Upper Rhine

Monday, 11 February 2013

Incoming supercell over the upper rhine valley

Wallcloud of a supercell over the upper rhine valley

2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip Upper Rhine

Wagner's Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde — with the Rhine Falls (Rheinfall), Switzerland

Last branches of a Supercell over the upper rhine valley

UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley

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Alsace
Alsace (French: Alsace [alzas]; Alsatian: Elsàss [ˈɛlsɑs]; German: Elsass, pre-1996: Elsaß, IPA: [ˈɛlzas]; Latin: Alsatia) is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area (8,280 km²), and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km² (total population in 2006: 1,815,488; 1 January 2008 estimate: 1,836,000). Alsace is located on France's eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. The political, economic and cultural capital as well as largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg. Because that city is the seat of dozens of international organizations and bodies, Alsace is politically one of the most important regions in the European Union.
The name "Alsace" can be traced back to the Old High German Ali-saz or Elisaz, meaning "foreign domain". An alternative explanation derives it from a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning "seated on the Ill", a river in Alsace. The region was historically part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was gradually annexed by France in the 17th century under kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV and made one of the provinces of France. Alsace is frequently mentioned in conjunction with Lorraine, because German possession of parts of these two régions (as the imperial province Alsace-Lorraine, 1871–1918) was contested in the 19th and 20th centuries, during which Alsace changed hands four times between France and Germany in 75 years.

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Doubs
Doubs (French pronunciation: [du]; Arpitan: Dubs) is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.
As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect of the Arpitan language. Both languages co-existed with French, the official language of law and commerce, and continued to be spoken frequently in rural areas into the 20th century. They are both still spoken today but not on a daily basis.
Doubs was important as a portal to Switzerland through the pass at Joux. Many famous people, including Mirabeau, Toussaint Louverture and Heinrich von Kleist, were imprisoned in the Château de Joux.
Doubs is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Franche-Comté. The prefecture (capital) is Besançon.
In 1793, the republic of Mandeure was annexed by France and incorporated into the department. This district was passed between various territories and departments in the ensuing administrative reorganisations and wars, but was restored to Doubs in 1816 when the former principality of Montbéliard was also added to the department.

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Erstein
Coordinates: 48°25′22″N 7°39′42″E / 48.4228°N 7.6617°E / 48.4228; 7.6617
Erstein is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in the Alsace region in France.
Erstein was known in Alsace in the Middle Age for its Benedictine Abbey. An Ancient roman village, its existence had been attested to by the Merovingian.
Erstein Street
Near Ill River
Calvaire (1746)
Old Factory

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France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

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Germany
Germany (ⁱ/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.

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Hesse
Hesse /ˈhɛs/ or Hessia (German: Hessen [ˈhɛsən], Hessian dialect: Hesse [ˈhɛzə]) is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.
The English name "Hesse" comes from the Hessian dialect. The variant "Hessia" comes from the medieval latin Hassia. The German term Hessen is used by the European Commission, not because it is English, but because their general policy is to leave regional names untranslated (paragraphs 1.31 & 1.35). The term "Hesse" ultimately derives from a Germanic tribe called the Chatti, who settled in the region in the first century B.C.
An inhabitant of Hesse is called a Hessian (German: Hesse (masculine) or Hessin (feminine)) (see also Hessian (soldiers)).
As early as the Paleolithic period, the Central Hessian region was inhabited. Due to the favorable climate of the location, people lived there about 50,000 years ago during the last glacial period, as burial sites show from this era. Finds of paleolitical tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago. The Züschen tomb (German: Steinkammergrab von Züschen, sometimes also Lohne-Züschen) is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist (hessisch-westfälische Steinkiste), it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to the late 4th millennium BC (and possibly remaining in use until the early 3rd), it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture.

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High Rhine
The High Rhine (German: Hochrhein) is the name used in Germany for the part of the Rhine River that flows westbound from Lake Constance to Basel.
The High Rhine begins at the outflow of the Rhine from the Untersee in Stein am Rhein and turns into the Upper Rhine in Basel. In contrast to the Alpine Rhine and Upper Rhine, the High Rhine flows mostly to the west.
The section is marked by Rhine-kilometers 0 to 165, measurements beginning at the outflow of the Obersee at the Old Rhine Bridge in Constance. It is the first of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the Rhine between Lake Constance and the North Sea. In Switzerland, similar names refer to different parts. In the western part, the Rhine marks the border between German and Switzerland, while in the eastern part, Switzerland owns also areas north of the Rhine, surrounding the German exclave of Büsingen.
The term High Rhine was introduced by scientists in the 19th Century. Above all geologists tried to differentiate the High Rhine linguistically from the Upper Rhine. Until the 19th Century, it was also known as the "Badisch-Swiss Rhine".

