title: Semantic memory

text: Learning of associations is generally believed to be a Hebbian process; that is, whenever two items in memory are simultaneously active, the association between them grows stronger, and the more likely either item is to activate the other. See below for specific operationalizations of associative models.


title: Semantic memory

text: A standard model of memory that employs association in this manner is the Search of Associative Memory (SAM) model. Though SAM was originally designed to model episodic memory, its mechanisms are sufficient to support some semantic memory representations, as well. The SAM model contains a short-term store (STS) and long-term store (LTS), where STS is a briefly activated subset of the information in the LTS. The STS has limited capacity and affects the retrieval process by limiting the amount of information that can be sampled and limiting the time the sampled subset is in an active mode. The retrieval process in LTS is cue dependent and probabilistic, meaning that a cue initiates the retrieval process and the selected information from memory is random. The probability of being sampled is dependent on the strength of association between the cue and the item being retrieved, with stronger associations being sampled and finally one is chosen. The buffer size is defined as r, and not a fixed number, and as items are rehearsed in the buffer the associative strengths grow linearly as a function of the total time inside the buffer. In SAM, when any two items simultaneously occupy a working memory buffer, the strength of their association is incremented. Thus, items that co-occur more often are more strongly associated. Items in SAM are also associated with a specific context, where the strength of that association determined by how long each item is present in a given context. In SAM, then, memories consist of a set of associations between items in memory and between items and contexts. The presence of a set of items and/or a context is more likely to evoke, then, some subset of the items in memory. The degree to which items evoke one another—either by virtue of their shared context or their co-occurrence—is an indication of the items' semantic relatedness.


title: Semantic memory

text: In an updated version of SAM, pre-existing semantic associations are accounted for using a semantic matrix. During the experiment, semantic associations remain fixed showing the assumption that semantic associations are not significantly impacted by the episodic experience of one experiment. The two measures used to measure semantic relatedness in this model are the Latent semantic analysis (LSA) and the Word association spaces (WAS). The LSA method states that similarity between words is reflected through their co-occurrence in a local context. WAS was developed by analyzing a database of free association norms. In WAS, "words that have similar associative structures are placed in similar regions of space."


title: Semantic memory

text: The ACT (Adaptive Control of Thought) (and later ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational)) theory of cognition represents declarative memory (of which semantic memory is a part) with "chunks", which consist of a label, a set of defined relationships to other chunks (i.e., "this is a _", or "this has a _"), and any number of chunk-specific properties. Chunks, then, can be mapped as a semantic network, given that each node is a chunk with its unique properties, and each link is the chunk's relationship to another chunk. In ACT, a chunk's activation decreases as a function of the time since the chunk was created and increases with the number of times the chunk has been retrieved from memory. Chunks can also receive activation from Gaussian noise, and from their similarity to other chunks. For example, if "chicken" is used as a retrieval cue, "canary" will receive activation by virtue of its similarity to the cue (i.e., both are birds, etc.). When retrieving items from memory, ACT looks at the most active chunk in memory; if it is above threshold, it is retrieved, otherwise an "error of omission" has occurred, i.e., the item has been forgotten. There is, additionally, a retrieval latency, which varies inversely with the amount by which the activation of the retrieved chunk exceeds the retrieval threshold. This latency is used in measuring the response time of the ACT model, to compare it to human performance.


title: Semantic memory

text: While ACT is a model of cognition in general, and not memory in particular, it nonetheless posits certain features of the structure of memory, as described above. In particular, ACT models memory as a set of related symbolic chunks which may be accessed by retrieval cues. While the model of memory employed in ACT is similar in some ways to a semantic network, the processing involved is more akin to an associative model.


title: Semantic memory

text: Some models characterize the acquisition of semantic information as a form of statistical inference from a set of discrete experiences, distributed across a number of "contexts". Though these models differ in specifics, they generally employ an (Item × Context) matrix where each cell represents the number of times an item in memory has occurred in a given context. Semantic information is gleaned by performing a statistical analysis of this matrix.


title: Semantic memory

text: Many of these models bear similarity to the algorithms used in search engines (for example, see Griffiths, "et al.", 2007 and Anderson, 1990), though it is not yet clear whether they really use the same computational mechanisms.


