a tour to Glacier National Park

Montana

1,013,572 acres
Glacier National Park is where everything bright and strong and never tamed comes together on high: wolves, white-tailed ptarmigan, storms that hit the Great Divide like tsunamis with golden eagles surfing the wind waves, twisted trees 200 years old but scarcely tall enough to hide a bighorn sheep, impatient wildflowers shoving through snow to unfurl their colors, alpenglow on ancient ice, and great silver-tipped bears.
The Montana refuge is part of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—1,800 square miles (4,662 square kilometers) of what naturalist John Muir called “the best care-killing scenery on the continent." Multihued summits—whittled by ancient glaciers into walls and horns—rise abruptly from gently rolling plains. Some 762 lakes, dozens of glaciers, and innumerable waterfalls glisten in forested valleys. A scenic highway crosses the park, making much of its beauty accessible to the casual visitor. More than 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) of trails await hikers and horseback riders.

In 1932 Canada and the United States declared Waterton Lakes National Park (founded in 1895) and neighboring Glacier National Park (founded in 1910) the world’s first International Peace Park. While administered separately, the park’s two sections cooperate in wildlife management, scientific research, and some visitor services.

The tremendous range of topography in Waterton-Glacier supports a rich variety of plants and wildlife. Almost 2,000 plant species provide food and haven for more than 60 native species of mammals and 260 species of birds. In the 1980s the gray wolf settled into Glacier for the first time since the 1950s.
But now strip-mining and oil, gas, housing, and logging projects proposed or under way near the park’s respective borders endanger the habitats of both water and land animals, including elk, bighorn sheep, and the threatened grizzly. Park officials and conservation groups are working with the U.S. Forest Service, the Canadian government, the Blackfeet Tribe, and private companies to try to protect critical habitats.
Sheltered valleys and bountiful food have lured people here for nearly 10,000 years. Ancient cultures tracked bison across the plains, fished the lakes, and traversed the mountain passes. The Blackfeet controlled this land during the 18th and much of the 19th centuries.
How to Get There

Approach West Glacier (from Kalispell, Montana, about 35 miles) and East Glacier Park from US 2. US 89 leads to Many Glacier and St. Mary in the east; US 89 and Mont. 17 (Chief Mountain International Hwy.) form the shortest connection between Glacier and Waterton Lakes. Coming from Canada, follow Alberta 2, 5, or 6. Amtrak trains from Chicago and Seattle stop year-round just outside the park at West Glacier (Belton), Essex, Browning, and East Glacier Park; by prior arrangement, buses take travelers into the park. Nearest airports: Kalispell and Great Falls, Montana; and Lethbridge, Alberta.
When to Go

Summer. Road rehabilitation occurring on portions of the Going-to-the-Sun Road before and after the core summer season with possible closures. (Mid-June to mid-September delays will be limited to a maximum of 30 minutes during a one-way trip across Logan Pass.) All of Going-to-the-Sun Road is open about mid-June to mid-September; Chief Mountain International Highway, mid-May to late September. Trails at lower elevations are usually clear of snow by mid-June; higher trails can remain snowed-in until mid-July. Cross-country skiing is popular from December to April in many areas of the park.
How to Visit

Spend your first day on and around the Going-to-the-Sun Road, considered by many one of the world’s most spectacular highways. On a second day, travel the Chief Mountain International Highway north to Waterton Lakes, enjoying the contrast of peak and prairie. Drive Waterton’s Akamina Parkway and Red Rock Parkway. Stay at least another day to visit Glacier’s Many Glacier. For a longer visit, drive to Two Medicine for a boat ride and walk to an exquisite lake, then continue on to the Walton Goat Lick Overlook, both also in Glacier. If you have the stamina and overnight reservations, hike or ride horseback to one of the two remaining chalets built in Glacier early in the 20th century by the Great Northern Railway.

The 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 the Earth's surface. It should not be confused with the North Magnetic Pole.
 



The North Pole is the northernmost point on 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.

While the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amidst 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, have constructed a number of manned drifting stations, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. In recent years, a number of studies have predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free due to Arctic shrinkage, with timescales varying from a few years to fifty years or more.

