New York City

The City of New York , often called New York City or simply New York , is the most populous city in the United States . With an estimated 2016 population of 8,537,673 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 sqmi , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States . Located at the southern tip of the state of New York , the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area , one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world . A global power city , New York City exerts a significant impact upon commerce , finance , media , art , fashion , research , technology , education , and entertainment , its fast pace defining the term New York minute . Home to the headquarters of the United Nations , New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural , financial , and media capital of the world .   Situated on one of the world 's largest natural harbors , New York City consists of five boroughs , each of which is a separate county of New York State . The five boroughs -- Brooklyn , Queens , Manhattan , The Bronx , and Staten Island -- were consolidated into a single city in 1898 . The city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States , and as many as 800 languages are spoken in New York , making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world . New York City is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the United States , the world 's largest foreign-born population of any city . By 2016 estimates , the New York City metropolitan region remains by a significant margin the most populous in the United States , as defined by both the Metropolitan Statistical Area ( MSA ) , 20.2 million residents , and the Combined Statistical Area ( CSA ) , 23.7 million residents . In 2013 , the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product ( GMP ) of nearly US$ 1.39 trillion . In 2012 , the CSA generated a GMP of over US$ 1.55 trillion . NYC 's MSA and CSA GDP are higher than the GDPs of all but 11 and 12 countries , respectively .   New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626 . The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother , the Duke of York . New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790 . It has been the country 's largest city since 1790 . The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy . In the 21st century , New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship , social tolerance , and environmental sustainability .   Many districts and landmarks in New York City have become well known , and the city received a record of nearly 60 million tourists in 2015 , hosting three of the world 's ten most visited tourist attractions in 2013 . Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world . Times Square , iconic as the world 's `` heart '' and its `` Crossroads '' , is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District , one of the world 's busiest pedestrian intersections , and a major center of the world 's entertainment industry . The names of many of the city 's bridges , tapered skyscrapers , and parks are known around the world . Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan , New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world , and the city is home to the world 's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization , the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ . Manhattan 's real estate market is among the most expensive in the world . Manhattan 's Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere , with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city . Providing continuous 24/7 service , the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide , with stations in operation . Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City , including Columbia University , New York University , and Rockefeller University , which have been ranked among the top 35 in the world .


New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier

The New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier is a proposed flood barrier system to protect New York-New Jersey harbor estuary shores from storm surges . The proposed system would consist of one barrier located across the mouth of Lower New York Bay between Sandy Hook ( N.J. ) and Far Rockaway ( N.Y. ) and second on the upper East River to provide a ring of protection to most of the bi-state region .   To address the problem of sea-level rise , smaller scale projects to increase seawall heights or otherwise raise vulnerable coastlines would be necessary . Thus a storm-surge barrier system combined with coastline adjustments would form a two-tiered , or bifurcated , strategy to protect the region . The barrier system could also be extended eastward , filling in the gaps between barrier islands , to protect the various communities lining the south shore of Long Island .   The proposal was developed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy by the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Storm Surge Working Group , composed of prominent entrepreneurs , civic leaders , social scientists , oceanographers , marine ecologists , meteorologists , engineers , architects , economists , attorneys and media experts . The group is chaired by Malcolm Bowman , a professor of physical oceanography at the State University of New York at Stony Brook . Within the barrier system lies crucial infrastructure such a sthe seaports and maritime facilities ; ground level and underground transportation terminals ; three major international airports ; subway and roadway tunnels ; hospitals ; communication centers ; the industrial complex of northern New Jersey ; as well as the millions of residents at risk in New York City and coastal New Jersey north of Sandy Hook .


Newt Gingrich

Newton Leroy Gingrich ( -LSB- ˈnuːt_ˈɡɪŋgɹɪtʃ -RSB- born Newton Leroy McPherson ; June 17 , 1943 ) is an American author and politician from Georgia who served as the 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999 . He represented Georgia 's 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1979 until his resignation in 1999 . In 2012 , Gingrich was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination .   A teacher of history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s , Gingrich won election to the United States House of Representatives before winning in November 1978 . He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 -- 95 , and Speaker of the House from 1995 -- 99 . A co-author and architect of the `` Contract with America '' , Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election . In 1995 , Time named him `` Man of the Year '' for `` his role in ending the four-decades-long Democratic majority in the House '' .   As House Speaker , Gingrich oversaw passage by the House of welfare reform and a capital gains tax cut in 1997 . The poor showing by Republicans in the 1998 Congressional elections , a reprimand from the House for Gingrich 's ethics violation , and pressure from Republican colleagues , resulted in Gingrich 's resignation from the speakership on November 6 , 1998 . He resigned altogether from the House on January 3 , 1999 .   Since leaving the House , Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant . He founded and chaired several policy think tanks , including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation . He has written or co-authored 27 books . In May 2011 , he announced his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination . On May 2 , 2012 , Gingrich ended his presidential campaign and endorsed front runner Mitt Romney , who won the nomination .


Nick Bostrom

Nick Bostrom ( -LSB- langˈbɒstrəm -RSB- Niklas Boström , -LSB- ˈbuːˌstrœm -RSB- ; born 10 March 1973 ) is a Swedish philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk , the anthropic principle , human enhancement ethics , superintelligence risks , the reversal test , and consequentialism . In 2011 , he founded the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology , and he is currently the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University .   He is the author of over 200 publications , including Superintelligence : Paths , Dangers , Strategies ( 2014 ) , a New York Times bestseller and Anthropic Bias : Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy ( 2002 ) . In 2009 and 2015 , he was included in Foreign Policys Top 100 Global Thinkers list . Bostrom 's work on superintelligence -- and his concern for its existential risk to humanity over the coming century -- has brought both Elon Musk and Bill Gates to similar thinking .


Nicola Scafetta

Nicola Scafetta is a research scientist at the University of Napoli Federico II , and formerly at the ACRIM Lab group and an adjunct assistant professor in the physics department at Duke University . His research interests are in theoretical and applied statistics and nonlinear models of complex processes . He has published peer-reviewed papers in journals covering a wide variety of disciplines , including astronomy , biology , climatology , economics , medicine , physics and sociology .


Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element with symbol N and atomic number 7 . It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772 . Although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time , Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first . The name nitrogen was suggested by Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790 , when it was found that nitrogen was present in nitric acid and nitrates ; this name derives from the Greek roots νἰτρον `` nitre '' and - γεννᾶν `` to form '' . Antoine Lavoisier suggested instead the name azote , from the Greek άζωτικός `` no life '' , as it is an asphyxiant gas ; his name is instead used in many languages , such as French , Russian , and Turkish , and appears in the English names of some nitrogen compounds such as hydrazine , azides and azo compounds .   Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table , often called the pnictogens . The name comes from the Greek πνίγειν `` to choke '' , directly referencing nitrogen 's asphyxiating properties . It is a common element in the universe , estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System . At standard temperature and pressure , two atoms of the element bind to form dinitrogen , a colourless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula N2 . Dinitrogen forms about 78 % of Earth 's atmosphere , making it the most abundant uncombined element . Nitrogen occurs in all organisms , primarily in amino acids ( and thus proteins ) , in the nucleic acids ( DNA and RNA ) and in the energy transfer molecule adenosine triphosphate . The human body contains about 3 % nitrogen by mass , the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen , carbon , and hydrogen . The nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element from the air , into the biosphere and organic compounds , then back into the atmosphere .   Many industrially important compounds , such as ammonia , nitric acid , organic nitrates ( propellants and explosives ) , and cyanides , contain nitrogen . The extremely strong triple bond in elemental nitrogen ( N ≡ N ) , the second strongest bond in any diatomic molecule , dominates nitrogen chemistry . This causes difficulty for both organisms and industry in converting N2 into useful compounds , but at the same time means that burning , exploding , or decomposing nitrogen compounds to form nitrogen gas releases large amounts of often useful energy . Synthetically produced ammonia and nitrates are key industrial fertilisers , and fertiliser nitrates are key pollutants in the eutrophication of water systems .   Apart from its use in fertilisers and energy-stores , nitrogen is a constituent of organic compounds as diverse as Kevlar used in high-strength fabric and cyanoacrylate used in superglue . Nitrogen is a constituent of every major pharmacological drug class , including antibiotics . Many drugs are mimics or prodrugs of natural nitrogen-containing signal molecules : for example , the organic nitrates nitroglycerin and nitroprusside control blood pressure by metabolizing into nitric oxide . Many notable nitrogen-containing drugs , such as the natural caffeine and morphine or the synthetic amphetamines , act on receptors of animal neurotransmitters .


