The fund provides support to indigenous rainforest peoples to assert and defend their rights, to define and promote sustainable development in their communities, and to challenge the activities and practices of governments or other entities which damage their environment and lands. The programs and projects are developed in partnership with local communities and representative indigenous NGOs. (Full article...)
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Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a protected area; the cutting down of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Illegal logging is a driving force for a number of environmental issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss which can drive larger-scale environmental crises such as climate change and other forms of environmental degradation.
Illegality may also occur during transport, such as illegal processing and export (through fraudulent declaration to customs); the avoidance of taxes and other charges, and fraudulent certification. These acts are often referred to as "wood laundering".
Illegal logging is driven by a number of economic forces, such as demand for raw materials, land grabbing and demand for pasture for cattle. Regulation and prevention can happen at both the supply size, with better enforcement of environmental protections, and at the demand side, such as an increasing regulation of trade as part of the international lumber Industry. (Full article...)
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The log scaler is an occupation in the timber industry. The Log Scaler measures the cut trees to determine the scale (volume) and quality (grade) of the wood to be used for manufacturing. When logs are sold, in order to determine the basis for a sale price in a standard way, the logs are "scaled" which means they are measured, identified as to species, and deductions for defects assigned to produce a net volume of merchantable wood. There are several different scales or rules that are used to determine the volume of wood. Scribner Decimal C rule is based on diagrams of circles that show the number of boards that will be utilized from the diameters of logs. The cubic rule, often called Metric in Canada, determines the cubic volume of the log material. The logs are recorded as gross scale (actual log measurements, length and diameter) and net scale (volume after deductions for defects are taken out). This occupation is usually performed by a third party organization qualified to "scale" government timber. Since internal defects are determined by external indications, scaling is not an exact science and is subject to interpretation of log scaling rules. The log scaler is subject to random "check scales" in which another scaler rescales exactly the same logs and the results are compared. The log scaler must be within + or - 1% of the gross scale and + or - 2% of the net scale to keep their certification to scale. The scale is used for payment, quality control and inventory purposes. (Full article...)
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The World Rainforest Movement (WRM) is an international initiative created to strengthen the global movement in defense of forests, in order to fight deforestation and forest degradation. It was founded in 1986 by activists from around the world.
WRM believes that this goal can only be achieved by fighting for social and ecological justice, by respecting the collective rights of traditional communities and the right to self-determination of peoples who depend on the forests for their livelihoods.
For this reason, WRM's actions are oriented to support the struggles of indigenous peoples and peasant communities in defense of their territories.
WRM's International Secretariat is composed of a small team with members from different countries. The head office is in Uruguay. (Full article...)
The taiga or boreal forest has been called the world's largest land biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and Estonia, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaidō). The principal tree species, depending on the length of the growing season and summer temperatures, vary across the world. The taiga of North America is mostly spruce, Scandinavian and Finnish taiga consists of a mix of spruce, pines and birch; Russian taiga has spruces, pines and larches depending on the region; and the Eastern Siberian taiga is a vast larch forest.
Taiga in its current form is a relatively recent phenomenon, having only existed for the last 12,000 years since the beginning of the Holocene epoch, covering land that had been mammoth steppe or under the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in Eurasia and under the Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America during the Late Pleistocene.
Although at high elevations taiga grades into alpine tundra through Krummholz, it is not exclusively an alpine biome, and unlike subalpine forest, much of taiga is lowlands.
The term "taiga" is not used consistently by all cultures. In the English language, "boreal forest" is used in the United States and Canada in referring to more southerly regions, while "taiga" is used to describe the more northern, barren areas approaching the tree line and the tundra. Hoffman (1958) discusses the origin of this differential use in North America and how this differentiation distorts established Russian usage.
Sir Dietrich BrandisKCIEFRS (31 March 1824 – 28 May 1907) was a German-British botanist and forestry academic and administrator, who worked with the British Imperial Forestry Service in colonial India for nearly 30 years. He joined the British civil service in Burma in 1856, shortly afterwards became head of the British forestry administration in all of Burma, and served as Inspector General of Forests in India from 1864 to 1883. He returned to Europe in 1883, dividing his time between Bonn and Greater London. In retirement he dedicated himself to scholarly work, resulting in the book Indian Trees (1906), his magnum opus. Brandis is considered the father of tropicalforestry and has also been described as the father of scientific forestry. In addition to his work in India, he also had a significant influence on forest management in the United States. (Full article...)
The service implements the National Forest Policy in order to ensure the ecological stability of the country through the protection and participatory sustainable management of natural resources. The members of the service also manage the National Parks, Tiger Reserve, Wildlife Sanctuaries and other Protected Areas of the country. A Forest Service officer is wholly independent of the district administration and exercises administrative, judicial and financial powers in their own domain. Positions in state forest department, such as District/Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Conservator of Forests, Chief Conservator of Forests and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests etc., are held, at times, by Indian Forest Service officers. The highest-ranking Forest Service official in each state is the Head of Forest Forces.A forest service officer also hold positions of Chairman and Member Secretary in the State Pollution Control Boards.
Earlier, the British Government in India had constituted the Imperial Forest Service in 1867 which functioned under the Federal Government until the Government of India Act 1935 was passed and responsibility was transferred to the provinces.
The equivalent material in the sulfite process is usually called brown liquor, but the terms red liquor, thick liquor and sulfite liquor are also used. (Full article...)
Felling is the process of cutting down trees, an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees is a lumberjack. A feller buncher is a machine capable of felling a single large tree or grouping and felling several small ones simultaneously. (Full article...)
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The European Arboricultural Council (EAC) based in Bad Honnef, Germany is a forum where delegates from a wide range of arboricultural organizations throughout Europe meet. The goal of the EAC is to elevate the status and to raise the professional level of competence within arboriculture. This objective is carried out by liaising on matters ranging from research and education to successful tree establishment and the improvement of safe working practices. (Full article...)
Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets. Firewood can be seasoned and heat treated (dry) or unseasoned (fresh/wet). It is generally classified as either hardwood or softwood. Firewood is a renewable resource. However, demand for this fuel can outpace its ability to regenerate on a local or regional level. Good forestry practices and improvements in devices that use firewood can improve local wood supplies.
Smoke from firewood causes respiratory and other diseases. Moving firewood long distances can potentially transport diseases and invasive species. (Full article...)
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This is a list of countries and territories of the world according to the total area covered by forests, based on data published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 2010, the world had 3.92 billion hectares (ha) of tree cover, extending over 30% of its land area. In 2022, it lost 22.8 million ha of tree cover.[need quotation to verify] In 2020, the world had a total forest area of 4.06 billion ha, which was 31 percent of the total land area. This area is equivalent to 0.52 ha per person – although forests are not distributed equally among the world's people or geographically. The tropical domain has the largest proportion of the world's forests (45 percent), followed by the boreal, temperate and subtropical domains. More than half (54 percent) of the world's forests is in only five countries – the Russian Federation (20.1%), Brazil (12.2%), Canada (8.6%), the United States of America (7.6%) and China (5.4%).
Many of the world's forests are being damaged and degraded or are disappearing altogether. Their capacity to provide tangible goods, such as fiber, food, and medicines, as well as essential ecological services, including habitat for biodiversity, carbon storage, and moderation of freshwater flows, is under greater threat than ever before. According to World Resource Institute in Washington, between 2000 and 2020 the world lost 101 million hectares (Mha) of tree cover, mostly tropical and subtropical forests (92%). The FAO is compiling a new global assessment due to be published in 2025. (Full article...)
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Hardwood timber production is the process of managing stands of deciduous trees to maximize woody output. The production process is not linear because other factors must be considered, including marketable and non-marketable goods, financial benefits, management practices, and the environmental implications, of those management practices.
Forests include market and non-market products. Marketable products include goods that have a market price. Timber is the main one, with prices that range from a few hundred dollars per thousand board feet (MBF) to several thousand dollars for a veneer log. Others include grazing/fodder, specialty crops such as mushrooms or berries, usage fees for recreation or hunting, and biomass. Forests also provide some non-market values which have no current market price. Examples of non-market goods would be improving water quality, air quality, aesthetics, and carbon sequestration.
The more biodiverse the hardwood-forest ecosystem, the more challenges and opportunities its managers face. Managers aim for sustainable forest management to keep their cash crop renewing itself, using silvicultural practices that include growing, selling, controlling insects and most diseases, providing manure, applying herbicle treatments, and thinning. Fertilization can stop the growth rate and amount of plant material, thus possibly increasing the number of wildlife that can inhabit a site. Invasive species control maintains an area's structure and native composition.
But management can also harm the ecosystem; for example, machinery used in a timber harvest can compact the soil, stress the root system, reduce tree growth, lengthen the time needed for a stand to mature to harvestability. Machinery can also damage the understory, disturbing wildlife habitat and prevent regeneration. (Full article...)
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Resource Extraction Monitoring (REM) is a non-profit organisation that provides independent monitoring to ensure that laws relating to the extraction of natural resources are enforced. It was founded in 2003 by experts with over 15 years of monitoring experience. The head office is in the UK, with local offices in countries where major projects are taking place.
The organisation bridges the gap between governments, environmental and human rightsNGOs and local communities, donors and the private sector by providing objective and timely information on natural resource allocation and use. REM is not a lobbying organisation and has no political agenda, but is pro-active in researching and presenting the issue of governance and transparency during project implementation. (Full article...)
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Tree taper is the degree to which a tree's stem or bole decreases in diameter as a function of height above ground. Within Forestry and for the purposes of timber production, trees with a high degree of taper are said to have poor form, while those with low taper have good form. The opposite is the case for open-grown amenity trees. The form of a tree is sometimes quantified by the Girard form class, which is the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the butt-log scaling diameter to diameter at breast height.
Taper is often represented by mathematical functions fitted to empirical data, called taper equations. One such function, attributed to Ormerod, is
where:
= stem diameter at height h,
= tree diameter at breast height,
= tree total height,
height of interest (h ≤ H), and
= breast height.
Once developed, taper equations can be used to predict the diameter at a given height, or the height for a given diameter. (Full article...)
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Caliper(s) or calliper(s) are an instrument used to measure the dimensions of an object; namely, the diameter or depth of a hole. The word caliper comes from latin roots meaning precise pincer.
Many types of calipers permit reading out a measurement on a ruled scale, a dial, or an electronic digital display. A common association is to calipers using a sliding vernier scale.
Some calipers can be as simple as a compass with inward or outward-facing points, but with no scale (measurement indication). The tips of the caliper are adjusted to fit across the points to be measured, and then kept at that span while moved to separate measuring device, such as a ruler.
Site index is a term used in forestry to describe the potential for foresttrees to grow at a particular location or "site". Site is defined as "The average age of dominate and/or codominate trees of an even-aged, undisturbed site of intolerant trees at a base age"; furthermore, the word site is used in forestry to refer to a distinct area where trees are found. Site index is used to measure the productivity of the site and the management options for that site and reports the height of dominant and co-dominant trees in a stand at a base age such as 25, 50 and 100 years. For example, a red oak with an age of 50 years and a height of 70 feet (21 m) will have a site index of 70. Site index is species specific. Common methods used to determine site index are based on tree height, plant composition and the use of soil maps. (Full article...)
The log scaler is an occupation in the timber industry. The Log Scaler measures the cut trees to determine the scale (volume) and quality (grade) of the wood to be used for manufacturing. When logs are sold, in order to determine the basis for a sale price in a standard way, the logs are "scaled" which means they are measured, identified as to species, and deductions for defects assigned to produce a net volume of merchantable wood. There are several different scales or rules that are used to determine the volume of wood. Scribner Decimal C rule is based on diagrams of circles that show the number of boards that will be utilized from the diameters of logs. The cubic rule, often called Metric in Canada, determines the cubic volume of the log material. The logs are recorded as gross scale (actual log measurements, length and diameter) and net scale (volume after deductions for defects are taken out). This occupation is usually performed by a third party organization qualified to "scale" government timber. Since internal defects are determined by external indications, scaling is not an exact science and is subject to interpretation of log scaling rules. The log scaler is subject to random "check scales" in which another scaler rescales exactly the same logs and the results are compared. The log scaler must be within + or - 1% of the gross scale and + or - 2% of the net scale to keep their certification to scale. The scale is used for payment, quality control and inventory purposes. (Full article...)
Global annual deforestation is estimated to total 13.7 million hectares a year, similar to the area of Greece. Half of the area experiencing deforestation consists of new forests or forest growth. In addition to direct human-induced deforestation, growing forests have also been affected by climate change. The Kyoto Protocol includes an agreement to prevent deforestation, but does not stipulate actions to fulfil it.
The rate of global tree cover loss has approximately doubled since 2001, to an annual loss approaching an area the size of Italy.
The International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 1983) is an agreement to provide an effective framework for cooperation between tropical timber producers and consumers and to encourage the development of national policies aimed at sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical forests and their genetic resources. The International Tropical Timber Organization was established under this agreement, which first opened for signature on 18 November 1983, then Entered into force on 1 April 1985. There were subsequent treaties, with an increasing number of signatories, in 1994 (ITTA2) and 2006 (ITTA3).
ITTA2 (1994) was drafted to ensure that by the year 2000 exports of tropical timber originated from sustainably managed sources and to establish a fund to assist tropical timber producers in obtaining the resources necessary to reach this objective. It further defined the mandate of the International Tropical Timber Organization. The agreement was opened for signature on 26 January 1994, and entered into force on 1 January 1997.
ITTA3 (2006) aimed to "promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests and to promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests". It entered into force on 7 December 2011. (Full article...)