The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 metres (13,980 ft).[1] The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km (440 mi) away, though some perhaps non-permanent gravel banks lie slightly further north


The northernmost point on the earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as true north. It's located at 90° North latitude and all lines of longitude converge at the pole. The earth's axis connects the north and south poles, as its the line around which the earth rotates.

The North Pole is about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland in the middle of the Arctic Ocean - the sea there has a depth of 13,410 feet (4087 meters). Most of the time, sea ice covers the North Pole but recently, water has been sighted at the exact location of the pole.

If you're standing at the North Pole, all points are south of you (east and west have no bearing). Since the earth's rotation takes place once every 24 hours, if you're at the North Pole your speed of rotation is quite slow at almost no speed at all, compared to the speed at the equator at about 1,038 miles per hour.
The lines of longitude that establish our time zones are so close at the North Pole, the Arctic region uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) when local time is necessary at the North Pole. The North Pole experiences six months of daylight and six months of darkness.

Robert Peary, his partner Matthew Henson, and four Inuit are generally credited with being the first to reach the North Pole on April 9, 1909 many suspect that they missed the pole by a few miles. In 1958, the United States nuclear submarine Nautilus was the first vessel to cross the North Pole. Other attempts to reach the North Pole have been quite interesting. Today, dozens of planes fly over the North Pole using great circle routes between continents.
 

Sahara

The Sahara is the largest desert in the world and occupies approximately 10 percent of the African Continent. The ecoregion includes the hyper-arid central portion of the Sahara where rainfall is minimal and sporadic. Although species richness and endemism are low, some highly adapted species do survive with notable adaptations. Only a few thousand years ago the Sahara was significantly wetter, and a large mammal fauna resided in this area. Climatic desiccation over the past 5000 years, and intense human hunting over the past 100 years, has obliterated these faunas. Now only rock, sand and sparse vegetation exist over huge areas. The remnant large mammal fauna is highly threatened by over-hunting.

From the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the greater Sahara stretches across Africa to the Red Sea and down to the highlands of Ethiopia, encompassing an area 9,100,000 square kilometers (km2). This ecoregion covers the central Sahara Desert, between 18° and 30° N, and has an area of 4,619,260 km2. The northern and southern margins of the Sahara, which receive more rainfall and have greater vegetation cover, are described separately.

The Sahara is located in a climatic divide. The Intercontinental Convergence Zone moves up from the south, but stops before the center of the Sahara, and consequently hardly carries any rain. Similarly, the winter rainfall of North Africa does not reach far south enough to regularly bring rain to the central Sahara. Consequently, the rainfall, albeit extremely rare, can fall in any season. The annual rainfall is below 25 millimeters (mm), and in the eastern part of the desert it is less than 5 mm per annum. The scarcity of rainfall in this ecoregion is aggravated by its irregularity, as no rain may fall for many years in some areas, followed by a single intense thunderstorm.

The Sahara is one of the hottest regions in the world, with mean annual temperatures exceeding 30°C. In the hottest months, temperatures can rise over 50°C, and temperatures can fall below freezing in the winter. A single daily variation of -0.5°C to 37.5°C has been recorded. The Sahara is also extremely windy. Hot, dust-filled winds create dust devils which can make the temperatures seem even hotter.

The extreme aridity of this area is a relatively recent feature. Much larger areas of the Sahara had adequate water only 5000 to 6000 years ago. It is not clear how much of this ecoregion was covered with vegetation, but in other parts of the Sahara the vegetation was closer to the savanna woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. Currently the ecoregion is in a "hyper arid" phase, with high summer temperatures, lower winter temperatures and rainfall between 0 and 25 mm per annum.

tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. The most intense of all atmospheric phenomena, tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).

Various types of tornadoes include the landspout, multiple vortex tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts have similar characteristics to tornadoes, characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current that form over bodies of water, connecting to large cumulus and thunderstorm clouds. Waterspouts are generally classified as non-supercellular tornadoes that develop over bodies of water. These spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator, and are less common at high latitudes.Other tornado-like phenomena which exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, and steam devil.

Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of tornadoes in the world occur in the Tornado Alley region of the United States, although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America.They also occasionally occur in south-central and eastern Asia, the Philippines, east-central South America, Southern Africa, northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia, and New Zealand. Tornadoes can be detected before or as they occur through the use of Pulse-Doppler radar by recognizing patterns in velocity and reflectivity data, such as hook echoes, as well as by the efforts of storm spotters.

A tornado is "a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud". For a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must be in contact with both the ground and the cloud base. Scientists have not yet created a complete definition of the word; for example, there is disagreement as to whether separate touchdowns of the same funnel constitute separate tornadoes.Tornado refers to the vortex of wind, not the condensation cloud.

glaciology

Snow and ice are pervasive elements of high latitude environmental systems and have an active role in the global environment. Glaciologists in Antarctica are concerned with the study of the history and dynamics of all naturally occurring forms of snow and ice, including floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and continental and marine ice sheets.

One priority for scientists is to determine the origins of the polar ice sheet, along with the fundamental behavior of the ice sheet during worldwide glaciations. Data has shown that the East Antarctic ice sheet has remained relatively static during worldwide glaciation whereas the marine-based West Antarctic Ice sheet has expanded to the eastern edges of the Ross and Weddell continental shelves, nearly tripling in size in the process.

Of critical importance to glaciological research is the examination of deep ice cores. Ice cores are unique in that they continuously record and preserve annual precipitation, atmospheric temperature and components of the atmosphere, including gases, soluble and insoluble aerosol particles from a wide variety of sources. 

Another focus for scientists is to improve our understanding of the growth and movement of Antarctic sea ice, not only to aid in navigation but to give insight into future changes. Sea ice originates on or at the edge of the polar land mass and is dispersed by strong winds blowing northward into the surrounding oceans. Annually the ice pack grows from an average minimum of 2.9 million square kilometers in March to about 18.8 square kilometers in September. The average thickness of the sea ice is about 1.5 meters and 85 percent of the ice pack melts each year. This ice is characterized by undulating ridges and troughs and crevassed areas which have created route-finding problems for those traveling across these marginal areas of the ice shelf. The pack moves quickly with the winds--as much as 65 kilometers in a single day--and ships can easily be caught in some of the thicker, more complex multiyear ice that is trapped within indentations on

The Dry Valleys

The Dry Valleys of Antarctica get virtually no snowfall or moisture of any kind. Researchers come not only to study one of the world's most delicate, yet simple ecosystems, but also to learn more about the unique geological formations and processes occurring there. From south to north, the principal ice-free valleys include the Taylor, Wright, McKelvey, Balham, Victoria, and Barwick Valleys. Similar but smaller valleys also occur farther south, along the coast of McMurdo Sound and the western margin of Koettlitz Glacier; these include, from south to north, Miers, Marshall, and Garwood Valleys, and the Salmon Stream valley.

The major Dry Valleys have certain characteristics in common, and some have unique features. They are generally 5-10 kilometers wide (between ridge crests) and 15-50 kilometers long. Only the Taylor and upper Wright Valleys have glaciers at their heads, which connect with the ice of the polar plateau; the other valleys have either barren upper reaches or small alpine glaciers. Only Taylor Valley exits directly to the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, whereas the others are blocked by the Wilson Glacier.

 
Several lakes occupy parts of some valley floors, their surfaces frozen most of the year. Some lakes are over 30 meters deep and have perennial ice covers several meters thick.

Lake Vanda, which is typical, has 10 percent dissolved solids content in its lower few meters--three times as saline as sea water-while the upper 50 meters has only 0.1 percent. Scientists have noted high water temperatures in the lakes, with temperature inversions resulting in bottom waters as warm as 25°C (75°F). These high temperatures are due entirely to solar heating of the water through the ice, and not to any heat from rocks at depth beneath the lakes. 

The lakes are by far the most interesting and diverse habitats in the Dry Valleys. Organisms are found growing on and in the ice cover, in the water, and on the bottom of the lakes. Exploration of lake bottoms by SCUBA-equipped divers, including core sampling of bottom sediments, have disclosed the existence of algal mats on lake floors; in certain respects these are analogous to some of the Earth's earliest life forms. The mats produce gases which render them buoyant in marginal zones of the lake. There they form columns, which detach from the bottom, rise, and then work their way upward through the surface ice layers-as much as 5 meters thick-after which they dry out and blow away, sometimes to colonize in other locations.