title: Semantic memory

text: Perhaps the most popular of these models is Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). In LSA, a T × D matrix is constructed from a text corpus where T is the number of terms in the corpus and D is the number of documents (here "context" is interpreted as "document" and only words—or word phrases—are considered as items in memory). Each cell in the matrix is then transformed according to the equation:


title: Semantic memory

text: where formula_2 is the probability that context formula_3 is active, given that item formula_4 has occurred (this is obtained simply by dividing the raw frequency, formula_5 by the total of the item vector, formula_6). This transformation—applying the logarithm, then dividing by the information entropy of the item over all contexts—provides for greater differentiation between items and effectively weights items by their ability to predict context, and vice versa (that is, items that appear across many contexts, like "the" or "and", will be weighted less, reflecting their lack of semantic information). A Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is then performed on the matrix formula_7, which allows the number of dimensions in the matrix to be reduced, thus clustering LSA's semantic representations and providing for indirect association between items. For example, "cat" and "dog" may never appear together in the same context, so their close semantic relationship may not be well-captured by LSA's original matrix formula_8. However, by performing the SVD and reducing the number of dimensions in the matrix, the context vectors of "cat" and "dog"—which would be very similar—would migrate toward one another and perhaps merge, thus allowing "cat" and "dog" to act as retrieval cues for each other, even though they may never have co-occurred. The degree of semantic relatedness of items in memory is given by the cosine of the angle between the items' context vectors (ranging from 1 for perfect synonyms to 0 for no relationship). Essentially, then, two words are closely semantically related if they appear in similar types of documents.


title: Semantic memory

text: The Hyperspace Analogue to Language (HAL) model considers context only as the words that immediately surround a given word. HAL computes an NxN matrix, where N is the number of words in its lexicon, using a 10-word reading frame that moves incrementally through a corpus of text. Like in SAM (see above), any time two words are simultaneously in the frame, the association between them is increased, that is, the corresponding cell in the NxN matrix is incremented. The bigger the distance between the two words, the smaller the amount by which the association is incremented (specifically, formula_9, where formula_10 is the distance between the two words in the frame). As in LSA (see above), the semantic similarity between two words is given by the cosine of the angle between their vectors (dimension reduction may be performed on this matrix, as well). In HAL, then, two words are semantically related if they tend to appear with the same words. Note that this may hold true even when the words being compared never actually co-occur (i.e., "chicken" and "canary").


title: Semantic memory

text: The success of LSA and HAL gave birth to a whole field of statistical models of language. A more up-to-date list of such models may be found under the topic Measures of semantic relatedness.


title: Semantic memory

text: The cognitive neuroscience of semantic memory is a somewhat controversial issue with two dominant views.


title: Semantic memory

text: On the one hand, many researchers and clinicians believe that semantic memory is stored by the same brain systems involved in episodic memory, that is, the medial temporal lobes (MTL), including the hippocampal formation. In this system, the hippocampal formation "encodes" memories, or makes it possible for memories to form at all, and the neocortex stores memories after the initial encoding process is completed.


title: Semantic memory

text: Recently, new evidence has been presented in support of a more precise interpretation of this hypothesis. The hippocampal formation includes, among other structures: the hippocampus itself, the entorhinal cortex, and the perirhinal cortex. These latter two make up the "parahippocampal cortices". Amnesics with damage to the hippocampus but some spared parahippocampal cortex were able to demonstrate some degree of intact semantic memory despite a total loss of episodic memory. This strongly suggests that encoding of information leading to semantic memory does not have its physiological basis in the hippocampus.


title: Semantic memory

text: Other researchers believe the hippocampus is only involved in episodic memory and spatial cognition. This then raises the question where semantic memory may be located. Some believe semantic memory lives in temporal cortex. Others believe that semantic knowledge is widely distributed across all brain areas. To illustrate this latter view, consider your knowledge of dogs. Researchers holding the 'distributed semantic knowledge' view believe that your knowledge of the sound a dog makes exists in your auditory cortex, whilst your ability to recognize and imagine the visual features of a dog resides in your visual cortex. Recent evidence supports the idea that the temporal pole bilaterally is the convergence zone for unimodal semantic representations into a multimodal representation. These regions are particularly vulnerable to damage in semantic dementia, which is characterised by a global semantic deficit.


title: Semantic memory

text: The hippocampal areas are important to semantic memory's involvement with declarative memory. The left inferior prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the left posterior temporal areas are other areas involved in semantic memory use. Temporal lobe damage affecting the lateral and medial cortexes have been related to semantic impairments. Damage to different areas of the brain affect semantic memory differently.


title: Semantic memory

text: Neuroimaging evidence suggests that left hippocampal areas show an increase in activity during semantic memory tasks. During semantic retrieval, two regions in the right middle frontal gyrus and the area of the right inferior temporal gyrus similarly show an increase in activity. Damage to areas involved in semantic memory result in various deficits, depending on the area and type of damage. For instance, Lambon Ralph, Lowe, & Rogers (2007) found that category-specific impairments can occur where patients have different knowledge deficits for one semantic category over another, depending on location and type of damage. Category-specific impairments might indicate that knowledge may rely differentially upon sensory and motor properties encoded in separate areas (Farah and McClelland, 1991).