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In forestry, periodic annual increment (PAI) is the change in the size of a tree between the beginning and ending of a growth period, divided by the number of years that was designated as the growing period. For sigmoid growth, the graph of PAI increases rapidly and then quickly declines, approaching zero. PAI may go negative if a tree loses volume due to damage or disease. Periodic annual increment is commonly used instead of current annual increment as a basis for computing growth per cent. Growth per cent indicates the rate of increase with relation to the wood capital required for its production, this is usually based on a single year's growth. (Full article...)
It was established to represent forestry and wood-using businesses, from nurseries and growers, to wood processing end-users. It was created to represent the views of the industry to the Forestry Commission and the policy makers within the relevant legislatures and executives. (Full article...)
Silviculture is the practice of controlling the growth, composition/structure, as well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production.
The name comes from the Latin silvi- ('forest') and culture ('growing'). The study of forests and woods is termed silvology. Silviculture also focuses on making sure that the treatment(s) of forest stands are used to conserve and improve their productivity.
Generally, silviculture is the science and art of growing and cultivating forest [crops], based on a knowledge of silvics .The study of the life-history and general characteristics of forest trees and stands, with particular reference to local/regional factors. The focus of silviculture is the control, establishment and management of forest stands. The distinction between forestry and silviculture is that silviculture is applied at the stand-level, while forestry is a broader concept. Adaptive management is common in silviculture, while forestry can include natural/conserved land without stand-level management and treatments being applied. (Full article...)
Felling is the process of cutting down trees, an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees is a lumberjack. A feller buncher is a machine capable of felling a single large tree or grouping and felling several small ones simultaneously. (Full article...)
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A bucksaw is a hand-poweredframe saw similar to bow saw and generally used with a sawbuck to cut logs or firewood to length (bucking). Modern bucksaws usually have a metal frame ("H" or C-shaped) and a removable blade with coarse teeth held in tension by the frame. Lightweight portable or foldable models used for camping or back-packing are also available. It is often referred to as a bow saw in the North American hardware market, but that term traditionally refers to a different type of saw with a wooden frame. (Full article...)
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A crosscut saw (thwart saw) is any saw designed for cutting wood perpendicular to (across) the wood grain. Crosscut saws may be small or large, with small teeth close together for fine work like woodworking or large for coarse work like log bucking, and can be a hand tool or power tool.
The cutting edge of each tooth is angled in an alternating pattern. This design allows each tooth to act like a knife edge and slice through the wood in contrast to a rip saw, which tears along the grain, acting like a miniature chisel. Some crosscut saws use special teeth, called rakers, designed to clean out the cut strips of wood from the kerf. Crosscut saws generally have smaller teeth than rip saws.
Some saws, such as Japanese saws and those used by the ancient Egyptians, are designed to cut only on the pull stroke. Western saws, on the other hand, are designed to cut on the push stroke.[citation needed] Cross cut saws designed for log bucking and tree felling are designed to cut on the pull stroke. (Full article...)
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Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, called charcoal burning, often by forming a charcoal kiln, the heat is supplied by burning part of the starting material itself, with a limited supply of oxygen. The material can also be heated in a closed retort. Modern "charcoal" briquettes used for outdoor cooking may contain many other additives, e.g. coal.
This process happens naturally when combustion is incomplete, and is sometimes used in radiocarbon dating. It also happens inadvertently while burning wood, as in a fireplace or wood stove. The visible flame in these is due to combustion of the volatile gases exuded as the wood turns into charcoal. The soot and smoke commonly given off by wood fires result from incomplete combustion of those volatiles. Charcoal burns at a higher temperature than wood, with hardly a visible flame, and releases almost nothing except heat, water, and carbon dioxide. (Full article...)
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In forestry, fishing and mining, high grading refers to the selective harvesting of goods to keep only the most valuable items. The term is frequently associated with fraud, especially in mining. (Full article...)
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Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attributes such as foldability and rigidity. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a grammage above 250 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single- or multi-ply.
Paperboard can be easily cut and formed, is lightweight, and because it is strong, is used in packaging. Another end-use is high quality graphic printing, such as book and magazine covers or postcards. Paperboard is also used in fine arts for creating sculptures.
Sometimes it is referred to as cardboard, which is a generic, lay term used to refer to any heavy paper pulp–based board, however this usage is deprecated in the paper, printing, and packaging industries as it does not adequately describe each product type. (Full article...)
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NICOL Forests UK Limited is a UK-registered company that acts as the UK arm of the Ghana-based National Interest Company Limited (NICOL). The director of the UK company is Neil McCartney.
NICOL was incorporated in Accra on 10 November 2005 (Certificate of Incorporation No. CA - 21, 620) and is authorised, among other things, to carry on business in reforestation, agro-forestry and biodiesel production. The registered office is at P.O. Box AT 1231, Achimota Market, Accra, Ghana.
The original directors of NICOL were Neil McCartney, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, Nana Akua Owusu and Kofi Ashiboe-Mensah – who subsequently died. Kofi Akainyah is the company secretary.
NICOL has signed Land Lease Contracts and Benefit Sharing Agreements with the Ghanaian Forestry Commission covering three areas of degraded forest-reserve land for the purpose of developing commercial forest plantations:
Boufoum Forest Reserve in the Agogo Forest District of Ashanti Region, Ghana;
Boufoum Forest Reserve in the Kumawu Forest District of Ashanti Region, Ghana; and
It is negotiating with the Forestry Commission and landowners for further sections of on-reserve and off-reserve land.
The idea of a “national interest” holding company was originally discussed in about 2000 by a group of conscientious individuals with strong background in conflict prevention and transformation, preventive diplomacy and sustainable development. They argued that some of the root causes of most internal conflicts are poverty, underdevelopment and unfair global trade. They tasked themselves into the development of business and investment models for environmental-friendly social development projects to alleviate poverty and environmental degradation. (Full article...)
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Tree breeding is the application of genetic, reproductive biology and economics principles to the genetic improvement and management of forest trees. In contrast to the selective breeding of livestock, arable crops, and horticultural flowers over the last few centuries, the breeding of trees, with the exception of fruit trees, is a relatively recent occurrence.
A typical forest tree breeding program starts with selection of superior phenotypes (plus trees) in a natural or planted forest, often based on growth rate, tree form and site adaptation traits. This application of mass selection improves the mean performance of the forest. Offspring is obtained from selected trees and grown in test plantations that act as genetic trials. Based on such tests the best genotypes among the parents can be selected. Selected trees are typically multiplied by either seeds or grafting and seed orchards are established when the preferred output is improved seed. Alternatively, the best genotypes can be directly propagated by cuttings or in-vitro methods and used directly in clonal plantations. The first system is frequently used in pines and other conifers, while the second is typical in some broadleaves (poplars, eucalypts and others). The objectives of a tree breeding program range from yield improvement and adaptation to particular conditions, to pest- and disease-resistance, wood properties, etc. Currently, tree breeding is starting to take advantage of the fast development in plant genetics and genomics. (Full article...)
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Pacing is a reasonably easy and quick method of measuring distance in the field. It is used to measure a distance and is often used with a sighting or a hand compass. Most commonly, pacing is split up into segments, such as chains, which are set measures of distance. By determining one's own pace, distance can easily be estimated. (Full article...)
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Forestry is one of the main economic sectors of Chile, representing 14% of the value of the country's total exports. This places the forestry sector in Chile as the second largest export sector behind copper mining. From 1970 to 2005 planted forest surface in Chile grew from 300,000 ha to more than 2.07 million ha. In 2019 Chile had slightly more than 2,3 million ha of forest plantations of which 1,3 million ha were Pinus radiata and 0,9 million ha were of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens. In 2006 70% of Chile's forestry production went to export, and the industry employed more than 150,000 workers. By 2020 people employed in the sector were down to 112,200.
The wave of forest plantations that begun in the 1970s was initially a response to severe soil erosion that affected much of the country. There was a broad support for plantations when these were first implemented but by the 1980s a conservationist critique had grown exposing the adverse effects of plantations on certain plant and animal species, on biodiversity and on water resources. In many cases the establishment of plantations meant not reforestation but the replacement of existing forests with plantations.
The growth of the forestry sector since the 1980s is the consequence of growth of the export-oriented economy in Chile. Critics argue it has created an enclave economy. In the area of Cañete and Tirúa forestry companies have been accused of contributing to the displacement of indigenous Mapuche communities. In the last decades the communities of Temucuicui have had a conflict, at times physically violent, with the forestry company Forestal Mininco, leading to the detention and imprisonment of community members in the prisons of Angol and Cañete. (Full article...)
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The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a sustainability organization operating in the U.S. and Canada that works across four pillars: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI was founded in 1994 by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). SFI is the world's largest single forest certification standard by area. SFI is headquartered in Ottawa and Washington, D.C.
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British. The most famous one was the Indian Forest Act of 1878. Both the 1878 act and the 1927 act sought to consolidate and reserve the areas having forest cover, or significant wildlife, to regulate movement and transit of forest produce, and duty leviable on timber and other forest produce. It also defines the procedure to be followed for declaring an area to be a Reserved Forest, a Protected Forest or a Village Forest. It defines what is a forest offence, what are the acts prohibited inside a Reserved Forest, and penalties leviable on violation of the provisions of the Act. (Full article...)
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Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair already damaged ecosystems rather than take preventative measures. Ecological restoration can reverse biodiversity loss, combat climate change, and support local economies. The United Nations named 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Scientists estimate that the current species extinction rate, or the rate of the Holocene extinction, is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the normal, background rate. Habitat loss is a leading cause of species extinctions and ecosystem service decline.
Two methods have been identified to slow the rate of species extinction and ecosystem service decline: conservation of quality habitat and restoration of degraded habitat. The number and size of ecological restoration projects have increased exponentially in recent years.
Restoration goals reflect political choices, and restoration goals differ by place and culture. (Full article...)
List of sharks
(( Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of sharks )) Check that this avoids humans and other non-sharks
The Arabian catshark (Bythaelurus alcockii) is a catshark of the familyScyliorhinidae. It can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long, and lives in open seas. It is only known from a single specimen, now lost, which was found on the continental slope of the Arabian Sea. (Full article...)
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Chaenogaleus is a genus of shark containing two species. Only one is extant.
The South China catshark (Apristurus sinensis) is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae, known only from the holotype, which was taken from the South China Sea at a depth of 537 m. Its length is 42 cm, but this measurement was taken from an immature specimen. The reproduction of the South China catshark is oviparous. (Full article...)
The brown lanternshark or bristled lanternshark (Etmopterus unicolor) is a little-known species of deep-sea dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae. It is found off Japan and New Zealand, and possibly also South Africa and Australia, typically deeper than 300 m (980 ft). This species can be distinguished from other lanternsharks by its coloration, which is a uniform dark gray or brown without the ventral surface being much darker and clearly delineated from the rest of the body. The brown lanternshark feeds on small bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with females giving birth to 9–18 young. An unusually high proportion of individuals in Suruga Bay are hermaphrodites, with both male and female characteristics. (Full article...)
The salamander shark or salamander catshark (Parmaturus pilosus) is a little known catshark that inhabits a range from Japan and the East China Sea, on the upper to middle continental slope at depths of 358–895 m. Specimens of this species can attain a total length of at least 64 cm. This catshark is a potential bycatch of trawl fisheries operating within its range, but no details are available. There are high levels of squalene in this catshark's liver. The reproduction of this catshark is oviparous. (Full article...)
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The Australian reticulate swellshark (Cephaloscyllium hiscosellum) is a little-known species of catshark in the familyScyliorhinidae. It is found off the coast of northwestern Australia at depths of 290–420 m (950–1,380 ft). This shark has a stocky body and a short, wide head with a capacious mouth. It is characterized by a striking dorsal color pattern of dark brown lines that trace a series of hollow saddles and narrow rings, on a light background. Like other swellsharks, this species can inflate itself when threatened. Its reproduction is oviparous. (Full article...)
This is a small species; the maximum known length is 85 cm (33 in) for females and 63 cm (25 in) for males (although no mature males have yet been examined). The body is slender with a circular cross-section, and depressed forward of the gill slits. The elongated, saw-like snout tapers evenly to its tip, and bears very slender lateral teeth of variable length and a pair of filamentous, dorsoventrally flattened barbels. The eyes are large and oval in shape. Its nostrils about one-third the distance from the corner of the mouth to the barbel attachment on the rostrum. The mouth is large and broadly arched; there are 47 tooth rows in the upper jaw and 37 in the lower. The teeth have flattened, oval bases and a single narrow, pointed cusp. The pectoral fins are large with narrowed rounded tips and weakly concave rear margins. The two dorsal fins are well-separated, the first longer and broader than the second. The caudal fin is short, with the lower lobe absent.
The coloration is medium brown above and white below; there are pronounced white rear margins on the dorsal and caudal fins. The paired fins are mostly pale with brownish basal portions clearly demarcated from the rest of the fin. Very little is known of the biology of the tropical sawshark; its small size may indicate that it is reproductively productive. There is little fishing pressure within its range, and so it is classified as of Least Concern by the World Conservation Union. (Full article...)
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The longsnout dogfish (Deania quadrispinosa) is a little-known deepwater dogfish, found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans from Namibia to Mozambique and in the South Pacific off southern Australia and New Zealand.The longsnout dogfish has an extremely long, angular snout, no anal fin, dorsal fins of similar size with the first placed high on the back and the second having a longer rear free tip, and pitchfork-shaped dermal denticles. It is dark brown and grows to about 114 cm.
The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as "timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the blacktip shark is viviparous; females bear one to 10 pups every other year. Young blacktip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction.
Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people. This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers. (Full article...)
