3,546 articles
Arctowski Nunatak
Arctowski Nunatak (Polish: Nunatak Arctowskiego) is a rocky peak in the Seal Nunataks group off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, charted in 1902 and named for Henryk Arctowski.
Arctowski Peak
Arctowski Peak, an ice-covered peak about 1,400 m high at the head of Howkins Inlet, Lassiter Coast, Palmer Land, Antarctica (73°44'S 61°25'W); seen by USAS in 1940, surveyed by FIDS in 1947, named for Henryk Arctowski.
Arctowski Peninsula
Arctowski Peninsula (Półwysep Arctowskiego), a small rocky peninsula on the Danco Coast of the northwestern Antarctic Peninsula between Andvord Bay and Wilhelmina Bay, about 30 km long, discovered in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition and named for Henryk Arctowski.
Arden, Warwickshire
Arden, also known as the Forest of Arden, is the historic woodland region of northern Warwickshire, England, famous as the setting of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
Ardley Island
Ardley Island: ice-free island off southwest King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica; ASPA 150, formerly SSSI 33, with large gentoo penguin colony and CCAMLR monitoring site.
Arguin
Arguin (Arguim) is an island off the coast of Mauritania, site of the first Portuguese trading post on the West African coast, established around 1445.
Arid land
Arid land: terrain with an aridity index (precipitation/potential evapotranspiration) of 0.05–0.20, part of the UNCCD drylands (AI 0.05–0.65). Covers roughly 10% of land, low-fertility Aridisols, rangeland use, and the setting of desertification.
Aristazabal Island
Aristazabal Island: large forested uninhabited island off the central north coast of British Columbia, Canada, southwest of Princess Royal Island in Hecate Strait; named 1792 by Caamaño for Spanish admiral Gabriel de Aristazábal; Crown land with Laredo limestone deposit.
Arnøya
Arnøya (Sami Árdni) is Norway's 15th-largest island, in Skjervøy, Troms: 275.65 km², 260 inhabitants, highest peak Arnøyhøgda 1,170 m. Distinct from the Arnøyene pair in Gildeskål and an Arnøya in Smøla.
Arthur's Seat
Arthur's Seat is the 250 m summit of an extinct Carboniferous volcano in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, with hill-forts, Hutton's Section at Salisbury Crags, SSSI protection, and recurring gorse wildfires.
Artificial island
Artificial island: a human-built island made by filling lakes or seas with rock, sand, or debris. Also called crannogs (ancient) or reclaimed islands. Ranges from Neolithic Scottish lake dwellings to modern megaprojects in Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and the South China Sea.
Artificial land
Artificial land, also called artificial surfaces or tehismaa, is land whose natural cover is replaced by built-up, often impervious human construction. Covers 4.1% of EU land, growing via urban expansion and coastal reclamation.
Artur Kozłowski (speleologist)
Artur Kozłowski (1977–2011), Polish-born cave diver active in Ireland 2006–2011; set 103m depth record at Pollatoomary and 4km traverse record; died diving Pollonora Cave, Galway; SUI's Kozlowski Fund honors him.
Arveprinsen Ejland
Arveprinsen Ejland (Arveprinsens Ejland) is the older Danish name for Alluttoq, a 655 km2 uninhabited island in Disko Bay, West Greenland, with Archaean greenstone geology and a 1784 whaling station, Klokkerhuk.
Asgardfonna
Asgardfonna (Åsgardfonna) is an ice cap in Ny-Friesland, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, between Wijdefjorden and Lomfjorden, about 1,230 km²; with Balderfonna and Olaf V it forms Svalbard's largest glacier complex.
Ashville Formation
Ashville Formation: Albian-Cenomanian (about 113-94 Ma) grey-black noncalcareous shale unit, up to 115 m thick, in southern Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan; members Skull Creek, Newcastle, Westgate, Belle Fourche; type locality Wilson River near Ashville, Manitoba.
Asir Mountains
Asir Mountains (عسير), subrange of the Sarawat chain in southwestern Saudi Arabia's Asir Province; highest peak Jabal as-Sudah at 3,015 m, the Kingdom's highest point; Precambrian Arabian Shield rocks uplifted in the Neogene, with terraced agriculture and juniper forests.
Assateague Island
Assateague Island, a 37-mile Maryland-Virginia barrier island, is protected as Assateague Island National Seashore (1965) and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, known for wild horses, the Chincoteague pony swim, and rapidly shifting, storm-reshaped coastal landforms.
Astrolabe Island
Astrolabe Island, an Antarctic island in Bransfield Strait off Trinity Peninsula (63°18'S, 58°40'W), named by d'Urville's 1837-40 expedition after the ship Astrolabe; about 3 miles long, rising to 560 m, with chinstrap penguin colonies.
Atacama Desert
Atacama Desert (Desierto de Atacama), hyperarid plateau on the Pacific coast of northern Chile, the driest non-polar region on Earth; Eocene-aged hyperarid core, world's largest recoverable lithium deposit, and major astronomy site including ALMA and Paranal.
Atacazo
Atacazo is an andesitic stratovolcano in Ecuador's Western Cordillera about 25 km southwest of Quito, whose caldera holds dacitic lava domes and last erupted about 2,300 years ago.
Athabasca Glacier
Athabasca Glacier, an outlet glacier of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, Alberta; Canada's most accessible glacier, 8.3 km long, retreating since its 1843/4 Little Ice Age maximum and thinned 60 m from 1961 to 2020.
Atherton Islands
Atherton Islands: two small islands off Bell Point, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Charted by the Discovery Investigations 1934-35 and named after cartographer Noel Atherton; UK name approved 8 September 1953.
Atherton Tableland
Atherton Tableland, volcanic plateau in Far North Queensland west of Cairns; also Atherton Tablelands region. Fertile basalt soils, crater lakes, Australia's only tropical dairy industry, 70% of national coffee, critically endangered Mabi Forest.
Atitlan (volcano)
Atitlan, also known as Volcan Atitlan, is a 3,535 m stratovolcano in the Guatemalan Highlands rising on the southern rim of the caldera holding Lake Atitlan, last erupting in 1853.
Atka Island
Atka Island: largest island of the Andreanof group in the central Aleutians, Alaska, home to the active Atka volcanic complex (Korovin, Kliuchef, Sarichef vents) and the Aleut village of Atka on Nazan Bay.
Atlantic coastal plain
Atlantic coastal plain: low-lying physiographic province from Cape Cod to Florida and the Mexican border, a seaward-sloping wedge of unconsolidated sediments on a passive margin, bounded inland by the Fall Line.
Atlas Mountains
Atlas Mountains: ranges across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia; highest peak Jbel Toubkal (4,167 m). Formed by Africa-Eurasia collision; snowmelt water tower now facing severe drought and projected 55% discharge loss.
Atna Peak
Atna Peak: official BC summit in the Kitimat Ranges, Coast Mountains, east of Kitimat; highest peak in the Kitimat Ranges at about 2,724-2,755 m, highest point of Atna River Park; distinct from Alaska's Atna Peaks.
Atoll
Atoll: ring-shaped coral reef enclosing a lagoon, built on a subsiding volcano; Darwin's 1842 subsidence theory, confirmed by Enewetak drilling at 1.3 km; 598 counted worldwide; home of Tuvalu, Kiribati, Maldives.