Archive for the ‘Geography’ Category
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Satellite image of the Strait of Gibraltar from NASA found on Wikipedia.
Algeciras Harbor is the prominent notch cut out of the eastern end of the north shore of the Strait; the Rock of Gibraltar is the tiny arrowhead that separates the notch from the Alboran Sea. The Sierra Nevada, farther away down the Spanish coast, lives up to its name in this April scene. The difference in elevation between the Sierra Morena and the Guadalquivir River valley is highlighted nicely by cumulus clouds. Tangier, Morocco can be seen as a light-toned spot on the southern shore of the Strait, near the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean.
Tags: Satellite images of Andalucia
Posted in Andalucia, Geography, Geology | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
I’ve been working recently on a new guide to places in Spain using Google maps as a way of organising them spatially. I find it interesting to see how places I’ve visited and/or written about over the years, join up together on the map. I still don’t understand how to get the best out of Google Maps, but I think that building up this database will allow lots of new forms of representing information. Visit Places in Spain
Have a look for example at these places:
Posted in Geography, Iberianature news | No Comments »
Monday, February 8th, 2010
A curiosity I heard today: Mahón, the capital of Menorca, has the second deepest natural harbour in the world – after Pearl Harbour. The harbour is 5 km long and up to 900m wide. Historically, it was one of the most strategically important harbours in the western Mediterranean.
More from Wikipedia
Tags: important harbours in the western Mediterranean, Natural harbours in Menorca, Natural harbours in Spain, The capital of Menorca
Posted in Balearics, Geography, Spanish sea tales | No Comments »
Friday, November 7th, 2008
The Spanish government is planning to give protection to some 2,900km of 357 still-unspoilt stretches of rivers, involving initially the creation of a Catálogo Nacional de Reservas Fluviales, which put a stop to any dam construction, waste disposal or extraction in these areas. The idea comes from a proposal by Ecologistas en Acción who note “It would have a huge importance because it would create biological corridors in almost all mountain ranges and would save what is left of rivers, which are probably the most altered ecosystems by humans.”
Tags: Ecologistas en Acción
Posted in Conservation, Geography, Iberian rivers, On Spain | No Comments »
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Monte Perdido, the Lost Mountain, (3355m) is the third highest peak in the Pyrenees but until the early 19th century it was thought that to be the highest. It does, however, boast the highest waterfall (400m) in Europe and the second largest glacier in the Pyrenees. The mountain is home to many legends, perhaps the most evocative of which is this one:
A palace was built at the beginning of time by the mythical Enchanter of the Peaks, Atland, who put a spell on the palace so that only certain people could enter it. Polished walls and towers protected it and hid behind them vast gardens and meadows that were like an earthly paradise. The palace is still bound by Atland’s spell and can only be entered if you are riding on the back of a flying horse. More legends from Aragon
Tags: Atland, highest waterfall in Europe, legends of Aragon, Monte Perdido, Pyrenees legends
Posted in Aragon, Aragonese Pyrenees, folklore, Geography, Mountains, Pyrenees | No Comments »
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
Glaciar de Monteperdido in the Aragonese Pyrenees (El País)
A Spanish study published in The Holocene has concluded that the progressive rise in temperatures since 1890 will lead to the total disappearance of the Pyrenean glaciers by 2050.
Glaciers advanced during the Little Ice Age (LIA) between 1300 and 1860 in the Pyrenees, Picos de Europa and Sierra Nevada. These were most extensive in the Pyrenees (because of altitude and latitude) but today glaciers remain only in the highest peaks. There were six glaciers in the Picos de Europa Massif during the LIA, and one glacier, the southernmost of Europe, in the Sierra Nevada (Pico de Veleta). All of these glaciers have been in continuous retreat since the end of the nineteenth century, 94 have disappeared completely (Veleta in 1913), leaving 29 glaciers in the Pyrenees (10 in Spain, 11 in France), four buried icepatches in the Picos de Europa and one buried icepatch in the Sierra Nevada. The last 15 years has seen a 50-60% reduction in surface area of the largest glaciers.