title: Semantic memory

text: Category-specific impairments can involve cortical regions where living and nonliving things are represented and where feature and conceptual relationships are represented. Depending on the damage to the semantic system, one type might be favored over the other. In many cases, there is a point where one domain is better than the other (i.e. - representation of living and nonliving things over feature and conceptual relationships or vice versa)


title: Semantic memory

text: Different diseases and disorders can affect the biological workings of semantic memory. A variety of studies have been done in an attempt to determine the effects on varying aspects of semantic memory. For example, Lambon, Lowe, & Rogers (2007) studied the different effects semantic dementia and herpes simplex virus encephalitis have on semantic memory. They found that semantic dementia has a more generalized semantic impairment. Additionally, deficits in semantic memory as a result of herpes simplex virus encephalitis tend to have more category-specific impairments. Other disorders that affect semantic memory - such as Alzheimer's disease - has been observed clinically as errors in naming, recognizing, or describing objects. Whereas researchers have attributed such impairment to degradation of semantic knowledge (Koenig et al. 2007).


title: Semantic memory

text: Various neural imaging and research points to semantic memory and episodic memory resulting from distinct areas in the brain. Still other research suggests that both semantic memory and episodic memory are part of a singular declarative memory system, yet represent different sectors and parts within the greater whole. Different areas within the brain are activated depending on whether semantic or episodic memory is accessed. Certain experts are still arguing whether or not the two types of memory are from distinct systems or whether the neural imaging makes it appear that way as a result of the activation of different mental processes during retrieval.


title: Semantic memory

text: Category specific semantic impairments are a neuropsychological occurrence in which an individual ability to identify certain categories of objects is selectively impaired while other categories remain undamaged. This condition can result in brain damage which can be widespread, patchy, or localized to a specific part of the brain. Research suggests that the temporal lobe, more specifically the structural description system might be responsible for category specific impairments of semantic memory disorders.


title: Semantic memory

text: Category specific semantic deficits tend to fall into two different categories, each of which can be spared or emphasized depending on the individual's specific deficit. The first category consists of animate objects with "animals" being the most common deficit. The second category consists of inanimate objects with two subcategories of "fruits and vegetables" (biological inanimate objects) and "artifacts" being the most common deficits. The type of deficit, however, does not indicate a lack of conceptual knowledge associated with that category. This is because the visual system used to identify and describe the structure of objects functions independently of an individual's conceptual knowledge base.


title: Semantic memory

text: Most of the time, these two categories are consistent with case-study data. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule as is the case with most neuropsychological conditions. Things like food, body parts, and musical instruments have been shown to defy the animate/inanimate or biological/non-biological categorical division. For example, it has been shown that musical instruments tend to be impaired in patients with damage to the living things category despite the fact that musical instruments fall in the non-biological/inanimate category. However, there are also cases of biological impairment where musical instrument performance is at a normal level. Similarly, food has been shown to be impaired in those with biological category impairments. The category of food specifically can present some irregularities though because it can be natural, but it can also be highly processed. This can be seen in a case study of an individual who had impairments for vegetables and animals, while their category for food remained intact. These findings are all based on individual case studies, so although they are the most reliable source of information, they are also full of inconsistencies because every brain and every instance of brain damage is unique in its own way.


title: Semantic memory

text: When looking at category specific semantic deficits, it is important to consider how semantic information is stored in the brain. Theories on this subject tend to fall into two different groups based on their underlying principles. Theories based on the "correlated structure principle", which states that conceptual knowledge organization in the brain is a reflection of how often an object's properties occur, assume that the brain reflects the statistical relation of object properties and how they relate to each other. Theories based on the "neural structure principle", which states that the conceptual knowledge organization in the brain is controlled by representational limits imposed by the brain itself, assume that organization is internal. These theories assume that natural selective pressures have caused neural circuits specific to certain domains to be formed, and that these are dedicated to problem-solving and survival. Animals, plants, and tools are all examples of specific circuits that would be formed based on this theory.


title: Semantic memory

text: Modality refers to a semantic category of meaning which has to do with necessity and probability expressed through language. In linguistics, certain expressions are said to have modal meanings. A few examples of this include conditionals, auxiliaries, adverbs, and nouns. When looking at category specific semantic deficits, there is another kind of modality that looks at word relationships which is much more relevant to these disorders and impairments.


title: Semantic memory

text: For category specific impairments, there are modality-specific theories which all rest on a few general predictions. These theories state that damage to the visual modality will result in a deficit of biological objects while damage to the functional modality will result in a deficit of non-biological objects (artifacts). Modality-based theories also assume that if there is damage to modality-specific knowledge, then all the categories that fall under it will be damaged. In this case, damage to the visual modality would result in a deficit for all biological objects with no deficits restricted to the more specific categories. In other words, there would be no category specific semantic deficits for just "animals" or just "fruits and vegetables".


title: Semantic memory

text: Semantic Dementia is a semantic memory disorder that causes patients to lose the ability to match words or images to their meanings. However, it is fairly rare for patients with semantic dementia to develop category specific impairments, though there have been documented cases of it occurring. Typically, a more generalized semantic impairment results from dimmed semantic representations in the brain.