Nitrogen fixation

Nitrogen fixation is a process by which nitrogen in the Earth 's atmosphere is converted into ammonia ( NH3 ) or other molecules available to living organisms . Atmospheric nitrogen or molecular dinitrogen ( N2 ) is relatively inert : it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds . The fixation process frees nitrogen atoms from their triply bonded diatomic form , N ≡ N , to be used in other ways .   Nitrogen fixation is essential for all forms of life because inorganic nitrogen compounds are required for the biosynthesis of the basic building blocks of plants , animals and other life forms , e.g. , nucleotides for DNA and RNA , the coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide for its role in metabolism ( transferring electrons between molecules ) , and amino acids for proteins . Therefore , as part of the nitrogen cycle , it is essential for agriculture and the manufacture of fertilizer . It is also , indirectly , relevant to the manufacture of all chemical compounds that contain nitrogen , which includes explosives , most pharmaceuticals , dyes , etc. . Nitrogen fixation is carried out naturally in the soil by nitrogen fixing bacteria such as Azotobacter . Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria have symbiotic relationships with some plant groups , especially legumes . Looser relationships between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and plants are often referred to as associative or non-symbiotic , as seen in nitrogen fixation occurring on rice roots . It also occurs naturally in the air by means of NOx production by lightning .   All biological nitrogen fixation is done by way of metalloenzymes called nitrogenases . These enzymes contain iron , often with a second metal , usually molybdenum but sometimes vanadium . Microorganisms that can fix nitrogen are prokaryotes ( both bacteria and archaea , distributed throughout their respective Domains ) called diazotrophs . Some higher plants , and some animals ( termites ) , have formed associations ( symbiosis ) with diazotrophs .


Non-renewable resource

A non-renewable resource ( also called a finite resource ) is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames . An example is carbon-based , organically-derived fuel . The original organic material , with the aid of heat and pressure , becomes a fuel such as oil or gas . Earth minerals and metal ores , fossil fuels ( coal , petroleum , natural gas ) and groundwater in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable resources , though individual elements are almost always conserved .   In contrast , resources such as timber ( when harvested sustainably ) and wind ( used to power energy conversion systems ) are considered renewable resources , largely because their localized replenishment can occur within time frames meaningful to humans .


Nordland

Nordland ( -LSB- ² nuːrlɑn -RSB- ; Nordlándda ) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region , bordering Troms in the north , Nord-Trøndelag in the south , Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east , Västerbotten County to the southeast , and the Atlantic Ocean ( Norwegian Sea ) to the west . The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt . The county administration is in Bodø . The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen has been administered from Nordland since 1995 .   In the southern part is Vega , listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list . The history of Nordland is a tale about the gifts from the sea : One of the most productive seas in the world providing food all year since ancient times , the same sea creates a climate more moderate than any other place in the arctic ; even the bedrock itself enriched by sea living organisms millions of years ago in the geological past .


North America

North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere . It can also be considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas . It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean , to the east by the Atlantic Ocean , to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean , and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea .   North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers ( 9,540,000 square miles ) , about 16.5 % of the earth 's land area and about 4.8 % of its total surface .  North America is the third largest continent by area , following Asia and Africa , and the fourth by population after Asia , Africa , and Europe .   In 2013 , its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states , or about 7.5 % of the world 's population , if nearby islands ( most notably the Caribbean ) are included .   North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period , via crossing the Bering land bridge approximately 40,000 to 17,000 years ago . The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago ( the beginning of the Archaic or Meso-Indian period ) . The Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries . The Pre-Columbian era ended with the transatlantic migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery and the Early Modern period . Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists , indigenous peoples , African slaves and their descendants . European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south . Because of the history of colonialism , most North Americans speak English , Spanish or French and societies and states commonly reflect Western traditions .


North Atlantic oscillation

The North Atlantic Oscillation ( NAO ) is a weather phenomenon in the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level ( SLP ) between the Icelandic low and the Azores high . Through fluctuations in the strength of the Icelandic low and the Azores high , it controls the strength and direction of westerly winds and location of storm tracks across the North Atlantic . It is part of the Arctic oscillation , and varies over time with no particular periodicity .   The NAO was discovered through several studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Unlike the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean , the NAO is a largely atmospheric mode . It is one of the most important manifestations of climate fluctuations in the North Atlantic and surrounding humid climates .   The North Atlantic Oscillation is closely related to the Arctic oscillation ( AO ) or Northern Annular Mode ( NAM ) , but should not be confused with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ( AMO ) .


North Carolina

North Carolina ( -LSB- nɔrθ_kærəˈlaɪnə -RSB- ) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States . The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south , Tennessee to the west , Virginia to the north , and the Atlantic Ocean to the east . North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U.S. states . The state is divided into 100 counties . The capital is Raleigh . The most populous municipality is Charlotte , which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City .   The state has a wide range of elevations , from sea level on the coast to 6684 ft at Mount Mitchell , the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River . The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean . Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone . More than 300 mi from the coast , the western , mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate .


North Pole

The North Pole , also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole , is ( subject to the caveats explained below ) defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth 's axis of rotation meets its surface .   The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth , lying diametrically opposite the South Pole . It defines geodetic latitude 90 ° North , as well as the direction of true north . At the North Pole all directions point south ; all lines of longitude converge there , so its longitude can be defined as any degree value . Along tight latitude circles , counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west . The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere .   While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass , the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice . This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole ( unlike the South Pole ) . However , the Soviet Union , and later Russia , constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937 , some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole . Since 2002 , the Russians have also annually established a base , Barneo , close to the Pole . This operates for a few weeks during early spring . Studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage , with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later .   The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4261 m by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m ( 13,410 ft ) by USS Nautilus in 1958 . The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island , off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km away , though some perhaps non-permanent gravel banks lie slightly closer . The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region , Nunavut , Canada , which is located 817 km from the Pole .


North Report

The North Report was a 2006 report evaluating reconstructions of the temperature record of the past two millennia , providing an overview of the state of the science and the implications for understanding of global warming . It was produced by a National Research Council committee , chaired by Gerald North , at the request of Representative Sherwood Boehlert as chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science .   These reconstructions had been dubbed `` hockey stick graphs '' after the 1999 reconstruction by Mann , Bradley and Hughes ( MBH99 ) , which used the methodology of their 1998 reconstruction covering 600 years ( MBH98 ) . A graph based on MBH99 was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , and became a focus of the global warming controversy over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol . It was disputed by various contrarians , and in the politicisation of this hockey stick controversy the New York Times of 14 February 2005 hailed a paper by businessman Stephen McIntyre and economist Ross McKitrick ( MM05 ) as undermining the scientific consensus behind the Kyoto agreement . On 23 June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton , chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce , with Ed Whitfield , Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations , wrote joint letters referring to issues raised by the Wall Street Journal article , and demanding that Mann , Bradley and Hughes provide full records on their data and methods , finances and careers , information about grants provided to the institutions they had worked for , and the exact computer codes used to generate their results . Boehlert said this was a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into something that should properly be under the jurisdiction of the Science Committee , and in November 2005 after Barton dismissed the offer of an independent investigation organised by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences , Boehlert requested the review , which became the North Report .   The North Report went through a rigorous review process , and was published on 22 June 2006 . It concluded `` with a high level of confidence that global mean surface temperature was higher during the last few decades of the 20th century than during any comparable period during the preceding four centuries '' , justified by consistent evidence from a wide variety of geographically diverse proxies , but `` Less confidence can be placed in large-scale surface temperature reconstructions for the period from 900 to 1600 '' . It broadly agreed with the basic findings of the original MBH studies , which subsequently been supported by other reconstructions and proxy records , while emphasising uncertainties over earlier periods . The principal component analysis methodology that McIntyre and McKitrick had contested had a small tendency to bias results so was not recommended -- but it had little influence on the final reconstructions , and other methods produced similar results .


Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean , along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages .   For centuries , European explorers sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia . An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure ; however , it was through a more southerly opening in an area explored by the Scotsman John Rae in 1854 that Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage in 1903 -- 1906 . Until 2009 , the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year . Arctic sea ice decline has rendered the waterways more navigable .   The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region : the Canadian government considers the Northwestern Passages part of Canadian Internal Waters , but the United States and various European countries maintain they are an international strait and transit passage , allowing free and unencumbered passage . If , as has been claimed , parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely 15 m deep , the route 's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced . However , a Chinese shipping line is planning regular voyages of cargo ships using the passage to the eastern United States and Europe , after a successful passage by Nordic Orion of 73,500 tonnes deadweight tonnage in September 2013 . Fully loaded , Nordic Orion was too large to sail through the Panama Canal .


Norway

Norway ( -LSB- Norgehelp = no -RSB- ( Bokmål ) or ( Nynorsk ) ) , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a sovereign state and unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard . The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom . Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land . Until 1814 , the kingdom included the Faroe Islands , Greenland and Iceland . It also included Bohuslän until 1658 , Jämtland and Härjedalen until 1645 , Shetland and Orkney until 1468 , and the Hebrides and Isle of Man until 1266 .   Norway has a total area of 385252 km2 and a population of 5,258,317 ( as of January 2017 ) . The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden ( 1,619 km or 1,006 mi long ) . Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east , and the Skagerrak Strait to the south , with Denmark on the other side . Norway has an extensive coastline , facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea .   King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway . Erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013 , replacing Jens Stoltenberg . A constitutional monarchy , Norway divides state power between the Parliament , the Cabinet and the Supreme Court , as determined by the 1814 Constitution . The kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms . By the traditional count from the year 872 , the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years and the list of Norwegian monarchs includes over sixty kings and earls .   Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels : counties and municipalities . The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act . Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States . Norway is a founding member of the United Nations , NATO , the Council of Europe , the Antarctic Treaty and the Nordic Council ; a member of the European Economic Area , the WTO and the OECD ; and is also a part of the Schengen Area .   The country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system . Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum , natural gas , minerals , lumber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . The petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country 's gross domestic product ( GDP ) . On a per-capita basis , Norway is the world 's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East .   The country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists . On the CIA 's GDP ( PPP ) per capita list ( 2015 estimate ) which includes territories and some regions , Norway ranks as number eleven . From 2001 to 2006 , and then again from 2009 to 2017 , Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world . It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking . Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report , the OECD Better Life Index , the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index .


Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian Sea ( Norskehavet ) is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean , northwest of Norway . It is located between the North Sea ( i.e. north of the United Kingdom ) and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast . In the southwest , it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine ridge running between Iceland and the Faroe Islands . To the North , the Jan Mayen Ridge separates it from the Greenland Sea .   Unlike many other seas , most of the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is not part of a continental shelf and therefore lies at a great depth of about two kilometres on average . Rich deposits of oil and natural gas are found under the sea bottom and are being explored commercially , in the areas with sea depths of up to about one kilometre . The coastal zones are rich in fish that visit the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic or from the Barents Sea ( cod ) for spawning . The warm North Atlantic Current ensures relatively stable and high water temperatures , so that unlike the Arctic seas , the Norwegian Sea is ice-free throughout the year . Recent research has concluded that the large volume of water in the Norwegian Sea with its large heat absorption capacity is more important as a source of Norway 's mild winters than the Gulf Stream and its extensions .


Nuclear holocaust

A nuclear holocaust or nuclear apocalypse is a theoretical scenario involving widespread destruction and radioactive fallout causing the collapse of civilization , through the use of nuclear weapons . Under such a scenario , some of the Earth is made uninhabitable by nuclear warfare in future world wars .   Besides the obvious direct destruction of cities by nuclear blasts , the potential aftermath of a nuclear war could involve firestorms , a nuclear winter , widespread radiation sickness from fallout , and/or the temporary loss of much modern technology due to electromagnetic pulses . Some scientists , such as Alan Robock , have speculated that a thermonuclear war could result in the end of modern civilization on Earth , in part due to a long-lasting nuclear winter . In one model , temperatures following a full thermonuclear war fall for several years by 7 to 8 degrees Celsius on average . The accuracy of such models are often the subject of partisan dispute .   Early Cold War-era studies suggested that billions of humans would nonetheless survive the immediate effects of nuclear blasts and radiation following a global thermonuclear war . Some scholars argue that nuclear war could indirectly contribute to human extinction via secondary effects , including environmental consequences , societal breakdown , and economic collapse . Additionally , it has been argued that even a relatively small-scale nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan involving 100 Hiroshima yield weapons , could cause a nuclear winter and kill more than a billion people .   Since 1947 , the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has visualized how close the world is from a nuclear war .   The threat of a nuclear holocaust plays an important role in the popular perception of nuclear weapons . It features in the security concept of mutually assured destruction ( MAD ) and is a common scenario in survivalism . Nuclear holocaust is a common feature in literature and film , especially in speculative genres such as science fiction , dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction .


Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat , which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant . The term includes nuclear fission , nuclear decay and nuclear fusion . Presently , the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service of humankind , with nuclear decay processes , primarily in the form of geothermal energy , and radioisotope thermoelectric generators , in niche uses making up the rest .   Owing , fundamentally , to the delayed critical fission process , Fission-electric power stations are one of the leading low carbon power generation methods of producing electricity , and in terms of total life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy generated , has emission values lower than `` renewable energy '' when the latter is taken as a single energy source . Since all electricity supplying technologies use cement , etc. , during construction , emissions are yet to be brought to zero . A 2014 analysis of the carbon footprint literature by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) reported that the embodied total life-cycle emission intensity of fission electricity has a median value of 12 g eq/kWh which is the lowest out of all commercial baseload energy sources , and second lowest out of all commercial electricity technologies known , after wind power which is an Intermittent energy source with embodied greenhouse gas emissions , per unit of energy generated of 11 g eq/kWh . Each result is contrasted with coal and fossil gas at 820 and 490 g eq/kWh . With this translating into , from the beginning of fission-electric power station commercialization in the 1970s , having prevented the emission of about 64 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent , greenhouse gases that would have otherwise resulted from the burning of fossil fuels in thermal power stations .   There is a social debate about nuclear power . Proponents , such as the World Nuclear Association and Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy , contend that nuclear power is a safe , sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions . Opponents , such as Greenpeace International and NIRS , contend that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment .   Far-reaching fission power reactor accidents , or accidents that resulted in medium to long-lived fission product contamination of inhabited areas , have occurred in Generation I and II reactor designs , blueprinted between 1950 and 1980 . These include the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in 1986 , the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster ( 2011 ) , and the more contained Three Mile Island accident ( 1979 ) . There have also been some nuclear submarine accidents . In terms of lives lost per unit of energy generated , analysis has determined that fission-electric reactors have caused fewer fatalities per unit of energy generated than the other major sources of energy generation . Energy production from coal , petroleum , natural gas and hydroelectricity has caused a greater number of fatalities per unit of energy generated due to air pollution and energy accident effects . Four years after the Fukushima-Daiichi accident , there have been no fatalities due to exposure to radiation , and no discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected among exposed members of the public and their descendants . The Japan Times estimated 1,600 deaths were the result of evacuation , due to physical and mental stress stemming from long stays at shelters , a lack of initial care as a result of hospitals being disabled by the tsunami , and suicides .   In 2015 :  Ten new reactors were connected to the grid .  Seven reactors were permanently shut down .  441 reactors had a worldwide net capacity of 382,855 megawatts of electricity .  67 new nuclear reactors were under construction .  Most of the new activity is in China where there is an urgent need to control pollution from coal plants .   In October 2016 , Watts Bar 2 became the first new United States reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996 .


