Model Experiments on the Site of Rongotai Aerodrome, Wellington, New Zealand

1938 ◽  
Vol 42 (326) ◽  
pp. 165-172
Author(s):  
C. I. Kidson

Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, is situated in the south of the North Island, among the mountainous masses 2,000ft., high which form the northern shore of Cook Strait. The winds in this latitude are strong and persistent, and this, combined with the venturi effect of the Straits, gives-Wellington a very boisterous climate. The average run of wind per 24 hours is 310 miles and the average number of gales of force 8 or over is in excess of 60 per annum. There is little open ground near the city, and there is no aerodrome site within 30 miles which is free from atmospheric disturbances or topographical defects.

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 170
Author(s):  
Gladys N. Benitez ◽  
Glenn D. Aguilar ◽  
Dan Blanchon

The spatial distribution of corticolous lichens on the iconic New Zealand pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) tree was investigated from a survey of urban parks and forests across the city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. Lichens were identified from ten randomly selected trees at 20 sampling sites, with 10 sites classified as coastal and another 10 as inland sites. Lichen data were correlated with distance from sea, distance from major roads, distance from native forests, mean tree DBH (diameter at breast height) and the seven-year average of measured NO2 over the area. A total of 33 lichen species were found with coastal sites harboring significantly higher average lichen species per tree as well as higher site species richness. We found mild hotspots in two sites for average lichen species per tree and another two separate sites for species richness, with all hotspots at the coast. A positive correlation between lichen species richness and DBH was found. Sites in coastal locations were more similar to each other in terms of lichen community composition than they were to adjacent inland sites and some species were only found at coastal sites. The average number of lichen species per tree was negatively correlated with distance from the coast, suggesting that the characteristic lichen flora found on pōhutukawa may be reliant on coastal microclimates. There were no correlations with distance from major roads, and a slight positive correlation between NO2 levels and average lichen species per tree.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 2031-2041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theofilos Toulkeridis ◽  
Fabián Rodríguez ◽  
Nelson Arias Jiménez ◽  
Débora Simón Baile ◽  
Rodolfo Salazar Martínez ◽  
...  

Abstract. The so-called El Trébol is a critical road interchange in Quito connecting the north and south regions of the city. In addition, it connects Quito with the highly populated Los Chillos Valley, one of the most traveled zones in the Ecuadorian capital. El Trébol was constructed in the late 1960s in order to resolve the traffic jams of the capital city and for that purpose the Machángara River was rerouted through an underground concrete box tunnel. In March 2008, the tunnel contained a high amount of discarded furniture that had been impacting the top portion of the tunnel, compromising the structural integrity. On 31 March 2008 after a heavy rainfall a sinkhole of great proportions formed in the Trébol traffic hub. In the first few minutes, the sinkhole reached an initial diameter of 30 m. The collapse continued to grow in the following days until the final dimensions of 120 m in diameter and some 40 m of depth, revealing the Machángara River at the base of the sinkhole.A state of emergency was declared. The cause of the sinkhole was a result of the lack of monitoring of the older subterranean infrastructure where trash had accumulated and damaged the concrete tunnel that channelized the Machángara River until it was worn away for a length of some 20 m, leaving behind the sinkhole and the fear of recurrence in populated areas.With the intent to understand the causes and consequences of this sinkhole event, rainfall data are shown together with hydrogeological characteristics and a view back to the recent history of sinkhole lineation or arrangement of the city of Quito. The economic impact is also emphasized, where the direct costs of the damage and the reconstruction are presented and compared to indirect costs associated with this socio-natural disaster. These analyses suggest that the costs of indirect financial damage, like time loss or delay, and subsequent higher expenses for different types of vehicles, are equivalent to many times the costs of the reconstruction of El Trébol.