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The ornate wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus) is a species of carpet shark that lives in Australia and possibly other countries in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is coloured golden brown, yellow-green and blueish-grey, and it grows to maximum 120 centimetres (3.9 ft). Described by Charles Walter De Vis in 1883, it is similar in appearance to other Australian wobbegongs and has previously been classified as the same species as the Gulf wobbegong. It is a nocturnal species, hunting at night, and it can bite humans when disturbed. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as a least-concern species. (Full article...)
The painted swellshark (Cephaloscyllium pictum) is a little-known species of catshark, belonging to the familyScyliorhinidae, found in eastern Indonesia. This species reaches a maximum known length of 72 cm (28 in), and has a thick body with a short, broad and flattened head. It is dark gray with a variegated pattern of irregular darker and lighter blotches above, and lighter below with gray blotches and speckling on the snout. Like other swellsharks, it can inflate itself as a defensive measure. (Full article...)
The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as "timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the blacktip shark is viviparous; females bear one to 10 pups every other year. Young blacktip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction.
Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people. This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers. (Full article...)
The zebra bullhead shark (Heterodontus zebra) is a bullhead shark of the family Heterodontidae found in the central Indo-Pacific between latitudes 40°N and 20°S, from Japan and Korea to Australia. It is typically found at relatively shallow depths down to 50 m (160 ft), but off Western Australia, it occurs between 150 and 200 m (490 and 660 ft). It can reach a length of 1.25 m (4.1 ft). The reproduction of this bullhead shark is oviparous. (Full article...)
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Hemiscyllium halmahera, or the Halmahera epaulette shark, is a species of bamboo shark from Indonesia. This species is described from two specimens collected near Ternate island in 2013, off the coast of larger Halmahera island. This species is most similar to Hemiscyllium galei, found in West Papua, but looks strikingly different in its pattern of spots. While H. galei has seven large, dark spots on each side of its body, H. halmahera has a brown color with clusters of brown or white spots in polygon configurations all over its body. These small sharks are like other bamboo sharks, in that they use their pectoral fins to "walk" along the ocean floor. (Full article...)
The collared carpetshark (Parascyllium collare) is a poorly understood species of carpetshark of the familyParascylliidaeendemic to the waters of eastern Australia between latitudes26°S and 38°S. It is typically found 55–128 m (180–420 ft) in depth near the floor of rocky reefs on the continental shelf, though its depth range can extend between 20 and 230 m (66 and 755 ft). At a maximum length of only 85 cm (2.79 ft), it poses no threat to humans. It is common within its range and is not targeted species. This, combined with high survival rates after discardment and a significant portion of habitat untouched by fishing are why it is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Reproduction is oviparous and embryos feed solely on yolk. (Full article...)
The white-tip catshark (Parmaturus albimarginatus) is a recently described, deepwater catshark, known only from a single specimen collected from northern New Caledonia, at a depth of 590–732 m. The only known specimen, an adult male, measured a total of 57.7 cm in length. These sharks have spiracles, which are respiratory openings behind the eyes. Catsharks, all in all, are likewise recognized by two little dorsal fins. Numerous individuals from this group of sharks are likewise called dogfish. (Full article...)
The crocodile shark (Pseudocarcharias kamoharai) is a species of mackerel shark and the only extant member of the family Pseudocarchariidae.A specialized inhabitant of the mesopelagic zone, the crocodile shark can be found worldwide in tropical waters from the surface to a depth of 590 m (1,940 ft). It performs a diel vertical migration, staying below a depth of 200 m (660 ft) during the day and ascending into shallower water at night to feed. Typically measuring only 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, the crocodile shark is the smallest living mackerel shark. It can be distinguished by its elongated cigar-shaped body, extremely large eyes, and relatively small fins.
An active-swimming predator of pelagic bony fishes, squid and shrimp, the crocodile shark has a sizable oily liver that allows it to maintain its position in the water column with minimal effort. The size and structure of its eyes suggests that it is adapted for hunting at night. The crocodile shark is aplacental viviparous, with females typically giving birth to litters of four. The fetuses are oophagous, meaning that they feed on undeveloped eggs ovulated for this purpose by their mother. Due to its small size, the crocodile shark poses little danger to humans and is of little commercial importance. This species was responsible for damaging deep sea fiberoptic cables when the technology was first deployed in 1985. (Full article...)
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The Indonesian speckled carpetshark, Hemiscyllium freycineti, is a species of bamboo shark in the familyHemiscylliidae. It is found in the shallow ocean around the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua, Indonesia, but was formerly believed to be more widespread. This was due to confusion with H. michaeli, a species described from eastern Papua New Guinea in 2010. Compared to that species, the spots on H. freycineti are smaller, more rounded or slightly elongated in shape (versus relatively large, edged and more leopard-like in H. michaeli), and tend to darken at regular intervals forming 8-9 vertical bars on the body and tail. Furthermore, the large black spot behind the pectoral fin is more clearly defined in H. michaeli than in H. freycineti. Confusingly, some books with illustrations and photos labelled as H. freycineti actually show H. michaeli.
H. freycineti reaches a length is up to 46 centimetres (18 in). It is nocturnal, hiding in reef crevices during the day. (Full article...)
Ginglymostoma is a genus of shark in the familyGinglymostomatidae. There are two members in the genus. Members of this genus eat small fish and crustaceans, and are commonly quite lethargic unless provoked. Members of this genus have the ability to suck in water in order to remove snails from their shells in a manner that can be described as 'vacuum-like'. (Full article...)
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Megachasma is a genus of mackerel sharks. It is usually considered to be the sole genus in the distinct family Megachasmidae, though suggestion has been made that it may belong in the family Cetorhinidae, of which the basking shark is currently the sole extant member. Megachasma is known from a single living species, Megachasma pelagios.
In addition to the living M. pelagios, however, two extinct megamouth species – the PriabonianM. alisonae and the Oligocene–MioceneM. applegatei – have also recently been proposed on the basis of fossilized tooth remains. An early ancestor of the recent species Megachasma pelagios was reported from the early Miocene (Burdigalian) of Belgium. However, the Cretaceous-aged M. comanchensis has been recently reclassified as an odontaspid shark in the genus Pseudomegachasma, and is in fact unrelated to the megamouth shark despite similar teeth morphology.
They are a very rare genus of shark that are mainly found in temperate and tropical waters among the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The top sighting spots are Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines. (Full article...)
The Japanese bullhead shark (Heterodontus japonicus) is a species of bullhead shark in the family Heterodontidae found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Japan, Korea, and China. This benthic shark occurs at depths of 6–37 m (20–121 ft) over rocky bottoms or kelp beds. Measuring up to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long, it can be identified by its short, blunt head, two high dorsal fins with anterior spines, and pattern of irregularly shaped, vertical brown bands and stripes. The Japanese bullhead shark is a docile, slow-swimming species that feeds mainly on shelled invertebrates and small bony fishes. Reproduction is oviparous, with females laying spiral-flanged eggs in communal "nests". This species is of little interest to fisheries. (Full article...)
The broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) is the only extant member of the genus Notorynchus, in the family Hexanchidae. It is recognizable because of its seven gill slits, while most sharkspecies have five gill slits, with the exception of the members of the order Hexanchiformes and the sixgill sawshark. This shark has a large, thick body, with a broad head and blunt snout. The top jaw has jagged, cusped teeth and the bottom jaw has comb-shaped teeth. Its single dorsal fin is set far back along the spine towards the caudal fin, and is behind the pelvic fins. In this shark the upper caudal fin is much longer than the lower, and is slightly notched near the tip. Like many sharks, this sevengill is counter-shaded. Its dorsal surface is silver-gray to brown in order to blend with the dark water and substrate when viewed from above. In counter to this, its ventral surface is very pale, blending with the sunlit water when viewed from below. The body and fins are covered in a scattering of small black & white spots. In juveniles, their fins often have white margins.
It is also known as sevengill shark or simply sevengill and was formerly known as cow shark and mud shark; it is called sevengill due to its seven gill slits. Because of this, it was listed along with the sharpnose sevengill shark (Heptranchias perlo) by Guinness World Records as having the most gill slits. It is similar to the sharpnose sevengill shark but the latter has a pointed snout and lacks spots on its dorsal surface. The sevengill species are also related to ancient sharks as fossils from the Jurassic Period (200 to 145 million years ago) also had seven gills. As recently as the 1930s and 1940s, the shark was targeted by fisheries along the coast of California and, once the commercial fishery receded, recreational fishing of the shark started in the 1980s and 1990s. (Full article...)
The swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) is a catshark in the familyScyliorhinidae. It is found in the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean from between central California to southern Mexico, with an additional population off the coast of Chile. As a defense, the swell shark is able to expand to approximately double its regular size by swallowing water. (Full article...)
List of dams and reservoirs
(( Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of dams and reservoirs )) Avoid hatnotes and See also
The power station was inaugurated in 1922. It generates only railway traction current, single phase 55 kV at 16 2/3 hertz. The station is the starting point of a powerline to Sande and another to Sundhaugen Switching Station, where a 55 kV-line to Asker and another one to Neslandsvatn over Nordagutu and Skollenberg departs. The only other power station in Norway to do this is Kjofossen Power Station. (Full article...)
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Riga Hydroelectric Power Plant (Latvian: Rīgas hidroelektrostacija, shortened Rīgas HES) is located just beyond Riga's southern border. It is geographically located in the town of Salaspils. Total installed power generating capacity is 402 MW. There are six generators, two transformers and two 330 kV power lines (to Salaspils and Bišuciems). (Full article...)
Inga Falls on the Congo River is a group of rapids (or cataracts) downstream of the Livingstone Falls and the Pool Malebo. The Congo falls ~96 metres (315 ft) within this set of cataracts. The mean annual flow rate of the Congo River at Inga Falls is ~42,000 cubic metres per second (1,500,000 cu ft/s). Given this flow rate and the 96-metre fall, the Inga Falls alone has a potential to generate ~39.6 gigawatts (53,100,000 hp) of mechanical energy and nearly as much electrical energy.
Inga Falls is currently the site of two large hydro power plants and is being considered for a much larger hydro power generating station known as Grand Inga. The Grand Inga project, if completed, would be the largest hydro-electric power generating facility in the world. The current project scope calls for the use of a flow rate ~26,400 cubic metres per second at a net head of ~150 metres; this is equivalent to a generating capacity of ~38.9 GW. This hydro-electric generator would be more than double the current world record holder, which is the Three Gorges facility on the Yangtze River in China.
Grand Inga is a "run-of-the-river" hydroelectric project in which only a relatively small reservoir would be created to back up the power of the river's flow. This would be so that the net head for the hydroelectric turbines could approach 150 metres. (Full article...)
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The Capanda Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Kwanza River in Malanje Province, Angola. Built in 1987–2007 by the Russian company Tekhnopromexport, general designer - the institute Hydroproject (Chief Engineer - Ph.D Fedosov V.E.) The facility generates power by utilizing four turbines and 130 megawatts (170,000 hp) each, totalling the installed capacity to 520 megawatts (700,000 hp) . Total cost of US$4 billion. An additional cost of more than US$400 million was spent in repairing the damage caused during UNITA's occupation of the area at the time of the Angolan Civil War in 1992 and 1999. (Full article...)
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The Unbong Dam, or Yunfeng Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Yalu River which borders China and North Korea. It is located 33 km (21 mi) northeast of Ji'an in Jilin Province, China and Chasŏng in Chagang Province, North Korea. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it supports a 400 MW power station. Construction of the dam had initially began in August 1942 but was halted in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ending World War II. In October 1959, construction on the dam recommenced and in September 1965, the first of the four 100 MW Francis turbine-generators was operational. The last generator was operational on 4 April 1967. The 113.75 m (373 ft) tall dam creates a reservoir with a storage capacity of 3,895,000,000 m3 (3,157,728 acre⋅ft). The dam's spillway is an overflow type with 21 floodgates and has a maximum discharge of 21,900 m3/s (773,391 cu ft/s). The dam is located before a bend in the river and its power station is located on the other side of a ridge that meets the dam's right abutment. Water is delivered to the power station via two tunnels, 775 m (2,543 ft) and 759 m (2,490 ft) long. Generators 1 and 3 deliver power to China while 2 and 4 deliver to North Korea. (Full article...)
The Yesa Reservoir is located in the Pyrenees, and is formed with the damming of the Aragon River, in the Navarre town of Yesa (Spain), although the largest area of the reservoir is located in the province of Zaragoza, extending from east to west. It is located to the northwest of the Aragonese province of Zaragoza and to the east of Navarre. Most of it floods lands of the Berdun Canal, in the Aragonese region of Jacetania in the municipalities of Sigüés, Ruesta, Escó, and Tiermas. It is known by the nickname Mar de los Pirineos (English: sea of the Pyrenees) and is located at the entrance of the aforementioned. It is the largest navigable area of Aragon and it is the source of the Bardenas Canal that transfers water to the Ribera area south of Navarra and irrigates the Bardenas Reales and the Cinco Villas region of Zaragoza. It is also used for water supply and as a power station.
It has a capacity of 446.86 hm³ (although it has held 488.10 hm³), reaching the following elevations: minimum, 435.00 m; crest, 490.00 m; spillway, 482.61 m and maximum normal reservoir elevation of 488.61 m. The length of the tail end of the reservoir is 10 km with widths varying between 1 and 2.5 km. It occupies an area of 1900 hectares.
It was inaugurated in 1960 and caused the abandonment of several towns: Ruesta, Tiermas, and Escó with an affected population of more than 1500 people. Collaterally, due to the expropriation and planting of pine trees to prevent the siltation of the reservoir, the following upstream towns were affected: Larrosa, Villanovilla, Bescós de Garcipollera, Bergosa, Acín, and, Yosa de Garcipollera in the Garcipollera valley, now belonging to the municipality of Jaca and Cenarbe in Villanúa. 2408 hectares of farmland were flooded, of which 1000 were of very good agricultural quality.