title: Semantic memory

text: Alzheimer's disease is a subcategory of semantic dementia which can cause similar symptoms. The main difference between the two being that Alzheimer's is categorized by atrophy to both sides of the brain while semantic dementia is categorized by loss of brain tissue in the front portion of the left temporal lobe. With Alzheimer's disease in particular, interactions with semantic memory produce different patterns in deficits between patients and categories over time which is caused by distorted representations in the brain. For example, in the initial onset of Alzheimer's disease, patients have mild difficulty with the artifacts category. As the disease progresses, the category specific semantic deficits progress as well, and patients see a more concrete deficit with natural categories. In other words, the deficit tends to be worse with living things as opposed to non-living things.


title: Semantic memory

text: Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis (HSVE) is a neurological disorder which causes inflammation of the brain. It is caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1. Early symptoms include headache, fever, and drowsiness, but over time symptoms including diminished ability to speak, memory loss, and aphasia will develop. HSVE can also cause category specific semantic deficits to occur. When this does happen, patients typically have damage temporal lobe damage that affects the medial and lateral cortex as well as the frontal lobe. Studies have also shown that patients with HSVE have a much higher incidence of category specific semantic deficits than those with semantic dementia, though both cause a disruption of flow through the temporal lobe.


title: Semantic memory

text: A brain lesion refers to any abnormal tissue in or on the brain. Most often, this is caused by a trauma or infection. In one particular case study, a patient underwent surgery to remove an aneurysm, and the surgeon had to clip the anterior communicating artery which resulted in basal forebrain and fornix lesions. Before surgery, this patient was completely independent and had no semantic memory issues. However, after the operation and the lesions occurred, the patient reported difficulty with naming and identifying objects, recognition tasks, and comprehension. For this particular case, the patient had a much more significant amount of trouble with objects in the living category which could be seen in the drawings of animals which the patient was asked to do and in the data from the matching and identification tasks. Every lesion is different, but in this case study researchers suggested that the semantic deficits presented themselves as a result of disconnection of the temporal lobe. This would lead to the conclusion that any type of lesion in the temporal lobe, depending on severity and location, has the potential to cause semantic deficits.


title: Semantic memory

text: The following table summarizes conclusions from the "Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology".


title: Semantic memory

text: These results give us a baseline for the differences in semantic knowledge across gender for healthy subjects. When looking at category specific semantic deficits, we can compare the data to the table above to see if the results line up. Experimental data tells us that men with category specific semantic deficits are mainly impaired with fruits and vegetables while women with category specific semantic deficits are mainly impaired with animals and artifacts. This leads to the conclusion that there are significant gender differences when it comes to category specific semantic deficits, and that the patient will tend to be impaired in categories that had less existing knowledge to begin with.


title: Semantic memory

text: Semantic memory is also discussed in reference to modality. Different components represent information from different sensorimotor channels. Modality specific impairments are divided into separate subsystems on the basis of input modality. Examples of different input modalities include visual, auditory and tactile input. Modality specific impairments are also divided into subsystems based on the type of information. Visual vs. verbal and perceptual vs. functional information are examples of information types. Modality specificity can account for category specific impairments in semantic memory disorders. Damage to visual semantics primarily impairs knowledge of living things, and damage to functional semantics primarily impairs knowledge of nonliving things.


title: Semantic memory

text: Semantic memory disorders fall into two groups. Semantic refractory access disorders are contrasted with semantic storage disorders according to four factors. Temporal factors, response consistency, frequency and semantic relatedness are the four factors used to differentiate between semantic refractory access and semantic storage disorders. A key feature of semantic refractory access disorders is temporal distortions. Decreases in response time to certain stimuli are noted when compared to natural response times. Response consistency is the next factor. In access disorders you see inconsistencies in comprehending and responding to stimuli that have been presented many times. Temporal factors impact response consistency. In storage disorders, you do not see an inconsistent response to specific items like you do in refractory access disorders. Stimulus frequency determines performance at all stages of cognition. Extreme word frequency effects are common in semantic storage disorders while in semantic refractory access disorders word frequency effects are minimal. The comparison of 'close' and 'distant' groups tests semantic relatedness. 'Close' groupings have words that are related because they are drawn from the same category. For example, a listing of clothing types would be a 'close' grouping. 'Distant' groupings contain words with broad categorical differences. Non-related words would fall into this group. Comparing close and distant groups shows that in access disorders semantic relatedness had a negative effect. This is not observed in semantic storage disorders. Category specific and modality specific impairments are important components in access and storage disorders of semantic memory.


title: Semantic memory

text: Semantic memory has had a comeback in interest in the past 15 years, due in part to the development of functional neuroimaging methods such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which have been used to address some of the central questions about our understanding of semantic memory.


title: Semantic memory

text: Positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) allow cognitive neuroscientists to explore different hypotheses concerning the neural network organization of semantic memory. By using these neuroimaging techniques researchers can observe the brain activity of participants while they perform cognitive tasks. These tasks can include, but are not limited to, naming objects, deciding if two stimuli belong in the same object category, or matching pictures to their written or spoken names.