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Lake Constance
Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee ("upper lake"), the Untersee ("lower lake"), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.
The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps. Specifically, its shorelines lie in the German federal-states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the Austrian federal-state of Vorarlberg, and the Swiss cantons of Thurgau and St. Gallen. The Rhine flows into it from the south following the Austro-Swiss frontier.
Lake Constance was first mentioned by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela about 43AD. He noted that the Rhine flows through two lakes, and gave them the Latin names Lacus Venetus (Obersee) and Lacus Acronius (Untersee). Pliny the Elder used the name Lacus Brigantinus, after the Roman city of Brigantium (today Bregenz). The lake is also colloquially known as the Swabian Sea (das schwäbische Meer).
The freshwater lake sits at 395 m (1,296 ft) above sea level and is Central Europe's third largest, after Lake Balaton and Lake Geneva. It is 63 km (39 mi) long, and at its widest point, nearly 14 km (8.7 mi). It covers approximately 571 km² (220 sq mi) of total area. The greatest depth is 252 metres (827 ft) in the middle of the eastern part (Obersee). Its volume is approximately 1e10 m³ (1.3×10¹⁰ cu yd). The lake has four parts: the main section, called Obersee, 476 km (0.184 sq mi); the north section, Überlinger See, 61 km² (24 sq mi); the west section, Untersee, 63 km² (24 sq mi); and the northwest section, the Zeller See and Gnadensee. The regulated Rhine flows into the lake in the southeast, through the Obersee, the city of Konstanz and the Untersee and flows out near Stein am Rhein. Lake Constance provides fresh water to many cities in south Germany.

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Lower Rhine
The Lower Rhine (German: Niederrhein, Dutch: Nederrijn, kilometers 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine River) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hoek van Holland, Netherlands.
Almost immediately after entering the Netherlands, the Rhine splits into many branches. The main branch is called the Waal which flows from Nijmegen to meet the river Meuse; after which it is called Merwede. Near Rotterdam the river is known as Nieuwe Maas, and becomes the Nieuwe Waterweg flowing into the Northsea at Hoek van Holland.
The Nederrijn refers to the more northern former main branch of the Rhine, which flows past Arnhem; splits off the IJssel which flows into the IJsselmeer and then splits into the Lek River and the Kromme Rijn at Wijk bij Duurstede. The Lek flows into the Merwede. The Kromme Rijn continues past Utrecht, becomes the Leidse Rijn, then Oude Rijn and flows into the Northsea at Katwijk.
There are other minor branches such as the Vecht, Hollandse IJssel and the Noord river.
The German "Niederrhein" is applied both to the German section of the Lower Rhine river as well as to parts of the surrounding Lower Rhine region.

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Middle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine (German: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised. This gorge is quite deep, about 130 meters from the top of the rocks down to the average water-line.
The "Middle Rhine" is one of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The upper half of the Middle Rhine (Rhine Gorge) from Bingen (Rhine-kilometer 529) to Koblenz (Rhine-kilometer 590) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2002) with more than 40 castles and fortresses from the Middle Ages and many wine-villages. The lower half from Koblenz (Rhine-kilometer 590) to Bonn (Rhine-kilometer 653) is famous for the formerly volcanic Siebengebirge with the Drachenfels volcano. Both parts together are known as "the romantic Rhine".

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Moselle
Moselle (French pronunciation: [mɔ.zɛl]) is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.
Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former province of Lorraine.
In 1793, the foreign enclaves of Manderen, Lixing-lès-Rouhling, Momerstroff, and Créhange (Kriechingen), all possessions of princes of the German Holy Roman Empire, were annexed by France and incorporated into the Moselle département.
By the Treaty of Paris of 1814 following the first defeat and abdication of Napoleon, France had to surrender almost all its conquests since 1792. On the northeastern border, France was not restored to its 1792 borders, but a new border was established to put an end to the convoluted nature of the border, with all its enclaves and exclaves. As a result, the French exclave of Tholey (now in Saarland, Germany) as well as a few communes near Sierck-les-Bains (both territories until then part of the Moselle département) were ceded to Austria. On the other hand, the French annexations of 1793 were confirmed, and furthermore, the south of the Napoleonic département of Sarre was ceded to France, including the town of Lebach, the city of Saarbrücken, and the rich coal basin nearby. France was thus a net beneficiary of the Treaty of Paris, all the new territories ceded to her being far larger and more strategic than the few territories ceded to Austria. All these new territories were incorporated into the Moselle department, and so Moselle had now a larger territory than ever since 1790.