Author(s):  
Anna K. Hodgkinson

Little is necessary in terms of an introduction, since Amarna is one of the best-known settlements of ancient Egypt. The city was founded by pharaoh Amenhotep IV, known from his fifth regal year as Akhenaten, on his move away from Thebes and Memphis to found a new religious and administrative capital city. Akhenaten reigned approximately between 1348 and 1331 BC, and his principal wife was Nefertiti. Akhenaten’s direct successor appears to have been a figure named Smenkhare (or Ankhkheperure) who was married to Akhenaten’s daughter Meritaten. Like Nefertiti, Smenkhare/Ankhkheperure held the throne name Nefernefruaten. For this reason it is uncertain whether this individual was Nefertiti, who may have reigned for some years after the death of Akhenaten, possibly even with a brief co-regency, or whether this was a son or younger brother of the latter. The rule of Smenkhare/Ankhkheperure was short, and he or she was eventually succeeded by Tutankhamun. The core city of Amarna was erected on a relatively flat desert plain surrounded by cliffs on the east bank of the Nile, in Middle Egypt, approximately 60km south of the modern city of Minia, surrounded by the villages et- Till to the north and el-Hagg Qandil to the south. The site was defined by at least sixteen boundary stelae, three of which actually stand on the western bank, past the edge of the modern cultivation. In total, the city measures 12.5km north–south on the east bank between stelae X and J, and c.8.2km west–east between the projected line between stelae X and J and stela S to the far east, which also indicates approximately the longitude of the royal tomb. The distance between stelae J and F, to the far south-west, measures c.20km, and between stelae X and A, to the far north-west 19.2km. The core city, which is the part of the settlement examined in this section, was erected along the Nile, on the east bank, and it is defined by the ‘Royal Road’, a major thoroughfare running through the entire core city north–south.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shay B. O'Neill

<p>The endemic fauna of the South Island has proven to be an ideal taxonomic group to examine the impact of climatic and geological processes on the evolution of New Zealand's biota since the Pliocene. This thesis examines the phylogeography of McCann's skink (Oligosoma maccanni) in order to provide insight into the relative contribution of Pliocene and Pleistocene processes on patterns of genetic structure in South Island biota. This thesis also investigates the phylogeography of the brown skink (O. zelandicum) to examine whether Cook Strait landbridges facilitated gene flow between the North and South Island in the late-Pleistocene. This thesis also investigates the presence of genealogical concordance across independent loci for the endemic alpine stick insect, Niveaphasma. I obtained mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data (ND2 and ND4; 1284 bp) from across the range of both skink species and mtDNA (COI; 762 bp) and nuclear sequence data (EF1 ; 590 bp) from across the range of Niveaphasma. I used DGGE in order to resolve nuclear EF1 alleles and examined phylogeographic patterns in each species using Neighbour-Joining, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian methods. Substantial phylogeographic structure was found within O. maccanni, with divergences among clades estimated to have occurred during the Pliocene. Populations in the Otago/Southland region formed a well-supported lineage within O. maccanni. A genetic break was evident between populations in east and west Otago, while north-south genetic breaks were evident within the Canterbury region. There was relatively minor phylogeographic structure within O. zelandicum. Our genetic data supports a single colonization of the North Island by O. zelandicum from the South Island, with the estimated timing of this event (0.46 Mya) consistent with the initial formation of Cook Strait. There was substantial genetic structuring identified within Niveaphasma, with a well-supported lineage present in the Otago/Southland region. There was also a genetic break between populations in Canterbury and eastern Otago with those in central Otago and Southland. The genetic data provided strong genealogical concordance between mtDNA haplotypes and nuclear alleles suggesting an accurate depiction of the historical isolation identified between the major clades of Niveaphasma. This finding offers compelling evidence for the use of nuclear gene  phylogeography alongside mtDNA for future evolutionary studies within New Zealand.</p>


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theofilos Toulkeridis ◽  
Fabián Rodríguez ◽  
Nelson Arias Jiménez ◽  
Débora Simón Baile ◽  
Rodolfo Salazar Martínez ◽  
...  