Nuclear power debate

The nuclear power debate is a controversy about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes . The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s , when it `` reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies '' , in some countries . Observers attribute the nuclear controversy to the impossibility of generating a shared perception between social actors over the use of this technology as well as systemic mismatches between expectations and experience .   Proponents of nuclear energy argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source which reduces carbon emissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels . Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution , in contrast to the chief viable alternative of fossil fuel . Proponents also believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries . They emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors , and the operational safety record in the Western world is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants .   Opponents say that nuclear power poses numerous threats to people and the environment and point to studies in the literature that question if it will ever be a sustainable energy source . These threats include health risks and environmental damage from uranium mining , processing and transport , the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or sabotage , and the unsolved problem of radioactive nuclear waste . They also contend that reactors themselves are enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong , and there have been many serious nuclear accidents . Critics do not believe that these risks can be reduced through new technology . They argue that when all the energy-intensive stages of the nuclear fuel chain are considered , from uranium mining to nuclear decommissioning , nuclear power is not a low-carbon electricity source .   Three of the world 's four largest economies now generate more electricity from non-hydro renewable energy than from nuclear sources . New power generation using solar power was 33 % of the global total added in 2015 , wind power over 17 % , and 1.3 % for nuclear power , mostly due to development in China .


Nuclear winter

Nuclear winter is the severe global-climatic-cooling-effect , hypothesized to occur after the ignition of a number of firestorms , from nuclear bomb detonations , or wide spread bombardments . Such fires , which can inject soot into the stratosphere , have historically occurred in a number of cities , with nuclear winter researchers using both Hamburg and the less ferocious Hiroshima firestorms as the principal examples . However , as firestorms are most frequently encountered in much larger area wildfires , these latter fires are the most significant today in assessing both the initial and present-day `` nuclear winter '' computer models .


OSTM/Jason-2

OSTM/Jason-2, or Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 satellite, was an international Earth observation satellite altimeter joint mission for sea surface height measurements between NASA and CNES. It was the third satellite in a series started in 1992 by the NASA/CNES TOPEX/Poseidon mission  and continued by the NASA/CNES Jason-1 mission launched in 2001.


Occam's razor

Occam 's razor ( also Ockham 's razor ; Latin : lex parsimoniae `` law of parsimony '' ) is a problem-solving principle attributed to William of Ockham ( c. 1287 -- 1347 ) , who was an English Franciscan friar , scholastic philosopher , and theologian . His principle can be interpreted as stating Among competing hypotheses , the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected .   In science , Occam 's razor is used as a heuristic guide in the development of theoretical models , rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models . In the scientific method , Occam 's razor is not considered an irrefutable principle of logic or a scientific result ; the preference for simplicity in the scientific method is based on the falsifiability criterion . For each accepted explanation of a phenomenon , there may be an extremely large , perhaps even incomprehensible , number of possible and more complex alternatives , because one can always burden failing explanations with ad hoc hypotheses to prevent them from being falsified ; therefore , simpler theories are preferable to more complex ones because they are more testable .


Ocean

An ocean ( , the sea of classical antiquity ) is a body of saline water that composes much of a planet 's hydrosphere . On Earth , an ocean is one of the major conventional divisions of the World Ocean , which covers almost 71 % of its surface . These are , in descending order by area , the Pacific , Atlantic , Indian , Southern ( Antarctic ) , and Arctic Oceans . The word sea is often used interchangeably with `` ocean '' in American English but , strictly speaking , a sea is a body of saline water ( generally a division of the world ocean ) partly or fully enclosed by land .   Saline water covers approximately 72 % of the planet 's surface ( ~ 3.6 km2 ) and is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas , with the ocean covering approximately 71 % of Earth 's surface and 90 % of the Earth 's biosphere . The ocean contains 97 % of Earth 's water , and oceanographers have stated that less than 5 % of the World Ocean has been explored . The total volume is approximately 1.35 billion cubic kilometers ( 320 million cu mi ) with an average depth of nearly 3700 m.   As the world ocean is the principal component of Earth 's hydrosphere , it is integral to all known life , forms part of the carbon cycle , and influences climate and weather patterns . The world ocean is the habitat of 230,000 known species , but because much of it is unexplored , the number of species that exist is much larger , possibly over two million . The origin of Earth 's oceans remains unknown ; oceans are thought to have formed in the Hadean period and may have been the impetus for the emergence of life .   Extraterrestrial oceans may be composed of water or other elements and compounds . The only confirmed large stable bodies of extraterrestrial surface liquids are the lakes of Titan , although there is evidence for the existence of oceans elsewhere in the Solar System . Early in their geologic histories , Mars and Venus are theorized to have had large water oceans . The Mars ocean hypothesis suggests that nearly a third of the surface of Mars was once covered by water , and a runaway greenhouse effect may have boiled away the global ocean of Venus . Compounds such as salts and ammonia dissolved in water lower its freezing point so that water might exist in large quantities in extraterrestrial environments as brine or convecting ice . Unconfirmed oceans are speculated beneath the surface of many dwarf planets and natural satellites ; notably , the ocean of Europa is estimated to have over twice the water volume of Earth . The Solar System 's giant planets are also thought to have liquid atmospheric layers of yet to be confirmed compositions . Oceans may also exist on exoplanets and exomoons , including surface oceans of liquid water within a circumstellar habitable zone . Ocean planets are a hypothetical type of planet with a surface completely covered with liquid .


Ocean acidification

Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean .   Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level .   While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins .   Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' .


Ocean heat content

Oceanic heat content ( OHC ) is the heat stored in the ocean . Oceanography and climatology are the science branches which study ocean heat content . Changes in the ocean heat content play an important role in the sea level rise , because of thermal expansion . It is with high confidence that ocean warming accounts for 90 % of the energy accumulation from global warming between 1971 and 2010 .


Oceanic carbon cycle

The oceans contain around 36,000 gigatons of carbon , mostly in the form of bicarbonate ion ( over 90 % , with most of the remainder being carbonate ) .   At the surface of the oceans towards the poles , seawater becomes cooler and more carbonic acid is formed as CO2 becomes more soluble . This is coupled to the ocean 's thermohaline circulation which transports dense surface water into the ocean 's interior ( see the entry on the solubility pump ) .  Although the deep ocean contains much more dissolved inorganic carbon than the surface ocean , the concentration is only 15 % higher in the deep ocean as compared to the surface ocean due to the higher volume of the deep ocean .  In upper ocean areas of high biological productivity , organisms convert reduced carbon to tissues , or carbonates to hard body parts such as shells and tests . These are , respectively , oxidized ( soft-tissue pump ) and redissolved ( carbonate pump ) at lower average levels of the ocean than those at which they formed , resulting in a downward flow of carbon ( see entry on the biological pump ) .  The flux or absorption of carbon dioxide into the world 's oceans is influenced by the presence of widespread viruses within ocean water , that infect many species of bacteria . The resulting bacterial deaths spawn a sequence of events that lead to greatly enlarged respiration of carbon dioxide , enhancing the role of the oceans as a carbon sink .  The balance of dissolved inorganic carbon ( DIC ) : dissolved organic carbon ( DOC ) : particle organic carbon is about 2000:38:1 .  The CaCO3 counter pump increases the partial pressure of CO2 in the ocean , thus leading to higher outgasing of carbon dioxide .  Higher ocean temperatures lead to stronger layering , thus less mixing and less capacity for thermohaline circulation to bring carbon into lower ocean layers .  The weathering of silicate rock ( see carbonate-silicate cycle ) . Carbonic acid reacts with weathered rock to produce bicarbonate ions . The bicarbonate ions produced are carried to the ocean , where they are used to make marine carbonates . Unlike dissolved CO2 in equilibrium or tissues , which decay , weathering does not move the carbon into a reservoir from which it can readily return to the atmosphere .  Much remains to be learned about the cycling of carbon in the deep ocean . For example , a recent discovery is that larvacean mucus houses ( commonly known as `` sinkers '' ) are created in such large numbers that they can deliver as much carbon to the deep ocean as has been previously detected by sediment traps . Because of their size and composition , these houses are rarely collected in such traps , so most biogeochemical analyses have erroneously ignored them .  The amount of dissolved inorganic carbon in the ocean is significantly higher in the deep layer ( below 300 m depth ) . This is caused by the solubility pump and the biological pump .