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Mulhouse
Coordinates: 47°44′58″N 7°20′24″E / 47.7495°N 7.3399°E / 47.7495; 7.3399
Mulhouse (French: Mulhouse, pronounced: [myluz]; Alsatian: Milhüsa or Milhüse, [mɪlˈyːzə]; German: Mülhausen; i.e. mill hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after Strasbourg. Mulhouse is the principal commune of the 32 making up the Communauté d'agglomération Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération (MAA, population 252,000).
Mulhouse is famous for its museums, especially the Cité de l’Automobile (also known as "Musée national de l’automobile") and the Musée Français du Chemin de Fer (also known as "Cité du train"), respectively the largest automobile and railway museums in France. An industrial town nicknamed "the French Manchester", Mulhouse is also the main seat of the Upper Alsace University, where the secretariat of the European Physical Society can be found.

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Odenwald
The Odenwald (help·info) (German pronunciation: [ˈoːdənvalt]) is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried (the northeastern section of the Rhine rift) in the west, the Main and the Bauland (a mostly unwooded area with good soils) in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of the Upper Rhine Rift Valley in the Rhine-Main Lowlands – in the north and the Kraichgau in the south. The part south of the Neckar valley is sometimes called the Kleiner Odenwald (“Little Odenwald”).
The northern and western Odenwald belong to southern Hesse, with the south stretching into Baden. In the northeast, a small part lies in Lower Franconia in Bavaria.
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The Odenwald, along with many of Germany’s low mountain ranges, belongs to the Variscan, which more than 300,000,000 years ago in the Devonian ran through great parts of Europe. The cause of this orogeny was the collision of Africa’s and Europe’s forerunner continents.

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Palatinate Forest
The Palatinate Forest (German: Pfälzerwald) is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park (German: Naturpark Pfälzerwald), equivalent Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), covering 1,771 km² and its highest elevation is Mount Kalmit (673 m).
Together with the northern part of the adjacent Vosges Mountains in France it forms the UNESCO Biosphere reserve Palatinate Forest-Vosges du Nord. The Biosphere reserve is one of the biggest forests in Europe.
The low mountain range of the Palatinate Forest is continued northward by the extensive hilly landscape of the northern Palatinate (Nordpfälzer Bergland), whose highest point is the volcanic Donnersberg (687 m). In the south it is continued by the northern Vosges Mountains in France.
The eastern end of the forest (Haardt) is adjacent to the Palatinate wine growing region. Here the German Wine Route stretches through the undulating area that lies between the Palatinate Forest and the Upper Rhine valley.

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Rhenish Massif
The Rhenish Massif (German: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge: "Rhenish Slate Range") is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France.
The Rhenish Massif consists of the Belgian and French Ardennes, the German Eifel and east of the river Rhine the Sauerland and Siegerland. The Mosel and Hunsrück hills form its southwestern part, the Westerwald, Lahn-Dill area and the Taunus occupy the southeastern part. The massif is divided in two by the Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage area.
Geologically the Rhenish Massif consists of metamorphic rocks, mostly slates (hence its name), deformed and metamorphosed during the Hercynian orogeny (around 300 million years ago). Most of the massif is part of the Rhenohercynian zone of this orogeny, that also encompasses the Harz further east and Devonian rocks of Cornwall (southwestern England).
Most rocks in the Rhenish Massif were originally sediments, mostly deposited during the Devonian and Carboniferous in a back-arc basin called the Rhenohercynian basin. In some places in the Ardennes, even older rocks of Cambrian to Silurian age crop out as massifs overlain by Devonian slates. These older rocks form smaller massifs of their own (Stavelot, Rocroi, Givonne and Serpont). In the eastern Rhenish Massif some very limited outcrops in the Sauerland show rocks of Ordovician and lower Siliurian age. Further Ordovician rock exposures are part of the southern Taunus.

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Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( /ˈrɒtərdæm/; Dutch [ˌrɔ.tər.ˈdɑm] ( listen)) is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam constructed in 1270 on the Rotte River, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre. Its strategic location at the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta on the North Sea and at the heart of a massive rail, road, air and inland waterway distribution system extending throughout Europe is the reason that Rotterdam is often called the "Gateway to Europe".
Located in the Province of South Holland, Rotterdam is found in the west of the Netherlands and at the south end of the Randstad. The population of the city proper was 616,250 on February 1st 2012. The population of the greater Rotterdam area, called "Rotterdam-Rijnmond" or just "Rijnmond", is around 1.3 million people. Rotterdam is one of Europe's most vibrant, multicultural cities. The city is known for its university (Erasmus), its cutting-edge architecture, its lively cultural life, its striking riverside setting, its maritime heritage and the Rotterdam Blitz.

