Benefits of Black Cumin Seed Oil

Overview

The black seed known as the black cumin seed encases an important medicinal oil that been used for centuries in Arabian, African and Asian countries it is indigenous to. Modern research is validating its many traditional uses for diseases like asthma, according to a 2003 issue of “Phytotherapy Research” and metabolic syndrome, notes “The Internet Journal of Pharmacology.” Black cumin seed also goes by its Latin name, Nigella sativa. The oil is extracted, concentrated and packaged most commonly as gel cap.

A wooden spoon filled with black cumin seeds lying in a pile of cumin seeds. Photo Credit Karisssa/iStock/Getty Images

Allergic Diseases

Allergic disease encompasses conditions such as allergic rhinitis, a chronic or seasonal expression of symptoms such as a runny nose, itchy watery eyes, and a scratchy throat, among other signs; asthma and atopic dermatitis conditions, such as asthma. The 2003 “Phytotherapy Research” journal article supplemented study participants with 40 to 80 mg/kg/day of the seed oil. It was concluded that subjective allergic symptoms decreased over the course of treatment. While the study did not definitively define how black seed oil produced the beneficial results, a Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center describes some of its effects as anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antioxidant rich.

Liver Protection

The liver is a vital organ that assists with the metabolism of food, the production of proteins necessary for fluid balance and immune function and detoxification. When it is diseased due to infection, alcohol and dietary abuse or radiation the need for transplant or surgery may leave a person susceptible to a common complication known as hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury. It is an inflammatory response that causes further damage to the liver, according to a 2008 “Medical News Today” article. The antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of black seed oil, notes the information website of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Medical Center, have made it a very viable choice in conditions where this complication is expected. “Medical News Today” notes that the seed oil has no side effects and suggests that it may improve survival rates.

Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is an increasing issue in the Western world. It is characterized as abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia and a pre-diabetic state. It is a prelude to many chronic and life-threatening diseases such as diabetes and heart disease and “The Internet Journal of Pharmacology” notes that the black cumin seed oil improves many parameters of this condition. It is suggested as an effective adjunctive therapy to conventional treatment, as a 2.5 ml twice per day dose improved parameters of waist-to-hip ratio, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure.

www.livestrong.com

How to Roast a Fresh Whole Ham

Most of the time when you think of ham, what comes to mind is the deep-pink meat that is served at Easter. It is decidedly salty and pairs well with a spicy sauce. A fresh whole ham, however, is the hind leg of a pig that has not been cured or smoked and needs to be cooked before eating. When cooked, it does not have the same deep-pink or rose color as a cured ham, but instead is a greyish white similar to pork chops and pork roast. It is more delicate in flavor. Fresh ham is low in calories, high in protein, phosphorous and potassium. It is also lower in sodium than the typical cured ham.

A roast ham on a plate. Photo Credit gkrphoto/iStock/Getty Images

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Slow cooking a whole ham keeps it from drying out.

Step 2

Prepare the ham with your favorite seasonings, sauce or rub. Thoroughly coat the entire ham to make sure it is completely covered with seasonings.

Step 3

Place the whole ham in a large roasting pan fat side up. The fat will baste the ham as it cooks.

Step 4

Cook the ham uncovered for about 20 minutes per pound.

Step 5

Turn the whole ham over halfway through the cooking time for even cooking. Do not use a fork, as doing so will pierce the ham and lose its juices. Use two spatulas to turn the ham over.

Step 6

Check the ham with a meat thermometer to determine when it is done cooking. The internal temperature should reach between 160 and 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 7

Let the whole ham rest for five to 10 minutes when it is done cooking so the juices can redistribute evenly throughout the meat.

Things You'll Need

• Fresh whole ham
• Roasting pan
• Seasonings or sauce
• 2 spatulas
• Meat thermometer

www.livestrong.com

Directions for Baking Tortillas Into Taco Salad Bowls

Presenting taco salad in an edible bowl not only lends a festive touch to your meal, but allows guests to add extra crunch to the salad as they work their way down. In the case of taco salad, this culinary wizardry takes less than 20 minutes to prepare and bake using store-bought tortillas. Choosing nonstick cooking spray, instead of brushing on oil, makes the job go even faster. In most cases, you'll use 8-inch or 10-inch tortillas and cook them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. For taco cups, use 6-inch tortillas.