The Little Ice Age was not a continuous period of cold. These Iberian glaciers expanded most rapidly between 1645 and 1710, and then shrunk between 1750 and the early 19th century but then recovered after a new cold period. Since the end of the 19th century temperatures have risen more sharply by 0.7ºC and 0.9ºC in the mountains in northern Spain in line with global warming. El País
See also
- Climate guide to Spain
- The Little Ice Age in Spain
- Glaciers in Spain (2004) Spanish glaciers melting fast Greenpeace has released a report on the state of Spain’s glaciers. The glaciers on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees are melting fast.. Total surface area has dropped from 1779 hectares in 1894 to 290 in 2000, representing a fall of 85% in of surface area. 52% of this has occurred in the last 20 years, and 30% between 1991 and 2001.
Tags: icepatch, Little Ice Age
Posted in Aragon, Aragonese Pyrenees, Climate, climate change, Geography, Picos de Europa, Sierra Nevada, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 1st, 2008
Tabernas (Almería)
Spain has finally implemented its first Programme of National Action against Desertification which recognises that 37% of the country is at a very high, high or medium risk from desertification, and is in danger of becoming “eroded forever”. This risk is also termed Sahelisation, after the North African region, and with coming climate change is set to worsen.
Since 2001 there has been a huge loss in fertile soil due to erosion totalling 17 tonnes per hectare per year: 67 millon tonnes of soil, much of which gets caught up in reservoirs, and representing an increase of 8% since 2001. The problem has been seriously heightened by intensive agriculture and the spread of urbanisation and infrastructures. El Mundo
Note: This figure of 37% has risen from 36% last year. See Threat of desertification (also with map of area)
Tags: rogramme of National Action against Desertification, Sahelisation, soil loss in Spain
Posted in desertification, Geography | No Comments »
Friday, September 21st, 2007
The River Guadix, a sub-tributary of the Guadiana Menor, which flows through the town of the same name must lay claim to world’s most tautological geographical name.
Wikipedia claims in tautological place names:
Río Guadix, Spain (The River River River – Río is “river” in Spanish, Guad < w?d? is “river” in Arabic and Ix is “river” in Phoenician)
Posted in Andalucia, Geography, Iberian languages, Iberian rivers | No Comments »
Friday, August 31st, 2007
The United Nations Convention to Fight Desertification is to be held on September 3-4 in Madrid. Desertification threatens 36% of Spain: 2% of Spain suffers from extreme risk of desertification, with 15% having a high risk. Degraded soils cover a further 19%. Worst hit are the Canaries and the south-east, and to a lesser much of the southern half of the Peninsula, the Ebro basin and southern Catalonia. Although some degradation may be blamed on climate change and natural processes, most areas are the result of fire, overgrazing, aquifer depletion and bad farming practices – human mismanagement. The Spanish government has called on the EU to set up a centre for desertification with its headquarters in Spain. Older material on desertification in Spain here
Map of risk of desertification in Spain (MMA)
Map of aridity in Spain
Posted in desertification, Environment, Geography | No Comments »
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
The Ebro’s importance is reflected in the name of the Iberian Peninsula, which almost certainly comes from the river, first known as the Iber and Iberus and Ebro, and not the other way around. It was first used in the 6th century BC by a Greek author in reference to the Iberians, or the people who lived along the Iberus ( Ebro) river. Ultimately the word may well derive from the Basque words ibai (river) and ibar (valley), and these from ur meaning water. Linguists have noted similarities with the names of 200 other European rivers and streams (e.g. Ibar in Serbia, Ebrach and several Eberbach in Germany, Irwell in The UK) giving a tantalising clue as to a form of Basque being once spoken throughout Europe before the arrival of Indo-European tribes and languages. More on the Ebro
Posted in Basque Country, Geography, history, Iberian languages, Iberian rivers | No Comments »