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Strasbourg
Strasbourg (French pronunciation: [stʁazbuʁ]; Lower Alsatian: Strossburi, [ˈʃd̥rɔːsb̥uri]; German: Straßburg, [ˈʃtʁaːsbʊɐ̯k]) is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking, explaining the city's Germanic name. In 2006, the city proper had 272,975 inhabitants and its urban community 467,375 inhabitants. With 638,670 inhabitants in 2006, Strasbourg's metropolitan area (aire urbaine) (only the part of the metropolitan area on French territory) is the ninth largest in France. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 884,988 inhabitants in 2008.
Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory) and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine.

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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km² (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.

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Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine (German: Oberrhein) is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 (the scale beginning in Konstanz and ending in Rotterdam).
The "Upper Rhine" is one of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. Countries and states along the Upper Rhine are Switzerland, France (Alsace) and the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz.
The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and made navigable between 1928 and 1977. The Treaty of Versailles allows France to use the Upper Rhine for hydroelectricity in the Grand Canal d'Alsace.
On the left Bank, we find the French region of Alsace and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate; on the right bank, the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. The first few kilometers are in the Swiss city of Basel.

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Vosges
Vosges (French pronunciation: [voʒ]) is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.
The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been part of the province of Lorraine. In German it is referred to as Vogesen.
In 1793 the independent principality of Salm-Salm (town of Senones and its surroundings), enclosed inside the Vosges department, was annexed to France and incorporated into Vosges. In 1795 the area of Schirmeck was detached from the Bas-Rhin department and incorporated into the Vosges department. The Vosges department had now an area of 6,127 km² (2,366 sq. miles) which it kept until 1871.
In 1794 the Vosges was the site of a major battle between the forces of Revolutionary France and the Allied Coalition. See Battle of the Vosges.
The Place des Vosges in Paris was so renamed in 1799 when the department became the first to pay the new Revolutionary taxes.

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Alsace
Alsace (French: Alsace [alzas]; Alsatian: Elsàss [ˈɛlsɑs]; German: Elsass, pre-1996: Elsaß, IPA: [ˈɛlzas]; Latin: Alsatia) is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area (8,280 km²), and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km² (total population in 2006: 1,815,488; 1 January 2008 estimate: 1,836,000). Alsace is located on France's eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. The political, economic and cultural capital as well as largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg. Because that city is the seat of dozens of international organizations and bodies, Alsace is politically one of the most important regions in the European Union.
The name "Alsace" can be traced back to the Old High German Ali-saz or Elisaz, meaning "foreign domain". An alternative explanation derives it from a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning "seated on the Ill", a river in Alsace. The region was historically part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was gradually annexed by France in the 17th century under kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV and made one of the provinces of France. Alsace is frequently mentioned in conjunction with Lorraine, because German possession of parts of these two régions (as the imperial province Alsace-Lorraine, 1871–1918) was contested in the 19th and 20th centuries, during which Alsace changed hands four times between France and Germany in 75 years.

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Incoming supercell over the upper rhine valley

21.06.2012 This supercell came from the Vosges mountains across Strasbourg and the rhine v...

published: 22 Jun 2012

author: chriscrane91

Wallcloud of a supercell over the upper rhine valley

21.06.2012 For more information visit trustmyimages.blogspot.de Sorry that i removed the s...

published: 22 Jun 2012

author: chriscrane91

Two little Girls from Upper-Rhine

Dominique Deveraux & Sammy-Jo Carrington Travestiale 1999, Basel, Switzerland...

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2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip Upper Rhine

2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip- Upper Rhine...

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Wagner's Liebestod from Tristan & Isolde — with the Rhine Falls (Rheinfall), Switzerland

SBS Radio & Television Youth Orchestra conducted by Simon Thew perform Liebestod from Act ...

published: 06 Dec 2011

author: Adam Sébire

Last branches of a Supercell over the upper rhine valley

21.06.2012 For more information visit trustmyimages.blogspot.de...

published: 22 Jun 2012

author: chriscrane91

Upper Rhine

2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip- Upper Rhine...

published: 10 Oct 2006

author: ckli2006

Upper Rhine

2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip- Upper Rhine...

published: 10 Oct 2006

author: ckli2006

Upper Rhine

2006 Central Europe Fieldtrip- Upper Rhine...

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The Upper Rhine Rift Valley

en.wikipedia.org...

