An isthmus is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus. Canals are built across isthmuses, where they may be a advantageous shortcut for marine transport. For example, the Panama Canal crosses the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Another example is the Welland Canal in the Niagara Peninsula, it connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The city of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand is situated on an isthmus. Isthmus and land bridge are related terms with isthmus having a broader meaning. A land bridge is an isthmus connecting the Earth's major landmasses; the term land bridge is used in biogeology to describe land connections that used to exist between continents at various times and were important for migration of people, various species of animals and plants, e.g. Bering Land Bridge.
An isthmus is a land connection between two bigger landmasses, while a peninsula is rather a land protrusion, connected to a bigger landmass on one side only and surrounded by water on all other sides. Technically, an isthmus can have canals running from coast to coast, thus resemble two peninsulas. Major isthmuses include the Isthmus of Panama and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Americas, the Isthmus of Kra in South-East Asia, the Isthmus of Suez between Africa and Asia, the Karelian Isthmus in Europe. Of historic importance was the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece. Land bridge List of isthmuses List of straits
British Overseas Territories
The British Overseas Territories or United Kingdom Overseas Territories are 14 territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories; these territories do not form part of the United Kingdom and, with the exception of Gibraltar, are not part of the European Union. Most of the permanently inhabited territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence and foreign relations. Three are inhabited only by a transitory population of scientific personnel, they all share the British monarch as head of state. As of April 2018 the Minister responsible for the Territories excluding the Falkland Islands and the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus, is the Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN; the other three territories are the responsibility of the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas. The fourteen British Overseas Territories are: The term "British Overseas Territory" was introduced by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, replacing the term British Dependent Territory, introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981.
Prior to 1 January 1983, the territories were referred to as British Crown Colonies. Although the Crown dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man are under the sovereignty of the British monarch, they are in a different constitutional relationship with the United Kingdom; the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are themselves distinct from the Commonwealth realms, a group of 16 independent countries each having Elizabeth II as their reigning monarch, from the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of 53 countries with historic links to the British Empire. With the exceptions of the British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Territories retain permanent civilian populations. Permanent residency for the 7,000 civilians living in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia is limited to citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. Collectively, the Territories encompass a population of about 250,000 people and a land area of about 1,727,570 square kilometres.
The vast majority of this land area, 1,700,000 square kilometres, constitutes the uninhabited British Antarctic Territory, while the largest territory by population, accounts for a quarter of the total BOT population. At the other end of the scale, three territories have no civilian population. Pitcairn Islands, settled by the survivors of the Mutiny on the Bounty, is the smallest settled territory with 49 inhabitants, while the smallest by land area is Gibraltar on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula; the United Kingdom participates in the Antarctic Treaty System and, as part of a mutual agreement, the British Antarctic Territory is recognised by four of the six other sovereign nations making claims to Antarctic territory. Early colonies, in the sense of English subjects residing in lands hitherto outside the control of the English government, were known as "Plantations"; the first, colony was Newfoundland, where English fishermen set up seasonal camps in the 16th century. It is now a province of Canada known as Labrador.
It retains strong cultural ties with Britain. English colonisation of North America began in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, the first successful permanent colony in Virginia, its offshoot, was settled inadvertently after the wrecking of the Virginia company's flagship there in 1609, with the Virginia Company's charter extended to include the archipelago in 1612. St. George's town, founded in Bermuda in that year, remains the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World. Bermuda and Bermudians have played important, sometimes pivotal, but underestimated or unacknowledged roles in the shaping of the English and British trans-Atlantic Empires; these include maritime commerce, settlement of the continent and of the West Indies, the projection of naval power via the colony's privateers, among other areas. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century, to its territorial peak in the 1920s, saw Britain acquire nearly one quarter of the world's land mass, including territories with large indigenous populations in Asia and Africa.