Abstract. The so-called "El Trébol" is a critical road interchange in Quito connecting the north and south regions of the city. In addition, it connects Quito with the highly populated "Los Chillos" valley, one of the most traveled zones in the Ecuadorian capital. El Trébol was constructed in the late sixties in order to resolve the traffic jams of the capital city and for that purpose the Machángara river was rerouted through a concrete box tunnel. In March 2008, the tunnel contained a high amount of trash furniture that had been impacting the top portion of the tunnel, compromising the structural integrity. On the 31st of March 2008 after a heavy rainfall a sinkhole of great proportions was formed in the Trébol traffic hub. In the first few minutes, with an initial diameter of 30 meters. The collapse continued to grow in the following days until the final dimensions of 120 meters in diameter and some 40 meters of depth, revealing the Machángara river at the base of the sinkhole. A state of emergency was declared, the cause of the sinkhole was a result of the lack of monitoring of the older subterranean infrastructure where trash had accumulated and damaged the concrete tunnel that channelized the Machángara river until it was worn away for a length of some 20 meters, leaving behind the sinkhole and the fear of recurrence in populated areas. In an intend to understand the causes and consequences of this sinkhole event, rainfall data are shown together with hydrogeological characteristics and a view back to the recent history of sinkhole lineation or arrangement of the city of Quito. The economic impact is also emphasized, where the direct costs of the damage and the reconstruction are presented and compared to indirect costs associated with this socio-natural disaster. These analyses suggest that the costs of indirect financial damage, like time loss or delay, and subsequent higher expenses for different types of of vehicles, are equivalent to many times the costs of the reconstruction of El Trébol.


2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lowrey

In the early nineteenth century, the city of Edinburgh cultivated a reputation as "the Athens of the North." The paper explores the architectural aspects of this in relation to the city's sense of its own identity. It traces the idea of Edinburgh as a "modern Athens" back to the eighteenth century, when the connotations were cultural, intellectual, and topographical rather than architectural. With the emergence of the Greek revival, however, Edinburgh began actively to construct an image of classical Greece on the hilltops and in the streets of the expanding city. It is argued that the Athenian identity of Edinburgh should be viewed as the culmination of a series of developments dating back to the Act of Union between the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707. As a result, Edinburgh lost its status as a capital city and struggled to reassert itself against the stronger economy of the south. Almost inevitably, the northern capital had to redefine itself in relation to London, the English and British capital. The major developments of Edinburgh in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including the New Town and the urban proposals of Robert Adam, are interpreted in this light. As the eighteenth century progressed, the city grew more confident and by the early nineteenth century had settled upon its role within the Union and within the empire, which was that of cultural capital as a counterbalance to London, the political capital. The architectural culmination of the process of the redefinition of Edinburgh, however, coincided with the emergence of another mythology of Scottish identity, as seen through the Romantic vision of Sir Walter Scott. It implied a quite different, indigenous architecture that later found its expression in the Scots Baronial style. It is argued here, however, that duality does not contradict the idea of Edinburgh as Athens, nor, more generally, does it sit uneasily with the Scottish predilection for Greek architecture, but rather that it encapsulates the very essence of Scottish national identity: both proudly Scots and British.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jamie C. Tam

<p>Wellington Harbour which lies near the southern tip of the North Island, New Zealand, exhibits a typical rocky intertidal shoreline with groups of species similar to those found on many temperate rocky coasts around the world. A short distance away, the Cook Strait displays a very different shoreline in community composition compared with Wellington Harbour, most notably a distinct lack of filter feeders. This thesis aims to examine how exactly the community composition is different between the two coasts at a species level and if there are any environmental factors that can explain the differing distributions. Here, a series of field and laboratory experiments aim to examine why certain filter feeders (mussels) are absent from the Cook Strait shore, yet so abundant in Wellington Harbour ... This work indicates that the Cook Strait coastline has lower filter feeder abundances and an overall different community composition than Wellington Harbour. The cause of these differences appears to be bottom up regulation through the lack of food availability (phytoplankton) during winter months in the Cook Strait. The high commercial value of coastal environments in both fisheries and tourism heightens the need to understand these habitats. Unravelling the complex relationships between the seasonal changes in the water column and onshore biota is important for conserving and protecting these essential ecosystems in New Zealand and temperate shores worldwide.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 589-614
Author(s):  
Kozan Uzunoğlu ◽  
Semra Sema Uzunoğlu

