded to a three-seat board of directors. Additionally the directors had to send reports of the activities directly to the tsar. Directly administering the forts, trade stations and outposts from Pavlovskaya, Alexander Andreyevich Baranov was the first chief manager, founding both New Archangel and Pavlovskaya. With the end of his service in 1818, the position was then given to appointees of the Imperial Russian Navy. The Ukase of 1799 granted the company a monopoly over trade in Russian America, Tsar Alexander I in the Ukase of 1821 asserted its domain to 45°50′ N latitude, revised by 1822 to 51° N latitude. The only attempt at enforcement of the ukase of 1821 was the seizure of the U. S. brig Pearl in 1822, the Pearl, a vessel of the maritime fur trade, was sailing from Boston to Sitka. On a protest from the U. S. government, the vessel was released, under Baranov, who governed the region between 1790 and 1818, a permanent settlement was established in 1804 at Novo-Arkhangelsk, and a thriving maritime trade was organized. During its initial years, the company had problems in maintain a pool of skilled crewmen for its ships, the limited number of Russian men proficient in naval craft in the Empire usually sought employment in the Imperial Russian Navy. Recruits for naval training by the company were sparse, in due to the continued practise of serfdom in the Empire. The Imperial government announced in 1802 for the Imperial Navy to send officers for employment in the RAC, Russian merchants were restricted from the port of Guangzhou and its valuable markets, something the RAC endeavoured to change after its creation. While the expedition was able to sell its wares at the Chinese port, due to the closed Chinese ports, furs collected by the RAC had to be shipped to the Russian port of Okhotsk. From there caravans typically spent over a year traveling to Ayan, Irkutsk, the majority of the pelts were traded in Kyakhta, where Chinese trade goods, principally cotton, porcelain and tea, were traded for. Fort Elizabeth was built in Hawaii by Georg Anton Schäffer, an agent of the company and his actions attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii is known as the Schäffer affair
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Great Northern Expedition
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The endeavour was initially conceived by Russian Emperor Peter I the Great and implemented in practice by Russian Empresses Anna and Elizabeth. The main organiser and leader of the expedition was Vitus Bering, the Second Kamchatka expedition lasted roughly from 1733–1743 and later became called the Great Northern due to the immense scale of its achievements. The goal of the expedition was to find and map the eastern reaches of Siberia, Emperor Peter I had a vision for the 18th-century Russian Navy to map the entire Northern Sea Route. This far-reaching endeavour was sponsored by the Admiralty College in St. Petersburg, with over 3,000 people directly and indirectly involved, the Second Kamchatka expedition was one of the largest expedition projects in history. The total cost of the undertaking, completely financed by the Russian state, reached the sum of 1.5 million rubles. This corresponded to one sixth of the income of the Russian state for year 1724, the expedition also definitively refuted the legend of a land mass in the north Pacific. It also included ethnographic, historic, and scientific research into Siberia, when the expedition failed to round the north-east tip of Asia, the dream of finding an economically viable Northeast passage, alive since the 16th century, was definitively at an end. The start of the exploration and scientific discovery in the eastern part of Asia in the 18th century was due to the initiative of Tsar Peter the Great. In 1697 and 1698, he made a trip through a number of European nations. This plan came to fruition in 1723/24 when he decided to draw foreign scholars to Russia and he hoped to create an extension of the scientific culture of Europe in his own land, and eventually to educate native scholars. In December 1725, the institution was inaugurated with celebrations, young, mostly German speaking scholars formed the core of the Academys personnel in the first decades of its existence. One of their tasks consisted of organizing and eventually accompanying scientific expeditions to the unexplored parts of the Russian empire. During Peter’s lifetime, the German doctor Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt made a journey from 1720 to 1727 to western, messerschmidts Expedition was the first in a what proved to be series of scientific explorations of Siberia. Shortly before his death in February 1725, the Tsar signed an order authorizing a second expedition to the east. Over the course of his life, Peter had met many times with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and it was generally desired that the belief in the common origin of humans not be abandoned, which posed the problem of the origins of human settlements in the New World. The expedition was unsuccessful, as least in regard to the land question, and in 1724, Peter gave the same aim to another expedition. This undertaking, lasting from 1728 to 1730, was led by the Danish captain Vitus Jonassen Bering, Bering had been an officer in the Russian imperial navy since 1704. In both cases, he failed to reach the North American coastline due to adverse weather, the conditions for this gigantic project proved to very favourable
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Vitus Bering
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Vitus Jonassen Bering, also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in Russian service, and an officer in the Russian Navy. The Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier, taking to the seas at the age of 18, Bering travelled extensively over the next eight years, as well as taking naval training at Amsterdam. In 1704, he enrolled with the rapidly expanding Russian navy of Tsar Peter I, Bering was permitted to keep the rank as he rejoined the Russian navy later the same year. Bering departed from St. Petersburg in February 1725 as the head of a 34-man expedition, aided by the expertise of Lieutenants Martin Spangberg, the party took on men as it headed towards Okhotsk, encountering many difficulties before arriving at the settlement. From there, the men sailed to the Kamchatka peninsula, preparing new ships there, in August 1728, Bering decided that they had sufficient evidence that there was clear sea between Asia and America, which he did not sight during the trip. For the first expedition, Bering was rewarded with money, prestige, and he immediately started preparations for a second trip. Having returned to Okhotsk with a larger, better prepared. While doing so, the expedition spotted Mount Saint Elias, a storm separated the ships, but Bering sighted the southern coast of Alaska, and a landing was made at Kayak Island or in the vicinity. Adverse conditions forced Bering to return, but he documented some of the Aleutian Islands on his way back, one of the sailors died and was buried on one of these islands, and Bering named the island group Shumagin Islands after him. Bering himself became too ill to command his ship, which was at last driven to refuge on an uninhabited island in the Commander Islands group in the southwest Bering Sea. On 19 December 1741 Vitus Bering died on the island, which was given the name Bering Island after him, near the Kamchatka Peninsula, reportedly from scurvy, along with 28 men of his company. Vitus Bering was born in the town of Horsens in Denmark to Anne Pedderdatter and her husband Jonas Svendsen. He was named after a maternal great-uncle, Vitus Pedersen Bering, who had been a chronicler in the royal court, the family enjoyed reasonable financial security, with two of Vitus elder half-brothers both attending the University of Copenhagen. Vitus, however, did not, and instead signed on at age 15 as a ships boy, between 1696 and 1704, Bering travelled the seas, reaching India and the Dutch East Indies, whilst also finding time to complete naval officer training in Amsterdam. He would also later to have served on Danish whalers in the North Atlantic, visiting European colonies in the Caribbean. It was in Amsterdam, however, that in 1704 and under the guidance of Norwegian-born Russian admiral Cornelius Cruys, Bering enlisted with the Russian navy and he would be repeatedly promoted in Peter the Greats rapidly evolving navy, reaching the rank of second captain by 1720. His work in the stages of the Great Northern War. On 8 October 1713, Bering married Anna Christina Pülse, the took place in the Lutheran church at Vyborg
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