From the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, the larger settler colonies – in Canada, New Zealand and South Africa – first became self-governing colonies and achieved independence in all matters except foreign policy and trade. Separate self-governing colonies federated to become Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia; these and other large self-governing colonies had become known as Dominions by the 1920s. The Dominions achieved full independence with the Statute of Westminster. Through a process of decolonisation following the Second World War, most of the British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean gained independence; some colonies becam
Catalan Bay is a small bay and fishing village in Gibraltar, on the eastern side of The Rock away from the main city. Although the origin of Catalan Bay's name is documented, a couple of theories co-exist. Documentary evidence suggests that the bay is named after a group of around 350 Catalan servicemen believed to have settled there after having assisted the Anglo-Dutch forces who captured Gibraltar during the War of Spanish Succession on 4 August 1704. Evidence supports the theory that Catalans settled in Catalan Bay giving rise to the above etymological definition; the name La Caleta pre-dates that of Catalan Bay. The fishing villages of La Atunara and La Caleta are mentioned in a Royal Dispatch of 6 March 1634, being under the jurisdiction of the "Tercio del Mar de Marbella y Estepona" in the Kingdom of Granada. Since it has been called La Caleta for much longer than it has been called Catalan Bay; the first mention of Catalan Bay was at least, in the mid-eighteenth century, between the second and third siege of Gibraltar.
It appeared on William Faden's map, or in John Cheevers's map. Before that, it was named "Catalan Battery", "Catalan Beach" or "Playa de los Catalanes". In 1704, during the capture of Gibraltar by an Anglo-Dutch combined operation, an expedition landed there of around 350 Catalans followers of Charles of Austria and commanded by Prince Georg von Hessen Darmstadt and general Joan Baptista Basset, they most came to Gibraltar in at least five ships, as among the lists of Catalan expeditionaries there are five vessel owners. The Catalans formed two companies, an artillery company and an infantry company of mountain fusiliers. Both protected the isthmus of Gibraltar and attacked mountain areas of the Rock against Spanish grenadiers; some of the surnames of the Catalans who participated in the conquest are: Andreu, Auger, Bertran, Boix, Bosch, Canovas, Carreras, Castells, Clavell, Corrons, Cortès, Estanyol, Esteve, Ferrer, Fonollós, Freixes, Frutó, Goy, Llopis, Martí, Matalonga, Navarro, Oliver, Pausà, Pi, Pujol, Ribas, Rossell, Rovira, Salvat, Sanromà, Siurana, Trebó, Trullàs, Virolà, Viudes.
Subsequently, the conquest, some of these Catalan soldiers settled in Gibraltar, after the departure of the majority of troops used in the conquest, helped establish the first military checkpoint of Gibraltar. The Catalan Alfons de la Capella, lawyer of the Royal Council of Catalonia, became a judge in Gibraltar; the Catalan Josep Corrons was appointed Alcaide of the Sea and was appointed Sergeant Major of Gibraltar. The Catalan Andreu Martí was responsible for directing the work of the prisoners after the conquest; the Catalan Jeroni Fàbregas was responsible for the distribution of ammunition. In the 1705 siege, the Catalan soldiers fought again in defence of Gibraltar in an area called "Catalan Guard" or "Catalan Post" in Wolf's Leap. In 1709, Catalan Josep Valls, a Gibraltar resident, collaborating with Catalan traders Salvador Feliu de la Penya, Joan Verivol, Josep Grasses, Josep Boigues, created a commercial company called "Companyia Nova de Gibraltar", in order to replace the monopoly of Cádiz in ocean trade, that would endure until 1723.
Another theory suggests that the latter could be an English mispronunciation of Caleta. Catalan Bay had been populated by Genoese fishermen who were part of a much larger settlement pattern along the eastern coast of The Rock during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the eighteenth century Genoese was so spoken in Gibraltar that government notices were published in this language. Genoese was spoken in La Caleta well into the nineteenth century, dying out in the early decades of the twentieth. There has been some discussion about the possibility that the British may have mixed up Catalans with Genoese but, according to some opinions, it is by no means clear why they would suffer such a confusion since there is other evidence which demonstrates that the British were aware that the residents of La Caleta were Genoese: the orders for the siege of 1727 refer to this bay as the Genoese Cove and the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century censuses record large numbers of people born in Genoa, not in Catalonia.
