Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) flood, inundation of land by the rise and overflow of a body of water. Floods occur most commonly when water from heavy rainfall, from melting ice and snow, or from a combination of these exceeds the ...

(Encyclopedia) Liepaja or Liepaya both: lēĕˈpäyä [key], Ger. Libau, city (2011 provisional pop. 76,570), W Latvia. An ice-free port on the Baltic Sea, it is located at the end of an isthmus separating the Balti...

(Encyclopedia) Ob ôp [key], river, c.2,300 mi (3,700 km) long, W Siberian Russia. With the Irtysh River, its chief tributary, it is c.3,460 mi (5,600 km) long and is the world's fourth longest river. Formed by the ...

(Encyclopedia) Ontario, Lake, 7,540 sq mi (19,529 sq km), 193 mi (311 km) long and 53 mi (85 km) at its greatest width, between SE Ont., Canada, and NW N.Y.; smallest and lowest of the Great Lakes. It has a surface ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Phase diagram for a substance, like water, which expands on freezing phase diagram, graph that shows the relation between the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of a substance (see states of ma...

(Encyclopedia) Dione dīōˈnē [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn IV (or S4), Dione is 695 mi (1,120 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean distanc...

(Encyclopedia) Dalian or Talien both: däˈlyĕnˈ [key], Rus. Dalny, Jap. Dairen, city (1994 est. pop. 1,855,200), S Liaoning prov., China, on the Liaodong peninsula in the Bay of Korea. It has annexed Lüshun (Por...

(Encyclopedia) coast guard, special naval force assigned to seaboard duties. Its primary responsibilities usually consist in suppressing contraband trade and aiding vessels in distress. The British coast guard was e...

(Encyclopedia) Juneau jo͞oˈnō [key], city (1990 pop. 26,751), state capital, SE Alaska, in the Alaska Panhandle; settled by gold miners 1880, inc. 1900. A port on Gastineau Channel, Juneau is a trade center for t...

(Encyclopedia) Helsinki hĕlˈsĭngkē [key], Swed. Helsingfors, city (2020 pop. 653,835), capital of Finlan...