Shrines and Sovereigns: Life, Death, and Religion in Rural Azerbaijan

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 654-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Grant
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Open Field ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The West ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Rapid Succession ◽  
The North ◽  
Land Mass

Shrines fill the Eurasian land mass. They can be found from Turkey in the west to China in the east, from the Arctic Circle in the north to Afghanistan in the south. Between town and country, they can consist of full-scale architectural complexes, or they may compose no more than an open field, a pile of stones, a tree, or a small mausoleum. They have been at the centers and peripheries of almost every major religious tradition of the region: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Yet in the formerly socialist world, these places of pilgrimage have something even more in common: they were often cast as the last bastions of religious observance when churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues were sent crashing to the ground in rapid succession across the twentieth century.

Northward ho! Obama, Diefenbaker and the North American Arctic

Polar Record ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-255
Author(s):  
Klaus J. Dodds
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Aleutian Islands ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
The North ◽  
American President ◽  
North American Arctic ◽  
To Come ◽  
Franklin Delano Roosevelt ◽  
Lying Down

President Barrack Obama became, in September 2015, the first US president to travel north of the Arctic Circle. Having started his Alaskan itinerary in Anchorage, attending and speaking at a conference involving Secretary of State John Kerry and invited guests, the president travelled north to the small town of Kotzebue, a community of some 3000 people with the majority of inhabitants identifying as native American. Delivered to an audience in the local high school numbering around 1000, the 41st US president placed his visit within a longer presidential tradition of northern visitation: I did have my team look into what other Presidents have done when they visited Alaska. I’m not the first President to come to Alaska.Warren Harding spent more than two weeks here – which I would love to do. But I can't leave Congress alone that long. (Laughter.) Something might happen. When FDR visited – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – his opponents started a rumor that he left his dog, Fala, on the Aleutian Islands – and spent 20 million taxpayer dollars to send a destroyer to pick him up. Now, I’m astonished that anybody would make something up about a President. (Laughter.) But FDR did not take it lying down. He said, “I don't resent attacks, and my family doesn't resent attacks – but Fala does resent attacks. He's not been the same dog since.” (Laughter.) President Carter did some fishing when he visited. And I wouldn't mind coming back to Alaska to do some fly-fishing someday. You cannot see Alaska in three days. It's too big. It's too vast. It's too diverse. (Applause.) So I’m going to have to come back. I may not be President anymore, but hopefully I’d still get a pretty good reception. (Applause.) And just in case, I’ll bring Michelle, who I know will get a good reception. (Applause.) . . .. But there's one thing no American President has done before – and that's travel above the Arctic Circle. (Applause.) So I couldn't be prouder to be the first, and to spend some time with all of you (Obama 2015a).

PATTERNS OF DIVERSITY IN THE CANADIAN INSECT FAUNA

1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (S165) ◽  
pp. 51-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.V. Danks
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Large Area ◽  
The West ◽  
Insect Fauna ◽  
Climatic Trend ◽  
The North ◽  
Historical Factors

AbstractThe diversity of the Canadian insect fauna decreases and its composition (at all taxonomic levels) changes as climates become progressively more harsh toward the north. This climatic trend dominates patterns of diversity, but many other factors interact to produce the observed patterns. In the arctic, species richness is greatest in the west. Farther south, overall species richness is greatest in the west (especially British Columbia), associated with coastal and cordilleran habitats, and to a somewhat smaller degree in the southeast (especially Ontario), associated with deciduous forests and particularly with transitional forests which occupy a large area of southeastern Canada. However, certain taxa are better represented in the west or in the east, depending on present-day habitats and on historical factors. These conclusions, based chiefly on a sample of taxa of different types, are possible only because basic systematic work has been carried out to distinguish and map the species. Preliminary data on numerical patterns, such as the numbers of species relative to different potential resources such as host plants in different zones, tend to suggest that the occurrence of species in the north may depend so heavily on climatic factors that potential resources are not fully exploited and the effects of interspecific interactions on diversity are reduced.