published: 15 Jan 2012

author: garryentropy

UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley

Discover the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley in 7:33 minutes! The Upp...

published: 05 Apr 2012

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Rhine River Movie Clips

Movie clips from our September 15-23 2012 Rhine River Cruise. We cruised with Avalon Water...

published: 26 Sep 2012

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Basel, Switzerland Part 2 バーゼル

The red sandstone Münster, one of the foremost late-Romanesque/early Gothic buildings in t...

published: 05 Jul 2012

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Welcome to Lörrach (2012)

Discover Lörrach - feel-good city in the border triangle of Germany, France and Switzerlan...

published: 19 Sep 2012

author: StadtLoerrach

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photo: AP / Los Angeles Police Department

This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer.

$1 million reward offered on information on ex-cop Christopher Dorner

Denver Post

11 Feb 2013

A San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy searches a home for Christopher Dorner, a former police officer, on Sunday in Big Bear Lake, Calif. (Jae C. Hong, The Associated Press) ... "We will not tolerate anyone undermining the security of the community," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference. "We will not tolerate this reign of terror." ... "He has targeted those we entrust to protect the public." ... Copyright 2012 The Denver Post ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)

photo: AP / L'Osservatore Romano

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI reads a document in Latin where he announces his resignation, during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013.

Pope Benedict XVI announces he will resign because of 'ill health'

The Independent

11 Feb 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will resign the papacy because of ill health, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. The decision will send shockwaves through the global Catholic community. It is extremely rare for a Pope to give up the papacy and is unheard of in modern times. The vast majority serve until they die, even when struck down by ill health....(size: 1.9Kb)

photo: AP / Kevin Frayer

An Indian woman weeps as she and other family members mourn next to the body of a relative who was killed in a stampede on a railway platform at the main railway station in Allahabad, India, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013.

India stampede kills 36 at world's largest religious festival

Daily Press

11 Feb 2013

ALLAHABAD, India (Reuters) - A stampede at a railway station in northern India killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims on Sunday, the busiest day of the world's largest religious festival at which some 30 million had gathered to wash away their sins in the sacred Ganges river. Twenty-seven of the dead were women, mostly elderly and poor. An eight-year-old girl was also crushed to death ... Daily Press Eyewitness ... M ... ....(size: 5.2Kb)

photo: AP / Ugarit News via AP video

This image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show Syrian soldiers dancing to Usher's hit song "Yeah!"

Amid a Bloody War, Syrian Videos Show a Glimpse of Fun

The New York Times

09 Feb 2013

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The video has gone viral in recent days. Syrian government soldiers, in camouflage gear, carrying rocket-propelled grenades and brandishing rifles, mugging for the camera while dancing in a circle to Usher’s hit song “Yeah!”. Enlarge This Image. Ugarit News, via Associated Press. In a video posted online, Syrian soldiers chant and dance to Usher’s hit song “Yeah!”. Related. U.N ... Twitter List ... Raw ... ....(size: 8.2Kb)

photo: AP / Armando Franca

Nigeria's Emmanuel Emenike holds the trophy after they defeated Burkina Faso in the final to win the African Cup of Nations at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013.

Nigeria Captures First Africa Cup of Nations

The New York Times

11 Feb 2013

Nigeria won its first Africa Cup of Nations title since 1994, beating Burkina Faso, 1-0, on Sunday Mba’s left-footed volley in the 40th minute. Victor Moses, who recovered from an ankle injury just in time to play, was voted the best player of the match. ¶ Manchester United opened a season-high 12-point lead in the Premier League, beating Everton, 2-0, at Old Trafford on goals by Ryan Giggs and Robin van Persie ...   ... N.Y ... ....(size: 5.7Kb)

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11 days, 5 countries

New Straits/Business Times

24 Jan 2013

Considered one of the most scenic routes in Europe, the Black Forest High Road winds through the south-western corner of West Germany between the Upper Rhine, which forms the border between Switzerland and France ... Deep gorges line the Rhine River and Neckar River ... The scenic drive takes us to Schaffhausen, home to Europe’s largest waterfall, Rhine Falls, located on the upper Rhine....(size: 13.9Kb)

Minister of State Link and Minister Cazeneuve happy with progress on the Franco-German work programme Agenda 2020 (German Federal government)

noodls

22 Jan 2013

(Source. German Federal government). press release 22.01.2013 ... Minister of State Link issued the following statement ... Particularly striking examples are the setting up of the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine, joint training for German and French diplomats and the establishment of a joint station for the water police on the Rhine ... Franco-German Agenda 2020 (German only)....(size: 2.4Kb)