approach in recent years. One of these cities which is the last divided capital city and one of the most important cultural heritages of the Mediterranean region in  the island of Cyprus is the Nicosia Walled City. Within this study, the existing situation of pedestrianized areas in the Walled City in north Nicosia were examined. In literature review part, the importance of pedestrianization,  reasons and benefits of pedestrianization, examples of pedestrianized areas/streets around the world  are reviewed. The pedestrianized streets/areas in the north Nicosia Walled City were examined on-site, photographed, their current status was revealed and evaluated according to determined criteria. Each street/area was evaluated in terms of functions in the street, mobility, accessibility by car or public transportation, social/community activities, economic development and quality of physical environment. When the old city of Nicosia is analyzed in the context of these criteria, it has been observed that the pedestrianized areas have an increasing social, cultural and economical contribution to the city. In addition to its historical features, the places and activities that attract the people especially young population and tourists, bring life to this region. In terms of environmental aspects, visual incompatibilities were observed even in the streets where pedestrianization studies have been carried out recently. There are also problems about vehicle and pedestrian traffic that affect users. The study was completed by making suggestions at the end of the study. Keywords: pedestrianized streets, pedestrianized squares, Nicosia Walled City, Cyprus


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John Rodford Wehipeihana

<p>Today, the majority of travellers journeying in the North Island of New Zealand, from Wellington to points north, e.g. Palmerston North or Wanganui, travel the length of the Horowhenua coastal plain, which sole routeway is bordered by the Tararua foothills to the east and by the Tasman Sea to the west. At a point some 52 miles north of the capital city and approximately 4 miles south of Levin, the motorist passes over a white bridge near which stands a dairy factory, and at a distance, a Maori meeting house. At the end of the mile-long stretch of State highway, an elevated by-pass affords a view of fenced paddocks, closely-cultivated fields, a railway line and a river. (See frontispiece.) As such scenes are common on many lowland pockets of the North Island of New Zealand, they mean little to the average traveller who crosses the Ohau River and pursues his northward course.</p>


X ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zehra Öngül

Nicosia today has the characteristics of being the only divided city in Europe. By examining the inside of the walls, one observes that the structure of the city is determined by the circular plan of the walls that were constructed during the Venetian period. There are 11 bastions on the walls and three Venetian gates, namely Kyrenia Gate, Famagusta Gate and Paphos Gate, were originally designed to allow entrance to the city that is encircled by the walls. Nicosia continued to be the islands capital which has fallen under Ottoman rule in between 1571-1878. In the period of British occupation 1878-1960, as a result of the increasing population, the city of Nicosia overflew the walls and developed by spreading beyond the city walls and 8 new passages were opened. The organic fabric of the walled city, with the establishment of buffer zones after the peace operation of 1974, resulted in the division of the island that divided the capital city into two. In 1931, because of the increased vehicle needs through the north side, the walls around the Kyrenia Gate (Porta del Proveditore) were trimmed and designed as a single monumental building. Between Kyrenia Gate and Barbaro bastion wall height is lower than the existing. Public lavatory and 9 small shops were inserted. Sitting steps were designed on the walls and two stairs were constructed to reach these area. To give an access from the moat to the inner city there is a passage. In this context, identifying changes of the Kyrenia Gate-Barbaro bastion site, during this historic period, is the main goal of this study. Decisions with regard to these walls and observations to be made on right places to determine the changes are main focuses of the study.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document