The Arctic Caledonides and earlier Oceans

1972 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Harland ◽  
R. A. Gayer
Keyword(s):  
Barents Sea ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Lomonosov Ridge ◽  
The Urals ◽  
The West ◽  
East Greenland ◽  
The North ◽  
Scandinavian Caledonides ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
North Greenland

SummaryConsideration of the arctic configuration of the Caledonides leads to a distinction between eastern and western geosynclinal belts. The western belt, comprising the East Greenland, East Svalbard and southern Barents Sea Caledonides is postulated to continue northwards into the Lomonosov Ridge, whilst the western Spitsbergen Caledonides are thought to have originated as part of the North Greenland geosyncline which is also thought to continue northwards to form the western part of the Lomonosov Ridge. The eastern Caledonian geosynclinal belt comprising the Scandinavian Caledonides appears to swing eastwards to link with the Timan Chain and possibly the Urals.The already postulated (‘Proto-Atlantic’) ocean concept is reviewed in the light of the Arctic Caledonides and named Iapetus. Faunal provincialism suggests that the ocean was in existence up to early Ordovician but had substantially closed by mid Ordovician times. Possible relics of the suture marking the closure of this ocean suggest that it lay to the west of the Arctic Scandinavian Caledonides trending NE to latitude 70° N and thence veered eastwards separating the southern Barents Sea Caledonides from those of Arctic Scandinavia, possibly connecting with the northern Uralian ocean. A previous branch of the ocean may have separated East Svalbard and East Greenland as an ocean-like trough. A further (pre-Arctic) ocean may have existed to the north of the North Greenland–Lomonosov Ridge geosynclines. This is named Pelagus.The closure of these oceanic areas and the deformation of the bordering geosynclines delineates three principal continental plates, namely, Baltic, Greenland and Barents Plates. Their relative dominantly E–W motion up to Silurian times produced compression between the Greenland and both the Baltic and Barents plates but dextral transpression and transcurrence between the latter plates. In Late Silurian to Devonian times an increasing northward component controlled late Caledonian transpression and sinistral transcurrence between the Greenland plate and the combined Baltic and Barents plates.

scholarly journals Diurnal and annual variations of meteor rates at the Arctic circle

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Singer ◽  
J. Weiß ◽  
U. von Zahn
Keyword(s):  
Diurnal Variations ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Noctilucent Cloud ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Annual Cycles ◽  
Annual Variations ◽  
The North ◽  
Radar Antenna ◽  
Metal Layers ◽  
Antenna Field

Abstract. Meteors are an important source for (a) the metal atoms of the upper atmosphere metal layers and (b) for condensation nuclei, the existence of which are a prerequisite for the formation of noctilucent cloud particles in the polar mesopause region. For a better understanding of these phenomena, it would be helpful to know accurately the annual and diurnal variations of meteor rates. So far, these rates have been little studied at polar latitudes. Therefore we have used the 33 MHz meteor radar of the ALOMAR observatory at 69° N to measure the meteor rates at this location for two full annual cycles. This site, being within 3° of the Arctic circle, offers in addition an interesting capability: The axis of its antenna field points (almost) towards the North ecliptic pole once each day of the year. In this particular viewing direction, the radar monitors the meteoroid influx from (almost) the entire ecliptic Northern hemisphere. We report on the observed diurnal variations (averaged over one month) of meteor rates and their significant alterations throughout the year. The ratio of maximum over minimum meteor rates throughout one diurnal cycle is in January and February about 5, from April through December 2.3±0.3. If compared with similar measurements at mid-latitudes, our expectation, that the amplitude of the diurnal variation is to decrease towards the North pole, is not really borne out. Observations with the antenna axis pointing towards the North ecliptic pole showed that the rate of deposition of meteoric dust is substantially larger during the Arctic NLC season than the annual mean deposition rate. The daylight meteor showers of the Arietids, Zeta Perseids, and Beta Taurids supposedly contribute considerably to the June maximum of meteor rates. We note, though, that with the radar antenna pointing as described above, all three meteor radiants are close to the local horizon. This radiant location should cause most of these shower meteors to occur above 100 km altitude. In our observations, the June maximum in meteor rate is produced, however, almost exclusively by meteors below 100 km altitude.

scholarly journals Forward to the north: two Euro-Mediterranean bumblebee species now cross the Arctic Circle

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baptiste Martinet ◽  
Pierre Rasmont ◽  
Björn Cederberg ◽  
Dimitri Evrard ◽  
Frode Ødegaard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Bumblebee Species ◽  
The North

The first decade in New Guinea archaeology

Antiquity ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 46 (183) ◽  
pp. 180-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Allen
Keyword(s):  
New Guinea ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Land Mass ◽  
Political Boundaries

Immediately to the north of Australia, the island of New Guinea forms the largest single land mass in the cultural area known as Melanesia (FIG. I). Politically the island is divided; to the west is the Indonesian state of West Irian, to the east is the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, at present administered by the Australian Government. While such political boundaries are disregarded as a matter of course in attempting to reconstruct the prehistory of the area, the development of archaeological research reflects, and has been impeded by, this artificial division.

