Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How large is the water rail?
The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is 23–28cm (9–11in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The former subspecies R.indicus, has distinctive markings and a call that is very different from the pig-like squeal of the western races, and is now usually split as a separate species, the brown-cheeked rail.
The most used environmental isotopes are:One topic that environmental isotopes are used to study is the circulation of the ocean. Treating the ocean as a box is only useful in some studies; in depth consideration of the oceans in general circulation models (GCM's) requires knowing how the ocean circulates. This leads to an understanding of how the oceans (along with the atmosphere) transfer heat from the tropics to the poles. This also helps deconvolve circulation effects from other phenomena that affect certain tracers such as radioactive and biological processes.Using rudimentary observation techniques, the circulation of the surface ocean can be determined. In the Atlantic basin, surface waters flow from the south towards the north in general, while also creating gyres in the northern and southern Atlantic. In the Pacific Ocean, the gyres still form, but there is comparatively very little large scale meridional (North-South) movement. For deep waters, there are two areas where density causes waters to sink into the deep ocean. These are in the North Atlantic and the Antarctic. The deep water masses formed are North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). Deep waters are mixtures of these two waters, and understanding how waters are composed of these two water masses can tell us about how water masses move around in the deep ocean.
The right-hand diagram shows a how a tangential turnout is made. A lower, more squat profile rail is used to make the switch blades. On the left is the profile of this squat switch rail. The centre diagram shows how the switch rail has to be planed, and on the right it is shown fitting against the stock rail. Note that a thicker base is used to raise the tops level with each other.
In the case of a dam ... "all properties" located within a scientifically defined "watershed" and all properties lying within the floodplain of the dam are connected by how water drains from an entire watershed into a lake and how water within the lake may flood specific areas downstream. Since the area of a watershed and the area of a floodplain are often very, very large when compared to the area of a lake, it is possible for some portions of the watershed and floodplain to be physically located in some government unit other than the lake. It is also possible that the government unit authorizing a special assessment levy does not have jurisdiction to include all land within the watershed and floodplain. In this example, the service district would be large enough to include all properties connected to the lake by how water flows. The Special Assessment District would be a smaller area within which the government unit proposing the special assessment has the power to levy a special assessment tax.
Calculations of tidal prism are useful in determining the residence time of water (and pollutants) in an estuary.
If it is known how much water is exported compared to how much of the estuarine water remains, it can be determined how long pollutants reside in that estuary. If the tidal prism forms a large proportion of the water in an estuary at high tide, then when the tide ebbs, it will take with it the majority of the water (this occurs in shallow estuaries) and any pollutants or sediments suspended in that water. This means that the estuary has a good flushing time, or that the residence time of water in that estuary is low. On the contrary, in deeper estuaries, the amount of water that is influenced by the tides forms a smaller proportion of the total water. The difference between high tide and low tide is not as great as in shallower estuaries creating a smaller tidal prism and a longer residence time.
Compare with trams and trains, which are large segmented land vehicles (or groups of vehicles) that use rail tracks; road trains, which are large land vehicles that use roadways; articulated buses (another road vehicle type); amphibious vehicles, which can drive on land and on water; and hovercraft, which travel above the surface of both land and water on an air cushion.
Many reedbed species are secretive (apart from loud calls), crepuscular, and have laterally flattened bodies. In the Old World, long-billed species tend to be called rails and short-billed species crakes. North American species are normally called rails irrespective of bill length. The smallest of these is Swinhoe's rail, at and 25 g. The larger species are also sometimes given other names. The black coots are more adapted to open water than their relatives, and some other large species are called gallinules and swamphens. The largest of this group is the takahe, at and .
Freight railroads relationship with other modes of transportation varies widely. There is almost no interaction with airfreight, close cooperation with ocean-going freight and a mostly competitive relationship with long distance trucking and barge transport. Many businesses ship their products by rail if they are shipped long distance because it can be cheaper to ship in large quantities by rail than by truck; however barge shipping remains a viable competitor where water transport is available.
The goals of this project are to restore large patches of tidal marsh that support a wide variety of fish, wildlife and plants, including special status mammals and water birds - specifically the salt marsh harvest mouse, California clapper rail, and black rail, endangered fish - specifically the delta smelt, Sacramento splittail, steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, and aquatic animals. They will also be managing water depth to maximize wildlife habitat diversity, with shallow-water areas for migratory and resident shore birds and deep-water areas for diving ducks.