A taco salad bowl. Photo Credit Rosemary Buffoni/iStock/Getty Images

Molded Magic

Using a set of tortilla bowl molds ensures taco bowls that are uniform in color and shape, and which can even be stacked for a taco salad party. After spraying both the mold and one side of the tortilla with cooking spray, press the tortilla, sprayed side down, against the folded walls of the mold. Bake them for the time specified by the manufacturer -- often about 9 to 10 minutes. When they come out of the oven, let the shells cool slightly before gently removing them from the mold.

Tucked-in Tortillas

Ovenproof bowls or small round casserole dishes are perfect for holding tortillas in a bowl-like shape from the outside as they bake. Spray both the inside of the bowls and one side of the tortilla with cooking spray and then press the tortillas, sprayed-side down, into the bowls. Pie weights, dry beans or foil pressed into the molded tortillas will help keep them in place. Bake the tortillas for about 9 minutes. After you remove the weights from the inside of the taco shells, allow the taco shells to cool completely before gently popping them out of the bowls.

Draped Delights

Crumpled-up balls of aluminum foil can be perfectly serviceable taco shell "molds." In this case, the mold is an internal one, meaning that the tortilla is draped over it, resulting in a quicker-cooking, crispier bowl. Spray both the tortillas and the surface of the 3-inch or 4-inch foil balls with cooking spray, then set the balls on baking sheets and draping the tortillas over the balls. You can make the edges of the taco bowl as free-form or uniform as you like as you pinch them around the foil ball. A 5-minute session in the oven will yield a lightly-crisp bowl. Leave it another minute or two for an extra-crispy one.

Crunchy Cups

Muffin tins and small tortillas come in handy for making taco cups, which are ideal for serving to kids or serving as hearty hors d'oeuvres. Tuck sprayed 6-inch tortillas into the sprayed cavities of muffin tins, sprayed side down. Make sure the resulting folds don't obscure the center of the cup. For a more free-form look, flip the muffin tins over, spray the entire surface of the muffin tin backing with cooking spray, and drape small tortillas between muffin cups to form wavy cup-shapes.

www.livestrong.com

A Headache in the Back of the Head as Indicator of Pregnancy

Whether a woman wants to be pregnant or would prefer not to be, if she's getting unusual around the time she expects her menstrual period, she's likely to want to know whether they might indicate pregnancy. Headaches can be one of the earliest signs of pregnancy, and many women experience them.

Strangely, a headache in the back of the head can be an early indicator of pregnancy. Photo Credit headache image by forca from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>

Significance

The good news for women who would rather not be pregnant--and the frustrating news for those would would--is that headaches don't necessarily have to mean pregnancy. They're very common symptoms of many different things. Menstrual periods cause headaches, injuries and muscle tension can lead to headaches, and some women get headaches for no particular reason at all. However, note Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel in their book, "What To Expect When You're Expecting," headaches are also very common in early pregnancy.

Cause

The headaches of early pregnancy are generally the work of rising levels of hormones. As progesterone and hCG levels spike in the first weeks of pregnancy, women's bodies respond with changes in blood flow and blood pressure, which can cause headaches. Further, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center, headaches in the back of the head often arise from muscle tension. Women who are in early pregnancy often don't sleep well, which can cause tightness across the back and shoulders, and back of the head headaches.

Considerations

A headache in the back of the head as a symptom of early pregnancy may not actually be related to the pregnancy at all, but may instead be related to stress a woman is feeling as she tries to sort through her symptoms. Whether a woman does or does not want to be pregnant, the week or weeks between when she begins to suspect she has conceived and when she can test for pregnancy can be quite stressful. Stress, too, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center, can cause back of the head headaches.

