Showing posts with label info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label info. Show all posts
Info: Chinese sturgeon
Chinese Sturgeon World's Largest Trout:
The Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis; Chinese: 中华鲟; pinyin: Zhōnghuá xún) is a member of the family Acipenseridae and the order Acipenseriformes.
It is thought to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, dating back to a period 140 million years ago. Because of that, it is sometimes also known as a living fossil. It is an animal strictly protected by the Chinese government, named a "national treasure" much like its mammalian counterpart, the Giant Panda.(Source)
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Info: World's Largest Aquarium
1. World’s Largest Aquarium: Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium, located in Atlanta, Georgia at Pemberton Place, is billed as the "world's largest aquarium" with more than 8.1 million US gallons (31,000 m³) of marine and fresh water housing more than 100,000 animals of 500 different species. The aquarium's notable specimens include four young whale sharks, three beluga whales and a manta ray. [1]
Funded mostly by a $250 million donation from Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, the aquarium was built on a 20 acre (81,000 m²) site north of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. Marcus credited his 60th birthday dinner at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1990 as among the inspirations behind his desire to build an aquarium in Atlanta.(Source)
Official Website: www.georgiaaquarium.org
2. World’s Second Largest Aquarium: Churaumi Aquarium
The aquarium is a part of the Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park located in Motobu, Okinawa. The main tank called the 'Kuroshio Sea' holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters.[1] Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank.
On 16 June 2007 at 10:25 PM a manta ray was born at the aquarium after a gestation of 374 days [1].
The aquarium is one of very few that keep whale sharks in captivity, and is currently trying to breed them.(Source)
3. Largest Aquarium in Europe: Acquario di Genova
L 'Aquarium of Genoa is the largest aquarium Italian and the second in Europe after that of Valencia in Spain.
Located in Ponte Spinola, in sixteenth-century old port of Genoa, and is accessible from the railway station of Genova Principe, close to the subway "San Giorgio" and from the motorway exit Genova Ovest.
It was inaugurated in 1992 during the Colombiadi, or the Expo cinquecentesimo celebration of the anniversary of the discovery of America and later was extended several times. At the time of his inauguration was the second largest aquarium in the world.
The path of about 2 hours and 30 minutes it runs a total area of 9700 square meters. The original body (39 tanks) provides a path in the midst of tanks housing fish and many reptiles, and reconstruct the natural environments from the single species with obvious educational purposes.
Of particular value are the three large basins that host respectively dolphins, sharks, and the third, seals and turtles in addition to countless other species of fish.
The expansion of the aquarium is done by exploiting the spaces of the hull of a ship (called Nave Italy), which hosts a large number of tanks open.
In many of them the visitor can immerse the hands and touch the fish directly. There are marine species but also animals of rainforests and fresh water.
The aquarium water is drawn off the coast and is housed in four storage tanks located at the side of the two plans. The water is cleaned and disinfected, and then placed in tanks, all equipped with facilities for mechanical and biological filtration. (Source)
Official Website: www.acquariodigenova.it
4. Largest Aquarium in Africa: UShaka Marine World
uShaka Marine World is a theme park located in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It comprises 4 sections, uShaka Sea World, uShaka Wet 'n Wild, uShaka Beach and uShaka Village Walk. It is located on the strip of land between the beachfront and the harbour. It was the first phase in the redevelopment of the Durban Point into a new tourist and lifestyle hub of the city.(Source)
5. World’s Largest Cylindrical Aquarium: AquaDom, Radisson Hotel Aquarium, Berlin
The AquaDom in Berlin, Germany, is a 25 meter tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with built-in transparent elevator. It is located at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin-Mitte. The DomAquarée complex also contains a hotel, offices, a restaurant, and the aquarium Sea Life Center.
The AquaDom was opened in December 2003. It cost about 12.8 million euros. The overall construction of the aquarium was designed and built by International Concept Management, Inc. [www.icm-corp.com]. The acrylic cylinder was constructed by the U.S. company [1]Reynolds Polymer Technology. It is now the main attraction of the Berlin Sea Live Center.
