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Hell Gate

(Encyclopedia)Hell Gate, narrow channel of the East River, SE N.Y., between Wards Island and Astoria, Queens, New York City. Named Hellegat by the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block, who passed through it into Long Isla...

Solway Firth

(Encyclopedia)Solway Firth sŏlˈwā [key], arm of the Irish Sea, c.40 mi (60 km) long, separating NW England from SW Scotland. The waterway, which has a tidal bore, receives the Esk, Annan, Urr, Eden, and Derwent ...

Rio Grande, city, Brazil

(Encyclopedia)Rio Grande rēˈo͝o gränˈdĭ [key], city (1991 pop. 172,422), Rio Grande do Sul state, S Brazil, on the Rio Grande River at the outlet of the Lagoa dos Patos (a tidal lagoon) to the Atlantic Ocean....

vibration

(Encyclopedia)vibration, in physics, commonly an oscillatory motion—a movement first in one direction and then back again in the opposite direction. It is exhibited, for example, by a swinging pendulum, by the pr...

virtual telescope

(Encyclopedia)virtual telescope, a computerized interferometer (see interference) that merges the images from two or more telescopes to obtain a single, large, enhanced image. The image in each telescope is made fr...

Meghna

(Encyclopedia)Meghna mĕgˈnə [key], river, c.130 mi (210 km) long, formed at the outlet of the Surma valley, NE Bangladesh, by the branches of the Surma River. It flows south, receiving arms of the Ganges and Bra...

Patos, Lagoa dos

(Encyclopedia)Patos, Lagoa dos ləgôˈə do͝os päˈto͝os [key] [Port.,=lake of the ducks], shallow tidal lagoon, c.150 mi (240 km) long and up to 30 mi (48 km) wide, Rio Grande do Sul state, SE Brazil. A wide s...

Trent , river, England

(Encyclopedia)Trent, river, c.170 mi (270 km) long, rising on Biddulph Moor, Staffordshire, W England. It flows generally NE through central England before joining with the Ouse River to form the Humber estuary. Th...

Alderney

(Encyclopedia)Alderney ōrēnyēˈ [key], anc. Riduna, island, c. 3 sq mi (7.7 sq km), in the English Channel, northernmost of the larger Channel Islands. It is separated from the Frenc...

Belle Isle, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Belle Isle, Strait of bĕlīlˈ [key], c.35 mi (60 km) long and from 10 to 15 mi (16–24 km) wide, between the island of Newfoundland and Labrador-Ungava peninsula, Canada. The northern entrance to t...