Oceanic climate

An oceanic climate ( also known as marine , west coast and maritime ) is the Köppen classification of the climate typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents , and generally features cool summers ( relative to their latitude ) and cool but not cold winters , with a relatively narrow annual temperature range and few extremes of temperature , with the exception for transitional areas to continental , subarctic and highland climates . Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 C in the warmest month , and above 0 C in the coldest month .   It typically lacks a dry season , as precipitation is more evenly dispersed throughout the year . It is the predominant climate type across much of North Western Europe , the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada , portions of southwestern South America and small areas of southeast Australia , and New Zealand as well as isolated locations elsewhere . Oceanic climates generally have cool summers and cool ( but not cold ) winters . They are characterised by a narrower annual range of temperatures than are encountered in other places at a comparable latitude , and generally do not have the extremely dry summers of Mediterranean climates or the hot summers of humid subtropical . Oceanic climates are most dominant in Europe , where they spread much farther inland than in other continents .   Oceanic climates can have much storm activity as they are located in the belt of the stormy westerlies . Many oceanic climates have frequent cloudy or overcast conditions due to the near constant storms and lows tracking over or near them . The annual range of temperatures is smaller than typical climates at these latitudes due to the constant stable marine air masses that pass through oceanic climates , which lack both very warm and very cool fronts .


Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning ( also called `` instrumental conditioning '' ) is a type of learning in which the strength of a behavior is modified by the behavior 's consequences , such as reward or punishment .   Although operant and classical conditioning both involve behaviors controlled by environmental stimuli , they differ in nature . In operant conditioning , stimuli present when a behavior is rewarded or punished come to control that behavior . For example , a child may learn to open a box to get the candy inside , or learn to avoid touching a hot stove ; the box and the stove are discriminative stimuli . However , in classical conditioning , stimuli that signal significant events produce reflexive behavior . For example , the sound of a door slam comes to signal an angry parent , causing a child to tremble .   The study of animal learning in the 20th century was dominated by the analysis of these two sorts of learning , and they are still at the core of behavior analysis .


Opinion polling on the Donald Trump administration has been regularly taken by universities , media outlets , and survey companies since the start of the Donald Trump presidency . Public sentiment on a number of Donald Trump 's key actions and proposals has also been tracked .   Presidential approval ratings have revealed Trump to be the least popular US president in modern history as of the first few months of the term . However , polls also reveal that he is the most popular US president in modern history among Republican voters , gathering larger approval rating than George W. Bush , George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan in their first months . In his first month , Donald Trump has an approval rating among Republican voters of 84 % , compared to 82 % , 82 % and 78 % in the first months of Bush Jr. , Bush Sr. and Reagan respectively in the same demographic . This is dramatically negated by his approval ratings among Democrat voters , where he has 8 % approval rating , compared to 30 % , 46 % and 39 % for Bush Jr. , Bush Sr. and Reagan respectively .


Orbital resonance

In celestial mechanics , an orbital resonance occurs when orbiting bodies exert a regular , periodic gravitational influence on each other , usually because their orbital periods are related by a ratio of small integers . Most commonly this relationship is found for a pair of objects . The physics principle behind orbital resonance is similar in concept to pushing a child on a swing , where the orbit and the swing both have a natural frequency , and the other body doing the `` pushing '' will act in periodic repetition to have a cumulative effect on the motion . Orbital resonances greatly enhance the mutual gravitational influence of the bodies , i.e. , their ability to alter or constrain each other 's orbits . In most cases , this results in an unstable interaction , in which the bodies exchange momentum and shift orbits until the resonance no longer exists . Under some circumstances , a resonant system can be stable and self-correcting , so that the bodies remain in resonance . Examples are the 1:2:4 resonance of Jupiter 's moons Ganymede , Europa and Io , and the 2:3 resonance between Pluto and Neptune . Unstable resonances with Saturn 's inner moons give rise to gaps in the rings of Saturn . The special case of 1:1 resonance ( between bodies with similar orbital radii ) causes large Solar System bodies to eject most other bodies sharing their orbits ; this is part of the much more extensive process of clearing the neighbourhood , an effect that is used in the current definition of a planet .   A binary resonance ratio in this article should be interpreted as the completed in the same time interval , rather than as the , which would be the inverse ratio . Thus the 2:3 ratio above means Pluto completes two orbits in the time it takes Neptune to complete three . In the case of resonance relationships between three or more bodies , either type of ratio may be used ( in such cases the smallest whole-integer ratio sequences are not necessarily reversals of each other ) and the type of ratio will be specified .


Orbital ring

An orbital ring is a concept for a space elevator that consists of an artificial ring placed around the Earth that rotates at an angular rate that is faster than the rotation of the Earth . It is a giant formation of astroengineering proportions .   The structure is intended to be used as a space station or as a planetary vehicle for very high speed transportation or space launch .   The original orbital ring concept is related to the space fountain and launch loop .


Ordovician

The Ordovician ( -LSB- pronɔrdəˈvɪʃən -RSB- ) is a geologic period and system , the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era . The Ordovician spans 41.2 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago ( Mya ) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya . The Ordovician , named after the Celtic tribe of the Ordovices , was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison , who were placing the same rock beds in northern Wales into the Cambrian and Silurian periods , respectively . Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian periods , and placed them in a period of their own . It received international sanction in 1960 , when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress .   Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it did in the earlier Cambrian period , although the end of the period was marked by the Ordovician -- Silurian extinction event . Invertebrates , namely molluscs and arthropods , dominated the oceans . The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event considerably increased the diversity of life . Fish , the world 's first true vertebrates , continued to evolve , and those with jaws may have first appeared late in the period . Life had yet to diversify on land . About 100 times as many meteorites struck the Earth during the Ordovician compared with today .


Oregon

Oregon ( -LSB- ˈɒrᵻɡən -RSB- ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West coast of the United States . The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon 's northern boundary along Washington state , while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary along Idaho . The parallel 42 ° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada . It is one of only three states of the contiguous United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean .   Oregon was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before Western traders , explorers , and settlers arrived . An autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country in 1843 before the Oregon Territory was created in 1848 . Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14 , 1859 . Today , at 98,000 square miles ( 255,000 km ² ) , Oregon is the ninth largest and , with a population of 4 million , 27th most populous U.S. state . The state capital , Salem , is the second most populous of its cities , with 164,549 residents , while Portland , with 632,309 residents , is the most populous , ranking as the 26th most populous city in the United States . Portland 's metro population of 2,389,228 ranks the 23rd largest metro in the nation .   Oregon is one of the most geographically diverse states in the United States , marked by volcanoes , abundant bodies of water , dense evergreen and mixed forests , as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands . At 11249 ft , Mount Hood is the state 's highest point . Oregon 's only national park , Crater Lake National Park , comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake , the deepest lake in the United States . The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world , Armillaria ostoyae , a fungus that runs beneath 8.9 km2 of the Malheur National Forest .   Because of its diverse landscapes and waterways , Oregon 's economy is largely powered by various forms of agriculture , fishing , and hydroelectric power . It is also the top timber-producer of the lower 48 states . Technology is another one of the state 's major economic forces , which began in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel . Sportswear company Nike , Inc. , headquartered in Beaverton , is the state 's largest public corporation with an annual revenue of $ 30.6 billion .


Oregon Petition

The Global Warming Petition Project , also known as the Oregon Petition , is a petition urging the United States government to reject the global warming Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and similar policies .