On the other hand, the waters of the Aragón river transferred by the Bardenas canal to the region of Cinco Villas and the Bardenas Reales have led to the creation of 81 107.64 ha of irrigated land, 18 941.61 ha (23.35 %) in the province of Navarra and 62 166.03 ha (76.65%) in the province of Zaragoza, which, together with the supply to the 54 777 inhabitants who depend directly on the system, demand an average annual flow of 467 hm³ of water. This has led to the creation of some fifteen colonization villages, which are home to some 1267 families, many of which come from the villages evicted when the Berdún canal area was flooded. Such is the case of El Bayo, to which many families from Tiermas had to emigrate. (Full article...)
Bratsberg Power Station (Bratsberg kraftverk) is a hydroelectricpower station located in Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag County, Norway, owned by Statkraft. It operates at an installed capacity of 124 MW, with an average annual production of 650 GWh. The power plant is fed from the Selbusjøen reservoir, connected with a 12 km long tunnel, offering a gross head of 147 m. The power plant has two Francis turbines. (Full article...)
The dam was built in 1989 with a height of 243 metres (797 ft). The dam has an installed hydroelectric generation capacity of 1,150 megawatts (1,540,000 hp), a crest length of 390 metres (1,280 ft), and a structural volume of 17,100,000 cubic metres (600,000,000 cu ft).
Moglicë Hydro Power Plant is a large hydroelectricity plant on the river Devoll situated near the village Moglicë, Albania. The project consists of a large power plant with an installed capacity of 197 MW and an average annual production of 475 GWh. It was built by Devoll Hydropower, an Albanian company owned by Norwegian power company Statkraft. The asphalt-core rock-fill dam is 320 m long, 150 m high and 460 m wide. The dam is anticipated to be the world's highest of its kind upon completion. The reservoir has a surface area of 7.2 km2, and a storage capacity of about 380 million m3. The power plant is part of the Devoll Hydropower Project and construction on it began in June 2013. Main structures of dam were completed in June 2019. Commercial operations were started in June 2020. (Full article...)
The concrete gravity dam has a height of 90 m (300 ft) and a length of 800 m (2,600 ft). The dam's reservoir has a surface area of 135 km2 (52 sq mi) and a capacity of 2,180,000 cubic metres (77,000,000 cu ft).
The hydroelectric power plant was fitted with 2 x 67.5 MWeFrancis turbines with a total capacity of 135 Mwe. Major maintenance work carried out between 2003 and 2007 included replacing the turbines with 2 x 85 MWe units with a total capacity of 170 MWe, which generate 488 GWh per year. (Full article...)
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The Golovnaya Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River just east of Sarband in Khatlon Province, Tajikistan. It serves to provide water to a system of irrigation canals and generate hydroelectric power. The first generator was commissioned in 1962 and the last in 1963. Between 1984 and 1989 three of the Kaplan turbines were upgraded from 35 MW to 45 MW. Two of the turbines in the 240 MW power station discharge water into a canal on the left bank of the river. Water from this canal serves to irrigate but also supplies the 29.9 MW Perepadnaya and 15.1 MW Centralnaya Hydroelectric Power Plants located further down. The reservoir has a design storage volume of 96,000,000 m3 (78,000 acre⋅ft) by an estimated 80 percent of this is now silt. (Full article...)
An assessment of the dam's stability, taken out in the year 2004, revealed 19 stability and safety issues, mainly due to deferred maintenance. However, the main dam structure was in a stable condition at that time. (Full article...)
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Hammeren Hydroelectric Power Station (Norwegian: Hammeren kraftstasjon) is a hydroelectricpower station located in Oslo, Norway. It is the only power station in Oslo, and among the oldest power stations still running in Norway. It has a total installed capacity of 5 MWp, and an annual production of 16 GWh. The power station utilises the waterfalls from Skjærsjøen to Maridalsvannet, with a total height of 105 m. It was established in 1900 by the company Christiania Elektricitetsværk, originally with four generator units, and increased to six units in 1901. In 1927, the six generators were replaced by a single 5.6 MW unit. (Full article...)
The 263 mio. SR contract to build the dam was awarded to Yuksel Insaat Saudia Co Ltd., a subsidiary of the Turkish company Yüksel Holding AŞ. Work on the dam began in 2004. The dam was completed in April 2010.
It uses water provided by five reservoirs high up in the Papenoo Valley, above the commune. Each reservoir is created on the Papenoo River or a tributary by an embankment dam. From highest in elevation to lowest; Vaitapaa Dam at , which lies at an elevation of 411 m (1,348 ft) above sea level, is 15 m (49 ft) tall. It withholds a reservoir of 8,000 m3 (6.5 acre⋅ft). Next, at an elevation of 400 m (1,300 ft), Tahinu Dam, at is 33 m (108 ft) high and withholds a larger reservoir of 1,500,000 m3 (1,200 acre⋅ft). It is the tallest dam in Tahiti. Moving down is Vainavenave Dam at which lies at 399 m (1,309 ft) above sea level, is 29 m (95 ft) tall, and withholds a reservoir of 150,000 m3 (120 acre⋅ft). Fourth down the valley is the Vaituoru Dam at an elevation of 200 m (660 ft) with a reservoir capacity of 100,000 m3 (81 acre⋅ft). It is located at . Finally is the Tevaiohiro Dam at 85 m (279 ft) above sea level with a reservoir volume of 150,000 m3 (120 acre⋅ft). It is located at .
Water from the reservoirs is sent to three separate power stations via 25.5 km (15.8 mi) of penstock. The power station highest in elevation, Papenoo 1 contains four 4 MW Pelton-turbine-generators and is located at . Next downstream is Papenoo 2 at which contains one 4 MW Pelton turbine-generators. Lastly, Papenoo 3 contains two 4 MW Pelton turbine-generators and is located at . (Full article...)
The Campo Moro dams are a pair of hydroelectric-gravity dams situated in Lanzada, in the province of Sondrio, Lombardy (Northern Italy). The two dams are called Alpe Gera dam and Campo Moro dam. Alpe Gera, the largest of the pair, was constructed with approximately 1,800,000 m³ of concrete to create the Alpe Gera reservoir (in Italian: Bacino di Alpe Gera). The lower dam, Campo Moro, was created to form the Campo Moro reservoir (in Italian: Bacino di Campo Moro). (Full article...)
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Hua Na Dam (Thai: เขื่อนหัวนา, RTGS: Khuean Hua Na, pronounced[kʰɯ̀a̯nhǔa̯nāː]), in Kanthararom District, Sisaket Province, is the biggest dam in the Khong-Chi-Mun project in Thailand. It is close to the Rasi Salai Dam, which has been inoperable for over 10 years because of extreme salinity. Hua Na sits atop the same salt dome as Rasi Salai and may face the same fate if the gates are ever closed. Its height is 17 metres (56 ft), while its length is 207 metres (679 ft). It has 14 gates and a catchment area of 115,000,000 cubic metres (93,000 acre⋅ft). The reservoir stretches for 90 kilometres (56 mi), while its surface area is unknown. The reservoir has a manageable storage capacity of 64.98 million cubic metres.
It exceeded its budget of 1.5 billion baht, costing 2.5 billion.
Opponents note that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed before construction, leaving concerns about flooding and salinity unresolved. Clay resources, which provide a primary occupation for many villagers, would be endangered if the dam gates were closed. (Full article...)
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The Val di Stava Dam collapse occurred on 19 July 1985, when two tailings dams above the village of Stava, near Tesero, Italy, failed. It resulted in one of Italy's worst disasters, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings and demolishing eight bridges.
The upper dam broke first, leading to the collapse of the lower dam. Around 180,000 cubic metres (6,350,000 ft³) of mud, sand, and water were released into the Rio di Stava valley and toward the village of Stava at a speed of 90 km/h (56 mph). Having crashed through the village, the torrent continued until it reached the Avisio River a further 4.2 km (2.6 mi) away, destroying everything in its path. (Full article...)
The power plant collects water resources from six bodies of water in Tjodanvassdraget, the mountain plateau north of Lysefjorden. The fall height is 892 metres and the installed output is 110 MW (Full article...)
Tikveš Hydro Power Plant is a large power plant in Kavadarci Municipality, North Macedonia that has two turbines with a nominal capacity of 46 MW each having a total capacity of 92 MW. The dam for the power station is located on the Crna River and is 113.5 m (372 ft) high. The purpose of the dam is to store water for irrigation but also to generate power. (Full article...)
The Nurek Dam (Russian: Нурекская ГЭС; Tajik: Нерӯгоҳи обии Норак, Nerūgohi obii Norak, Tajik for Nurek Hydro-electric Station) is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. Its primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation and its power station has an installed capacity of 3,015 MW. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and the power station's first generator was commissioned in 1972. The last generator was commissioned in 1979 and the entire project was completed in 1980 when Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union, becoming the tallest dam in the world at the time. At 304 m (997 ft), it is currently the second tallest man-made dam in the world, after being surpassed by Jinping-I Dam in 2013. The Rogun Dam, also along the Vakhsh in Tajikistan, may exceed it in size when completed. (Full article...)
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The Quebrada de Ullúm Dam, or simply Ullúm Dam, is an embankment dam on the San Juan River, just west of San Juan in Ullúm Department of the Province of San Juan, Argentina. It is located at the gorge of the Quebrada de Ullum, 18 kilometres (11 mi) upstream from the provincial capital San Juan, and creates a reservoir with an area of 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi), a volume of 440 million cubic metres (16×10^9 cu ft), and average and maximum depths of 15 and 40 metres (49 and 131 ft), respectively. The reservoir feeds a hydroelectricpower station with an installed power capacity of 45 megawatts (60,000 hp).
The region is arid, with mean annual rainfall below 85 millimetres (3.3 in), and is traversed by the rivers, San Juan and Jáchal. The dam is employed to regulate the flow to irrigate about 800 square kilometres (310 sq mi) of the Tulum Valley for agriculture, which is the basis of the economy of San Juan. It also allows for recreational and tourist activities.
Work on the dam began in 1969, and the facility was inaugurated on December 3, 1980. (Full article...)
Construction of the dam began in the Soviet era, in 1976, but was abandoned in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over three decades only preliminary construction has been carried out on the dam. Due to its controversial state, construction was suspended in August 2012 pending World Bank reports. The project was restarted by the Tajik government in 2016. The power plant's first unit was commissioned in November 2018 and second in September 2019, both on lower hydraulic head.
The Kapichira Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant at the Kapachira Falls on the Shire River in Malawi. It has an installed capacity of 128 megawatts (172,000 hp), enough to power over 86,000 homes, with four 32 megawatts (43,000 hp) generating sets. The power station was developed in stages, with the first phase involving the installation of the first two 32 megawatts-generating turbines. Phase I of the power station was officially opened in September 2000.
In January 2014, in a ceremony attended by the president of Malawi at that time, Joyce Banda, the second phase of the Kapichira hydropower project was switched on, doubling the hitherto 64 megawatts to the maximum capacity of 128 megawatts. (Full article...)
The 4,860-meter (15,940 ft) wide and 36.5-meter (120 ft) high dam is earth-filled with an impervious core. The storage capacity is 785 million m3 of water at normal water level, with a maximum capacity of 960 million m3. The dam also supplies about 6.7 MW of hydro-electric power. (Full article...)
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The Wadi Qattara Dam, also referred to as Gattara or Al-Qattarah, is a clay-fill embankment dam located on Wadi Al-Qattara, 33 km (21 mi) east of Benghazi in Libya. Together with a secondary dam located 10 km (6 mi) downstream at and seven drop structures, the scheme was constructed after floods damaged the Benghazi area in 1938 and 1954. They were also constructed for irrigation water supply. Construction of the dams began in 1968 and was completed in 1971. However, a flood in 1979 severely damaged the main dam and destroyed the secondary dam downstream. The main dam was rehabilitated and the secondary dam was replaced with a rock-fill dam between 2000 and 2004 at a cost of US$30 million. The main dam was heightened 7 m (23 ft) and its total discharge capacity was increased to 240 m3/s (8,476 cu ft/s). Both dams were designed by Coyne et Bellier. (Full article...)
List of mountain ranges
(( Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of mountain ranges | section=Mountain ranges on Earth )) Select from Earth section, avoiding Moon
York Mountains are located on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. They extend inland from the Bering Sea to the rocky cape of the same name. On the seaward sides, the streams have incised canyon-like valleys. Eastward, the York Mountains are extended by the highlands lying north of Port Clarence. Their western flanks fall off rather abruptly to the York PIateau. The general aspect of these mountains is rugged. The York Mountains and several other highland masses form isolated groups in the northern half of the peninsula, while in the southern half of the peninsula, the Kigluaik, Bendeleben, and Darby mountains form a broken range along a crescentic axis. (Full article...)
More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift less than five million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault blockescarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra.
The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to its inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912. (Full article...)
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The Cordillera Domeyko is a mountain range of the Andes located in northern Chile, west of Salar de Atacama. It runs north-south for approximately 600 km, parallel to the main chain. The mountain range marks the eastern border of the flat parts of Atacama Desert. The western border of Cordillera Domeyko is characterized by a inland cliffs and a sharp topographic transition known as El Bordo Escarpment. El Bordo Escarpment contain the main rock outcrops of the Purilactis Group, which make up much of the mountain range.
Cordillera Domeyko was named after Ignacy Domeyko and is the world's lowest humidity mountain range. (Full article...)