Expert Insight

While some women swear by certain indicators of pregnancy as infallible signs, it's best to avoid relying on any one sign of pregnancy as a surefire indicator--unless that sign of pregnancy is a positive pregnancy test. In her book, "Conception, Pregnancy and Birth," Dr. Miriam Stoppard suggests that women showing signs of pregnancy test approximately two weeks after conception, or around the time of a missed period. Women who test negative but continue to suspect they're pregnant should repeat the test in a week.

Warning

While most experts agree that over-the-counter drugs in the first weeks of pregnancy are highly unlikely to harm a developing baby--early embryos aren't even connected up to their mother's blood supply yet--if a woman is truly concerned that she may be pregnant, she may wish to avoid certain over-the-counter analgesics as treatments for her headaches. Massage and relaxation can help, note Murkoff and Mazel, and many obstetricians also allow acetaminophen, but it's best to check with a doctor first.

www.livestrong.com

VEGETATION

Vegetation is assemblages of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader than the term flora which refers to species composition. Perhaps the closest synonym is plant community,  but vegetation can, and often does, refer to a wider range of spatial scales than that term does, including scales as large as the global. Primeval redwood forests, coastal mangrove stands, sphagnum bogs, desert soil crusts, roadside weed patches, wheat fields, cultivated gardens and lawns; all are encompassed by the term vegetation.

Play media

On these maps, vegetation is pictured as a scale, or index, of greenness. Greenness is based on several factors: the number and type of plants, how leafy they are, and how healthy they are. In places where foliage is dense and plants are growing quickly, the index is high, represented in dark green. Regions where few plants grow have a low vegetation index, shown in tan. The index is based on measurements taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Areas where the satellite did not collect data are gray.

The vegetation type is defined by characteristic dominant species, or a common aspect of the assemblage, such as an elevation range or environmental commonality. Earth cover is the expression used by ecologist Frederic Clements that has its closest modern equivalent being vegetation. The expression continues to be used by the Bureau of Land Management.

Classification

Much of the work on vegetation classification comes from European and North American ecologists, and they have fundamentally different approaches. In North America, vegetation types are based on a combination of the following criteria: climate pattern, plant habit, phenology and/or growth form, and dominant species. In the current US standard (adopted by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and originally developed by UNESCO and The Nature Conservancy), the classification is hierarchical and incorporates the non-floristic criteria into the upper (most general) five levels and limited floristic criteria only into the lower (most specific) two levels. In Europe, classification often relies much more heavily, sometimes entirely, on floristic (species) composition alone, without explicit reference to climate, phenology or growth forms. It often emphasizes indicator or diagnostic species which may distinguish one classification from another.

In the FGDC standard, the hierarchy levels, from most general to most specific, are: system, class, subclass, group, formation, alliance, and association. The lowest level, or association, is thus the most precisely defined, and incorporates the names of the dominant one to three (usually two) species of a type. An example of a vegetation type defined at the level of class might be "Forest, canopy cover > 60%"; at the level of a formation as "Winter-rain, broad-leaved, evergreen, sclerophyllous, closed-canopy forest"; at the level of alliance as "Arbutus menziesii forest"; and at the level of association as "Arbutus menziesii-Lithocarpus densifloraforest", referring to Pacific madrone-tanoak forests which occur in California and Oregon, USA. In practice, the levels of the alliance and/or association are the most often used, particularly in vegetation mapping, just as the Latin binomial is most often used in discussing particular species in taxonomy and in general communication.

Victoria in Australia classifies its vegetation by Ecological Vegetation Class.

Dynamic

Like all the biological systems, plant communities are temporally and spatially dynamic; they change at all possible scales. Dynamism in vegetation is defined primarily as changes in species composition and/or vegetation structure.

Temporal Dynamic

Temporally, a large number of processes or events can cause change, but for sake of simplicity they can be categorized roughly as either abrupt or gradual. Abrupt changes are generally referred to as disturbances, these include things like wildfires, high winds, landslides, floods, avalanches and the like. Their causes are usually external (exogenous) to the community—they are natural processes occurring (mostly) independently of the natural processes of the community (such as germination, growth, death, etc.). Such events can change vegetation structure and composition very quickly and for long time periods, and they can do so over large areas. Very few ecosystems are without some type of disturbance as a regular and recurring part of the long term system, dynamic. Fire and wind disturbances are particularly common throughout many vegetation types worldwide. Fire is particularly potent because of its ability to destroy not only living plants, but also the seeds, spores, and living meristems, representing the potential next generation, and because of fire's impact on fauna populations, soil characteristics and other ecosystem elements and processes (for further discussion of this topic see fire ecoloy).