title: Semantic memory

text: Rather than any one brain region playing a dedicated and privileged role in the representation or retrieval of all sorts of semantic knowledge, semantic memory is a collection of functionally and anatomically distinct systems, where each attribute-specific system is tied to a sensorimotor modality (i.e. vision) and even more specifically to a property within that modality (i.e. color). Neuroimaging studies also suggest a distinction between semantic processing and sensorimotor processing.


title: Semantic memory

text: A new idea that is still at the early stages of development is that semantic memory, like perception, can be subdivided into types of visual information—color, size, form, and motion. Thompson-Schill (2003) found that the left or bilateral ventral temporal cortex appears to be involved in retrieval of knowledge of color and form, the left lateral temporal cortex in knowledge of motion, and the parietal cortex in knowledge of size.


title: Semantic memory

text: Neuroimaging studies suggest a large, distributed network of semantic representations that are organized minimally by attribute, and perhaps additionally by category. These networks include "extensive regions of ventral (form and color knowledge) and lateral (motion knowledge) temporal cortex, parietal cortex (size knowledge), and premotor cortex (manipulation knowledge). Other areas, such as more anterior regions of temporal cortex, may be involved in the representation of nonperceptual (e.g. verbal) conceptual knowledge, perhaps in some categorically-organized fashion." It is suggested that within the temporoparietal network, the anterior temporal lobe is relatively more important for semantic processing, and posterior language regions are relatively more important for lexical retrieval.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 September 2003. Although the Cairngorms give their name to, and are at the heart of, the Cairngorms National Park, they only form one part of the national park, alongside other hill ranges such as the Angus Glens and the Monadhliath, and lower areas like Strathspey.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms consists of high plateaux at about above sea level, above which domed summits (the eroded stumps of once much higher mountains ) rise to around . Many of the summits have tors, free-standing rock outcrops that stand on top of the boulder-strewn landscape. In places, the edges of the plateau form steep cliffs of granite and they are excellent for skiing, rock climbing and ice climbing. The Cairngorms form an arctic-alpine mountain environment, with tundra-like characteristics and long-lasting snow patches. This area is home to bird species such as ptarmigan, dotterel, snow bunting, curlew and red grouse, as well as mammals such as mountain hare. The plateau also supports Britain's only herd of reindeer (albeit semi-domesticated). Surrounding the central massif are many remnants of the Caledonian forest in straths and glens of the Rivers Spey and Dee. These forests support many species that are rare elsewhere in Britain, including red squirrels, pine marten, wood ants, Scottish crossbill, capercaillie and crested tit.


title: Cairngorms

text: There are no glaciers, but snow can fall in any month of the year, and snow patches usually persist all summer; for snow and ice climbing, the area is the most dependable in Britain. The mountains are also popular for hill-walking, ski touring and climbing, and there are three alpine ski centres in the range, at Cairn Gorm, The Lecht and Glenshee.


title: Cairngorms

text: The range lies in the Scottish council areas of Aberdeenshire, Moray and Highland, and within the counties of Aberdeenshire, Inverness-shire and Banffshire.


title: Cairngorms

text: The original Gaelic name for the range is "Am Monadh Ruadh" (the red hills), distinguishing them from "Am Monadh Liath" (the grey hills), which lie to the west of the River Spey:


title: Cairngorms

text: The English language name for the range is Cairngorms, and is derived from Cairn Gorm, which is prominent in the view of the mountains from Speyside. The earliest reference to this name appears to be from a Colonel T. Thornton, who visited the area in about 1786:


title: Cairngorms

text: Cairn Gorm is generally translated as "Blue Cairn", although the Gaelic "gorm" is also used as an adjective and verb, meaning green or greening and is often seen in connection with growing grass. Thus, there is a contradiction or confusion, because the original Scottish Gaelic name of the mountains translates to English as the "red hills" whilst their English name is the "blue hills" or the "green hills".


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms consist of three large elevated plateaux adorned with low, rounded glacial mountains, and divided by the passes of the Lairig an Laoigh and the Lairig Ghru. The range gives the sense of being a single plateau, because the passes that cut through them are not very deep: the summit of Lairig an Laoigh lies at , whilst the summit of the Lairig Ghru is at above sea level at the Pools of Dee, where the water may be frozen over even in mid-summer. This means a walker could cross between the Cairntoul () – Braeriach () massif to the Ben Macdui () – Cairn Gorm () massif and thence onto the Beinn a' Bhùird () – Ben Avon () massif without descending below the summit of the Lairig an Laoigh. The range is drained by the Rivers Dee and Spey; and the latter's two tributaries: the Rivers Feshie and Avon.


