Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Northeast Passage, water route along the northern coast of Europe and Asia, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Beginning in the 15th cent., efforts were made to find a new all-water route to Ind...

(Encyclopedia) temperature inversion, condition in which the temperature of the atmosphere increases with altitude in contrast to the normal decrease with altitude. When temperature inversion occurs, cold air underl...

(Encyclopedia) Antarctic Peninsula, glaciated mountain region of W Antarctica, extending c.1,200 mi (1,930 km) N toward South America. In the south, volcanic peaks rise to c.11,000 ft (3,350 m); other volcanic cones...

(Encyclopedia) Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr., 1948–, Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard, 1969. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was e...

(Encyclopedia) Besnard, Paul Albert pôl älbĕrˈ bānärˈ [key], 1849–1934, French painter, studied with Legros and Cabanel and in Italy. He enjoyed many official honors and was the last important academic pain...

(Encyclopedia) Brzezinski, Zbigniew Kazimierz zbĭgˈnyĕv käzēmˈyĕsh brəzhĭnˈskē ...

(Encyclopedia) Huaynaputina, volcano, 15,912 ft (4,850 m) high, Moquegua region, S Peru, in the central Andes. A stratovolcano, it lies on the W rim of the Río Tambo canyon and has several ash cones within its crat...

(Encyclopedia) carbon monoxide, chemical compound, CO, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, extremely poisonous gas that is less dense than air under ordinary conditions. It is very slightly soluble in water and burns ...

(Encyclopedia) tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 231⁄2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 231⁄2°S. Every po...

(Encyclopedia) Tuvalu to͞ovälˈo͞o [key], independent Commonwealth nation (2015 est. pop. 11,000), 10 sq mi (26 sq km), composed of nine low coral atolls, formerly known as the Ellice (or Lagoon) Islands, scatter...