Temporal change at a slower pace is ubiquitous; it comprises the field of ecological succession. Succession is the relatively gradual change in structure and taxonomic composition that arises as the vegetation itself modifies various environmental variables over time, including light, water and nutrient levels. These modifications change the suite of species most adapted to grow, survive and reproduce in an area, causing floristic changes. These floristic changes contribute to structural changes that are inherent in plant growth even in the absence of species changes (especially where plants have a large maximum size, i.e. trees), causing slow and broadly predictable changes in the vegetation. Succession can be interrupted at any time by disturbance, setting the system either back to a previous state, or off on another trajectory altogether. Because of this, successional processes may or may not lead to some static, final state. Moreover, accurately predicting the characteristics of such a state, even if it does arise, is not always possible. In short, vegetative communities are subject to many variables that together set limits on the predictability of future conditions.

Spatial Dynamics

As a general rule, the larger an area under consideration, the more likely the vegetation will be heterogeneous across it. Two main factors are at work. First, the temporal dynamics of disturbance and succession are increasingly unlikely to be in synchrony across any area as the size of that area increases. That is, different areas will be at different developmental stages due to different local histories, particularly their times since last major disturbance. This fact interacts with inherent environmental variability (e.g. in soils, climate, topography, etc.), which is also a function of area. Environmental variability constrains the suite of species that can occupy a given area, and the two factors together interact to create a mosaic of vegetation conditions across the landscape. Only in agricultural or horticultural systems does vegetation ever approach perfect uniformity. In natural systems, there is always heterogeneity, although its scale and intensity will vary widely. A natural grassland may be homogeneous when compared to the same area of partially burned forest.

References and Further Reading

• Archibold, O. W. Ecology of World Vegetation. New York: Springer Publishing, 1994.
• Barbour, M. G. and W. D. Billings (editors). North American Terrestrial Vegetation. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Barbour, M.G, J.H. Burk, and W.D. Pitts. "Terrestrial Plant Ecology". Menlo Park: Benjamin Cummings, 1987.
• Breckle, S-W. Walter's Vegetation of the Earth. New York: Springer Publishing, 2002.
• Burrows, C. J. Processes of Vegetation Change. Oxford: Routledge Press, 1990.
• Feldmeyer-Christie, E., N. E. Zimmerman, and S. Ghosh. Modern Approaches In Vegetation Monitoring. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 2005.
• Gleason, H.A. 1926. The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 53:1-20.
• Grime, J.P. 1987. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. Wiley Interscience, New York NY.
• Kabat, P., et al. (editors). Vegetation, Water, Humans and the Climate: A New Perspective on an Interactive System. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag 2004.
• MacArthur, R.H. and E. O. Wilson. The theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1967
• Mueller-Dombois, D., and H. Ellenberg. Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology. The Blackburn Press, 2003.
• Van Der Maarel, E. Vegetation Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2004.
• Vankat, J. L. The Natural Vegetation of North America. Krieger Publishing Co., 1992

References

1. ^ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=MOD13A2_M_NDVI.
2. ^ Burrows, Colin J. (1990). Processes of vegetation change. London: Unwin Hyman. p. 1. ISBN 0045800138.
3. ^ Introduction to California Plant Life; Robert Ornduff, Phyllis M. Faber, Todd Keeler-Wolf; 2003 ed.; p. 112

- Wikipedia 

LAND

" For other uses, see Land (disambiguation),

"Landmass" redirects here. For the ambient album by Steve Roach, see Landmass (album),

"Dry land" redirects here. For other uses, see Land (disambiguation).

Land, sometimes referred to as dry land, is the solid surface of the Earth, that is not permanently covered by water.  The vast majority of human activity occurs in land areas that support agriculture, habitat and various natural resources. 