However, the seventeenth-century French map "Plan de Catalan Bay ou la Caleta", which showed houses and lists of the inhabitants living in Catalan Bay before the village was built, shows various Catalan surnames among its inhabitants though they were not a majority compared to Genoese surnames. Therefore, there is documentary evidence that among the first inhabitants of Catalan Bay there were Catalans, despite the fact that they were few in number compared to the Genoese. There is considerable evidence that during the seventeenth century Catalan fishermen tra
Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae. In Latin, pelagia means "of the sea", nocti stands for luca means light; this species of jellyfish, known in Europe as the mauve stinger amongst many other common names, is distributed in all warm and temperate waters of the world's oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It is found in the Pacific Ocean, with sightings in warm waters off Hawaii, southern California and Mexico, as well as other Pacific locations; this is an offshore species, although sometimes it is washed near the coastlines and may be stranded in great numbers on beaches. The color varies worldwide, in addition to pink or mauve, it is sometimes shades of golden yellow to tan. In an unprecedented event on November 21, 2007, a 10-square-mile swarm of P. noctiluca wiped out a 100,000-fish salmon farm in Northern Ireland, causing around $2 million worth of damage. The body is radially symmetrical. There is only one body cavity known as the gastrovascular cavity.
This is a primitive gut or digestive cavity with only one opening, used for ingestion and excretion. Each P. noctiluca medusa has 8 long tentacles. Being radially symmetrical it has no head and thus no centralized nervous system; the nervous system present is primitive, consisting of a simple net composed of naked and non-polar neurons. In addition P. noctiluca lacks a gaseous exchange and circulatory system. However cnidaria have evolved cnidae, cells which serve for a variety of functions that include prey capture, defense and attachment; when formed cnidae are called cnidocytes. When stimulated the cnidae secrete nematocyst toxins. P. noctiluca adapted to a pelagic mode of life. Whereas most scyphozoan jellyfish have a complex life cycle with both the pelagic jellyfish, or medusa, stage and a bottom-living polyp stage, Pelagia has adapted in such a way that the polyp stage appears absent, thus direct development exists; the male and female jellyfish spawn sperm and eggs, which develop directly into young Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish.
These organisms have a well-developed manubrium, a proboscis-like structure bearing the mouth and four long oral arms. The mesoglea, or jelly, is thickened and well developed in this species. Sense organs, known as rhopalia in the scyphomedusae, are located around the umbrella margin in notches and alternate between tentacles. Cnidae are present in the gastrodermis of the umbrella, as well as on the tentacles. P. noctiluca has eight marginal tentacles alternating with eight marginal sense organs. This species reproduces sexually. Four gonads arise as elongated endodermal proliferations, developing into ribbon-like folds in the interradial sectors of the stomach wall distal to the rows of gastric filaments. Male and female gonads vary only and the main difference is the thickness of the follicle. Eggs are laid between 12pm and 2pm in December in Mediterranean specimens as described by Metschnikoff. After 3 days the egg develops in a planula. After 7 days, planulae develop into ephyra. Feeding reactions were studied by Bozler, where a piece of food was given to the marginal tentacle, the tentacle contracted quickly.
There was a slow contraction of the coronal muscle. The food was grasped by the lip of one of the oral arm and transported along until it reached the stomach, they were found to feed on Thalia democratica. Movement is caused when the medusa pulsates, as the marginal tentacles are contracted and stiffened. Pulsation was found to be optimal between 8° to 26 °C. Movement is only restricted vertically and thus P. noctiluca are carried in large swarms by currents. P. noctiluca are bioluminescent, i.e. have an ability to produce light. Light is emitted in the form of flashes when the medusa is stimulated by turbulence created by waves or by a ship's motion; this flashing is only of short duration and fades. Russell, F. S. 1970. The Medusae of the British Isles, Volume 2: Pelagic Scyphozoa, with a supplement to Vol. I. Cambridge University Press R. S. K. Barnes 1998; the Diversity of Living Organisms, Blackwell Science R. S. K. Barnes, P. Calow and P. J. W Olive 1993, The Invertebrates Blackwell Science R. R. Helm, S. Tiozzo, M. K. S. Lilley, R. Lombard & C. W. Dunn.