Rail infrastructure removed from the bridge deck and replaced with bitumen footway.As of November 2018, the Como Rail bridge is significant as the longest single track lattice girder bridge in New South Wales and is a rare example of this type. Historically, the bridge contributed to the opening up of the southern suburbs of Sydney in the 1880s. While the rail infrastructure has largely been removed from the bridge, it continues to serve an important function, supporting the Woronora to Penshurst Water Supply Pipeline, part of Sydney's fifth water supply system. It also provides an important pedestrian link across the Georges River.
The oldest known fossils of an ancestral water rail are bones from Carpathia dated to the Pliocene (1.8-5.3 million years ago). By the late Pleistocene, two million years ago, the fossil evidence suggests that the water rail was present across most of its present range.[11] This species is well-recorded, with over 30 records from Bulgaria alone, and many others from across southern Europe.[12][13] and China.[14] A rail from Eivissa, Rallus eivissensis, was smaller but more robust than the water rail, and probably had poorer flight abilities. In the Quaternary, the island lacked terrestrial mammals, and this distinctive form presumably descended from its continental relative. It became extinct at about the same time as human arrival on the island,[15] between 16,700 and 5,300 BC.[16] The nominate race of water rail is now a very rare resident on Eivissa.[17]
The rails are a bird family comprising nearly 150 species. Although the origins of the group are lost in antiquity, the largest number of species and the most primitive forms are found in the Old World, suggesting that this family originated there. However, the genus Rallus, the group of long-billed reed bed specialists to which the water rail belongs, arose in the New World. Its Old World members, the water, African and Madagascan rails, form a superspecies, and are thought to have evolved from a single invasion from across the Atlantic.[2] Genetic evidence suggests that the water rail is the most closely related of its genus to the Pacific Gallirallus rails,[3] and is basal to that group.[4] The water rail was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name, Rallus aquaticus.[5] The binomial name is the Latin equivalent of the English "water rail".[6]
The inclusion of steep gradients on railways avoids the expensive engineering works required to produce more gentle gradients. However the maximum feasible gradient is limited by how much of a load the locomotive(s) can haul upwards. Braking when travelling downhill is also a limiting factor. There have been various solutions to hauling rail mounted vehicles up or down inclines. These include simple rail adhesion, rack railways and cable inclines (including rail mounted water tanks to carry barges). To help with braking on the descent, a non-load-bearing "brake rail" located between the running rails can be used, similar to the rail used in the Fell system, e.g. by the Snaefell Mountain Railway on the Isle of Man.
By the early 1950s the Broken Hill area had suffered a major drought of over 8 years which was close to shutting down the mining operation. Due to the acute water shortage problem, the mine owners set in motion what became at by that time the largest use of a train for a massive water lift. Over a period of several months, special tanker car trains transported over 250 million gallons of water 40 miles by train which was pumped from the Darling River near Horse Lake, west to the small Mt Gipps rail siding where the water was transferred to large storage tanks that were built for the purpose. From the Mt Gipps storage tanks the water flows down hill through a large pipe to the Stephens Creek Reservoir, Broken Hill's main water storage facility. From Stephens Reservoir the water makes another downhill journey by a large pipe to the Broken Hills mining operation.
So far the knowledge bank has established certain principles: Concave under the nose creates an air pocket that helps the nose stay up longer; complimenting the concave nose is a kicked up tail that would catch water to keep the tail down. While an accomplished surfer can nose ride a narrow shortboard nose, a wide nose (about 18 inches to about 20 inches wide) is considered a better platform for stability and lift. Rail shape can significantly affect the maneuverability from the nose. Rail shapes vary from turned up rails, which are found in most of today's noseriders, to turned down rails. Turned-up rails allow the board to turn easier from the tip, while the turned-down rail forces the board to stay in a trim and limits the turning ability from the tip. Of course, placement of the turned up or turned down rail is important. Turned up rails work best around the nose, while turned down rails work best around the tail. How much turn-down or turn up is measured in percnetages, i.e., 70/30 means 70% down and 30% up. Lighter board weights enable the board to stay higher on the water, so it can travel faster and allow the board to respond quicker and a lighter board allows for a thinner board. Single fins are preferred, albeit, fin configurations have a wide open frontier, as are weights and thickness.