Some life forms (including terrestrial plants and terrestrial animals) have developed from predecessor species that lived in bodies of water.

Map showing Earth's land areas, in shades of green and yellow

Areas where land meets large bodies of water are called coastal zones. The division between land and water is a fundamental concept to humans. The demarcation between land and water can vary by local jurisdiction and other factors. A maritime boundary is one example of a political demarcation. A variety of natural boundaries exist to help clearly define where water meets land. Solid rock landforms are easier to demarcate than marshy or swampy boundaries, where there is no clear point at which the land ends and a body of water has begun. Demarcation can further vary due to tides and weather.

Etymology and Terminology

The word 'land' is derived from Middle English land, lond and Old English land, lond (“earth, land, soil, ground; defined piece of land, territory, realm, province, district; landed property; country (not town); ridge in a ploughed field”), from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”), and from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”). Cognate with Scots land (“land”), West Frisian lân (“land”), Dutch land (“land”), German Land (“land, country, state”), Swedish land (“land, country, shore, territory”), Icelandic land (“land”). Non-Germanic cognates include Old Irish lann (“heath”), Welsh llan (“enclosure”), Breton lann (“heath”), Old Church Slavonic lędо from Proto-Slavic *lenda (“heath, wasteland”) and Albanian lëndinë (“heath, grassland”) from lëndë (“matter, substance”).

Rugged coastline of Knight's Point, New Zealand

A continuous area of land surrounded by ocean is called a "landmass". Although it may be most often written as one word to distinguish it from the usage "land mass" —the measure of land area—it is also used as two words. Landmasses include supercontinents, continents and islands. There are four major continuous landmasses of the Earth: Afro-Eurasia, Americas, Australia and Antarctica Land, capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops, is called arable land.

A country or region may be referred to as the motherland, fatherland, or homeland of its people. Many countries and other places have names incorporating -land (e.g. Iceland).

History of Land on Earth

The earliest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4.5672±0.0006 bya (billion years ago); therefore, the Earth itself must have been formed by accretion around this time. By 4.54±0.04 bya, the primordial Earth had formed. The formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies occurred in tandem with the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out of amolecular cloud by gravitational collapse, which begins to spin and flatten into a circumstellar disk, which the planets then grow out of in tandem with the star. A nebula contains gas, ice grains and dust (including primordial nuclides). In nebular theory, planetesimals commence forming as particulate matter accrues by cohesive clumping and then by gravity. The assembly of the primordial Earth proceeded for 10–20 myr. 

Earth's atmosphere and oceans were formed by volcanic activity and outgassing, that included water vapor. The origin of the world's oceans was condensation augmented by water and ice delivered by asteroids, proto-planets and comets. In this model, atmospheric "greenhouse gases" kept the oceans from freezing while the newly forming Sun was only at 70% luminosity. By 3.5 bya, the Earth's magnetic field was established, which helped prevent the atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar wind. The atmosphere and oceans of the Earth continuously shape the land by eroding and transporting solids on the surface. 

Artist's impression of the birth of the Solar System

The crust, which currently forms the Earth's land, was created when the molten outer layer of the planet Earth cooled to form a solid mass as the accumulated water vapor began to act in the atmosphere. Once land became capable of supporting life, biodiversity evolved over hundreds of million years, expanding continually except when punctuated by mass extinctions.

The two models that explain land mass propose either a steady growth to the present-day forms or, more likely, a rapid growth early in Earth history followed by a long-term steady continental area. Continents formed by plate tectonics, a process ultimately driven by the continuous loss of heat from the Earth's interior. On time scales lasting hundreds of millions of years, the supercontinents have formed and broken apart three times. Roughly 750 mya (million years ago), one of the earliest known supercontinents, Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600–540 mya, then finally Pangaea, which also broke apart 180 mya.

Land Mass

"Land mass" refers to the total surface area of the land of a geographical region or country (which may include discontinuous pieces of land such as islands). It is written as two words to distinguish it from the usage "landmass", the contiguous area of land surrounded by ocean.