Vilna on the Spree: Yiddish in Weimar Berlin

Aschkenas ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gennady Estraikh
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Visible Minority ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

Yiddish-speakers, or Ostjuden (Eastern [European] Jews), who built a visible minority in the-turn-of-the-twentieth-century Berlin, usually migrated to the Kaiserreich capital from the then German territory of Posen (Poznan) as well as from Russian and Austro-Hungarian Poland. In Berlin, they would settle in the proletarian East of the city, most notably in the Scheunenviertel (Barn Quarter), the slum quarter »a few blocks northeast of Alexanderplatz, bounded by Linienstrasse to the north, Oranienburgerstrasse to the west and south and Landsberger Allee to the east.« The Scheunenviertel, however, never became a Jewish ghetto in the true sense of the word, because Ostjuden lived there together with other outsiders twice over – non-German and foreign-born. In addition, absorption of Jewish newcomers usually faced less problems in Berlin than, for example, in Vienna. Although thousands of full-bearded »caftan Jews« and their families never acquired assets for social mobility and stayed put in the Alexanderplatz area, many others would work their way up from the lowest rung on the social ladder and move to more elegant districts, including Charlottenburg, merging there with »real« Western Jews.

scholarly journals Metagenome-assembled genomes of phytoplankton communities across the Arctic Circle

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Duncan ◽  
K. Barry ◽  
C. Daum ◽  
E. Eloe-Fadrosh ◽  
S. Roux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Dna ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Protein Families ◽  
Genomic Context ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Surface Ocean ◽  
The North ◽  
Phytoplankton Communities ◽  
Metagenome Sequencing ◽  
Plankton Diversity

AbstractPhytoplankton communities significantly contribute to global biogeochemical cycles of elements and underpin marine food webs. Although their uncultured genetic diversity has been estimated by planetary-scale metagenome sequencing and subsequent reconstruction of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), this approach has yet to be applied for eukaryote-enriched polar and non-polar phytoplankton communities. Here, we have assembled draft prokaryotic and eukaryotic MAGs from environmental DNA extracted from chlorophyll a maximum layers in the surface ocean across the Arctic Circle in the Atlantic. From 679 Gbp and estimated 50 million genes in total, we recovered 140 MAGs of medium to high quality. Although there was a strict demarcation between polar and non-polar MAGs, adjacent sampling stations in each environment on either side of the Arctic Circle had MAGs in common. Furthermore, phylogenetic placement revealed eukaryotic MAGs to be more diverse in the Arctic whereas prokaryotic MAGs were more diverse in the Atlantic south of the Arctic Circle. Approximately 60% of protein families were shared between polar and non-polar MAGs for both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, eukaryotic MAGs had more protein families unique to the Arctic whereas prokaryotic MAGs had more families unique to south of the Arctic circle. Thus, our study enabled us to place differences in functional plankton diversity in a genomic context to reveal that the evolution of these MAGs likely was driven by significant differences in the seascape on either side of an ecosystem boundary that separates polar from non-polar surface ocean waters in the North Atlantic.

scholarly journals The Chatanika and Sondrestrom Radars – a brief history

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
M. A. McCready ◽  
C. J. Heinselman
Keyword(s):  
Wave Propagation ◽  
Radio Wave ◽  
West Coast ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Research Facility ◽  
Polar Cap ◽  
The West ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
Atmospheric Research ◽  
Incoherent Scatter

Abstract. The Sondrestrom upper atmospheric research facility, located just north of the Arctic Circle near the west coast of Greenland, will soon celebrate 30 yr of operations. The centerpiece of the facility, an incoherent scatter radar, has collected 46 000 h of data on the ionospheric state parameters. This instrument was designed and built to measure the effects of nuclear bombs on radio wave propagation in the South Pacific, but instead was deployed to Alaska to study the effects of auroral structuring on the ionosphere, and was later moved to Greenland to explore the auroral cusp and the dynamics of the polar cap boundary. This is the story of the birth and genesis of the instrument, its travels, and the evolution of its facility.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document