Orlando, Florida

Orlando ( -LSB- ɔrˈlændoʊ -RSB- ) is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Orange County . Located in Central Florida , it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area , which had a population of 2,387,138 , according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released in March 2016 , making it the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States , the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States , and the third-largest metropolitan area in Florida . As of 2015 , Orlando had an estimated city-proper population of 2,270,934 , making it the 73rd-largest city in the United States , the fourth-largest city in Florida , and the state 's largest inland city .   The City of Orlando is nicknamed `` The City Beautiful , '' and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola . Orlando is also known as `` The Theme Park Capital of the World '' and in 2014 its tourist attractions and events drew more than 62 million visitors . The Orlando International Airport ( MCO ) is the thirteenth-busiest airport in the United States and the 29th-busiest in the world . Buddy Dyer is Orlando 's mayor .   As one of the world 's most visited tourist destinations , Orlando 's famous attractions form the backbone of its tourism industry : Walt Disney World , located approximately 21 mi southwest of Downtown Orlando in Bay Lake , opened by the Walt Disney Company in 1971 ; the Universal Orlando Resort , opened in 1999 as a major expansion of Universal Studios Florida . With the exception of Walt Disney World , most major attractions are located along International Drive . The city is also one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions ; the Orange County Convention Center is the second-largest convention facility in the United States .   Like other major cities in the Sun Belt , Orlando grew rapidly during the 1980s and into the first decade of the 21st century , mostly due to the success of Walt Disney World , which was opened on October 1 , 1971 . Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida , which is the largest university campus in the United States in terms of enrollment . In 2010 , Orlando was listed as a `` Gamma − '' level of world-city in the World Cities Study Group 's inventory . Orlando ranks as the fourth-most popular American city based on where people want to live according to a 2009 Pew Research Center study .


Overdeepening

Overdeepening is a characteristic of basins and valleys eroded by glaciers . An overdeepened valley profile is often eroded to depths which are hundreds of metres below the deepest continuous line ( the thalweg ) along a valley or watercourse . This phenomenon is observed under modern day glaciers , in salt-water fjords and fresh-water lakes remaining after glaciers melt , as well as in tunnel valleys which are partially or totally filled with sediment . When the channel produced by a glacier is filled with debris , the subsurface geomorphic structure is found to be erosionally cut into bedrock and subsequently filled by sediments . These overdeepened cuts into bedrock structures can reach a depth of several hundred metres below the valley floor .   Overdeepened fjords and lakes have significant economic value as harbours and fisheries . Overdeepened basins and valleys filled with sediment ( termed tunnel valleys ) are of particular interest to engineers , petroleum geologists , and hydrologists ; engineers apply the information for developing foundations and tunnel construction , petroleum geologists use tunnel valley locations to identify potential oil fields , while hydrologists apply this knowledge for groundwater resource management .


Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso ( -LSB- ˈpʊ.blɪ.ʊs ɔˈwɪ.dɪ.ʊs ˈnaː.soː -RSB- ; 20 March 43 BC -- AD 17/18 ) , known as Ovid ( -LSB- ˈɒvɪd -RSB- ) in the English-speaking world , was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus . He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace , with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature . The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists . He enjoyed enormous popularity , but , in one of the mysteries of literary history , was sent by Augustus into exile in a remote province on the Black Sea , where he remained until his death . Ovid himself attributes his exile to carmen et error , `` a poem and a mistake '' , but his discretion in discussing the causes has resulted in much speculation among scholars .   The first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus , Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses , a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic , and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ( `` The Art of Love '' ) and Fasti . His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages , and greatly influenced Western art and literature . The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology .


Oxford

Oxford ( -LSB- ˈɒksfərd -RSB- ) is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire . With an estimated 2015 population of 168,270 , it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom , and one of the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse . The city is situated 57 mi from London , 69 mi from Bristol , 65 mi from both Southampton and Birmingham and 25 mi from Reading .   The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford , the oldest university in the English-speaking world . Buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period . Oxford is known as the `` city of dreaming spires '' , a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold . Oxford has a broad economic base . Its industries include motor manufacturing , education , publishing and a large number of information technology and science-based businesses , some being academic offshoots .


Oxygen

Oxygen is a chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8 . It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive nonmetal and oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as other compounds . By mass , oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe , after hydrogen and helium . At standard temperature and pressure , two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen , a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula . This is an important part of the atmosphere and diatomic oxygen gas constitutes 20.8 % of the Earth 's atmosphere . Additionally , as oxides the element makes up almost half of the Earth 's crust .   Dioxygen is used in cellular respiration and many major classes of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen , such as proteins , nucleic acids , carbohydrates , and fats , as do the major constituent inorganic compounds of animal shells , teeth , and bone . Most of the mass of living organisms is oxygen as a component of water , the major constituent of lifeforms . Conversely , oxygen is continuously replenished by photosynthesis , which uses the energy of sunlight to produce oxygen from water and carbon dioxide . Oxygen is too chemically reactive to remain a free element in air without being continuously replenished by the photosynthetic action of living organisms . Another form ( allotrope ) of oxygen , ozone , strongly absorbs ultraviolet UVB radiation and the high-altitude ozone layer helps protect the biosphere from ultraviolet radiation . But ozone is a pollutant near the surface where it is a by-product of smog . At low earth orbit altitudes , sufficient atomic oxygen is present to cause corrosion of spacecraft .   Oxygen was discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele , in Uppsala , in 1773 or earlier , and Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire , in 1774 , but Priestley is often given priority because his work was published first . The name oxygen was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier , whose experiments with oxygen helped to discredit the then-popular phlogiston theory of combustion and corrosion . Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς oxys , `` acid '' , literally `` sharp '' , referring to the sour taste of acids and - γενής - genes , `` producer '' , literally `` begetter '' , because at the time of naming , it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition .   Common use of oxygen includes residential heating , internal combustion engines , production of steel , plastics and textiles , brazing , welding and cutting of steels and other metals , rocket propellant , oxygen therapy , and life support systems in aircraft , submarines , spaceflight and diving .


Ozone

Ozone -LSB- ˈoʊzoʊn -RSB- ( systematically named 1λ1 ,3 λ1-trioxidane and catena-trioxygen ) , or trioxygen , is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell . It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lower atmosphere to or dioxygen . Ozone is formed from dioxygen by the action of ultraviolet light and also atmospheric electrical discharges , and is present in low concentrations throughout the Earth 's atmosphere ( stratosphere ) . In total , ozone makes up only of the atmosphere .   Ozone 's odour is sharp , reminiscent of chlorine , and detectable by many people at concentrations of as little as in air . Ozone 's O3 structure was determined in 1865 . The molecule was later proven to have a bent structure and to be diamagnetic . In standard conditions , ozone is a pale blue gas that condenses at progressively cryogenic temperatures to a dark blue liquid and finally a violet-black solid . Ozone 's instability with regard to more common dioxygen is such that both concentrated gas and liquid ozone may decompose explosively at elevated temperatures or fast warming to the boiling point .  It is therefore used commercially only in low concentrations .   Ozone is a powerful oxidant ( far more so than dioxygen ) and has many industrial and consumer applications related to oxidation . This same high oxidising potential , however , causes ozone to damage mucous and respiratory tissues in animals , and also tissues in plants , above concentrations of about . This makes ozone a potent respiratory hazard and pollutant near ground level . However , the ozone layer ( a portion of the stratosphere with a higher concentration of ozone , from two to eight ppm ) is beneficial , preventing damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth 's surface , to the benefit of both plants and animals .


Ozone depletion

Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s : a steady decline of about four percent in the total amount of ozone in Earth 's stratosphere ( the ozone layer ) , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone around Earth 's polar regions . The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole . In addition to these well-known stratospheric phenomena , there are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events .   The details of polar ozone hole formation differ from that of mid-latitude thinning but the most important process in both is catalytic destruction of ozone by atomic halogens . The main source of these halogen atoms in the stratosphere is photodissociation of man-made halocarbon refrigerants , solvents , propellants , and foam-blowing agents ( chlorofluorocarbon ( CFCs ) , HCFCs , freons , halons ) . These compounds are transported into the stratosphere by winds after being emitted at the surface . Both types of ozone depletion were observed to increase as emissions of halocarbons increased .   CFCs and other contributory substances are referred to as ozone-depleting substances ( ODS ) . Since the ozone layer prevents most harmful UVB wavelengths ( 280 -- 315 nm ) of ultraviolet light ( UV light ) from passing through the Earth 's atmosphere , observed and projected decreases in ozone generated worldwide concern , leading to adoption of the Montreal Protocol that bans the production of CFCs , halons , and other ozone-depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethane . It is suspected that a variety of biological consequences such as increases in sunburn , skin cancer , cataracts , damage to plants , and reduction of plankton populations in the ocean 's photic zone may result from the increased UV exposure due to ozone depletion .