The Kaikōura Ranges are two parallel ranges of mountains located in the northeast of the South Island of New Zealand. The two ranges are visible from a great distance, including from the southern coast of the North Island. (Full article...)
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Wales (Welsh: Cymru[ˈkəm.rɨ]ⓘ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 3,107,494. It has a total area of 21,218 square kilometres (8,192 sq mi) and over 2,700 kilometres (1,680 mi) of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff.
At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial one; the South Wales Coalfield's exploitation caused a rapid expansion of Wales's population. Two-thirds of the population live in South Wales, including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and the nearby valleys. The eastern region of North Wales has about a sixth of the overall population, with Wrexham being the largest northern city. The remaining parts of Wales are sparsely populated. Now that the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, the economy is based on the public sector, light and service industries, and tourism. Agriculture in Wales is largely livestock based, making Wales a net exporter of animal produce, contributing towards national agricultural self-sufficiency.
The country has a distinct national and cultural identity and from the late 19th century onwards Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the eisteddfod tradition and rousing choir singing. Both Welsh and English are official languages. A majority of the population in most areas speaks English whilst the majority of the population in parts of the north and west speak Welsh, with a total of 538,300 Welsh speakers across the entire country. (Full article...)
A chapada (Portuguese pronunciation:[ʃaˈpadɐ]) is a plateau found in the Brazilian Highlands. The chapadas, which are usually described as mountain ranges, are capped by horizontal strata of sandstone. They show the original surface, which has been worn away by the rivers, leaving here and there broad flat-topped ridges between river basins and narrower ranges of hills between river courses. From the valleys their rugged, deeply indented escarpments, stretching away to the horizon, they have the appearance of a continuous chain of mountains. (Full article...)
The Middle Atlas (Amazigh: ⴰⵟⵍⴰⵚ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵎⴰⵙ, Atlas Anammas, Arabic: الأطلس المتوسط, al-Aṭlas al-Mutawassiṭ) is a mountain range in Morocco. It is part of the Atlas mountain range, a mountainous region with more than 100,000 km2, 15 percent of its landmass, rising above 2,000 metres. The Middle Atlas is the northernmost and second highest of three main Atlas Mountains chains of Morocco. To south, separated by the Moulouya and Um Er-Rbiâ rivers, lies the High Atlas. The Middle Atlas form the westernmost end of a large plateaued basin extending eastward into Algeria, also bounded by the Tell Atlas to the north and the Saharan Atlas to the south, both lying largely in Algeria. North of the Middle Atlas and separated by the Sebou River, lie the Rif mountains which are an extension of the Baetic System, which includes the Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain. The basin of the Sebou is not only the primary transportation route between Atlantic Morocco and Mediterranean Morocco but is an area, watered by the Middle Atlas range, that constitutes the principal agricultural region of the country.
The Barbary macaque is native to the Middle Atlas, and chief populations occur only in restricted range in parts of Morocco and Algeria. Snow persists in the Middle Atlas in the winter and can appear starting at 600 m above sea level. (Full article...)
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The Cordillera de Talinay is a mountain range situated in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. The range consists of a series of hills and foothills spreading more than 40 km in a north–south direction from the coast, but which descend to meet the Limari river as it crosses Chile's Intermediate Depression (Depresión Intermedia or Valle Longitudinal (longitudinal valley)).
On Talinay mountain slopes can be found the city of Ovalle, capital of the Province of Limarí, several rich copper mines, such as the mine of Tamaya, and the Forest of Fray Jorge National Park (Parque Nacional Bosque Fray Jorge), which has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. The Talinay's heights do not generally reach above 600 meters, although there exist certain exceptions, such as the "Guanaqueros Hill" (Cerro Guanaqueros) which is considerably taller than average. (Full article...)
Haystack Mountain, which reaches 8,819 feet (2,688 m), is the tallest peak in the range. The three other highest peaks are Jack Mountain at 8,752 feet (2,668 m), Bull Mountain at 8,609 feet (2,624 m), and Thunderbolt Mountain at 8,597 feet (2,620 m). All four peaks are in Jefferson County. (Full article...)
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The Cordillera Central is a Bolivianmountain range that divides the three river basins in the country and also has the second highest peaks in Bolivia. It is rich in minerals and starts in the north with Chawpi Urqu and the three Palumanis that were in the south up to Zapaleri, forming a border with Chile and Argentina. The Cordillera Central is divided into three sections:
The northern section or Cordillera Real, with Chawpi Urqu and Palumani, also taking into account the most significant of Bolivia that you find near La Paz, Illimani, Illampu, Janq'u Uma, Mururata, and Huayna Potosí, all of which are more than 6,000 meters high. This section is famous because the highest meteorological observatory in the world can be found on Chacaltaya. Some of the highest ski slopes in the world can be found here also.
The central section contains Sumaq Urqu, with the Potosí mountain range and the Paso de Condor rail station, both situated at an elevation of 4,288 meters.
The southern section is characterized by its high rate of mineralization and large deposits of tin. Its highest summit is Zapaleri on the border with Chile and Argentina.
Cordillera Central can also be found between Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Oriental
The Ortiz Mountains are a mountain range in northern New Mexico, United States, in Santa Fe County, northeast of the Sandia Mountains and due north of the San Pedro Mountains. The Ortiz include Placer Peak, the highest peak in the range at 8,858 feet, Lone Mountain at 7,310 feet, Cedar Mountain at 7,041 feet, Cerro Chato at 6,965 feet, and the foothills known as the Los Lomas de la Bolsa. (Full article...)
The Coast Mountains are approximately 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and average 300 kilometres (190 mi) in width. The range's southern and southeastern boundaries are surrounded by the Fraser River and the Interior Plateau while its far northwestern edge is delimited by the Kelsall and Tatshenshini Rivers at the north end of the Alaska Panhandle, beyond which are the Saint Elias Mountains, and by Champagne Pass in the Yukon Territory. Covered in dense temperate rainforest on its western exposures, the range rises to heavily glaciated peaks, including the largest temperate-latitude ice fields in the world. On its eastern flanks, the range tapers to the dry Interior Plateau and the subarctic boreal forests of the Skeena Mountains and Stikine Plateau.
The Coast Mountains are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire—the ring of volcanoes and associated mountains around the Pacific Ocean—and contain some of British Columbia's highest mountains. Mount Waddington is the highest mountain of the Coast Mountains and the highest that lies entirely within British Columbia, located northeast of the head of Knight Inlet with an elevation of 4,019 metres (13,186 ft). (Full article...)
The geography of Ireland comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. Its lush vegetation is a product of its mild but changeable climate which is free of extremes in temperature. Much of Ireland was woodland until the end of the Middle Ages. Today, woodland makes up about 10% of the island, compared with a European average of over 33%, with most of it being non-native conifer plantations. The Irish climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and thus very moderate, and winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, although summers are cooler than those in continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant.
Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century AD. The island was Christianised from the 5th century onwards. Following the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion, England claimed sovereignty. However, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, and was extended during the 18th century. With the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. A war of independence in the early 20th century was followed by the partition of the island, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State, which became increasingly sovereign over the following decades, and Northern Ireland, which remained a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s. This subsided following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 1973, both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland as part of it, joined the European Economic Community. Following a referendum vote in 2016, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland included, left the European Union (EU) in 2020. Northern Ireland was granted a limited special status and allowed to operate within the EU single market for goods without being in the European Union; the economy has subsequently grown faster than the rest of the UK.
The Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains are a mountain range in the New Zealand region of Otago, near the resort town of Queenstown and just south of the more famous Remarkables. For most of its length, the mountains run adjacent to the southern reaches of Lake Wakatipu, before extending approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) further south, past the glacial moraine at Kingston on the southern end of the lake. On their eastern side, the mountains mark the edge of the Nevis valley, a largely tussocked area which saw significant activity during the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s. Historically, the mountains were an important mahinga kai (food gathering-place) for Ngāi Tahu and other local Māoriiwi, who used the area to hunt for weka and gather tikumu while visiting the region.
Many of the peaks in the range remain unnamed, a group which – until 2013 – included its highest point. Following a joint process between Ngāi Tahu and the Central Otago District Council, four new names were added to the region in 2013, including the adoption of the range's current dual name. This included the name of Mount Tūwhakarōria for the highest point of the range, as well as Te Karearea Peak for another prominent point as seen from Cromwell and Lake Te Kōhua for the small lake between the two. (Full article...)
Views of Blue Mountain dominate the southern tier of most eastern and central Pennsylvania counties, providing an ever-visible backdrop cutting across the northern or western horizon. Most transport corridors and road beds piercing the barrier necessarily pass through large water gaps, including (west to east) the Susquehanna, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Delaware River valleys or wind gaps, low gaps in the ridge caused by ancient watercourses. The barrier ridge forms a distinct boundary between a number of Pennsylvania's geographical and cultural regions.
The Cordillera Central (English: Central Mountain Range), is the main mountain range in Puerto Rico. The range crosses the island from west to east and divides it into its northern and southern coastal plains. The Cordillera Central runs eastward from the municipality of Maricao in the west to Aibonito in the central eastern region, and on to the Caribbean in the southeast through the Sierra Cayey.
The Central Mountain Range consists of the Cordillera Central proper and numerous subranges (such as the Sierra de Cayey), foothills and ridges that extend throughout the island. Cerro de Punta is both the highest peak of the Cordillera Central and the highest point in Puerto Rico. The Sierra de Luquillo, where El Yunque is located, is sometimes included as a subrange or eastward extension of the Cordillera Central. (Full article...)
The mountain is a popular destination, attracting an estimated 130,000 ascents a year, around three-quarters of which use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis. The 700-metre (2,300 ft) cliffs of the north face are among the highest in Scotland, providing classic scrambles and rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountaineers. They are also the principal locations in Scotland for ice climbing.
The summit, which is the collapsed dome of an ancient volcano, features the ruins of an observatory which was continuously staffed between 1883 and 1904. The meteorological data collected during this period is still important for understanding Scottish mountain weather. C. T. R. Wilson was inspired to invent the cloud chamber after a period spent working at the observatory. (Full article...)
According to the USGS, the Cumberland Mountain range is 131 miles (211 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide, bounded by the Russell Fork on the northeast, the Pound River and Powell River on the southeast, Cove Creek on the southwest, and Tackett Creek, the Cumberland River, Poor Fork Cumberland River, and Elkhorn Creek on the northwest. The crest of the range forms the Kentucky and Virginia boundary from the Tennessee border to the Russell Fork River.
Variant names of the Cumberland Mountains include Cumberland Mountain, Cumberland Range, Ouasioto Mountains, Ouasiota Mountains, Laurel Mountain, and Pine Mountain. They are named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.
The Cumberland Mountains range includes Pine Mountain, Cross Mountain, Cumberland Mountain, Log Mountain, Little Black Mountain, and Black (Big Black) Mountain, as well as others. (Full article...)
The Elsinore Mountains are a ridge of mountains within the larger range of the Santa Ana Mountains, in the Cleveland National Forest, Riverside County, California, United States. the tallest peaks within the range is the unofficially named San Mateo Peak at 3,591 ft (1,095 m). Second is officially named Elsinore Peak at 3,536 ft (1,078 m). The Elsinore Mountanins run in a ridge from just east of El Cariso, southeast to Elsinore Peak. Beyond that peak the ridge begins to descend and curves to the east. From Elsinore Peak, a ridge runs to the west and then northwest to San Mateo Peak, enclosing the Morrell Potrero on the south and west.
The Crown Range is a mountain range that lies to the east of the Wakatipu Basin in Otago, New Zealand. It is noted for two features, the Cardrona Alpine Resort, on the slopes of the 1900 metre Mount Cardrona, and a highway, known as the Crown Range Road (formerly State Highway 89), which winds steeply between Arrow Junction, just south of Arrowtown, and Wānaka to the north.
Travelling from Arrowtown towards Wānaka, the Crown Range Road starts at the bottom of the "zig zag". This steep and winding section climbs to the Crown Terrace, a large flat and fertile area capable of growing grain crops. To the left, Glencoe Road leads to Glencoe Station, the large high country station behind Arrowtown. At the end of the Crown Terrace is the Eastburn Road to Eastburn Station, which runs from the Glencoe boundary almost to Cardrona.
Just past the Eastburn Road the road twists and climbs up to the Crown Saddle, where a bronze plaque at the vista point claims that this historic summit, at 1076 m (3530 ft) is the highest sealed road in New Zealand. Officially it is the highest sealed local road and the highest sealed pass or through road, 2m higher than the Desert Road summit on State Highway 1 in the North Island.
Eastburn Station has provided a number of viewing areas. The distant views down and over Lake Hayes, Arrowtown and the airport to Queenstown are stunning. From the Crown Saddle the road follows the Cardrona creek which becomes the Cardrona River flowing down the iconic snow tussock valley until it opens out at the small settlement of Cardrona.
The area was heavily populated during the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s, the town of Cardrona, now little more than a dot on the map, briefly having a population of several thousand prospectors. There are visible remains of gold prospecting beside the Crown Range Road over the saddle on the west bank opposite the East Burn Stream two miles over the saddle, also six miles below the saddle on the east bank.
A popular historic site, Garnet Ghost Town, is in the Garnet Range. Situated on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, the ghost town is the remnant of a mining settlement that was inhabited from the late 1800s to the 1930s. The town's population reached several thousand during its peak. A visitor center and self-guided tours are available.
Although heavily forested, no portion of the Garnet Range is part of the National Forest system. The BLM owns much of the range, including the 11,580-acre Wales Creek Wilderness Study Area. The Wales Creek WSA is the last major drainage area without a road in the western Garnets, and features dense forests of lodgepole pine, spruce, Douglas fir, larch, aspen, and subalpine fir. Wales Creek WSA also hosts a thriving moose herd, goshawk nesting sites, a native cutthroat trout fishery, and four hot springs used in the past by miners and now by skiers and hunters.