title: Cairngorms

text: The approximate southern boundary of the Cairngorm range is generally reckoned to run from slightly east of Braemar, west along the Dee and Glen Geldie to the head of Glen Feshie. The western edge of the range is defined by Glen Feshie and the River Spey as far as Aviemore, with the northern boundary running roughly eastward from Aviemore through Glenmore to Glen Avon. The eastern boundary is defined by Glen Avon and the Am Bealach Dearg, thus ending slightly east of Braemar.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms feature the highest, coldest and snowiest plateaus in the British Isles and are home to five of the six highest mountains in Scotland:


title: Cairngorms

text: There are no public roads through the Cairngorms, and all the public roads in the general area either skirt the Cairngorms or stop short, providing access to them only. From the south and south-east, motorised access ends at Linn of Dee, or Allanaquoich. From the north-west, a road passes Coylumbridge, Glenmore and the Sugarbowl to end at the car park at the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort. The majority of hill-walkers access the range from these road ends.


title: Cairngorms

text: In terms of height, remoteness and the severe and changeable weather, the Cairngorms are the most arduous area in the United Kingdom. The plateau area has a Tundra climate (Köppen "ET"), and the shattered terrain is more like the high ground in high-arctic Canada or northern Norway than what is often observed in the European Alps or Rockies. The weather often deteriorates rapidly with altitude so that, when there are moderate conditions below the plateau, the top can be stormy or misty, and there can be icy or powdery snow. Even when no snow is falling, the wind can whip up lying snow to produce white-out conditions for a few metres above the surface, and snowdrifts can build up rapidly in sheltered places. Gravel can be blown through the air, and walking can be impossible.


title: Cairngorms

text: The lowest recorded temperature in the United Kingdom has twice been recorded in the Cairngorms, at Braemar, where a temperature of , was recorded on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982. The greatest British wind speed of was measured at Cairngorm summit weather station in January 1993. The weather can be very hazardous at times, with dangerous and unpredictable conditions. What is often described as Britain's worst mountaineering tragedy, the Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, left five children and one adult dead in November 1971.


title: Cairngorms

text: In 1994, the Cairngorms and surrounding mountains of north-east Scotland had 55 surviving patches, an exceptional number.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms were formed 40 million years before the last ice age, when slight uplift raised an eroded peneplain based on an exposed granite pluton. The highest present-day peaks represent eroded monadnock hills. During the ice ages, the ice caps that covered most of northern Scotland remained static—frozen to the ground for long periods—and actually protected the rounded summits and valleys and deep, weathered granite of the mountains of the area. Glacial erosion is represented in deep valleys which dissect the area. Many valleys are littered with glacial deposits from the period of glacial retreat. The most famous valley is the Lairig Ghru pass, a gouge through the centre of the mountains—a u-shaped valley, now partly filled with extensive scree produced by intense frost action during ice-free periods. Many parts of the Cairngorms exhibit classic periglacial weathering which occurred during cold periods in ice-free areas.


title: Cairngorms

text: Tors are a common feature of the Cairngorm granite massif, being especially frequent on Ben Avon and Beinn Mheadhoin and impressively high on Bynack More. They represent masses of granite which are less closely jointed than surrounding rock and which have therefore been less susceptible to underground weathering associated with fluid percolation along joints. The present tors have been exhumed over a long period of time, not least by periglacial processes associated with ice ages during the Quaternary period.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms provide a unique alpine semi-tundra moorland habitat, home to many rare plants, birds and animals. Speciality bird species on the plateaux include breeding ptarmigan, dotterel, snow bunting, golden eagle, ring ouzel and red grouse, with snowy owl, twite, purple sandpiper and Lapland bunting seen on occasion. Mammal species include red deer and mountain hare, as well as the only herd of reindeer in the British Isles. They now roam the high Cairngorms, after being reintroduced in 1952 by a Swedish herdsman. The herd is now stable at around 150 individuals, some born in Scotland and some introduced from Sweden; since the individuals depend on humans for food and come from domesticated stock, they are not considered wild.


title: Cairngorms

text: The surrounding areas feature an ancient woodland, one of the last major ones of its kind in the British Isles, known as the Caledonian forest. In the forests, capercaillie, black grouse, Scottish crossbill, parrot crossbill and crested tit are found. Of particular fame is the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve at Abernethy Forest and Loch Garten. A famous pair of ospreys are present in the summer months, and they often attract large crowds to see them. The forest is home to the endangered capercaillie and endemic Scottish crossbill.


title: Cairngorms

text: As well being included as part of the Cairngorms National Park the Cairngorm Mountains are designated as a national scenic area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland. Apart from a small area around the Cairngorm Ski Area, the whole of the mountain area is protected as both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area, thus forming part of the Natura 2000 network of protected sites. The Cairngorms are classified as a Category IV protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms were declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 1954, being the largest NNR in Britain. In 2006 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) reviewed the Cairngorms NNR, and it was decided that the reserve should be broken up into separate, smaller reserves that reflected existing management units. There now are four NNRs within the core mountain area of the Cairngorms. Mar Lodge Estate, which covers the south side of the plateau and the watershed of the upper Dee has been classified as a national nature reserve since May 2017. The Abernethy Forest National Nature Reserve covers a stretch of land from the plateau down to Loch Garten on the north side of the range, and Glenmore Forest Park, covering a remnant of the Caledonian Forest surrounding Loch Morlich, is also designated as a national nature reserve. The Invereshie and Inshriach National Nature Reserve lies on the western flanks of the range, and extends to the summit of Sgòr Gaoith.