"Comparative muscle development of scyphozoan jellyfish with simple and complex life cycles." EvoDevo. Pelagia: Fearsome Jellyfish at Plankton Chronicles, short documentary films & photos Mauve stinger at The Marine Life Information Network
History of the Genoese in Gibraltar
A Genoese community has existed in Gibraltar since the 16th century and became an important part of the population. There is much evidence of a community of emigrants from Genoa, who moved to Gibraltar in the 16th century and that were more than a third of the Gibraltar population in the first half of the 18th century. Although labeled as "Genoese", they were not only from the city of Genoa but from all of Liguria, a northern Italian region, the center of the maritime Republic of Genoa. After the conquest of Gibraltar from Spain in 1704, nearly all the original Spanish population moved away. Among those who stayed there were 30 Genoese families, most of them forming a group resident in Catalan Bay which worked as fishermen, their main activities in the years following the conquest of Gibraltar and its formal transfer to Great Britain were not only related to fishing, but to craftsmanship and commerce. According to the 1725 census, on a total civilian population of 1113 there were 414 Genoese, 400 Spaniards, 137 Jews, 113 Britons and 49 others.
In the 1753 census the Genoese were the biggest group of civilian residents in the Gibraltar and up until 1830 Italian was spoken together with English and Spanish and used in official announcements. Many Genoese in the late 18th century arrived to work for the garrison and went on to form the basis of Gibraltar's civilian police force - the Genoese Guard. "In 1740, English Law was introduced in Gibraltar and in 1753 the first Justices of the Peace were appointed.... During this period the Military Authorities were experiencing great difficulties with Army deserters going into the Kingdom of Spain and thus a group of inhabitants were recruited to act as Frontier Guards; this group became known as the Genoese Guard and in time came to serve as a rudimentary Police Force when they were called upon to support the Military Authorities when dealing with civilians. Sergeants were appointed within the Genoese Guard and their titles "Jews Sergeant" and "Spanish Sergeant" reflected their role within the sectors of the community.
The Genoese Guard were subsequently disbanded sometime after the Seven Year War." After Napoleonic times many Sicilians and some Tuscans migrated to Gibraltar, but the Genoese and Ligurians remained the majority of the Italian group. Indeed, the Genoese dialect was spoken in Catalan Bay well into the 20th century, dying out in the 1970s. Today, the descendants of the Genoese community of Gibraltar consider themselves Gibraltarians and most of them promote the autonomy of Gibraltar, their most renowned representatives are: Joe Bossano, Adolfo Canepa and Kaiane Aldorino. Catalan Bay had been populated by Genoese fishermen who were part of a much larger settlement pattern along the eastern coast of The Rock during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 18th century the Genoese dialect was so spoken in Gibraltar that Government notices were published in Italian. Genoese was spoken by most people in La Caleta well into the 19th century, dying out in the late decades of the 20th century. There has been some discussion that the British may have mixed up Catalans with Genoese but it is by no means clear why they would suffer such a confusion since there is other evidence which demonstrates that the British were aware that the residents of La Caleta were Genoese: the orders for the siege of 1727 refer to this bay as the Genoese Cove and the numerous 18th and 19th century census record large numbers of people born in Genoa, not in Catalonia.
It is possible a confusion between the letters of "Calata" and "Catala" in the early English pronunciation of the Bay. During the 19th century only fishermen were permitted to live in Catalan Bay; the families who live in the village today are descendants of these Genoese fishermen and are colloquially known as caleteños. Genoese heritage is evident throughout Gibraltar but in the architecture of the town's older buildings which are influenced by traditional Genoese housing styles featuring internal courtyards; until the 1980s, most Gibraltarians lived densely packed around these communal patios. A prominent feature of Gibraltar's architecture is the traditional Genoese wooden window shutters. Many of the Gibraltarian cuisine's roots lie in Genoa; the most notable dish of Genoese origin is calentita. It is a chickpea flour-based flatbread similar to the Italian farinata; the Gibraltarian panissa, a bread-like dish similar to the calentita, shares its Italian origins: it is a descendant of the Genoese dish with the same name "panissa".