Another BLM Wilderness Study Area is in the eastern Garnets: the 11,380-acre Hoodoo Mountain WSA. This WSA is separated from unprotected BLM land in the Gallagher Creek drainage by a dirt road. Petrified wood is found along streams in the Gallagher Creek area.
On the southern slope of the Garnets near the town of Drummond, the BLM's Rattler Gulch Area of Critical Environmental Concern protects 20 acres of exposed Madison Group limestone cliffs. Parking is provided, as Rattler Gulch is a popular rock-climbing area.
The range is a lower continuation of the Big Snowy Mountains which lie immediately to the west. The small Pike Creek Hills are 12 miles (19 km) to the east.
The mountain pass between the Big and Little Snowies is at 6,018 feet (1,834 m) where Red Hill Road crosses the range. The pass elevation is considerably lower than the peaks of the Big Snowy range, but only about 200 feet (61 m) lower than the highest of the Little Snowy Range which are just northeast of the pass. Bold Butte, a named highpoint near the center of the range, has an elevation of 5,624 feet (1,714 m).
The South Fork Flatwillow Creek runs from the north side of the pass near Red Hill and east along the north side of the range. Willow Creek and various tributaries drain most of the range to the south and flows into the Musselshell River on to the southeast. (Full article...)
More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift less than five million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault blockescarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra.
The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to its inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912. (Full article...)
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Queen Fabiola Mountains is a group of mountains in Antarctica, 50 kilometres (30 miles) long, consisting mainly of seven small massifs which trend north–south, forming a partial barrier to the flow of inland ice. The mountains stand in isolation about 140 km (90 mi) southwest of the head of Lutzow-Holm Bay. The mountains were discovered and photographed from aircraft by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Guido Derom on 8 October 1960. With permission from King Baudouin of Belgium, the mountains were named after his newly wedded wife Fabiola. In November–December 1960, the mountains were visited by a party of the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE), 1957–1962, which made geomorphological and geological surveys. They applied the name Yamato Mountains. The highest massif is Mount Fukushima (2,470 m).
Tourism is now a major part of the regional economy, with the narrow gauge railway between Durango and Silverton being an attraction mostly in the summer and fall. Jeeping is popular on the old trails which linked the historic mining camps, including the notorious Black Bear Road. Visiting old ghost towns is popular, as is wilderness trekking and mountain climbing. Many of the old mining camps are now popular sites of summer homes. Though the San Juans are extremely steep and receive much snow, so far only Telluride has made the transition to a major ski resort. Purgatory Resort, once known as Durango Mountain Resort, is a small ski area 26 miles north of Durango. There is also skiing on Wolf Creek Pass at the Wolf Creek ski area. Recently Silverton Mountain ski area has begun operation near Silverton. The range is also a popular destination for endurance sports like trail running and mountain biking; Silverton is home to the Hardrock 100 Endurance Run one of the most difficult and technical ultra-marathons in the world.
The San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests cover a large portion of the San Juan Mountains. The Continental Divide Trail, a long-distance hiking trail follows the crest of the San Juan Mountains. The Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado's largest wilderness area, with an area of 499,771 acres (202,250 ha) is in the San Juans.
The San Juan Mountains are also distinctive for their high altitude plateaus and peaks. As a result, facilities in the towns and cities of the region are among the highest in the nation. Telluride Airport, at an elevation of 9,070 feet, is the highest in the United States with regularly scheduled commercial service. (Full article...)
(( Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of dams and reservoirs | section=Africa | sectiononly=yes )) Should pick only the international dams
Lake Mutirikwi, originally known as Lake Kyle or Kyle Dam, lies in south eastern Zimbabwe, south east of Masvingo. It is thought to have been named after Kyle Farm which occupied most of the land required for the lake, which in turn was named after the Kyle district in Scotland from which the pioneer of the Lowveld, Tom Murray MacDougall came originally.
The lake covers about 90 km² (35 sq mi) and was created in 1960 with the construction of the Kyle Dam on the Mutirikwi River. The dam was built by Concor to provide water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Triangle, where the main crop has been sugar cane.
Lake Kyle Recreational Park lies on the reservoir's northern shore, while there is a small recreational park on the southern shore. Great Zimbabwe national monument lies close by.
Rivers which feed the lake include the Mbebvi River, Matare River, Pokoteke River, Umpopinyani River, Makurumidze River and Mushagashe River.
In the 1980s, drought drastically lowered the water level in the lake, but during the 1990s it recovered. The level fluctuates widely due to irrigation demands and the seasonal rainfall. (Full article...)
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The Rusumo Hydroelectric Power Station (Kinyarwanda: Urugomero rw'amashanyarazi rwa Rusumo, French: Centrale hydroélectrique de Rusumo), also known as the Rusumo Power Station, is a hydropower plant under construction, with initial planned capacity installation of 80 megawatts (110,000 hp) when completed. The project will involve the construction of a dam, with run of river design. A more expensive 90 megawatts (120,000 hp) reservoir design was considered before being abandoned in favor of an 80 MW project with a smaller environmental impact and an estimated cost of US$300 million compared to US$400 million for the bigger project. The World Bank announced on 6 August 2013 that it had approved loans totaling US$340 million towards the US$468.60 million needed for the project. In November 2013, the African Development Bank approved a loan of US$113 million towards completion of the project. (Full article...)
Kainji Dam is a dam across the Niger River in Niger State of Central Nigeria. Construction of the dam was carried out by Impregilo (a consortium of Italian Civil Engineering Contractors) to designs by Joint Consultants, Balfour Beatty and Nedeco, and began in 1964 to be completed in 1968. The total cost was estimated at US$209 million (equivalent to about US$1.5 billion in 2023 dollars), with one-quarter of this amount used to resettle people displaced by the construction of the dam and its reservoir, Kainji Lake. (Full article...)
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The Al Massira Dam is a gravity dam located 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Settat on the Oum Er-Rbia River in Settat Province, Morocco. Completed in 1979, the dam provides water for the irrigation of over 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of farmland in the Doukkala region. The dam's hydroelectric power plant also generates 221 gigawatt-hours (800 TJ) on average annually. The power station was commissioned in 1980. Just north of the dam is a rip rap saddle dam that supports water elevation in the reservoir. The dam's reservoir and wetlands were designated as a Ramsar site in 2005. (Full article...)
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The Nangbeto Dam is an embankment dam on the Mono River in the Plateaux Region of Togo. It was constructed between 1984 and 1987 for the purpose of providing hydroelectric power to both Togo and Benin as well as creating fisheries and supplying water for irrigation. The dam's 65.6 megawatts (88,000 hp) power station was commissioned in June 1987. The project was financed by the World Bank and African Development Bank at a cost of US$98.22 million.
The objectives of the dam were to satisfy the medium-term requirements of Benin and Togo for power, and to provide a large water reserve, amounting to 1.7 billion cubic metres. It was expected that 1000 to 1500 tonnes of fish would be produced each year and that 43,000 hectares of land would be irrigated. Evaluation of the project six years later showed that the project had been completed on time and on budget to a satisfactory standard. The project was a good example of cooperation between the two countries. The power generation objective was satisfied but the fish development scheme had failed and the irrigation project was proceeding at a slower rate than expected. However, initial results of the cultivation of rice on the irrigated land were encouraging.
The Nangbeto Dam serves part of Togo's needs for electricity and is subject to interruptions in supply when the water level is low, which may happen for periods of several months. As a result, a further dam on the Mono River further downstream at Adjaralla is being constructed, starting in 2016. The fish production scheme involved in this project and other environmental issues are being planned at an earlier stage in its development. (Full article...)
The Andekaleka Dam is a gravity dam on the Vohitra river near Andekaleka in eastern Madagascar. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it diverts water from the Vohitra east into a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) headrace tunnel where it reaches a 91 megawatts (122,000 hp) underground power station. After water charges the turbine-generators, it travels down a 500 metres (1,600 ft) tailrace tunnel before it reenters the Vohitra River. The drop in elevation between the dam and power station affords a hydraulic head of 235 metres (771 ft). The dam and power station were funded by the World Bank at a cost of US$142.1 million. It was constructed between 1978 and 1982. The power station can house up to four generators. The first two were operational in 1982 and a third in 2012. Generator one and two host Vevey and Jeumont turbines while the third is made by HEC. They all use Francis reaction turbines which typically range from 10 to 700MW and with water head operating from 10 to 600 meters (Full article...)
The Von Bach Dam (originally the Sartorius von Bach Dam) is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Swakop River near Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Built in 1968 and commissioned in 1970, the dam provides Namibia's capital of Windhoek with much of the city's water. It also supplies Okahandja. The dam has a capacity of 48.56 million cubic metres (63,510,000 cu yd). Water from the reservoir is sent directly to a water treatment plant downstream. The treatment plant was completed in 1971 and upgraded in 1997. (Full article...)
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The Hassan I Dam is an embankment dam located 19 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Demnate on the Lakhdar River in Azilal Province, Morocco. Completed in 1986, the dam provides water for the irrigation of over 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) of farmland. The dam's hydroelectric power plant also generates 132 gigawatt-hours (480 TJ) on average annually. At 145 metres (476 ft) in height, it is the tallest dam in Morocco and the tallest earth-fill dam in Africa. The dam is named after Hassan I of Morocco. (Full article...)
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The Aswan Low Dam or Old Aswan Dam is a gravity masonrybuttress dam on the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. The dam was built by the British at the former first cataract of the Nile, and is located about 1000 km up-river and 690 km (direct distance) south-southeast of Cairo. When initially constructed between 1899 and 1902, nothing of its scale had ever been attempted; on completion, it was the largest masonry dam in the world. The dam was designed to provide storage of annual floodwater and augment dry season flows to support greater irrigation development and population growth in the lower Nile. The dam, originally limited in height by conservation concerns, worked as designed, but provided inadequate storage capacity for planned development and was raised twice: between 1907 and 1912 and again between 1929 and 1933. These heightenings still did not meet irrigation demands and in 1946 it was nearly over-topped in an effort to maximize pool elevation. This led to the investigation and construction of the Aswan High Dam 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) upstream. (Full article...)
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Mare aux Vacoas is the largest reservoir in Mauritius. It is located in Plaines Wilhems, in the southwest of the island, to the south of the town of Curepipe. It has a capacity of 25,890,000 cubic metres (914,000,000 cu ft) and provides water to the upper Plaines Wilhems and to Moka. It was constructed in 1885. (Full article...)
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Djorf Torba Dam is a dam in Kenadsa District, Béchar Province, Algeria, crossing the Oued Guir about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the capital, Béchar. It is used for the purposes of irrigation and water supply. The area around the head of the dam features a number of notable ancient monuments. The dam has resulted in a significant reduction in the flow of Oued Guir and Oued Saoura in locations downstream of the dam. (Full article...)
The dam consisted of a core of earth and rubble faced with mortared blocks of cut stone. The upstream face is vertical, while the downstream side steps down through six courses and then continues vertically for 3.8 m. The thickness at the crest is 4.9 m, and at the base 7.3 m. (Full article...)
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The Wadi Wishka Dam is a concrete-face rock-fill embankment dam located on Wadi Wishka, 29 km (18 mi) southwest of Sokna in the Fezzan region of Libya. The primary purpose of the dam is flood control and water. Construction on the dam began in 2004 and it was completed in 2006 at a cost of US$5 million. (Full article...)
The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta River Basin and led to the subsequent creation of Lake Volta. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world by surface area. It covers 8,502 square kilometres (3,283 sq mi), which is 3.6% of Ghana's land area. With a volume of 148 cubic kilometers, Lake Volta is the world's third largest man-made lake by volume; the largest being Lake Kariba which contains 185 cubic kilometers of water.
The primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminium industry. The Akosombo Dam was called "the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana." The dam is significant for providing the majority of both Togo and Benin's electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on Togo's Mono River) hopes to reduce these countries' reliance on imported electricity. The dam's original electrical output was 912 megawatts (1,223,000 hp), which was upgraded to 1,020 megawatts (1,370,000 hp) in a retrofit project that was completed in 2006.
The flooding that created the Lake Volta reservoir displaced many people and had a significant impact on the local environment, including seismic activity that led to coastal erosion; a changed hydrology caused microclimatic changes with less rain and higher temperatures. The soil surrounding the lake is less fertile than the soil under it, and heavy agricultural use has required the use of fertilizers, which in turn has led to eutrophication, which caused, among others, the explosive growth of an invasive weed that renders water navigation and transportation difficult, and form a habitat for the vectors of water-borne illnesses such as bilharzia, river blindness and malaria. Resettlement of the displaced inhabitants proved complex and in some cases unsuccessful; traditional farming practices disappeared and poverty increased. (Full article...)
The Gove Dam is an embankment dam on the Kunene River about 75 km (47 mi) south of Huambo in Huambo Province, Angola. The purpose of the dam is to control floods and generate hydroelectric power. It has a power generating capacity of 60 megawatts (80,000 hp) each) (three turbines of 20 megawatts (27,000 hp) each), enough to power over 30,000 homes. (Full article...)
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The Nangbeto Dam is an embankment dam on the Mono River in the Plateaux Region of Togo. It was constructed between 1984 and 1987 for the purpose of providing hydroelectric power to both Togo and Benin as well as creating fisheries and supplying water for irrigation. The dam's 65.6 megawatts (88,000 hp) power station was commissioned in June 1987. The project was financed by the World Bank and African Development Bank at a cost of US$98.22 million.