Lewin's rail ("Lewinia pectoralis") is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is found in Australia, Wallacea, and New Guinea. Lewin's rail is also known as the water rail, Lewin's water rail, Lewin's grind rail, slate-breasted rail, slate-breasted water rail, pectoral rail, pectoral water rail, short-toed rail and short-toed water rail. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The history of water supply to Nairobi since the city was founded as a rail outpost in 1899 has been to a large extent a history of tapping ever more distant water sources to supply a rapidly expanding city with sufficient water. Other challenges faced included the reduction of water distribution losses, reaching the poor in slums, expanding sewerage and wastewater treatment, and strengthening the Nairobi water utility.
The water rail can readily be distinguished from most other reed bed rails by its white undertail and red bill; the latter is a little longer than the rest of the rail's head (55–58% of the total) and slightly down-curved.[23] The somewhat similar slaty-breasted rail of tropical Asia has a stouter bill, a chestnut crown and white-spotted upperparts. Juvenile and freshly moulted water rails may show a buff undertail like spotted crake, but that species' plumage is spotted with white, and it has a much shorter, mainly yellowish bill. The range of the water rail does not overlap with that of any other Rallus species, but vagrants could be distinguished from their American relatives by the lack of rufous or chestnut on the closed wing. The larger African rail has unstreaked darker brown upperparts and brighter red legs and feet.[19]
Predators of the water rail include a number of mammals and large birds. The American mink was partly responsible for the extinction of the Icelandic population,[11] and cats and dogs have also been recorded as killing this species.[38] At least locally, otters will also eat rails and other water birds.[47] The Eurasian bittern, another reed bed bird, will consume rails,[48] as will grey herons.[49] Water rails are particularly vulnerable to the heron when forced out of the cover of the reeds by very high tides.[33] Wetland-hunting harriers are predictable predators,[50] but more unusually, the rail has also been recorded as a prey item of the tawny owl,[51] short-eared owl,[52] Eurasian eagle-owl,[53] greater spotted eagle,[54] common kestrel,[55] and night-hunting peregrine falcons.[56]
These rails are vulnerable to flooding or freezing conditions, loss of habitat and predation by mammals and large birds. The introduced American mink has exterminated some island populations, but overall the species' huge range and large numbers mean that it is not considered to be threatened.
In quick succession the film explains how American transportation equipment, especially tires, can be used at that very moment in France, Italy, and in Russia to defeat the third Reich. The narrator reminds us that these materiel begins in America, and even the large amounts of tires and trucks created last year can be "casualties" of war already. The film also emphasizes that it is difficult even to get the materiel to the front, first having to get to port by rail, and then overseas in U-boat inhabited waters. Extensive time is spent on the transportation of materiel to China, and the difficulties getting it to Asia and over the "Hump".
The edges of the board. A rounded rail is called "soft", while a more squared off rail is called "hard", and rails that are in between are termed "50/50" ("fifty-fifty"). Larger, fuller rails contain a greater volume of foam giving the board increased buoyancy along the edge, while sharper, narrower rails have less volume, making the board easier to "sink" and "lean on edge". While riding down the line, one rail is always in the water while the other is suspended freely in the air. Turns are largely a matter of transitioning from rail to tail and over to the contralateral (opposing) rail.
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, or oil) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so their tenders are necessary to keep them running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive (itself) instead are called tank locomotives.
Metro-North has designed a system dubbed "Waterworld", which is a large flat rail car that blasts the rails with high-pressure water jets as the car moves over it.
The water rail's numbers are declining, but it has a large population of 100,000–1,000,000 adults and a huge breeding range estimated at 15,600,000km2 (6,000,000sqmi); it is therefore classed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.[1] In most European countries, the population is either stable or decreasing slightly due to loss of habitat. The rail's range and numbers are increasing in Morocco, with breeding as far south as Oued Massa.[26] Little is known about the Asian range, but korejewi is a common breeder in Pakistan and Kashmir.[27]