Ozone layer

The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth 's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun 's ultraviolet ( UV ) radiation . It contains high concentrations of ozone ( O3 ) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere , although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere . The ozone layer contains less than 10 parts per million of ozone , while the average ozone concentration in Earth 's atmosphere as a whole is about 0.3 parts per million . The ozone layer is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere , from approximately 20 to above Earth , although its thickness varies seasonally and geographically .   The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson . Measurements of the sun showed that the radiation sent out from its surface and reaching the ground on Earth is usually consistent with the spectrum of a black body with a temperature in the range of 5,500 -- 6,000 K ( 5,227 to 5,727 ° C ) , except that there was no radiation below a wavelength of about 310 nm at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum . It was deduced that the missing radiation was being absorbed by something in the atmosphere . Eventually the spectrum of the missing radiation was matched to only one known chemical , ozone . Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson , who developed a simple spectrophotometer ( the Dobsonmeter ) that could be used to measure stratospheric ozone from the ground . Between 1928 and 1958 , Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations , which continue to operate to this day . The `` Dobson unit '' , a convenient measure of the amount of ozone overhead , is named in his honor .   The ozone layer absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the Sun 's medium-frequency ultraviolet light ( from about 200 nm to 315 nm wavelength ) , which otherwise would potentially damage exposed life forms near the surface .   The United Nations General Assembly has designated September 16 as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer .   Venus also has a thin ozone layer at an altitude of 100 kilometers from the planet 's surface .


PH

In chemistry , pH ( -LSB- piːˈeɪtʃ -RSB- ) ( potential of hydrogen ) is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution . It is approximately the negative of the base 10 logarithm of the molar concentration , measured in units of moles per liter , of hydrogen ions . More precisely it is the negative of the logarithm to base 10 of the activity of the hydrogen ion . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic . Pure water is neutral , at pH 7 , being neither an acid nor a base . Contrary to popular belief , the pH value can be less than 0 or greater than 14 for very strong acids and bases respectively .   pH measurements are important in agronomy , medicine , biology , chemistry , agriculture , forestry , food science , environmental science , oceanography , civil engineering , chemical engineering , nutrition , water treatment and water purification , as well as many other applications .   The pH scale is traceable to a set of standard solutions whose pH is established by international agreement .  Primary pH standard values are determined using a concentration cell with transference , by measuring the potential difference between a hydrogen electrode and a standard electrode such as the silver chloride electrode .  The pH of aqueous solutions can be measured with a glass electrode and a pH meter , or an indicator .


Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earth 's oceanic divisions . It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean ( or , depending on definition , to Antarctica ) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east .   At 63,800,000 sqmi in area , this largest division of the World Ocean -- and , in turn , the hydrosphere -- covers about 46 % of the Earth 's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area , making it larger than all of the Earth 's land area combined .   The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean , with two exceptions : the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands , while straddling the equator , are deemed wholly within the South Pacific . The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world , reaching a depth of 35797 ft.   Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean .   Though the peoples of Asia and Oceania have traveled the Pacific Ocean since prehistoric times , the eastern Pacific was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great `` southern sea '' which he named Mar del Sur ( in Spanish ) . The ocean 's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521 , as he encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean . He called it Mar Pacífico , which in both Portuguese and Spanish means `` peaceful sea '' .


Pacific decadal oscillation

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation ( PDO ) is a robust , recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the mid-latitude Pacific basin . The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean , north of 20 ° N. Over the past century , the amplitude of this climate pattern has varied irregularly at interannual-to-interdecadal time scales ( meaning time periods of a few years to as much as time periods of multiple decades ) . There is evidence of reversals in the prevailing polarity ( meaning changes in cool surface waters versus warm surface waters within the region ) of the oscillation occurring around 1925 , 1947 , and 1977 ; the last two reversals corresponded with dramatic shifts in salmon production regimes in the North Pacific Ocean . This climate pattern also affects coastal sea and continental surface air temperatures from Alaska to California .   During a `` warm '' , or `` positive '' , phase , the west Pacific becomes cooler and part of the eastern ocean warms ; during a `` cool '' or `` negative '' phase , the opposite pattern occurs . The Pacific Decadal Oscillation was named by Steven R. Hare , who noticed it while studying salmon production pattern results in 1997 .   The Pacific Decadal Oscillation index is the leading empirical orthogonal function ( EOF ) of monthly sea surface temperature anomalies ( SST-A ) over the North Pacific ( poleward of 20 ° N ) after the global average sea surface temperature has been removed . This PDO index is the standardized principal component time series . A PDO ` signal ' has been reconstructed to 1661 through tree-ring chronologies in the Baja California area .


Pago Pago

Pago Pago ( -LSB- ˈpɑːŋɡoʊˈpɑːŋɡoʊ -RSB- Samoan : -LSB- ˈpaŋo ˈpaŋo -RSB- ) is the territorial capital of American Samoa . It is on the main island of American Samoa , Tutuila . The territory is served by Pago Pago International Airport at Tafuna , some 8 miles south west of Pago Pago . Tourism , entertainment , food , and tuna canning are its main industries .   The area commonly referred to as Pago Pago consists of a string of villages , each with its own village council , on the shores of Pago Pago Harbor . One of the villages is itself named Pago Pago , and in 2010 had a population of 3,656 . Pago Pago may refer to the village , to the bay area or to American Samoa as a whole . The constituent villages are , in order , Utulei , Fagatogo , Malaloa , Pago Pago , Satala and Atu'u . Fagatogo is the area referred to as Town and was the seat of government until a new Executive Office Building was opened in Utulei . In Fagatoto is the Fono ( Legislature ) , the Police Department , the Port of Pago Pago , many shops and hotels .


Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14 , 1990 , by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about kilometers ( miles , 40.5 AU ) , as part of the Family Portrait series of images of the Solar System .   In the photograph , Earth 's apparent size is less than a pixel ; the planet appears as a tiny dot against the vastness of space , among bands of sunlight scattered by the camera 's optics .   Voyager 1 , which had completed its primary mission and was leaving the Solar System , was commanded by NASA to turn its camera around and take one last photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space , at the request of astronomer and author Carl Sagan .


Paleocene

The Paleocene ( -LSB- pronˈpæliəˌsiːn , _ ˈpæ - , _ - lioʊ - -RSB- ) or Palaeocene , the `` old recent '' , is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era . As with many geologic periods , the strata that define the epoch 's beginning and end are well identified , but the exact ages remain uncertain .   The Paleocene Epoch brackets two major events in Earth 's history . It started with the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous , known as the Cretaceous -- Paleogene ( K -- Pg ) boundary . This was a time marked by the demise of non-avian dinosaurs , giant marine reptiles and much other fauna and flora . The die-off of the dinosaurs left unfilled ecological niches worldwide . The Paleocene ended with the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , a geologically brief ( ~ 0.2 million year ) interval characterized by extreme changes in climate and carbon cycling .   The name `` Paleocene '' comes from Ancient Greek and refers to the `` old ( er ) '' ( παλαιός , palaios ) `` new '' ( καινός , kainos ) fauna that arose during the epoch .


Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

The Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , alternatively ( ETM1 ) , and formerly known as the `` Initial Eocene '' or '' '' was a time period with more than 8 ° C warmer global average temperature than today . This climate event began at the time boundary between the Paleocene and Eocene geological epochs . The exact age and duration of the event is uncertain but it is estimated to have occurred around 55.5 million years ago .   The associated period of massive carbon injection into the atmosphere has been estimated to have lasted no longer than 20,000 years . The entire warm period lasted for about 200,000 years . Global temperatures increased by 5 -- 8 ° C . The carbon dioxide was likely released in two pulses , the first lasting less than 2,000 years . Such a repeated carbon release is in line with current global warming . A main difference is that during the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum , the planet was essentially ice-free .   The onset of the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has been linked to an initial 5 ° C temperature rise and to extreme changes in Earth 's carbon cycle . The period is marked by a prominent negative excursion in carbon stable isotope records from around the globe ; more specifically , there was a large decrease in 13C/12C ratio of marine and terrestrial carbonates and organic carbon .   Stratigraphic sections of rock from this period reveal numerous other changes . Fossil records for many organisms show major turnovers . For example , in the marine realm , a mass extinction of benthic foraminifera , a global expansion of subtropical dinoflagellates , and an appearance of excursion , planktic foraminifera and calcareous nanofossils all occurred during the beginning stages of PETM . On land , modern mammal orders ( including primates ) suddenly appear in Europe and in North America . Sediment deposition changed significantly at many outcrops and in many drill cores spanning this time interval .   At least since 1997 , the Paleocene -- Eocene Thermal Maximum has become a focal point of considerable geoscience research because it probably provides the best past analog by which to understand impacts of global climate warming and of massive carbon input to the ocean and atmosphere , including ocean acidification . Although it is now widely accepted that the PETM represents a `` case study '' for global warming and massive carbon input to Earth 's surface , the cause , details and overall significance of the event remain perplexing .


Paleoclimatology

Paleoclimatology ( in British spelling , palaeoclimatology ) is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth . It uses a variety of proxy methods from the Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within things such as rocks , sediments , ice sheets , tree rings , corals , shells and microfossils . It then uses the records to determine the past states of the Earth 's various climate regions and its atmospheric system . Studies of past changes in the environment and biodiversity often reflect on the current situation , specifically the impact of climate on mass extinctions and biotic recovery .


Paleolithic

The Paleolithic -LSB- ˌpæliːəˈlɪθᵻk -RSB- age is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools and covers roughly 95 % of human technological prehistory . It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools , probably by Homo habilis initially , 2.6 million years ago , to the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BP .   The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic . The date of the Paleolithic -- Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years .   During the Paleolithic period , humans grouped together in small societies such as bands , and subsisted by gathering plants and fishing , hunting or scavenging wild animals . The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools , although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools . Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools , including leather and vegetable fibers ; however , due to their nature , these have not been preserved to any great degree . Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths .   About 50,000 years ago , there was a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts . For the first time in Africa , bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record . The first evidence of human fishing is also noted , from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa . Firstly among the artifacts of Africa , archaeologists found they could differentiate and classify those of less than 50,000 years into many different categories , such as projectile points , engraving tools , knife blades , and drilling and piercing tools . The new technology generated a population explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals .   Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo -- such as Homo habilis , who used simple stone tools -- into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens sapiens ) during the Paleolithic era . During the end of the Paleolithic , specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic , humans began to produce the earliest works of art and engage in religious and spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual . The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures . Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover .   By BP , the first humans set foot in Australia . By BP , humans lived at 61 ° N latitude in Europe . By BP , Japan was reached , and by BP humans were present in Siberia , above the Arctic Circle . At the end of the Upper Paleolithic , a group of humans crossed Beringia and quickly expanded throughout the Americas .   The term `` Paleolithic '' was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865 . It derives from Greek : παλαιός , palaios , `` old '' ; and λίθος , lithos , `` stone '' , meaning `` old age of the stone '' or `` Old Stone Age '' .


Paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology ( -LSB- pronˌpeɪliɒnˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- , -LSB- ˌpeɪliənˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- or -LSB- ˌpæliɒnˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- , -LSB- ˌpæliənˈtɒlədʒi -RSB- ) is the scientific study of life that existed prior to , and sometimes including , the start of the Holocene Epoch ( roughly 11,700 years before present ) . It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms ' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments ( their paleoecology ) . Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC . The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier 's work on comparative anatomy , and developed rapidly in the 19th century . The term itself originates from Greek παλαιός , palaios , i.e. `` old , ancient '' , ὄν , on ( gen. ontos ) , i.e. `` being , creature '' and λόγος , logos , i.e. `` speech , thought , study '' .   Paleontology lies on the border between biology and geology , but differs from archaeology in that it excludes the study of anatomically modern humans . It now uses techniques drawn from a wide range of sciences , including biochemistry , mathematics , and engineering . Use of all these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover much of the evolutionary history of life , almost all the way back to when Earth became capable of supporting life , about . As knowledge has increased , paleontology has developed specialised sub-divisions , some of which focus on different types of fossil organisms while others study ecology and environmental history , such as ancient climates .   Body fossils and trace fossils are the principal types of evidence about ancient life , and geochemical evidence has helped to decipher the evolution of life before there were organisms large enough to leave body fossils . Estimating the dates of these remains is essential but difficult : sometimes adjacent rock layers allow radiometric dating , which provides absolute dates that are accurate to within 0.5 % , but more often paleontologists have to rely on relative dating by solving the `` jigsaw puzzles '' of biostratigraphy . Classifying ancient organisms is also difficult , as many do not fit well into the Linnaean taxonomy that is commonly used for classifying living organisms , and paleontologists more often use cladistics to draw up evolutionary `` family trees '' . The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics , which investigates how closely organisms are related by measuring how similar the DNA is in their genomes . Molecular phylogenetics has also been used to estimate the dates when species diverged , but there is controversy about the reliability of the molecular clock on which such estimates depend .


Paleotempestology

Paleotempestology is the study of past tropical cyclone activity by means of geological proxies as well as historical documentary records . The term was coined by Kerry Emanuel .


Paleothermometer

A paleothermometer is a methodology for determining past temperatures using a proxy found in a natural record such as a sediment , ice core , tree rings or TEX86 .


Palm Beach County, Florida

Palm Beach County is a county located in the state of Florida , directly north of Broward County . As of the 2010 census , the population was 1,320,134 , making it the third-most populous county in Florida . The largest city and county seat is West Palm Beach . Named after one of its oldest settlements , Palm Beach , the county was established in 1909 , after being split from Dade County . The county 's modern-day boundaries were established in 1963 . Palm Beach County is one of the three counties in South Florida which make up the Miami metropolitan area , which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census .   The area had been increasing in population since the late 19th century , with the incorporation of West Palm Beach in 1894 and after Henry Flagler extended the Florida East Coast Railway and built the Royal Poinciana Hotel , The Breakers , and Whitehall . In 1928 , the Okeechobee hurricane struck West Palm Beach and caused thousands of deaths . Since then , a number of other tropical cyclones have impacted the area . More recently , the county acquired national attention during the 2000 presidential election , when a controversial recount occurred .   As of 2004 , Palm Beach County is Florida 's wealthiest county , with a per capita personal income of $ 44,518 . It leads the state in agricultural productivity , agriculture is Palm Beach County 's 2nd largest industry .


Palm oil

Palm oil ( also known as dendê oil , from Portuguese -LSB- ˈdɛnde -RSB- ) is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp ( reddish pulp ) of the fruit of the oil palms , primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis , and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa .   Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content . It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit , or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm ( Cocos nucifera ) . The differences are in color ( raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red ) , and in saturated fat content : palm mesocarp oil is 49 % saturated , while palm kernel oil and coconut oil are 81 % and 86 % saturated fats , respectively . However , crude red palm oil that has been refined , bleached and deodorized , a common commodity called RBD palm oil , does not contain carotenoids .   Along with coconut oil , palm oil is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats and is semisolid at room temperature . Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa , Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil . Its use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is widespread because of its lower cost and the high oxidative stability ( saturation ) of the refined product when used for frying . One source reported that humans consumed an average 17 lb of palm oil per person in 2015 .   The use of palm oil in food products has attracted the concern of environmental activist groups ; the high oil yield of the trees has encouraged wider cultivation , leading to the clearing of forests in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia to make space for oil-palm monoculture . This has resulted in significant acreage losses of the natural habitat of the orangutan , of which both species are endangered ; one species in particular , the Sumatran orangutan , has been listed as critically endangered . In 2004 , an industry group called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was formed to work with the palm oil industry to address these concerns . Additionally , in 1992 , in response to concerns about deforestation , the Government of Malaysia pledged to limit the expansion of palm oil plantations by retaining a minimum of half the nation 's land as forest cover .