The objectives of the dam were to satisfy the medium-term requirements of Benin and Togo for power, and to provide a large water reserve, amounting to 1.7 billion cubic metres. It was expected that 1000 to 1500 tonnes of fish would be produced each year and that 43,000 hectares of land would be irrigated. Evaluation of the project six years later showed that the project had been completed on time and on budget to a satisfactory standard. The project was a good example of cooperation between the two countries. The power generation objective was satisfied but the fish development scheme had failed and the irrigation project was proceeding at a slower rate than expected. However, initial results of the cultivation of rice on the irrigated land were encouraging.
The Nangbeto Dam serves part of Togo's needs for electricity and is subject to interruptions in supply when the water level is low, which may happen for periods of several months. As a result, a further dam on the Mono River further downstream at Adjaralla is being constructed, starting in 2016. The fish production scheme involved in this project and other environmental issues are being planned at an earlier stage in its development. (Full article...)
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Isimba Hydroelectric Power Station is a 183.2 megawatts (245,700 hp) hydroelectric power station commissioned on 21 March 2019 in Uganda. Construction of this dam began in April 2015 and was completed in January 2019. Commercial operations began on 21 March 2019. (Full article...)
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Chen Zhen (陳真; 陈真; Chén Zhēn; Can4 Zan1) is a fictional character created by Hong Kong writer Ni Kuang. First portrayed by Bruce Lee in the 1972 film Fist of Fury, the character has been the subject of numerous film and television series, including remakes and adaptations of Fist of Fury. Many notable actors, including Jet Li and Donnie Yen, have portrayed Chen Zhen on screen after Bruce Lee. Although Chen Zhen's story varies in the different remakes and adaptations, most have an ending similar to the original Fist of Fury. Chen Zhen is believed to be based on Liu Zhensheng (劉振聲), an apprentice of Huo Yuanjia, a martial artist who lived during the late Qing dynasty of China. (Full article...)
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Dragon Lee (born 1940) is an actor and practitioner of Taekwondo and Hapkido. He made a name for himself as a martial arts film star in the 1970s and 80s. His birth name is Moon Kyung-seok, but he has also been called Keo Ryong (literally "giant dragon") in South Korea.
According to his IMDb biography, Dragon Lee was born in what is now North Korea.
Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a book expressing Bruce Lee's martial artsphilosophy and viewpoints, published posthumously (after Bruce Lee's death in 1973). The project for this book began in 1970 when Bruce Lee suffered a back injury during one of his practice sessions. During this time he could not train in martial arts. He was ordered by his doctors to wear a back brace for 6 months in order to recover from his injury. This was a very tiring and dispiriting time for Lee who was always very physically active.
It was during his convalescence that he decided to compile a treatise on the system or approach to martial arts that he was developing; he called it Jeet Kune Do. The bulk of these writings would become the "core set of writings". Many of these writings were done during a single session which provided natural continuity. Lee had also kept various notes throughout the development of his combat philosophy and these would become the disparate notes used in the book. Many of these notes were "sudden inspirations" which were incomplete and lacked any kind of a construct. The combination of the "core set of writings" and the "disparate notes" would be known as the text Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
In 1971, it was Lee's intent to finish the treatise that he started during his convalescence. However, his film career and work prevented him from doing so. He also vacillated about publishing his book as he felt that this work might be used for the wrong purposes. Lee's intent in writing the book was to record one man's way of thinking about the martial arts. It was to be a guidebook, not a set of instructions or "How to" manual to learn martial arts. (Full article...)
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The straight blast is a martial arts technique popularized by Bruce Lee and associated with Wing Chun Kung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. It is one of Bruce Lee's most famous signature moves, and an international federation of gyms have been named after the technique.
The technique operates on the principle of using a sustained offense as a means of forcing an opponent to move on the defensive. The move consists of putting both fists perpendicularly above one another and moving them in a circular motion (starting forward and downward) in a tight formation with fists kept facing forward bent at the wrist outward and clenched vertically, compounded with running toward an opponent. This is intended to throw off the opponent while effectively dealing a barrage of centrifugally forced punches toward the center of the opponent's mass. A poorly executed or premature straight blast attack can usually be effectively countered by one or more kicks to the attacker's shin, knee, or groin.
In some of his books, Bruce Lee mentions how boxers would scoff at this 'funny' looking technique, but when they were not expecting it in sparring matches, they would take the brunt of the attack, be thrown off guard and defeated. (Full article...)
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Bruce Le (simplified Chinese: 吕小龙; traditional Chinese: 呂小龍; pinyin: Lǚ Xiǎolóng; born June 5, 1950) is a martial artist and actor known for his martial arts film of the 1970s and 1980s. Most of these were inexpensively produced and were made to capitalise on the martial arts phenomenon started by Bruce Lee, whose death in 1973 left a large box office void (hence the name change to "Bruce Le").
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method is a book of volumes covering Bruce Lee's martial arts abilities of the Jeet Kune Do movement. The book is available as a single hardcover volume or a series of four paperback volumes. The text describes Bruce Lee's Kung Fufighting techniques, philosophy and training methods. This book was originally written in 1966 by Bruce Lee. However, Lee decided not to publish this work as he feared that instructors would use the fighting knowledge in this text to promote themselves. In 1978, after Bruce Lee's death, his widow Linda Lee Cadwell decided to make available the information on her husband's work. Lee's death changed the perspective of releasing the information that Bruce Lee himself had vacillated about. The book was published with the help of Mitoshi Uyehara. Uyehara was the founder and owner of Black Belt Magazine. During the early years of the publication, Uyehara served as the publisher. Bruce Lee contributed many articles to the publication during the 1960s and a friendship ensued between the two men. Uyehara, a martial artist in his own right, was a key personage in arranging Lee's material for publication. (Full article...)
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Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a 1993 American biographicaldrama film directed by Rob Cohen. The film stars Jason Scott Lee, with a supporting cast including Lauren Holly, Nancy Kwan and Robert Wagner. The film follows the life of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee (Jason) from his relocation to the United States from Hong Kong to his career as a martial arts teacher, and then as a television and film actor. It also focuses on the relationship between Bruce and his wife Linda Lee Cadwell, and the racism to which Bruce was subjected.
The primary source of the screenplay is Cadwell's 1975 biography Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew. Other sources include Robert Clouse's book Bruce Lee: The Biography and research by Cohen, including interviews with Cadwell and Bruce's son, Brandon Lee. Rather than a traditional biographical film, Cohen decided to include elements of mysticism and to dramatise fight scenes to give it the same tone as the films in which Bruce starred. Dragon was filmed primarily in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story received generally positive reviews, with critics typically finding it entertaining despite criticisms of its veneration of Bruce. Jason was widely praised for his performance. The film was a commercial success and its revenue exceeded box office averages for biographical films, which was attributed to its romantic themes and its appeal to people outside the traditional kung fu film audience. A video game adaptation of the same name was released the following year. Dragon is dedicated to Brandon, who died several weeks before its release. (Full article...)
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Bruce Lee was a 1994 six-issue comic book miniseries published by Malibu Comics and written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Val Mayerik. It focused on a fictional Bruce Lee character striving his way through gangs and rival dojo owners, while building a movie career. Malibu included a Mortal Kombat short story in the first and fifth issues.
Writer Mike Baron had previously written three issues of the Green Hornet comic published by NOW Comics, about Lee's Kato in the 1966 TV show. Val Mayerik had previously illustrated the second Kato limited series (also published by NOW). Baron states inspiration for the comic came from the 1970s Marvel Comics series Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu.
Titan Books collected the miniseries into a trade paperback, simply titled Bruce Lee, in 1995. The publisher Edizioni Star Comics translated the series into Italian for its ongoing series Mortal Kombat & Bruce Lee, published in 1995–1996. (Full article...)
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Bruce Lai, real name Chang Yi-tao (1950 – 2014), was a Hong Kong actor who starred in many Godfrey Ho films.
The Game of Death (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, filmed between August and October 1972, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film project. Lee died during the making of the film. Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives. The remaining footage has since been released with Lee's original Cantonese and English dialogue, with John Little dubbing Lee's Hai Tien character as part of the documentary titled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Much of the footage that was shot is from what was to be the climax of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death. After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978 as Game of Death, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.
The story of Lee's original 1972 film involves Lee's character, in order to save his younger sister and brother, joining a group of martial artists who are hired to retrieve a stolen Chinese national treasure[need quotation to verify] from the top floor of a five-story pagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower.[additional citation(s) needed] The 1978 film's plot was altered to a revenge story, where the mafia attempts to kill Lee's character, who fakes his death and seeks vengeance against those who tried to kill him. The final part of the film uses some of Lee's original film footage, but with the pagoda setting changed to a restaurant building, where he fights martial artists hired by the mafia in an attempt to rescue his fiancée Ann Morris (played by Colleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimated US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $230,000,000 in 2023) worldwide. (Full article...)
Initially released for Sega platforms, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was later ported to the Atari Jaguar and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, each one featuring several changes and additions compared with the original version while both the Game Gear and Master System versions, which were also released in 1994, feature an entirely different gameplay format.
Since its release, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story garnered mostly negative reviews, with criticism directed at the slow-paced and shallow gameplay. (Full article...)
The player controls Thomas, the titular Kung-Fu Master, as he fights his way through the five levels of the Devil's Temple to rescue his girlfriend Sylvia from the crime boss Mr. X. As he ascends the tower, he has to fight many enemies along the way and five end-of-level boss battles, a concept inspired by Game of Death. Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles.
The game was a major commercial success, topping the Japanese arcade charts and becoming America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1985, while receiving critical acclaim for its fast-paced, side-scrolling gameplay and detailed, colorful graphics. A port for the Nintendo Entertainment System (known as the Famicom in Japan) was developed by Nintendo under the direction of Shigeru Miyamoto, released as Spartan X in Japan and Kung-Fu in the West, selling 3.5 million copies worldwide. It was also one of the top five best-selling Commodore 64 games of 1986. It spawned the sequel Spartan X 2 (1991) and the spiritual successors Trojan (1986) and Vigilante (1988). (Full article...)
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Bruce Lee is a platform game written by Ron J. Fortier for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1984 by Datasoft. The graphics are by Kelly Day and music by John A. Fitzpatrick. The player takes the role of Bruce Lee, while a second player controls either Yamo or alternates with player one for control of Bruce Lee.
Commodore 64 and Apple II versions were released the same year. The game was converted to the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC and published by U.S. Gold. It was the first U.S. Gold release featuring a famous individual. An MSX version was published in 1985 by Comptiq. (Full article...)
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Ip Man
Ip Man (Chinese: 葉問; born Ip Kai-man; Chinese: 葉繼問; 1 October 1893 – 2 December 1972), also known as Yip Man, was born in Foshan, Guangdong. Ip Man was a martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art of Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, the most famous among them being Bruce Lee. (Full article...)
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Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee has been subject to extensive media coverage. (Full article...)
Bruce Liang (28 April 1948) is a Hong Kong martial artist and actor who has appeared in many Hong Kong martial arts movies. He often appeared billed as "Bruce Leung", "Bruce Liang", "Bruce Leong", or "Bruce Leung Siu-lung", and is thus generally grouped among the Bruce Lee clones that sprang up after Lee's death in the subgenre known as Bruceploitation. (Full article...)
Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story also known as The Bruce Lee Story, Super Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Bruce Lee Story: Super Dragon) is a 1974 Bruceploitation film starring Bruce Li. The film is a loose biopic about martial arts actor Bruce Lee and centers on his supposed affair with actress Betty Ting-Pei. The film is notable for being the first biopic of Bruce Lee (it was released the year following his death), the debut film of notorious Lee imitator Bruce Li, and the first film in the Bruceploitation genre. (Full article...)
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The Game of Death (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, filmed between August and October 1972, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee, in his final film project. Lee died during the making of the film. Over 100 minutes of footage was shot prior to his death, which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives. The remaining footage has since been released with Lee's original Cantonese and English dialogue, with John Little dubbing Lee's Hai Tien character as part of the documentary titled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Much of the footage that was shot is from what was to be the climax of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death. After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978 as Game of Death, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.
The story of Lee's original 1972 film involves Lee's character, in order to save his younger sister and brother, joining a group of martial artists who are hired to retrieve a stolen Chinese national treasure[need quotation to verify] from the top floor of a five-story pagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower.[additional citation(s) needed] The 1978 film's plot was altered to a revenge story, where the mafia attempts to kill Lee's character, who fakes his death and seeks vengeance against those who tried to kill him. The final part of the film uses some of Lee's original film footage, but with the pagoda setting changed to a restaurant building, where he fights martial artists hired by the mafia in an attempt to rescue his fiancée Ann Morris (played by Colleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimated US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $230,000,000 in 2023) worldwide. (Full article...)
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Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero film The Crow (1994). However, Lee's career and life were cut short by his accidental death during the film's production.
Transitioning to Hollywood productions, Lee first starred in the Warner Brosbuddy cop film Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), co-starring Dolph Lundgren. While it did not do well with audiences and critics upon its release, it later became a cult film. This was followed by a leading role in Rapid Fire (1992) produced by 20th Century Fox. Though the film was not well-received, critics praised Lee's onscreen presence. (Full article...)
The version of the film that is commonly distributed in the West (USA) on public domain-type DVD and video labels runs 93 minutes in length. The British VHS-version released in 1979 runs 118 minutes. (Full article...)