Basel, Switzerland: Europe’s secret cultural gem

The Washington Times

14 Dec 2012

Bob Taylor. Ask me a question ... Situated at the confluence of Switzerland, Germany and France along the banks of the Rhine River, Basel is the gateway to the Upper Rhine Valley, a region that is rapidly growing in popularity. Tinguely Fountain, Basel ... If you visit Basel in winter for the Christmas Market, the local tourist office can arrange a fondu dinner on a boat on the Rhine for up to twelve participants ...  . ... ... ... ....(size: 10.1Kb)

Christmas Markets in three countries only takes a little “training”

The Washington Times

10 Dec 2012

UPPER RHINE VALLEY, EUROPE, December 9, 2012 – So the shopping malls have got you down and you’ve lost your Christmas spirit ... A popular area for the Christmas Market experience is the Upper Rhine Valley which includes Alsace. Many towns along the route may already be familiar, but, as a destination, the Upper Rhine Valley is rapidly becoming a favorite....(size: 11.0Kb)

PRIX BARTHOLDI FOR MARTIN HERRENKNECHT. (Herrenknecht AG)

noodls

29 Nov 2012

The Prix Bartholdi honors personalities every year who have made a special contribution towards cross-border cooperation in the Upper Rhine area ... The aim of the Prix Bartholdi is to support cooperation between universities in the Upper Rhine region and to promote the internationalization of study and training....(size: 3.8Kb)

Upper Rhine ports join forces (Havenbedrijf Rotterdam NV)

noodls

24 Oct 2012

Nine inland ports on the Upper Rhine have decided to join forces. It concerns the ports of Strasbourg, Kehl, Colmar, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Karlsruhe and Rheinports Basel-Mulhouse-Weil ... The ports represent a fifth of bulk and a third of container transport on the Rhine ... Source. Nieuwsblad Transport 23-10-2012. distributed by ... (noodl. 16345983) ....(size: 2.3Kb)

On the waterfront

Canberra Times

21 Sep 2012

The Rhine route ... Adrian Bridge cruises the Rhine Gorge, a waterway that sailors and vintners, poets and princes have long admired ... Includes flights with taxes, cruise with all meals and beverages on board; butler service; all excursions, events and entertainment (including a concert at the 18th-century Rastatt Palace in the upper Rhine), transfers and tips....(size: 7.2Kb)

Through Tuesday, Pretzel fest in Speyer, Germany

Stars and Stripes

11 Jul 2012

Billed as the biggest folk festival on the Upper Rhine, its connection with pretzels started more than 100 years ago, when the town’s breweries, pretzel makers and ......(size: 1.2Kb)

Rebelious German priests seek reforms

Deutsche Welle

20 Jun 2012

Divorced Catholics who remarry are committing adultery, according to Roman Catholic law, and can't receive communion or sacraments. A group of priests in Freiburg are fighting to change these rules. "I have not taken a vow to follow the canon law but I have a mission to work with people ... Preaching compassion ... Soul searching ... And a pastoral letter to divorcees published by a group of bishops in the upper Rhine region caused a furore ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)

Alsace Campaign Announces New US Marketing Initiative

PR Newswire

26 Jan 2012

Located on 's eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to and , the wine region of Alsace is comprised of 119 winegrowing communes. The Alsace Wine Bureau is the region's trade association, with nearly 1,000 members and is dedicated to promoting the wines of Alsace worldwide. The Alsace campaign in the US is financed ......(size: 5.7Kb)

Suite surrender: A luxury river cruise to Vienna - for a date with musical greatness

The Daily Mail

15 Jan 2012

The Visionary will sail the eight-day Romantic Rhine (from £1,665pp) as well as four new festive cruises in December to see Europe's atmospheric Christmas markets ... New ones include the ten-day Paris, Moselle And The Rhine (from £2,059pp), the 12-day Upper Rhine To The City Of Music (from £2,519 pp), a 13-day Rhine And Moselle (from £2,599pp) and Jewels Of Central Europe (from £3,389)....(size: 9.6Kb)

Freiburg, the Green City

Jakarta Post

11 Sep 2011

A view of the Freiburg’s Old Town and vineyards. Photo by Triwik Kurniasari ... “Many Germans want to live in Freiburg ... Spare some time to take a look at the beautiful view of the Black Forest capital and the Rhine valley by heading to the Schlossberg, the upper part of the city which can be reached by foot in a few ... Wine and dine ... •Another option is cycling as Freiburg’s location in the upper Rhine makes it an ideal climate for bike riding....(size: 10.4Kb)