Other important Gibraltarian dishes such as rosto and meat in a tomato sauce, is of Genoese origin. Genoese heritage is present in the upper strata of Gibraltarian society: this class consists of a few families of Genoese origin. While the upper middle class consists of Catholic and Hindu merchants and lawyers, the working class is made up of families of Spanish and Italian origin; the present-day descendants of the Genoese settlers in Gibraltar are integrated as Gibraltarians. Today, Gibraltarians with Genoese surnames make up 20% of the total population; this group is integrated in the Gibraltarian society and there it is no association related to them. The Genoese in Gibraltar have left their presence in the Llanito, the local Gibraltarian dialect used by most of the descendants of these Ligurians
History of Gibraltar
The history of Gibraltar, a small peninsula on the southern Iberian coast near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, spans over 2,900 years. The peninsula has evolved from a place of reverence in ancient times into "one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe", as one historian has put it. Gibraltar's location has given it an outsized significance in the history of Europe and its fortified town, established in medieval times, has hosted garrisons that sustained numerous sieges and battles over the centuries. Gibraltar was first inhabited over 50,000 years ago by Neanderthals and may have been one of their last places of habitation before they died out around 24,000 years ago. Gibraltar's recorded history began around 950 BC with the Phoenicians; the Carthaginians and Romans worshipped Hercules in shrines said to have been built on the Rock of Gibraltar, which they called Mons Calpe, the "Hollow Mountain", which they regarded as one of the twin Pillars of Hercules. Gibraltar became part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania following the collapse of the Roman Empire and came under Muslim Moorish rule in 711 AD.
It was permanently settled for the first time by the Moors and was renamed Jebel Tariq – the Mount of Tariq corrupted into Gibraltar. The Christian Crown of Castile annexed it in 1309, lost it again to the Moors in 1333 and regained it in 1462. Gibraltar became part of the unified Kingdom of Spain and remained under Spanish rule until 1704, it was captured during the War of the Spanish Succession by an Anglo-Dutch fleet in the name of Charles VI of Austria, the Habsburg contender to the Spanish throne. At the war's end, Spain ceded the territory to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. Spain tried to regain control of Gibraltar, which Britain had declared a Crown colony, through military and economic pressure. Gibraltar was besieged and bombarded during three wars between Britain and Spain but the attacks were repulsed on each occasion. By the end of the last siege, in the late 18th century, Gibraltar had faced fourteen sieges in 500 years. In the years after Trafalgar, Gibraltar became a major base in the Peninsular War.
The colony grew during the 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming a key British possession in the Mediterranean. It was a key stopping point for vessels en route to India via the Suez Canal. A large British naval base was constructed there at great expense at the end of the 19th century and became the backbone of Gibraltar's economy. British control of Gibraltar enabled the Allies to control the entrance to the Mediterranean during the Second World War, it was attacked on several occasions by German and Vichy French forces, though without causing much damage. The Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco declined to join a Nazi plan to occupy Gibraltar but revived Spain's claim to the territory after the war; as the territorial dispute intensified, Spain closed its border with Gibraltar between 1969 and 1985 and communications links were severed. Spain's position was supported by Latin American countries but was rejected by Britain and the Gibraltarians themselves, who vigorously asserted their right to self-determination.
Discussions of Gibraltar's status have continued between Britain and Spain but have not reached any conclusion. Since 1985, Gibraltar has undergone major changes as a result of reductions in Britain's overseas defence commitments. Most British forces have left the territory, no longer seen as a place of major military importance, its economy is now based on tourism, financial services and Internet gambling. Gibraltar is self-governed, with its own parliament and government, though the UK maintains responsibility for defence and foreign policy, its economic success has made it one of the wealthiest areas of the European Union. The history of Gibraltar has been driven by its strategic position near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, it is a narrow peninsula at the eastern side of the Bay of Gibraltar, 6 kilometres from the city of Algeciras. Gibraltar is on the far south coast of Spain at one of the narrowest points in the Mediterranean, only 24 kilometres from the coast of Morocco in North Africa.
