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Kiritimati
Kiritimati (), also known as Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonology, in which the combination is pronounced /s/. Kiritimati is one of the world's largest atolls in terms of land area, consisting of about land area and a network of lagoons;. The atoll is about in perimeter, while the lagoon shoreline extends for over . Kiritimati comprises over 70% of the total land area of Kiribati, a country encompassing 33 Pacific atolls and islands. It lies north of the equator, south of Honolulu, and from San Francisco. Kiritimati is in the world's furthest forward time zone, UTC+14, and is therefore one of the first inhabited places on Earth to experience New Year's Day (see also Caroline Atoll, Kiribati). Although it lies east of the 180th meridian, the Republic of Kiribati realigned the International ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Dominic
Operation Dominic was a series of 31 nuclear test explosions ("shots") with a total yield conducted in 1962 by the United States in the Pacific. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet resumption of testing after the tacit 1958–1961 test moratorium. Most of these shots were conducted with free fall bombs dropped from B-52 bomber aircraft. Twenty of these shots were to test new weapons designs; six to test weapons effects; and several shots to confirm the reliability of existing weapons. The Thor missile was also used to lift warheads into near-space to conduct high-altitude nuclear explosion tests; these shots were collectively called Operation Fishbowl. Operation Dominic occurred during a period of high Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, since the Cuban Bay of Pigs Invasion had occurred not long before. Nikita Khrushchev announced the end of a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing on 30 Augus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiribati
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The state comprises list of islands of Kiribati, 32 atolls and one remote raised coral atoll, raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is dispersed over of ocean. The islands' spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian. The International Date Line goes around Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching 150th meridian west, 150°W. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14:00, UTC+14. Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The capital, South Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Grapple
Operation Grapple was a set of four series of British nuclear weapons tests of early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs carried out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean (modern Kiribati) as part of the British hydrogen bomb programme. Nine nuclear explosions were initiated, culminating in the United Kingdom becoming the third recognised possessor of thermonuclear weapons, and the restoration of the nuclear Special Relationship with the United States in the form of the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement. During the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys, which was merged with the American Manhattan Project in August 1943. Many of Britain's top scientists participated in the Manhattan Project. After the war, fearing that Britain would lose its great power status, the British government resumed the atomic bomb development effort, now codenamed High E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line Islands
The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaiian Islands. Eight of the atolls are parts of Kiribati. The remaining three— Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra Atoll—are territories of the United States grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The Line Islands, all of which were formed by volcanic activity, are one of the longest island chains in the world, stretching from northwest to southeast. One of them, Starbuck Island, is near the geographic center of the Pacific Ocean (). Another, Kiritimati, has the largest land area of any atoll in the world. Only Kiritimati, Tabuaeran, and Teraina have a permanent population. Besides the 11 confirmed atolls and islands, Filippo Reef is shown on some maps, but its existence is doubted. The International Date L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabuaeran
Tabuaeran, also known as Fanning Island, is an atoll that is part of the Line Islands of the central Pacific Ocean and part of the island nation of Kiribati. The land area is , and the population in 2015 was 2,315. The maximum elevation is about 3 m (10 ft) above high tide. The lagoon has an area of . The deepest water in the lagoon is about , but most of it is very shallow. History Tabuaeran was first inhabited by Polynesian people. Archaeological evidence points to a single large village being maintained for several hundred years on the west side of the atoll with other scattered production and agricultural sites across the atoll. Radiometric dates range from 1100 AD to 1425 AD (Cal. 810 ±50 BP and 620 ± 60 BP at 2 sigma). Continuous habitation is likely as stratigraphic cultural layers are uninterrupted and quite deep. Some archaeologists have argued that Tabuaeran and Kiritimati were one community living across a matched set of islands as despite their relat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabwakea
Tabwakea is the largest village on the island of Kiritimati, within the archipelago of Line Islands of Kiribati. Name Tabwakea means turtle in Gilbertese language, Gilbertese, which refers to the island's first name given by James Cook, Turtles Island, which later became Christmas Island (Kiritimati). Demographics In 2015, Tabwakea was inhabited by 3,001 people, making it the most populous village in the Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa .... References Populated places in Kiribati Kiritimati {{Kiribati-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Date Line
The International Date Line (IDL) is the line extending between the South and North Poles that is the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180.0° line of longitude and deviating to pass around some territories and island groups. Crossing the date line eastbound decreases the date by one day, while crossing the date line westbound increases the date. The line is a cartographic convention and is not defined by international law. This has made it difficult for cartographers to agree on its precise course and has allowed countries through whose waters it passes to move it at times for their convenience. Geography Circumnavigating the globe People traveling westward around the world must set their clocks: *Back by one hour for every 15° of longitude crossed, and *Forward by 24 hours upon crossing the International Date Line. People traveling eastward must set their clocks: *Forward by one hour for e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century. The first nuclear device was detonated as a test by the United States at the Trinity site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, with a yield approximately equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The first thermonuclear weapon technology test of an engineered device, codenamed Ivy Mike, was tested at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on November 1, 1952 (local date), also by the United States. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the Tsar Bomba of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UTC+14
UTC+14:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +14:00. This is the earliest time zone on Earth, meaning that areas in this zone are the first to see a new day, and therefore the first to celebrate a New Year. It is also referred to as the "latest time zone" on Earth, as clocks in it always show the 'latest' (i.e., most advanced) time of all time zones. UTC+14:00 stretches as far as 30° east of the 180° longitude line and creates a large fold in the International Date Line around the Pacific nation of Kiribati. As standard time (year-round) Principal settlement: Kiritimati Oceania *Kiribati **Line Islands History The central Pacific Republic of Kiribati introduced a change of date for its eastern half on , from time zones UTC−11:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC+14:00. Before this, the time zones UTC+13:00 and UTC+14:00 did not exist. As a British colony, Kiribati was centred in the Gilbert Islands, just west of the old date line. The distant Phoenix ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most of the approximately 440 atolls in the world are in the Pacific Ocean. Two different, well-cited models, the subsidence model and the antecedent karst model, have been used to explain the development of atolls.Droxler, A.W. and Jorry, S.J., 2021. "The Origin of Modern Atolls: Challenging Darwin's Deeply Ingrained Theory". ''Annual Review of Marine Science'', 13, pp. 537–573. According to Charles Darwin's subsidence model, the formation of an atoll is explained by the sinking of a volcanic island around which a coral fringing reef has formed. Over geologic time, the volcanic island becomes extinct and eroded as it subsides completely beneath the surface of the ocean. As the volcanic island subsides, the coral fringing reef becomes a ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') and ''atoll lagoons''. They have also been identified as occurring on mixed-sand and gravel coastlines. There is an overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as Estuary, estuaries. Lagoons are common coastal features around many parts of the world. Definition and terminology Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a larger body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal, reef, coral reef, or similar feature. Some authorities include fresh water bodies in the definition of "lagoon", while others explicitly restrict "lagoon" to bodies of water with some degree of salinity. The distinction between "lagoon" and "estuary" also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caroline Island
Caroline Island (also known as Caroline Atoll or Millennium Island) is the easternmost of several uninhabited coral atolls comprising the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean nation of Kiribati. The atoll was first sighted by Europeans in 1606 and was claimed by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1868. It has been part of the Republic of Kiribati since the island nation's independence in 1979. Caroline Island has remained relatively untouched and is one of the world's most pristine tropical islands, despite guano mining, copra (coconut meat) harvesting, and human habitation in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is home to one of the world's largest populations of the coconut crab and is an important breeding site for seabirds, most notably the sooty tern. The atoll is known as the first place on Earth to see sunrise each day during much of the year, and for its role in the millennium celebrations of 2000. A 1995 realignment of the International Date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
