Uploads from Nicola since 1972, tagged 1200, with geodata

The forest - IMG_0119

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:58:53 -0800

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

The word "forest" comes from Middle English forest, from Old French forest (also forès) "forest, vast expanse covered by trees", believed to be a borrowing (probably via Frankish or Old High German) of the Medieval Latin word foresta "open wood". Foresta was first used by Carolingian scribes in the Capitularies of Charlemagne to refer specifically to the king's royal hunting grounds. The term was not endemic to Romance languages (e.g. native words for "forest" in the Romance languages evolved out of the Latin word silva "forest, wood"; cf. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese selva; Romanian silvă; Old French selve); and cognates in Romance languages, such as Italian foresta, Spanish and Portuguese floresta, etc. are all ultimately borrowings of the French word. The exact origin of Medieval Latin foresta is obscure. Some authorities claim the word derives from the Late Latin phrase forestam silvam, meaning "the outer wood"; others claim the term is a latinisation of the Frankish word *forhist "forest, wooded country", assimilated to forestam silvam (a common practise among Frankish scribes). Frankish *forhist is attested by Old High German forst "forest", Middle Low German vorst "forest", Old English fyrhþ "forest, woodland, game preserve, hunting ground", and Old Norse fýri "coniferous forest", all of which derive from Proto-Germanic *furχísa-, *furχíþja- "a fir-wood, coniferous forest", from Proto-Indo-European *perkwu- "a coniferous or mountain forest, wooded height". Uses of the word "forest" in English to denote any uninhabited area of non-enclosure are now considered archaic.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest

Travertine - IMG_7968

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:21:37 -0800

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Travertine (in other languages: Chinese: 洞石, Persian: تراورتن, German: Travertin, Italian: Travertino Romano) is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot spring or in a limestone cave. In the latter it can form stalactites, stalagmites and other speleothems. It is frequently used in Italy and elsewhere as a building material.

Travertine is a terrestrial sedimentary rock, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from solution in ground and surface waters, and/or geothermally heated hot-springs. Similar (but softer and extremely porous) deposits formed from ambient-temperature water are known as tufa.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travertine

Sunset at Singita - IMG_2666

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:19:56 -0700

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Sunset is the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon as a result of the Earth's rotation. The atmospheric conditions created by the setting of the sun, occurring before and after it disappears below the horizon, are also commonly referred to as "sunset".

The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the trailing edge of the sun's disk disappears below the horizon in the west. Due to refraction of light in the atmosphere, the ray path of the setting sun is highly distorted near the horizon making the apparent astronomical sunset occur when the sun’s disk is already about one diameter below the horizon. Sunset should not be confused with dusk, which is the moment at which darkness falls, when the sun is about eighteen degrees below the horizon. The period between the astronomical sunset and dusk is called twilight.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset

Lake Mead and Hoover DAM - IMG_3767

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:29:21 -0700

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It is located on the Colorado River about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the states of Nevada and Arizona. Formed by water impounded by Hoover Dam, it extends 112 mi (180 km) behind the dam, holding approximately 28.5 million acre feet (35 km³) of water. The water held in Lake Mead is released to communities in Southern California and Nevada, via aqueducts.

more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mead

The Hazelnut trees garden - IMG_3090

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:16:23 -0700

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Hazelnuts cultivation near Bracciano Lake - Italy.

The hazels (Corylus) are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels (with the hornbeams and allied genera) into a separate family Corylaceae.

They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins. The flowers are produced very early in spring before the leaves, and are monoecious, with single-sex catkins, the male pale yellow and 5–12 cm long, the female very small and largely concealed in the buds, with only the bright red 1–3 mm long styles visible. The seeds are nuts 1–2.5 cm long and 1–2 cm diameter, surrounded by an involucre (husk) which partly to fully encloses the nut.[3]

The shape and structure of the involucre, and also the growth habit (whether a tree or a suckering shrub), are important in the identification of the different species of hazel.

more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_(Corylus)

Los Angeles and Cedar Fire seen from Sunset Blvd

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:06:13 -0700

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

The Cedar Fire was a human-caused wildfire which burned out of control through a large area of Southern California in October 2003. Driven by Santa Ana Winds, the fire burned 280,278 acres (1,134.2 km2) 2,820 buildings (including 2,232 homes) and had killed 15 people including one firefighter before being contained on November 3, making it the largest fire in recorded California history. The Cedar Fire was one of 15 fires throughout Southern California that month, including the Old Fire, which became known as the "2003 Firestorm" and the "Fire Siege of 2003."

continue at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Fire

deep blue - IMG_1724

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:21:15 -0700

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Taken somewhere on the flight from Rome to New York.

A cloud is a visible mass of droplets, in other words, little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae. Clouds are studied in the nephology or cloud physics branch of meteorology.
On Earth the condensing substance is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm (0.00039 in) in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds. Dense deep clouds exhibit a high reflectance (70% to 95%) throughout the visible range of wavelengths. They thus appear white, at least from the top. Cloud droplets tend to scatter light efficiently, so that the intensity of the solar radiation decreases with depth into the gases, hence the gray or even sometimes dark appearance at the cloud base. Thin clouds may appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background and clouds illuminated by non-white light, such as during sunrise or sunset, may appear colored accordingly. Clouds look darker in the near-infrared because water absorbs solar radiation at those wavelengths.

more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud

Manhattan as seen from Empire State Building - IMG_2037

nobody@flickr.com (Nicola since 1972) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:26:11 -0800

Nicola since 1972 posted a photo:

Manhattan is one of the boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York. It consists of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Ward's Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a small section on the mainland near the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, and expanded in 1898 to include surrounding counties. It is the smallest yet most urbanized of the five boroughs.
The County of New York is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.47 km²), or 71,201 residents per square mile (27,485/km²). It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 personal income per capita above $100,000.[3] Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population.

Manhattan saw from Empire State Building in a summer evening.

Canon 10-22, a micro manfrotto tripod and a B+W polarizer helped a lot:-)