Kato is a fictional character from The Green Hornet franchise. This character has appeared with the Green Hornet in radio, film, television, book and comic book versions. Kato is the Green Hornet's crime-fighting sidekick, and Britt Reid's manservant in civilian life, and has been played by a number of actors. On radio, Kato was initially played by Raymond Hayashi, then Roland Parker who had the role for most of the run, and in the later years Mickey Tolan and Paul Carnegie. Keye Luke took the role in the movie serials, and in the television series, he was portrayed by Bruce Lee. Jay Chou played Kato in the 2011 Green Hornet film. (Full article...)
Jeet Kune Do (Chinese: 截拳道; "way of the intercepting fist"; abbreviated JKD) is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought.
The core of Jeet Kune Do is the interception of the opponent, making corresponding responses or counterattacks that strike at incoming attacks. JKD also incorporates a set of principles to help practitioners make instant decisions and improve the physical and mental self, being intended to have practical applications in life without the traditional routines and metaphysics of conventional martial arts. As an eclectic martial art, it relies on a fighting style heavily influenced by Wing Chun, Tai Chi, taekwondo, boxing, fencing and jujutsu.
Bruce Lee himself never formalized Jeet Kune Do before he died. This forced later JKD practitioners to rely upon their own interpretation of the philosophy created by Bruce Lee. (Full article...)
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Dragon Lee (born 1940) is an actor and practitioner of Taekwondo and Hapkido. He made a name for himself as a martial arts film star in the 1970s and 80s. His birth name is Moon Kyung-seok, but he has also been called Keo Ryong (literally "giant dragon") in South Korea.
According to his IMDb biography, Dragon Lee was born in what is now North Korea.
Each issue had comics stories featuring these characters, both single-issue stories and multi-issue story arcs. Most issues also included a review of a recent martial arts film. Other issues had interviews with martial arts instructors, while others had interviews with movie or television celebrities related to martial arts.
Early issues had a martial arts instructional section which described some elementary fighting techniques. These were provided by comics illustrator/martial artist Frank McLaughlin. The magazine was in black-and-white except for the cover. The cost of the magazine was 75 cents for issues #1–14. Issue #15 was a Super Annual (all reprints) issue and cost $1.25. Issues #16–33 were $1.00, as well as the 1974 Kung Fu Special (summer 1974); cover-titled Special Album Edition: The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Issue #28 (Sept. 1976) was an all-Bruce Lee special, including a 35-page comic book format biography written by Martin Sands, and drawn by Joe Staton and Tony DeZuniga. (Full article...)
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Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee has been subject to extensive media coverage. (Full article...)
Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a book expressing Bruce Lee's martial artsphilosophy and viewpoints, published posthumously (after Bruce Lee's death in 1973). The project for this book began in 1970 when Bruce Lee suffered a back injury during one of his practice sessions. During this time he could not train in martial arts. He was ordered by his doctors to wear a back brace for 6 months in order to recover from his injury. This was a very tiring and dispiriting time for Lee who was always very physically active.
It was during his convalescence that he decided to compile a treatise on the system or approach to martial arts that he was developing; he called it Jeet Kune Do. The bulk of these writings would become the "core set of writings". Many of these writings were done during a single session which provided natural continuity. Lee had also kept various notes throughout the development of his combat philosophy and these would become the disparate notes used in the book. Many of these notes were "sudden inspirations" which were incomplete and lacked any kind of a construct. The combination of the "core set of writings" and the "disparate notes" would be known as the text Tao of Jeet Kune Do.
In 1971, it was Lee's intent to finish the treatise that he started during his convalescence. However, his film career and work prevented him from doing so. He also vacillated about publishing his book as he felt that this work might be used for the wrong purposes. Lee's intent in writing the book was to record one man's way of thinking about the martial arts. It was to be a guidebook, not a set of instructions or "How to" manual to learn martial arts. (Full article...)
The player controls Thomas, the titular Kung-Fu Master, as he fights his way through the five levels of the Devil's Temple to rescue his girlfriend Sylvia from the crime boss Mr. X. As he ascends the tower, he has to fight many enemies along the way and five end-of-level boss battles, a concept inspired by Game of Death. Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles.
The game was a major commercial success, topping the Japanese arcade charts and becoming America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1985, while receiving critical acclaim for its fast-paced, side-scrolling gameplay and detailed, colorful graphics. A port for the Nintendo Entertainment System (known as the Famicom in Japan) was developed by Nintendo under the direction of Shigeru Miyamoto, released as Spartan X in Japan and Kung-Fu in the West, selling 3.5 million copies worldwide. It was also one of the top five best-selling Commodore 64 games of 1986. It spawned the sequel Spartan X 2 (1991) and the spiritual successors Trojan (1986) and Vigilante (1988). (Full article...)
Outline of underwater diving § Modes of underwater diving
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Saturation diving is diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas used. It is a diving mode that reduces the number of decompressions divers working at great depths must undergo by only decompressing divers once at the end of the diving operation, which may last days to weeks, having them remain under pressure for the whole period. A diver breathing pressurized gas accumulates dissolved inert gas used in the breathing mixture to dilute the oxygen to a non-toxic level in the tissues, which can cause decompression sickness ("the bends") if permitted to come out of solution within the body tissues; hence, returning to the surface safely requires lengthy decompression so that the inert gases can be eliminated via the lungs. Once the dissolved gases in a diver's tissues reach the saturation point, however, decompression time does not increase with further exposure, as no more inert gas is accumulated.
Saturation diving takes advantage of this by having divers remain in that saturated state. When not in the water, the divers live in a sealed environment which maintains their pressurised state; this can be an ambient pressure underwater habitat or a saturation system at the surface, with transfer to and from the pressurised living quarters to the equivalent depth underwater via a closed, pressurised diving bell. This may be maintained for up to several weeks, and divers are decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their tour of duty. By limiting the number of decompressions in this way, and using a conservative decompression schedule the risk of decompression sickness is significantly reduced, and the total time spent decompressing is minimised. Saturation divers typically breathe a helium–oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis, and limit work of breathing, but at shallow depths saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures.
Most of the physiological and medical aspects of diving to the same depths are much the same in saturation and bell-bounce ambient pressure diving, or are less of a problem, but there are medical and psychological effects of living under saturation for extended periods.
Saturation diving is a specialized form of diving; of the 3,300 commercial divers employed in the United States in 2015, 336 were saturation divers. Special training and certification is required, as the activity is inherently hazardous, and a set of standard operating procedures, emergency procedures, and a range of specialised equipment is used to control the risk, that require consistently correct performance by all the members of an extended diving team. The combination of relatively large skilled personnel requirements, complex engineering, and bulky, heavy equipment required to support a saturation diving project make it an expensive diving mode, but it allows direct human intervention at places that would not otherwise be practical, and where it is applied, it is generally more economically viable than other options, if such exist. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The name scuba is an anacronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" and was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives.
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, so a smaller cylinder or cylinders may be used for an equivalent dive duration. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption; they produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-hold, immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure also have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in freediving.
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The name scuba is an anacronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" and was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives.
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, so a smaller cylinder or cylinders may be used for an equivalent dive duration. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption; they produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
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Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
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Atmospheric diving suit
An atmospheric diving suit (ADS) is a small one-person articulated submersible which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere. An ADS can enable diving at depths of up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) for many hours by eliminating the majority of significant physiological dangers associated with deep diving. The occupant of an ADS does not need to decompress, and there is no need for special breathing gas mixtures, so there is little danger of decompression sickness or nitrogen narcosis when the ADS is functioning properly. An ADS can permit less skilled swimmers to complete deep dives, albeit at the expense of dexterity.
Atmospheric diving suits in current use include the Newtsuit, Exosuit, Hardsuit and the WASP, all of which are self-contained hard suits that incorporate propulsion units. The Hardsuit is constructed from cast aluminum (forged aluminum in a version constructed for the US Navy for submarine rescue); the upper hull is made from cast aluminum, while the bottom dome is machined aluminum. The WASP is of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) body tube construction. (Full article...)
Image 9
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 10
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 11
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 12
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 13
Rebreather diving is underwater diving using diving rebreathers, a class of underwater breathing apparatus which recirculate the breathing gas exhaled by the diver after replacing the oxygen used and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic product. Rebreather diving is practiced by recreational, military and scientific divers in applications where it has advantages over open circuit scuba, and surface supply of breathing gas is impracticable. The main advantages of rebreather diving are extended gas endurance, low noise levels, and lack of bubbles.
Rebreathers are generally used for scuba applications, but are also occasionally used for bailout systems for surface-supplied diving. Gas reclaim systems used for deep heliox diving use similar technology to rebreathers, as do saturation divinglife-support systems, but in these applications the gas recycling equipment is not carried by the diver. Atmospheric diving suits also carry rebreather technology to recycle breathing gas as part of the life-support system, but this article covers the procedures of ambient pressure diving using rebreathers carried by the diver.
Rebreathers are generally more complex to use than open circuit scuba, and have more potential points of failure, so acceptably safe use requires a greater level of skill, attention and situational awareness, which is usually derived from understanding the systems, diligent maintenance and overlearning the practical skills of operation and fault recovery. Fault tolerant design can make a rebreather less likely to fail in a way that immediately endangers the user, and reduces the task loading on the diver which in turn may lower the risk of operator error. (Full article...)
Image 14
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Saturation diving is diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas used. It is a diving mode that reduces the number of decompressions divers working at great depths must undergo by only decompressing divers once at the end of the diving operation, which may last days to weeks, having them remain under pressure for the whole period. A diver breathing pressurized gas accumulates dissolved inert gas used in the breathing mixture to dilute the oxygen to a non-toxic level in the tissues, which can cause decompression sickness ("the bends") if permitted to come out of solution within the body tissues; hence, returning to the surface safely requires lengthy decompression so that the inert gases can be eliminated via the lungs. Once the dissolved gases in a diver's tissues reach the saturation point, however, decompression time does not increase with further exposure, as no more inert gas is accumulated.
Saturation diving takes advantage of this by having divers remain in that saturated state. When not in the water, the divers live in a sealed environment which maintains their pressurised state; this can be an ambient pressure underwater habitat or a saturation system at the surface, with transfer to and from the pressurised living quarters to the equivalent depth underwater via a closed, pressurised diving bell. This may be maintained for up to several weeks, and divers are decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their tour of duty. By limiting the number of decompressions in this way, and using a conservative decompression schedule the risk of decompression sickness is significantly reduced, and the total time spent decompressing is minimised. Saturation divers typically breathe a helium–oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis, and limit work of breathing, but at shallow depths saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures.
Most of the physiological and medical aspects of diving to the same depths are much the same in saturation and bell-bounce ambient pressure diving, or are less of a problem, but there are medical and psychological effects of living under saturation for extended periods.
Saturation diving is a specialized form of diving; of the 3,300 commercial divers employed in the United States in 2015, 336 were saturation divers. Special training and certification is required, as the activity is inherently hazardous, and a set of standard operating procedures, emergency procedures, and a range of specialised equipment is used to control the risk, that require consistently correct performance by all the members of an extended diving team. The combination of relatively large skilled personnel requirements, complex engineering, and bulky, heavy equipment required to support a saturation diving project make it an expensive diving mode, but it allows direct human intervention at places that would not otherwise be practical, and where it is applied, it is generally more economically viable than other options, if such exist. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 3
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
Image 4
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 5
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 6
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The name scuba is an anacronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" and was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives.
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, so a smaller cylinder or cylinders may be used for an equivalent dive duration. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption; they produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
An atmospheric diving suit (ADS) is a small one-person articulated submersible which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere. An ADS can enable diving at depths of up to 700 metres (2,300 ft) for many hours by eliminating the majority of significant physiological dangers associated with deep diving. The occupant of an ADS does not need to decompress, and there is no need for special breathing gas mixtures, so there is little danger of decompression sickness or nitrogen narcosis when the ADS is functioning properly. An ADS can permit less skilled swimmers to complete deep dives, albeit at the expense of dexterity.
Atmospheric diving suits in current use include the Newtsuit, Exosuit, Hardsuit and the WASP, all of which are self-contained hard suits that incorporate propulsion units. The Hardsuit is constructed from cast aluminum (forged aluminum in a version constructed for the US Navy for submarine rescue); the upper hull is made from cast aluminum, while the bottom dome is machined aluminum. The WASP is of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) body tube construction. (Full article...)
Image 8
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 9
Rebreather diving is underwater diving using diving rebreathers, a class of underwater breathing apparatus which recirculate the breathing gas exhaled by the diver after replacing the oxygen used and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic product. Rebreather diving is practiced by recreational, military and scientific divers in applications where it has advantages over open circuit scuba, and surface supply of breathing gas is impracticable. The main advantages of rebreather diving are extended gas endurance, low noise levels, and lack of bubbles.
Rebreathers are generally used for scuba applications, but are also occasionally used for bailout systems for surface-supplied diving. Gas reclaim systems used for deep heliox diving use similar technology to rebreathers, as do saturation divinglife-support systems, but in these applications the gas recycling equipment is not carried by the diver. Atmospheric diving suits also carry rebreather technology to recycle breathing gas as part of the life-support system, but this article covers the procedures of ambient pressure diving using rebreathers carried by the diver.
Rebreathers are generally more complex to use than open circuit scuba, and have more potential points of failure, so acceptably safe use requires a greater level of skill, attention and situational awareness, which is usually derived from understanding the systems, diligent maintenance and overlearning the practical skills of operation and fault recovery. Fault tolerant design can make a rebreather less likely to fail in a way that immediately endangers the user, and reduces the task loading on the diver which in turn may lower the risk of operator error. (Full article...)
Image 10
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-hold, immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure also have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in freediving.
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
Image 12
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
Image 13
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The name scuba is an anacronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" and was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives.
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, so a smaller cylinder or cylinders may be used for an equivalent dive duration. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption; they produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.