title: Cairngorms

text: The Cairngorms represents an unusually cold area of mountains in a maritime climate at 57 degrees north. The climate is projected to warm—and precipitation patterns to change—under present climate change models. This is an over-riding concern for the long-term conservation of this area. Ptarmigan has been considered as an indicator species for this process, although the natural population cycles of this bird do not seem to have been disrupted as yet.


title: Cairngorms

text: Other man-made threats include the problems of popularity in a country with limited wilderness resources and a large, relatively affluent urban population. These include various types of recreation and the associated trampling damage and erosion, disturbance, litter and threats to water quality.


title: Cairngorms

text: The valleys between the individual plateaux were used as drove roads by cattle drovers who built rough protective shelters for their arduous journeys. At about the same time that droving was dying out towards the end of the 19th century, deer stalking estates were flourishing, and so the shelters were developed into bothies to provide improved, though still primitive, accommodation for gamekeepers. In modern times, these bothies have been taken over by the Mountain Bothies Association for use by walkers and climbers to provide shelter and rough sleeping accommodation. With the exception of the bothies, there are no buildings or settlements within the Cairngorms, nor is there evidence for historic settlement, except in the uppermost reaches of the Derry and Gairn rivers. In the surrounding areas, villages such as Aviemore and Braemar provide a base for visitors to the core mountain area.


title: Cairngorms

text: Much of the core mountain area is owned by conservation bodies, with the National Trust for Scotland owning Mar Lodge Estate, and the RSPB's Abernethy Estate stretching from the lower slopes up to the plateau. The main private landowners are the Glenavon Estate in the northeast, the Invercauld Estate in the southeast, the Glen Feshie Estate to the southwest and the Rothiemurchus Estate in the northwest.


title: Cairngorms

text: There is a funicular railway on Cairn Gorm serving the Cairn Gorm Ski Centre. The funicular opened in late 2001, and runs from a base station at 637 m up to the Ptarmigan Centre, situated at 1097 m, 150 m from the summit of Cairn Gorm. It was built amidst some controversy, with supporters of the scheme claiming that it would bring valuable tourist income into the area, whilst opponents argued that such a development was unsuitable for a supposedly protected area. A condition was therefore imposed under which walkers were not allowed outside the top station if arriving by funicular, although this did not apply to skiers and snowboarders in the winter. In 2010 the operating company proposed to modify this requirement to allow guided walks, whilst still preventing general access. Guided walks continued to be the only way for walkers and summer visitors to access the plateau if arriving via the funicular as of 2017.


title: Cairngorms

text: The mountains are very popular for hill-walking, with eighteen Munros lying between Ben Avon in the east and Glen Feshie in the west. In winter these summits can often be reached by ski touring. The Cairngorms have excellent climbing, and has long attracted winter climbers, especially in the northern corries. This area boasts what was for a time probably the world's hardest traditionally protected mixed climb: "The Hurting", grade XI. As with all land in Scotland, there is a right of responsible access to the mountains for those wishing to participate in recreational pursuits, although the restriction on access via the funicular means walkers and climbers cannot use the railway to access the hills.


