|
Greenland Sea
The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean, sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean. However, definitions of the Arctic Ocean and its seas tend to be imprecise or arbitrary. In general usage the term "Arctic Ocean" would exclude the Greenland Sea. In oceanographic studies the Greenland Sea is considered part of the Nordic Seas, along with the Norwegian Sea. The Nordic Seas are the main connection between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and, as such, could be of great significance in a possible shutdown of thermohaline circulation. In oceanography the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas are often referred to collectively as the "Arctic Mediterranean Sea", a marginal sea of the Atlantic. The sea has Arctic climate with regular northern winds and temperatures r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern America
Northern America is the northernmost subregion of North America. The boundaries may be drawn slightly differently. In one definition, it lies directly north of Middle America (including the Caribbean and Central America).Gonzalez, Joseph. 2004"Northern America: Land of Opportunity"(ch. 6). ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography.'' () New York: Alpha Books; pp. 57–8 Northern America's land frontier with the rest of North America then coincides with the Mexico–United States border. Geopolitically, according to the United Nations' scheme of geographical regions and subregions, Northern America consists of Bermuda, Canada, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and the United States (the contiguous United States and Alaska only, excluding Hawaii, Navassa Island, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and other minor U.S. Pacific territories). From a geographical perspective, Mexico would also be part of Northern America as it is on the same land as the Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
72nd Parallel North
The 72nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 72 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia, the Arctic Ocean and North America. At this latitude, the sun is visible for 24 hours, 0 minutes during the summer solstice and Civil Twilight during the winter solstice. This is the parallel where twilight/nighttime boundary on the equinoxes. Around the world Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 72° north passes through: : See also *71st parallel north *73rd parallel north The 73rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 73 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia, the Arctic Ocean and North America. At this latitude the sun is visible for ... {{geographical coordinates, state=collapsed n72 Geography of the Arctic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena''. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and are named after their characteristic massive triangular skull, which they use to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species are the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and Arviq in aboriginal languages (Inuktitut). American whalemen called them the steeple-top, polar whale, or Russian whale. Bowheads have the largest mouth of any animal representing almost one-third of the length of the body, the longest baleen plates with a maximum length of and may be the longest-lived mammals, with the ability to reach an age of more than 200 years. The bowhead was an early whaling target. Their population was severely reduced before a 1966 moratorium was passed to protect the species. Of the five stocks of bowhead populations, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had risen to be the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The industry spread throughout the world, and became increasingly profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population, and became the targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969, and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s. The earliest known forms of whaling date to at least 3000 BC. Coas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his ''Fram'' expedition of 1893–1896. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. Nansen studied zoology at the Royal Frederick University in Christiania and later worked as a curator at the University Museum of Bergen where his research on the central nervous system of lower marine creatures earned him a doctorate and helped establish neuron doctrine. Later, neuroscientist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Nansen
Cape Nansen ( da, Kap Nansen) is a headland in the Greenland Sea, east Greenland, Sermersooq municipality. This cape is named after Fridtjof Nansen. Cape Nansen is an important geographical landmark. Geography Cape Nansen is located to the northeast of the mouth of the Nansen Fjord in an indented area of the eastern Greenland coast where there is a succession of headlands with active glaciers in between. The cape lies 15 km to the east-northeast of the mighty Cape J.A.D. Jensen on Sokongen Island This headland has been defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as the Southwest limit of the Greenland Sea, which is a line joining Cape Nansen with Straumnes, Iceland, the NW point of Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its .... References External li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Straumnes, Iceland
Latrar Air Station (ADC/NATO ID: H-4), also known as Straumnes Air Station, is a former United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station, located at the top of Mount Straumnes and in the bay of Aðalvík, Hornstrandir. The site was operated by the 934th Aircraft Control and Warning (later Air Defense, Later Air Control) Squadron, and was equipped with AN/FPS-3, AN/FPS-8 and AN/FPS-4 radars. History Construction of the air station started in 1953 in and the started operations in 1956. After only being in operation for four years, a decision was made to close the site in 1960 due to high operation costs and the last air force and civilian staff left the following year. In 1962, the Icelandic government took over ownership of the remaining buildings. The Greenland, Iceland and United Kingdom air defense sector, better known as the GIUK gap, was routinely utilized by the Soviet Union's long-range heavy bombers and maritime reconnaissance platforms as a transit point towa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. Constituting the westernmost bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea, and the Greenland Sea. Spitsbergen covers an area of , making it the largest island in Norway and the 36th-largest in the world. The administrative centre is Longyearbyen. Other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the research community of Ny-Ålesund, and the mining outpost of Sveagruva. Spitsbergen was covered in of ice in 1999, which was approximately 58.5% of the island's total area. The island was first used as a whaling base in the 17th and 18th centuries, after which it was abandoned. Coal mining started at the end of the 19th century, and several permanent com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters are properly surveyed and charted. It does this through the setting of international standards, the co-ordination of the endeavours of the world's national hydrographic offices, and through its capacity building program. The IHO enjoys observer status at the United Nations, where it is the recognised competent authority on hydrographic surveying and nautical charting. When referring to hydrography and nautical charting in Conventions and similar Instruments, it is the IHO standards and specifications that are normally used. History The IHO was established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB). The present name was adopted in 1970, as part of a new international Convention on the IHO adopted by the then member nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seal Hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Iceland, Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden. Most of the world's seal hunting takes place in Canada and Greenland. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) regulates the seal hunt in Canada. It sets quotas (total allowable catch – TAC), monitors the hunt, studies the seal population, works with the Canadian Sealers' Association to train sealers on new regulations, and promotes sealing through its website and spokespeople. The DFO set harvest quotas of over 90,000 seals in 2007; 275,000 in 2008; 280,000 in 2009; and 330,000 in 2010. The actual kills in recent years have been less than the quotas: 82,800 in 2007; 217,800 in 2008; 72,400 in 2009; and 67,000 in 2010. In 2007, Norway claimed that 29,000 harp seals were killed, Russ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hooded Seal
The hooded seal (''Cystophora cristata'') is a large phocid found only in the central and western North Atlantic, ranging from Svalbard in the east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west. The seals are typically silver-grey or white in color, with black spots that vary in size covering most of the body. Hooded seal pups are known as "blue-backs" because their coats are blue-grey on the back with whitish bellies. This coat is shed after 14 months of age when the pups molt. It is the only species in the genus ''Cystophora''. Naming The generic name ''Cystophora'' means "bladder-bearer" in Greek, from the species' unusual sexual ornament – a peculiar inflatable bladder septum on the head of the adult male. This bladder hangs between the eyes and down over the upper lip in the deflated state. In addition, the hooded seal can inflate a large balloon-like sac from one of its nostrils. This is done by shutting one nostril valve and inflating a membrane, which then protrudes from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harp Seal
The harp seal (''Pagophilus groenlandicus''), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus ''Phoca'' with a number of other species, it was reclassified into the monotypic genus ''Pagophilus'' in 1844. In Greek, its scientific name translates to "ice-lover from Greenland," and its taxonomic synonym, ''Phoca groenlandica'' translates to "Greenlandic seal." This is the only species in the genus ''Pagophilus''. Description The mature harp seal has pure black eyes. It has a silver-gray fur covering its body, with black harp or wishbone-shaped markings dorsally. Adult harp seals grow to be long and weigh from . The harp seal pup often has a yellow-white coat at birth due to staining from amniotic fluid, but after one to three days, the coat turns white and stays white for 2–3 weeks, until the first molt. Adolescent harp seals have a silver-gray coa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