The outside cylinder was manufactured on-site from four pieces; the inside cylinder for the elevator was delivered in one piece. The Aquadom is the largest acrylic cylinder in the world, with a diameter of over 11 meters, built on a 9 meters tall concrete foundation. Filled with about 900,000 liters of seawater, it contains some 2600 fish of 56 species. The feeding of the fish and the cleaning of the fish tank is performed daily by a pair of full-time divers.
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Info: Amazing Island
1. Hashima Island (Ghost Island)
Hashima Island (端島; meaning "Border Island"), commonly called Gunkanjima (軍艦島; meaning "Battleship Island") is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. The island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility. The island's most notable features are the abandoned concrete buildings and the sea wall surrounding it. It has been administered as part of Nagasaki, Nagasaki since 2005; it had previously been administered by the former town of Takashima.
"Battleship Island" is an English translation of the Japanese nickname for Hashima Island, Gunkanjima (gunkan meaning "battleship", jima being the rendaku form of shima, meaning "island"). The island's nickname came from its apparent resemblance to the Japanese battleship Tosa due to its high seawalls. It also is known as the Ghost Island. It is known for its coal mines and their operation during the industrialization of Japan. Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and began the project, the aim of which was retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. They built Japan's first large concrete building, a block of apartments in 1916 to accommodate their burgeoning ranks of workers (many of whom were forcibly recruited labourers from other parts of Asia), and to protect against typhoon destruction.
According to a South Korean commission, the island housed 500 Koreans who were forced to work between 1939 and 1945, during World War II[1].
In 1959, its population density was 835 people per hectare (83,500 people/km2) for the whole island, or 1,391 per hectare (139,100 people/km2) for the residential district, the highest population density ever recorded worldwide. As petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, coal mines began shutting down all over the country, and Hashima's mines were no exception. Mitsubishi officially announced the closing of the mine in 1974, and today it is empty and bare, which is why it's called the Ghost Island. Travel to Hashima was re-opened on April 22, 2009 after more than 20 years of closure.
Singer-songwriter Okazaki Ritsuko was born on Hashima Island, and sound artist Mika Björklund's latest project is dedicated to it.(Source)
2. Surtsey (Iceland)
Surtsey (Icelandic: "Surtur's island") is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. At 63.303°N 20.6047°WCoordinates: 63.303°N 20.6047°W it is also the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (426 ft) below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi). Since then, wind and wave erosion have caused the island to steadily diminish in size: as of 2002, its surface area was 1.4 km2 (0.54 sq mi).[1]
The new island was named after Surtr, a fire jötunn or giant from Norse mythology. It was intensively studied by volcanologists during its eruption, and afterwards by botanists and biologists as life forms gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other, unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly.(Source)
3. Palm Island (Dubai):
The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractor Gaurav Malik and Garvit Sharma, some of the world's specialists in land reclamation. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.
Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 kilometres of beaches to the city of Dubai.
The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira will be composed of approximately 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in the UAE. Among the three islands there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.
The creation of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Shortly after, the Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation work began. The Palm Deira, which is planned to have a surface area of 46.35 square kilometres, was announced for development in October 2004. Construction was originally planned to take 10–15 years, but that was before the impact of the global credit crunch hit Dubai.(Source)
4. Sealand:
The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England.
Since 1967, the facility has been occupied by former radio broadcaster British Army Major Paddy Roy Bates; his associates and family claim that it is an independent sovereign state. External commentators generally classify Sealand as a micronation.[2] It has been described as the world's smallest nation.[3] Sealand is not currently officially recognized as a sovereign state by any United(Source)
5. Easter Island:
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui), is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its monumental statues, called moai (pronounced /ˈmoʊ.аɪ/), created by the Rapanui people. It is a world heritage site with much of the island protected within the Rapa Nui National Park.(Source)
7. Maldives Island:
The Maldives ( /ˈmɒldaɪvz/ (help·info) or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ Dhivehi Raa’j) or Maldive Islands, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island country consisting of a group of atolls stretching south of India's Lakshadweep islands between Minicoy Island and the Chagos Archipelago, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea of Indian Ocean. The twenty-six atolls of Maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred islands are inhabited.