The Earth's total land mass is 148,939,063.133 km² (57,505,693.767 sq mi) which is about 29.2% of its total surface. Water covers approximately 70.8% of the Earth's surface, mostly in the form of oceans and ice formations.

Cultural Perspective

Creation myths in many religions recall a story involving the creation of the world by a supernatural deity or deities, including accounts wherein the land is separated from the oceans and the air. The Earth itself has often been personified as a deity, in particular a goddess. In many cultures, the mother goddess is also portrayed as a fertility deity. To the Aztecs, Earth was called Tonantzin "our mother"; to the Incas. Earth was called Pachamama "mother earth". The Chinese Earth goddess Hou Tu is similar to Gaia, the Greek goddess personifying the Earth. Bhuma Devi is the goddess of Earth in Hinduism, influenced by Graha. In Norse mythology, the Earth giantess Jörð was the mother of Thor and the daughter of Annar. Ancient Egyptian mythology is different from that of other cultures because Earth (Geb) is male and sky (Nut) is female.

In the past, there were varying levels of belief in a flat Earth. The Jewish conception of a flat earth is found in both biblical and post-biblical times.

Imago Mundi Babylonian map, the oldest known world map, 6th century BC Babylonia.

In early Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought, the world was portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean. The Egyptian universe was pictured as a rectangular box with a north-south orientation and with a slightly concave surface, with Egypt in the center. A similar model is found in the Homeric account of the 8th century BC in which "Okeanos, the personified body of water surrounding the circular surface of the Earth, is the begetter of all life and possibly of all gods." The biblical earth is a flat disc floating on water.

The Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts reveal that the ancient Egyptians believed Nun (the ocean) was a circular body surrounding nbwt (a term meaning "dry lands" or "islands"), and therefore believed in a similar Ancient Near Eastern circular Earth cosmography surrounded by water.

The spherical form of the Earth was suggested by early Greek philosophers, a belief espoused by Pythagoras. Contrary to popular belief, most people in the Middle Ages did not believe the Earth was flat: this misconception is often called the "Myth of the Flat Earth". As evidenced by thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, the European belief in a spherical, Earth Was widespread by this point in time. Prior to circumnavigation of the planet and the introduction of space flight, belief in a spherical Earth was based on observations of the secondary effects of the Earth's shape and parallels drawn with the shape of other planets.

Extraterrestrial Land

Most planets known to humans are either gaseous Jovian planets or solid terrestrial planets. Terrestrial planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These inner planets have a rocky surface with metal interiors. The Jovian planets consist of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. While these planets are larger, their only land surface is a small rocky core surrounded by a large, thick atmosphere. The gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are thought to have surface layers composed of liquid hydrogen rather than solid land; however, their planetary geology is not well understood. The possibility of Uranus and Neptune (the ice giants) possessing hot, highly compressed, supercritical water under their thick atmospheres has been hypothesised. While their composition is still not fully understood, a 2006 study by Wiktorowicz et al. ruled out the possibility of such a water "ocean" existing on Neptune, though some studies have suggested that exotic oceans of liquid diamond are possible. The entire surface of a rocky planet or moon is considered land, even with a lack of seas or oceans for contrast. Planetary bodies that have a thin atmosphere often have land that is marked by impact craters since atmospheric conditions would normally break-down incoming objects and erode rough impact sites. Land on planetary bodies other than Earth can also be bought and sold although ownership of extraterrestrial real estate is not recognized by any authority.

Land and Climate

The land of the Earth interacts with and influences climate heavily since the surface of the land heats up and cools down faster than air or water. Latitude, elevation, topography, reflectivity and land use all have varying impacts. The latitude of the land will influence how much solar radiation reaches the surface. High latitudes receive less solar radiation than low latitudes. The height of the land is important in creating and transforming airflow and precipitation on Earth. Large landforms, such as mountain ranges, divert wind energy and make the air parcel less dense and able to hold less heat. As air rises, this cooling effect causes condensation and precipitation. Reflectivity of the earth is called planetary albedo and the type of land cover that receives energy from the sun has an impact on the amount of energy that is reflected or transferred to Earth. Vegetation has a relatively low albedo meaning that vegetated surfaces are good absorbers of the sun’s energy. Forests have an albedo of 10-15% while grasslands have an albedo of 15-20%. In comparison, sandy deserts have an albedo of 25-40% Land use by humans also plays a role in the regional and global climate. Densely populated cities are warmer and create urban heat islands that have effects on the precipitation, cloud cover, and temperature of the region.