Excerpts from recent Nebraska editorials

MSNBC

01 Jun 2011

Omaha World-Herald. June 1, 2011. Vigilance and solidarity. Even in the 21st century, there are limits on what humankind can do to hold back the elements ... There is also this crucial element ... The parallel with Germany's Rhine River is notable. Scholar David Blackbourn writes that flood-control efforts along the Upper Rhine were made as early as 1391. And the present channelization along the Rhine was begun with engineering work in the 1820s....(size: 11.5Kb)

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Satellite View of the Upper Rhine Valley and the upper Rhine; on the top left are the Rhenish Slate Mountains; on the bottom right Lake Constance

Sunset on the Rhine at Mannheim

The Rhine at Mainz Theodor Heuss Bridge in Mainz

Map of the Rhine, Upper Rhine marked in green

near Karlsruhe

The Upper Rhine (German: Oberrhein) is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 (the scale beginning in Konstanz and ending in Rotterdam).

The "Upper Rhine" is one of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. Countries and states along the Upper Rhine are Switzerland, France (Alsace) and the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz.

The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and made navigable between 1928 and 1977. The Treaty of Versailles allows France to use the Upper Rhine for hydroelectricity in the Grand Canal d'Alsace.

On the left Bank, we find the French region of Alsace and the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate; on the right bank, the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. The first few kilometers are in the Swiss city of Basel.

1 Geology
2 Straightening
3 Canalizing and dams
4 Conservation
5 Integrated Rhine Programme (IRP)
6 Tri-national metropolitan region of the Upper Rhine
7 See also
8 External links
9 References
10 Footnotes

Geology [link]

Main article: Rhine Rift # Formation

Around 35 million years ago, a rift valley of about 300 km long and 50 km wide came into being between the present cities of Basel and Frankfurt. This was due to tensile stresses in the Earth's crust and mantle, which resulted in lowering the earth's surface. The moat has been partially filled up again by sedimentation. On the edges we find mountain ridges, the so-called "rift flanks". On the Eastern side, they are the Black Forest and Odenwald mountains, in the West the Vosges and Palatinate Forest. During the tertiary, the High Rhine continued West from Basel and flowed via the Doubs and the Saône, into the Rhône. The rift diverted the Rhine into the newly formed Upper Rhine Valley.

The Rhine knee at Basel marks the transition from the High Rhine to the Upper Rhine with a change of direction from West to North and a change of landscape from the relatively small-chamber high-Rhine cuesta landscape to the wide rift zone of the Upper Rhine Rift Valley. The two largest tributaries come from the right: the Neckar in Mannheim, the Main across from Mainz. In the northwest corner of the Upper Rhine Valley, at Rhine-kilometer 529.1, near Bingen, where the Nahe flows into the Rhine, the Rhine flows into a gorge in the Rhenish Massif and thereby changes into the Middle Rhine^[1].

Straightening [link]

In 1685, Louis XIV started a program to move the Upper Rhine, change its course and drain the flood plain, in order to gain land. Until 1840, the river was moved up to 1.5 km to the East, taking territory away from Baden. Around 1790, large part of the Rhine Valley were deforested, creating arable land, fields and pasture to feed the population. The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876 by Johann Gottfried Tulla and changed from a relatively sluggish meandering river with major and many smaller branches into a fast flowing stream flanked with dams. The length of the Upper Rhine was reduced by 81 km. Some cut-off river arms remain; they are typically called "Old Rhine" (German: Altrhein) or Gießen.

Canalizing and dams [link]

The Rhine between Basel and Iffezheim is almost entirely canalized. On a stretch of 180 km, there are ten dams, provided with hydropower station and locks. Between Basel and Breisach, the old river bed carries hardly any water; almost all water is diverted through the Grand Canal d'Alsace on the French side, to ensure safe shipping and hydro power generation around the clock. Only when there is a large supply of water, then the old river bed will receive more water than the canal. France gained the right to do this in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles; the right applies to the segment between Basel and Neuburgweier/Lauterbourg, where the Rhine forms the border between France and Germany.

Weir at Breisach; to the left a lock; to the right a small power station under construction

The straightening (1817-1876) and channeling (1928-1977) reduced the water table by up to 16 m and thus had a negative effect on flora and fauna. Gravel is also missing from the river, due to the dams. This has caused erosion below the dam at Iffezheim. To counter this, 173.000 cubic meters per year of a mixture of sand and gravel with an average grain diameter of 20 mm (corresponding to the local sediment transport capacity) has been dumped into the river, since 1978, using two motorized barges.

Conservation [link]

The flood plains between Mainz and Bingen are important for nature conservation. In this section, the so-called island Rhine, there are many nature reserves and bird sanctuaries.