The original inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka's period,[citation needed] in the 3rd century BC. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives then came under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires.
In 1887 it became a British protectorate. In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name "Maldive Islands"), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.
The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of both population and area; it is the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world. With an average ground level of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level,[4] it is also the country with the lowest highest point in the world, at 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in).(Source)
8. The World Island (Dubai):
The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the rough shape of a map of the landmasses of the Earth, located 4 kilometres off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[1] The World is one of several artificial island developments currently under construction in Dubai; the land for these projects was reclaimed from the sea by dredging.[1] The World's developer is Nakheel Properties; the project was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.(Source)
9. Alcatraz Island:
Alcatraz Island, commonly referred to as simply Alcatraz or non-locally and theatrically, as The Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California, United States. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison, and finally as a federal prison until 1963. It became a national recreation area in 1972 and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986.
Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Alcatraz has been featured in many movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, comics, and games.(Source)
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Info: Frozen Wonders of Nature
1. Ice Spikes:
Penitentes are a snow formation found at high altitudes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun. Penitentes can be as tall as a person.
Penitentes were first described in the literature by Darwin in 1839. On March 22, 1835, he had to squeeze his way through snowfields covered in penitentes near the Piuquenes Pass, on the way from Santiago de Chile to the Argentinian city of Mendoza, and reported the local belief (continuing to the present day) that they were formed by the strong winds of the Andes. These pinnacles of snow or ice grow over all glaciated and snow covered areas in the Dry Andes above 4,000 m (Lliboutry 1954a, Lliboutry 1954b, Lliboutry 1965). They range in size from a few cm to over five metres. (Lliboutry 1965, Naruse and Leiva 1997).
Lliboutry noted that the key climatic condition for the differential ablation that leads to the formation of penitentes is that dew point is always below freezing. Thus, snow will sublimate, which requires higher energy input than melting. Once the process of differential ablation starts, the surface geometry of the evolving penitente produces a positive feedback mechanism, and radiation is trapped by multiple reflections between the walls. The hollows become almost a black body for radiation, while decreased wind leads to air saturation, increasing dew point temperature and the onset of melting. In this way peaks, where mass loss is only due to sublimation, will remain, as well as the steep walls, which intercept only a minimum of solar radiation. In the troughs ablation is enhanced, leading to a downward growth of penitentes. A mathematical model of the process has been developed by Betterton (2001), although the physical processes at the initial stage of penitente growth, from granular snow to micropenitentes, still remain unclear. The effect of penitentes on the energy balance of the snow surface, and therefore their effect on snow melt and water resources have been described by Corripio (2003) and Corripio and Purves (2005).(Source)
2. Frozen Waterfalls:
The growth of a frozen waterfall can proceed only gradually, for progressive freezing of the flowing water. There are thousands of frozen falls around the world. The one located at Beijing's Myun County attracts tourists from all over the country as well as internationally. A beautiful display of nature's art at work.
3. Ice Cave:
The term ice cave refers to any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave’s cold zone.
The term ice cave is often used to describe a cavity formed within ice, which is properly called a glacier cave.(Source)
4. Ice Shelves:
An ice shelf is a thick, floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada only. The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded (resting on bedrock) ice that feeds it is called the grounding line. When the grounding line retreats inland, water is added to the ocean and sea level rises.
In contrast, sea ice is formed on water, is much thinner, and forms throughout the Arctic Ocean. It also is found in the Southern Ocean around the continent of Antarctica.