Notes

1. ^ The picture of the universe in Talmudic texts has the Earth in the center of creation with heaven as a hemisphere spread over it. Biblical writings, such as the Genesis creation story and the various Psalms that extol the firmament, the stars, the sun, and the earth, give similar explanations. The Hebrews saw the earth as an almost flat surface consisting of a solid and a liquid part and the sky as the realm of light in which heavenly bodies move. The earth rested on cornerstones and could not be moved except by Jehovah (as in an earthquake). According to the Hebrews, the sun and the moon were only a short distance from one another. "Cosmology." Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online, 2012. Author: Giorgio Abetti, Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri-Firenze.
2. ^ The Earth is usually described as a disk encircled by water. Cosmological and metaphysical speculations were not to be cultivated in public nor were they to be committed to writing. Rather, they were considered to be "secrets of the Torah not to be passed on to all and sundry" (Ketubot 112a). While study of God's creation was not prohibited, speculations about "what is above, what is beneath, what is before, and what is after" (Mishnah Hagigah: 2) were restricted to the intellectual elite. (Topic Overview: Judaism, Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, Ed. J. Wentzel Vrede van Huyssteen. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. p477-483. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson).

References

1. ^ Michael Allaby, Chris Park, A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation (2013), page 239, ISBN 0199641668.
2. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "arable, adj. and n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.
3. ^ Bowring, S.; Housh, T. (1995). "The Earth's early evolution". Science 269 (5230): 1535–40. Bibcode: 1995Sci...269.1535B. doi:10.1126/science.7667634 PMID 7667634.
4. ^ See:
   • Dalrymple, G.B. (1991). The Age of the Earth. California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1569-6.
   • Newman, William L. (2007-07-09). "Age of the Earth" Publications Services, USGS. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
   • Dalrymple, G. Brent (2001). "The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved". Geological Society, London, Special Publications 190 (1): 205–221. Bibcode:2001GSLSP.190..205 . doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2001.190.01.14. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
   • Stassen, Chris (2005-09-10). "The Age of the Earth. TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
5. ^ Yin, Qingzhu; Jacobsen, S. B.; Yamashita, K.; Blichert-Toft, J.; Télouk, P.; Albarède, F. (2002). "A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf-W chronometry of meteorites". Nature 418 (6901): 949–952. Bibcode:2002Natur.418..949Y. doi:10.1038/nature00995. PMID 12198540.
6. ^ Morbidelli, A.; et al. (2000). "Source regions and time scales for the delivery of water to Earth". Meteoritics & Planetary Science 35 (6): 1309–1320. Bibcode:2000M&PS...35.1309M, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2000.tb01518.
7. ^ Guinan, E. F.; Ribas, I. "Our Changing Sun: The Role of Solar Nuclear Evolution and Magnetic Activity on Earth's Atmosphere and Climate". In Benjamin Montesinos, Alvaro Gimenez and Edward F. Guinan. ASP Conference Proceedings: The Evolving Sun and its Influence on Planetary Environments. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Bibcode:2002ASPC..269...85G. ISBN 1-58381-109-5.
8. ^ Staff (March 4, 2010). "Oldest measurement of Earth's magnetic field reveals battle between Sun and Earth for our atmosphere" Physorg.news. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
9. ^ NOAA. Ocean Literacy.
10. ^ Sahney, S., Benton, M.J. and Ferry, P.A. (2010). "Links between global taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the expansion of vertebrates on land"(PDF). Biology Letters 6 (4): 544–547. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.1024.  PMC 2936204. PMID 2010685.

External Links

• International Association of Geomorphologists.
• PhysicalGeography.net educational website.

- Wikipedia