Its position on the bay makes it an advantageous natural anchorage for ships. As one writer has put it, "whoever controls Gibraltar controls the movement of ships into and out of the Mediterranean. In terms of military and naval power, few places have a more strategic location than Gibraltar."The territory's area measures only 6.7 square kilometres. Most of the land area is occupied by the steeply sloping Rock of Gibraltar which reaches a height of 426 metres; the town of Gibraltar lies at the base of the Rock on the west side of the peninsula. A narrow, low-lying isthmus connects the peninsula to the Spanish mainland; the North Face of the Rock is a nearly vertical cliff 396 metres high overlooking the isthmus. Gibraltar's geography has thus given it considerable natural defensive advantages, it is impossible to scale the eastern or northern sides of the Rock, which are either vertical or nearly so. To the south, the flat area around Europa Point is surrounded by cliffs which are up to 30 metres high.
The western side is the only practicable area for a landing, but here the steep slopes on which the town is built work to the advantage of a defender. These factors have given it an enormous military significance over the centuries. Gibraltar's appearance in prehistory was different. Whereas today it is surrounded by sea, th
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a natural surface. In January 1919, aviation pioneer Orville Wright underlined the need for "distinctly marked and prepared landing places, the preparing of the surface of reasonably flat ground an expensive undertaking there would be a continuous expense for the upkeep." Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, the magnetic azimuth of the runway's heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the local magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west and runway 36 points to the north; when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane is heading around 90°. A runway can be used in both directions, is named for each direction separately: e.g. "runway 15" in one direction is "runway 33" when used in the other. The two numbers differ by 18.
For clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually: runway one-five, runway three-three, etc.. A leading zero, for example in "runway zero-six" or "runway zero-one-left", is included for all ICAO and some U. S. military airports. However, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero. This includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield; this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is common in a country such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04, the pilot read back the clearance as runway 4. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world. For example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. If there is more than one runway pointing in the same direction, each runway is identified by appending left and right to the number to identify its position — for example, runways one-five-left, one-five-center, one-five-right.
Runway zero-three-left becomes runway two-one-right. In some countries, regulations mandate that where parallel runways are too close to each other, only one may be used at a time under certain conditions. At large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 1 to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this system results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L, 7R though all four runways are parallel at 69°. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, 18R, all oriented at a heading of 175.4°. An airport with only three parallel runways may use different runway identifiers, such as when a third parallel runway was opened at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2000 to the south of existing 8R/26L — rather than confusingly becoming the "new" 8R/26L it was instead designated 7R/25L, with the former 8R/26L becoming 7L/25R and 8L/26R becoming 8/26.
Runway designations may change over time because Earth's magnetic lines drift on the surface and the magnetic direction changes. Depending on the airport location and how much drift occurs, it may be necessary to change the runway designation; as runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10°, this affects some runways sooner than others. For example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233°, it is designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changes downwards by 5 degrees to 228°, the runway remains Runway 23. If on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226°, the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224°, the runway becomes Runway 22; because magnetic drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon, not welcomed, as they require an accompanying change in aeronautical charts and descriptive documents. When runway designations do change at major airports, it is changed at night as taxiway signs need to be changed and the huge numbers at each end of the runway need to be repainted to the new runway designators.
In July 2009 for example, London Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom changed its runway designations from 05/23 to 04/22 during the night. For fixed-wing aircraft it is advantageous to perform takeoffs and landings into the wind to reduce takeoff or landing roll and reduce the ground speed needed to attain flying speed. Larger airports have several runways in different directions, so that one can be selected, most nearly aligned with the wind. Airports with one runway are constructed to be aligned with the prevailing wind. Compiling a wind rose is in fact one of the preliminary steps taken in constructing airport runways. Note that wind direction is given as the direction the wind is coming from: a plane taking off from runway 09 faces east, into an "east wind" blowing from 090°. Runway dimensions vary from as small as 245 m long and 8 m wide in s