Ice shelves flow by gravity-driven horizontal spreading on the ocean surface. That flow continually moves ice from the grounding line to the seaward front of the shelf. The primary mechanism of mass loss from ice shelves is iceberg calving, in which a chunk of ice breaks off from the seaward front of the shelf. Typically, a shelf front will extend forward for years or decades between major calving events. Snow accumulation on the upper surface and melting from the lower surface are also important to the mass balance of an ice shelf.
The thickness of modern-day ice shelves ranges from about 100 to 1000 meters. The density contrast between glacial ice, which is denser than normal ice, and liquid water means that only about 1/9 of the floating ice is above the ocean surface. The world's largest ice shelves are the Ross Ice Shelf and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
The term captured ice shelf has been used for the ice over a subglacial lake, such as Lake Vostok.(Source)
5. Striped Icebergs:
Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea
6. Frozen Tidal Wave:
Despite it looks, this is not really a tidal wave but ice created from glacial movements forming tidal wave looks.
7. Ice Circles:
An ice circle is a rare phenomenon that occurs in slow moving water in cold climates. It consists of large discs of ice that rotate slowly in the water. It is believed that they form in eddy currents. Ice circles have most frequently been observed in Scandinavia and North America, but one was recorded in Britain in January 2009.[1] A Met Office spokesman was described as "kind of a bit stumped to be honest".
Additionally the photo shows a collection of small ice circles (the largest about 12" (30cm) in diameter) seen on the river Llugwy at Betws-y-coed, North Wales, in December 2008. A fortnight of no rain had resulted in low water levels, and there had been sub-zero temperatures for a week.
Ice circles occur at bends in the river where the accelerating water creates a force called 'rotational shear', which breaks off a chunk of ice and twists it around. As the disc rotates, it grinds against surrounding ice — smoothing into a perfect circle.
Another kind of ice circle are actually ice pans, or surface slabs of ice that form in the center of a lake or creek, instead of along the water's edge. They can be explained by quick shifts in temperature. As water cools, it releases heat that turns the water into frazil ice — a collection of loose, needle-shaped ice particles that can cluster together in an ice pan. If a lake accumulates enough frazil ice and the current is slow, over time, the pan can become a hanging dam: a dense, heavy piece of ice with high ridges and a low center.(Source)
8. Glaciers:
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A glacier is a large mass of ice moving slowly over some land surface or down a valley, formed over long periods from the accumulation of snow in areas where the amount of snow that falls exceeds the amount that melts. The word glacier comes from French via the Vulgar Latin glacia, and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice.
Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water. Glaciers cover vast areas of the polar regions and are found in mountain ranges of every continent except Australia, as well as in New Zealand. In the tropics glaciers are restricted to the highest mountains. The processes and landforms caused by glaciers and related to them are referred to as glacial. The process of glacier growth and establishment is called glaciation. Glaciers are sensitive monitors of climate conditions and are crucial to both world water resources and sea level variation.(Source)
9. Snowflakes:
Snowflakes begin as snow crystals which develop when tiny supercooled cloud droplets (about 10 μm in diameter) freeze. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Colder environments lead to column-like development of the flakes, while warmer temperatures lead to thin and flat crystal development. Complex shapes emerge as the flake moves through differing temperature and humidity regimes. Types which fall in the form of a ball due to melting and refreezing, rather than a flake, are known as graupel, with ice pellets and snow grains as examples of graupel. Snowflakes are used as a symbol for winter tires, and for the 2002 Winter Olympics.(Source)
10. Ice Flowers:
Ice flowers are formed on new layers of sea ice, from saturated water vapors that come up from under the ice through cracks. In contact with the cold air, the vapors start to freeze and the salt on the surface of the ice begins to crystallize and serves as a nucleus for the frozen vaporized water. Thus, molecule by molecule the ice flowers begin to take shape. They have recently been recognized as the dominant source of sea salt aerosol in Antarctica and scientist suspect they may be the main cause of tropospheric ozone depletion during the polar sunrise. One of the most beautiful frozen wonders on Earth, ice flowers are still a mystery to many people. (Source)
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