Population of tokyo

Japan is a small country in Asia, but the population is very big (127,590,000 people in 2009). The economy of Japan is the second in the word.. GDP in Japan is USD 34,116 in 2009. Japan economy is very stable. Get a lot of achieve about medical, education (5 universities in world’s top 100 universities), food (according to BBC news, Tokyo have 160,000 restaurants and is food capital of the world), industry (having many big industry group like HONDA, MISTSUBISHi etc). According to Mercer Human Resource Consulting in 2009, Tokyo capital where is having 12,570,904 people is the most expensive city in the word.

The Japanese entertainment industry is one of the world's largest and most innovative, and despite the culture and language barrier, various forms of Japanese entertainment have become internationally popular. Entertainment industry takes 23% GDP of Japan. More than 80% of Japanese always get pressure in work. Most of them spend all their free-time for entertainment like shopping, go to night club, go to cinema, and vacation. Night clubs in Japan is very multiform like Ageda, Vanilla, Velfarre

demography  

            The population of Japan as per June 2008 stands at 127.7 million. Japan the 10th most populous country of the world, contributes 2% of the total global population. Population density in Japan is 339 persons per square kilometer and ranks 32nd in the world in respect to country population density.

As per the latest stats median age life expectancy at birth is 82.12 years of an average Japanese is 44.2 years and infant mortality rate is 2.79 deaths per 1000 births. 66% of the entire Japanese population lives in urban areas with an annual change rate of urbanization as 0.2%.

Japan is now a day is facing a sharp decline in its populations as the population of deaths is outnumbering the population of births in the country. This has impacted the growth prospects of the country negatively. Longer life expectancy and low birth rates means that reducing Japanese population is graying at a higher rate. This is an alarming situation for Japan especially during this universal global recession time.

In 2008, the government of Japan recovered 1.14 million deaths, the highest ever in Japan since 1947. It was until 2005 that the population of births exceeded the # of deaths. But the figures have changed drastically and in 2008 itself 1.09 million births and 1.14 million deaths resulted in a population dip by over 50,000 people. Due to this population fall almost 25% of the present Japanese population is of the age 65 and above, which further makes the Japanese economy weaker.

Late marriages and more working women are the primary 2 reasons for the reduced births in Japan. The country has a low fertility rate on 1.36 as compared to USA, 2.10 and France, 1.98.  

·  Temporary Population Increase During day: 2.5 Million

0-14 years: 13.5% (male 8, 804, 465/female 8, 344, 800)

15-64 years: 64.3% (male 41, 187, 425/female 40, 533, 876)

65 years and over: 22.2% (male 11, 964, 694/female 16, 243, 419)

More than 2.5 million (possibly higher because of the illegal immigrants), 14.9% up in five years. North and South Koreans 1 million, Chinese 0.5 million, Filipinos 0.5 million, Brazilians 250,000 and Peruvians 200,000. Other nationalities (examples): Americans, Canadians, Australians, British, Indonesians, Thais, Africans, Iranians, Russians, Turks, Indians and others.

Marital status

Over 15: Married Male 61.8%, Female 58.2%. Never married Male 31.8%, Female 23.7%.

25 - 29: Never married Male 69.3%, Female 54.0%.W

30 - 34: Never married Male 42.9%, Female 26.6%

 in my opinion,  japan is one of the country have the high rate of old people. japan is in big situation. japan is lack of young people. the people of japan do not want to have babies and marries now.it make the income of japan go down and do not have enough labor force for the future . To solve this situation, the government must import the labor force from the other countries and encourage people to marries and make a good condition to attract people come to japan to work. developing the technolgy to increase the  productivity.

reference

Peter F. Kornicki, Book in Japan: A Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century 

Japanese History Books #2 - F. G. Notehelfer, Francis Hall, Isaac Titsingh, Carl Peter Thunberg, Timon Screech