Hydrography in the context of "Beaufort Sea"

The Río de la Plata basin (Spanish: Cuenca del Plata, Portuguese: Bacia do Prata), more often called the River Plate basin in scholarly writings, sometimes called the Platine basin or Platine region, is the 3,170,000-square-kilometre (1,220,000 sq mi) hydrographical area in South America that drains to the Río de la Plata. It includes areas of southeastern Bolivia, southern and central Brazil, the entire country of Paraguay, most of Uruguay, and northern Argentina. Making up about one fourth of the continent's surface, it is the second largest drainage basin in South America (after the Amazon basin) and one of the largest in the world.

The main rivers of the La Plata basin are the Paraná River, the Paraguay River (the Paraná's main tributary), and the Uruguay River.

Maritime history is the study of human interaction with and activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant. As an academic subject, it often crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding humankind's various relationships to the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. Nautical history records and interprets past events involving ships, shipping, navigation, and seafarers.

Maritime history is the broad overarching subject that includes fishing, whaling, international maritime law, naval history, the history of ships, ship design, shipbuilding, the history of navigation, the history of the various maritime-related sciences (oceanography, cartography, hydrography, etc.), sea exploration, maritime economics and trade, shipping, yachting, seaside resorts, the history of lighthouses and aids to navigation, maritime themes in literature, maritime themes in art, the social history of sailors and passengers and sea-related communities. There are a number of approaches to the field, sometimes divided into two broad categories: Traditionalists, who seek to engage a small audience of other academics, and Utilitarians, who seek to influence policy makers and a wider audience.

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) (French: Organisation Hydrographique Internationale) is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. As of August 2025, the IHO comprised 103 member states.

A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters are properly surveyed and charted. It does this through the setting of international standards and through its capacity building programs and offices.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA /ˈnoʊ.ə/ NOH-ə) is an American scientific and regulatory agency tasked with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Most lakes in Finland are small, but there are 309 lakes or reservoirs with a surface area larger than 10 km². There are about 5,600 lakes in Finland that are larger than 0.1 km² (10 hectares or 100'000 square metres), and 187,888 lakes larger than five ares (500 square metres / 5,382 sq.ft.). There is no standard unambiguous definition of the size requirements for a water body to be classified as a lake.  Saimaa is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth-largest natural freshwater lake in Europe.

They are listed here along with some smaller noteworthy lakes.

In geodesy, surveying, hydrography and navigation, vertical datum or altimetric datum is a reference coordinate surface used for vertical positions, such as the elevations of Earth-bound features (terrain, bathymetry, water level, and built structures) and altitudes of satellite orbits and in aviation.In planetary science, vertical datums are also known as zero-elevation surface or zero-level reference.

Commonly adopted criteria for a vertical datum include the following approaches:

The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS; known as the Survey of the Coast from 1807 to 1836, and as the United States Coast Survey from 1836 until 1878) was the first scientific agency of the United States government. It existed from 1807 to 1970, and throughout its history was responsible for mapping and charting the coast of the United States, and later the coasts of U.S. territories. In 1871, it gained the additional responsibility of surveying the interior of the United States and geodesy became a more important part of its work, leading to it being renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.

Long the U.S. government's only scientific agency, the Survey accumulated other scientific and technical responsibilities as well, including astronomy, cartography, metrology, meteorology, geology, geophysics, hydrography, navigation, oceanography, exploration, pilotage, tides, and topography. It also was responsible for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States from 1836 to 1901. In 1959, it was assigned the responsibility for U.S. government oceanographic studies worldwide.

The Beaufort scale (/ˈboʊfərt/ BOH-fərt) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort, a hydrographer in the Royal Navy. It was officially adopted by the Royal Navy and later spread internationally.