Integrated Rhine Programme (IRP)[link]

The Upper Rhine plays a key role in flood control on the Middle and Lower Rhine. As a result 0f the straightening of the Upper Rhine, floods from the Alps now reach the Middle Rhine much faster than in the past. Thus, the risk of such a peak coinciding with a flood peak of Neckar, Moselle or Main has increased. About 123 km² of flood plain have been lost. Authorities in riparian states of France, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate have launched the Integrated Rhine Programme, a framework for designating water retention areas. to combat downstream flooding. A French-German treaty was concluded in 1982, in which the parties agreed to restore the retention capacity on the stretch below Iffezheim to the level it had before the area was developed.

This means: For the stretch between Iffezheim and the mouth of the Neckar, attenuation of the apex of a 200-year flood (i.e. a flood that statistically occurs once in 200 years) of the Rhine to a discharge of 5000 m³/s at the Maxau gauge station, that is, a reduction from 5700 m³/s to 5000 m³/s.

for the stretch below the mouth of the Neckar, attenuation of the apex of a 220-year flood to a discharge of 6000 m³/s at the Worms gauge station, that is, a reduction from 6800 m³/s to 6000 m³/s.

For this purpose the following measures are planned and partially implemented:

By France: Special operations power stations on the Rhine and construction of two polders Erstein and Moder
By Baden-Württemberg: Construction of about 13 polders
By Rhineland-Palatinate: construction of polders and relocating levees

The effectiveness of the flood protection measures was verified using a computer model. The State Institute for the Environment, Nature Protection and Measurements in Baden-Württemberg carried out forecast calculations with the help of a mathematical "synoptic flood progression model". The analysis of the calculations and the evaluation of the results were made on the basis of the requirements and methods set by the international Flood Study Commission for the Rhine. The implementation of the proposed flood control measures on the Upper Rhine can prevent the occurrence of a 200-year flood between Iffezheim and Bingen, with an overall economic loss estimated at around 6.2 billion euros.

Tri-national metropolitan region of the Upper Rhine [link]

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (March 2012)

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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia. (March 2012)

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The Upper Rhine tri-national region (French: Région Métropolitaine Trinationale du Rhin Supérieur, German: Trinationale Metropolregion Oberrhein) is a Euroregion that covers the border areas of the Upper Rhine (the northern part of the Upper Rhine valley and the Palatinate are not included as they are not border areas) and parts of the High Rhine. As the name suggests, it is a tri-national region comprising parts of France, Germany and Switzerland. The regional Upper Rhine Conference is a framework for future political and administrative cooperation in the area.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Upper Rhine

EUCOR-URGENT
Franco-German-Swiss Conference of the Upper Rhine
Regional Association of the Southern Upper Rhine
RegionalverRegional Association of the Central Upper Rhine
Association for Regional History in the Upper Rhine area
Information on the Integrated Rhine Programme from the government office in Freiburg

References [link]

Dieter Balle: Kultur- und Naturführer Oberrhein. Zwischen Mannheim und Basel, Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2007. ISBN 978-3-89735-496-8
Manfred Bosch: Oberrheingeschichten, Verlag Klöpfer und Meyer, 2010, 384 pages, ISBN 3-940086-47-9 (an anthology)
Upper Rhine Agency: Rahmenkonzept des Landes Baden-Württemberg zur Umsetzung des Integrierten Rheinprogramms. Part I Wiederherstellung des Hochwasserschutzes, Part II Erhaltung und Renaturierung der Auelandschaft am Oberrhein. Materialien zum integrierten Rheinprogramm. Lahr, September, 1996
Ministry of Environment Baden-Württemberg: Das Integrierte Rheinprogramm: Hochwasserschutz und Auenrenaturierung am Oberrhein, Stuttgart, May, 2007
Water and Shipping Directorate South West: Kompendium der Wasser- und Schifffahrtsdirektion Südwest. Organizational and technical data, inland navigation, duties, waterways. Self-published, June 2007

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Footnotes [link]

^ Hessian Ministry of Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection

Coordinates: 48°57′N 8°16′E / 48.95°N 8.267°E / 48.95; 8.267

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Rhine

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

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Contents

Geology [link]

Straightening [link]

Canalizing and dams [link]

Conservation [link]

Integrated Rhine Programme (IRP)[link]

Tri-national metropolitan region of the Upper Rhine [link]

See also [link]

External links [link]

References [link]

Footnotes [link]

http://wn.com/Upper_Rhine

Related pages:

http://fr.wn.com/Rhin Supérieur

http://de.wn.com/Oberrhein

http://es.wn.com/Rin Superior