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Namib Desert
The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa. The Namib's northernmost portion, which extends from the Angola-Namibia border, is known as Moçâmedes Desert, while its southern portion approaches the neighboring Kalahari Desert. From the Atlantic coast eastward, the Namib gradually ascends in elevation, reaching up to inland to the foot of the Great Escarpment. Annual precipitation ranges from in the aridest regions to at the escarpment, making the Namib the only true desert in southern Africa. Having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for roughly 55–80 million years, the Namib may be the oldest desert in the world and contains some of the world's driest regions, with only western South A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a satellite-based sensor used for earth and climate measurements. There are two MODIS sensors in Geocentric orbit, Earth orbit: one on board the Terra (satellite), Terra (Earth Observing System, EOS AM) satellite, launched by NASA in 1999; and one on board the Aqua (satellite), Aqua (EOS PM) satellite, launched in 2002. Since 2011, MODIS operations have been supplemented by VIIRS sensors, such as the one aboard Suomi NPP. The systems often conduct similar operations due to their similar designs and orbits (with VIIRS data systems deisgned to be compatible with MODIS), though they have subtle differences contributing to similar but not identical uses. The MODIS instruments were built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. They capture data in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 μm to 14.4 μm and at varying spatial resolutions (2 bands at 250 m, 5 bands at 500 m and 29 bands at 1 km). Together th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global And Planetary Change
''Global and Planetary Change'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research into the earth sciences, particularly pertaining to changes in aspects thereof such as sea level and the chemical composition of the atmosphere. It has been published by Elsevier since it was established in 1989. The editors-in-chief are Alan Haywood, Jed Kaplan, Trude Storelvmo, Liviu Matenco, Zhengtang Guo, Maoyan Zhu, Fabienne Marret-Davies, Howard Falcon-Lang. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2021 impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a type of journal ranking. Journals with higher impact factor values are considered more prestigious or important within their field. The Impact Factor of a journa ... of 5.114. References External links * Earth and atmospheric sciences journals Planetary science journals Academic journals established in 1989 Elsevier academic journals Monthly jour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namib-Naukluft National Park
The Namib-Naukluft National Park is a national park in western Namibia, situated between the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the edge of the Great Escarpment. It encompasses part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert), the Naukluft mountain range, and the lagoon at Sandwich Harbour. The best-known area of the park and one of the main visitor attractions in Namibia is Sossusvlei, a clay pan surrounded by dunes, and Sesriem, a small canyon of the Tsauchab. The desert research station of Gobabeb is situated within the park. Location and description With an overall area of , the Namib-Naukluft National Park was at the time of its last expansion the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world. It consists of a strip of land on the Atlantic Ocean, including of sea, that extends roughly north-to-south from the Swakop River to the B4 road to Lüderitz. Wildlife A surprising collection of creatures survives in the hyper-arid region, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called prides. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on medium-sized and large ungulates. The lion is an apex predator, apex and keystone predator. The lion inhabits grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands. It is usually more diurnality, diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active nocturnality, at night and crepuscular, at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the lion ranged throughout Africa and Eurasia, from Southeast Europe to India, but it has been reduced to fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Fur Seal
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, and Afro-Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. It has a large and broad head with a pointed snout that may be flat or turned up slightly. They have external ear flaps (''Auricle (anatomy), pinnae'') and their whiskers (''Whiskers, vibrissae'') are long, possibly growing back past the pinnae, especially in adult males. The fore-Flipper (anatomy), flippers are covered with sparse hairs over about three-quarters of their length. The hind-flippers are short relative to the large body, with short, fleshy tips on the digits. The size and weight of the brown fur seal depends on the subspecies; the Southern African subspecies is, on average, slightly larger than the Australian subspecies. Males of the African subspecies (''A. p. pusillus'') are in length on average and weigh . Females are smaller, averaging i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metamerism (biology), metameric) Segmentation (biology), segments, and paired jointed appendages. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. They form an extremely diverse group of up to ten million species. Haemolymph is the analogue of blood for most arthropods. An arthropod has an open circulatory system, with a body cavity called a haemocoel through which haemolymph circulates to the interior Organ (anatomy), organs. Like their exteriors, the internal organs of arthropods are generally built of repeated segments. They have ladder-like nervous systems, with paired Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, ventral Ventral nerve cord, nerve cord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nama People
Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Khoekhoe language, Nama language of the Khoe languages, Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama People (or Nama-Khoe people) are the largest group of the Khoekhoe people, many of whom have disappeared as a group. Many of the Nama clans live in Central Namibia and the other smaller groups live in Namaqualand, which today straddles the Namibian border with South Africa. History The Khoisan peoples of South Africa and southern Namibia maintained a nomadic life since time immemorial. The Khoekhoe were pastoralists and the San people lived as hunter-gatherers. The Nama are a Khoekhoe group. They originally inhabited the Orange River in southern Namibia and northern South Africa. The early colonialists referred to them as ''Hottentots''. Their alternative historical name, "Namaqua", stems from the addition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herero People
The Herero () are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola, and a small number in South Africa. The Hereros in Botswana and South Africa are there because of displacement during the Herero and Nama genocide, 1904–1908 genocide committed by the German colonial empire, German Empire. Overview Unlike most Bantu, who are primarily subsistence agriculture, subsistence farmers,Immaculate N. Kizza, ''The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda: A Study and Anthology of Legends, Myths, Epigrams and Folktales'' p. 21: "The Bantu were, and still are, primarily subsistence farmers who would settle in areas, clear land, organize themselves in larger units basically for protective purposes, and start permanent settlements." the Herero are traditionall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himba People
The Himba (singular: OmuHimba, plural: OvaHimba) are an ethnic group with an estimated population of about 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region (formerly Kaokoland) and on the other side of the Kunene River in southern Angola. There are also a few groups left of the OvaTwa, who the OvaHimba consider to be part of their tribe, but are hunter-gatherers. Culturally distinguishable from the Herero people, the OvaHimba are a semi-nomadic, pastoralist people and speak OtjiHimba, a variety of Herero, which belongs to the Bantu family within Niger–Congo. The OvaHimba are semi-nomadic as they have base homesteads where crops are cultivated, but may have to move within the year depending on rainfall and where there is access to water. The OvaHimba are considered the last (semi-) nomadic people of Namibia. Culture Subsistence economy The OvaHimba are predominantly livestock farmers who breed fat-tailed sheep and goats, but count their wealth in the numb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skeleton Coast
The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia. Immediately south of Angola, it stretches from the Kunene River to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The indigenous San people (formerly known as Bushmen), of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell". On the coast, the upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs (called ''cassimbo'' by the Angolans) for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, rainfall rarely exceeds annually, and the climate is highly inhospitable. There is a constant, heavy surf on the beaches. In the days before engine-powered ships and boats, it was possible to get ashore through the surf, but impossible to launch from the shore. The only way out was by going through a marsh hundreds of kilometres long and only accessible via a hot and arid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadley Cell
The Hadley cell, also known as the Hadley circulation, is a global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the equator, flowing poleward near the tropopause at a height of above the Earth's surface, cooling and descending in the subtropics at around 25 degrees latitude, and then returning equatorward near the surface. It is a thermally direct circulation within the troposphere that emerges due to differences in insolation and heating between the tropics and the subtropics. On a yearly average, the circulation is characterized by a circulation cell on each side of the equator. The Southern Hemisphere Hadley cell is slightly stronger on average than its northern counterpart, extending slightly beyond the equator into the Northern Hemisphere. During the summer and winter months, the Hadley circulation is dominated by a single, cross-equatorial cell with air rising in the summer hemisphere and sinking in the winter hemisphere. Analogous circulations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