title: Cairngorms

text: Angling for trout and salmon is popular in the lochs and rivers that surround the mountains, and Loch Avon in the very heart of the range is noted for its Arctic charr. Other popular activities include birdwatching and wildlife watching, whilst the Cairngorm Gliding Club (based in Glen Feshie) offers the opportunity for gliding.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: The thorium fuel cycle is a nuclear fuel cycle that uses an isotope of thorium, , as the fertile material. In the reactor, is transmuted into the fissile artificial uranium isotope which is the nuclear fuel. Unlike natural uranium, natural thorium contains only trace amounts of fissile material (such as ), which are insufficient to initiate a nuclear chain reaction. Additional fissile material or another neutron source is necessary to initiate the fuel cycle. In a thorium-fuelled reactor, absorbs neutrons to produce . This parallels the process in uranium breeder reactors whereby fertile absorbs neutrons to form fissile . Depending on the design of the reactor and fuel cycle, the generated either fissions in situ or is chemically separated from the used nuclear fuel and formed into new nuclear fuel.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: The thorium fuel cycle has several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, including thorium's greater abundance, superior physical and nuclear properties, reduced plutonium and actinide production, and better resistance to nuclear weapons proliferation when used in a traditional light water reactor though not in a molten salt reactor.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Concerns about the limits of worldwide uranium resources motivated initial interest in the thorium fuel cycle. It was envisioned that as uranium reserves were depleted, thorium would supplement uranium as a fertile material. However, for most countries uranium was relatively abundant and research in thorium fuel cycles waned. A notable exception was India's three-stage nuclear power programme.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In the twenty-first century thorium's claimed potential for improving proliferation resistance and waste characteristics led to renewed interest in the thorium fuel cycle. While thorium is more abundant in the continental crust than uranium and easily extracted from monazite as a side product of rare earth element mining, it is much less abundant in seawater than uranium.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: At Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s, the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment used as the fissile fuel in an experiment to demonstrate a part of the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor that was designed to operate on the thorium fuel cycle. Molten salt reactor (MSR) experiments assessed thorium's feasibility, using thorium(IV) fluoride dissolved in a molten salt fluid that eliminated the need to fabricate fuel elements. The MSR program was defunded in 1976 after its patron Alvin Weinberg was fired.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In 1993, Carlo Rubbia proposed the concept of an energy amplifier or "accelerator driven system" (ADS), which he saw as a novel and safe way to produce nuclear energy that exploited existing accelerator technologies. Rubbia's proposal offered the potential to incinerate high-activity nuclear waste and produce energy from natural thorium and depleted uranium.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Kirk Sorensen, former NASA scientist and Chief Technologist at Flibe Energy, has been a long-time promoter of thorium fuel cycle and particularly liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs). He first researched thorium reactors while working at NASA, while evaluating power plant designs suitable for lunar colonies. In 2006 Sorensen started "energyfromthorium.com" to promote and make information available about this technology.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: A 2011 MIT study concluded that although there is little in the way of barriers to a thorium fuel cycle, with current or near term light-water reactor designs there is also little incentive for any significant market penetration to occur. As such they conclude there is little chance of thorium cycles replacing conventional uranium cycles in the current nuclear power market, despite the potential benefits.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In the thorium cycle, fuel is formed when captures a neutron (whether in a fast reactor or thermal reactor) to become . This normally emits an electron and an anti-neutrino () by decay to become . This then emits another electron and anti-neutrino by a second decay to become , the fuel:


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Nuclear fission produces radioactive fission products which can have half-lives from days to greater than 200,000 years. According to some toxicity studies, the thorium cycle can fully recycle actinide wastes and only emit fission product wastes, and after a few hundred years, the waste from a thorium reactor can be less toxic than the uranium ore that would have been used to produce low enriched uranium fuel for a light water reactor of the same power.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Other studies assume some actinide losses and find that actinide wastes dominate thorium cycle waste radioactivity at some future periods. Some fission products have been proposed for nuclear transmutation, which would further reduce the amount of nuclear waste and the duration during which it would have to be stored (whether in a deep geological repository or elsewhere). However, while the principal feasibility of some of those reactions has been demonstrated at laboratory scale, there is as of 2022 no large scale deliberate transmutation of fission products anywhere in the world and the upcoming MYRRHA research project into transmutation is mostly focused on transuranic waste. Furthermore, the cross section of some fission products is relatively low and others - such as Caesium - are present as a mixture of stable, short lived and long lived isotopes in nuclear waste, making transmutation dependent on extremely expensive isotope separation.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In a reactor, when a neutron hits a fissile atom (such as certain isotopes of uranium), it either splits the nucleus or is captured and transmutes the atom. In the case of , the transmutations tend to produce useful nuclear fuels rather than transuranic waste. When absorbs a neutron, it either fissions or becomes . The chance of fissioning on absorption of a thermal neutron is about 92%; the capture-to-fission ratio of , therefore, is about 1:12 – which is better than the corresponding capture vs. fission ratios of (about 1:6), or or (both about 1:3). The result is less transuranic waste than in a reactor using the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: , like most actinides with an even number of neutrons, is not fissile, but neutron capture produces fissile . If the fissile isotope fails to fission on neutron capture, it produces , , , and eventually fissile and heavier isotopes of plutonium. The can be removed and stored as waste or retained and transmuted to plutonium, where more of it fissions, while the remainder becomes , then americium and curium, which in turn can be removed as waste or returned to reactors for further transmutation and fission.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: However, the (with a half-life of ) formed via ("n",2"n") reactions with (yielding that decays to ), while not a transuranic waste, is a major contributor to the long-term radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel. While can in principle be converted back to by neutron absorption its neutron absorption cross section is relatively low, making this rather difficult and possibly uneconomic.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Unlike most even numbered heavy isotopes, is also a fissile fuel fissioning just over half the time when it absorbs a thermal neutron. has a relatively short half-life (), and some decay products emit high energy gamma radiation, such as , and particularly . The full decay chain, along with half-lives and relevant gamma energies, is:


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Thorium-cycle fuels produce hard gamma emissions, which damage electronics, limiting their use in bombs. cannot be chemically separated from from used nuclear fuel; however, chemical separation of thorium from uranium removes the decay product and the radiation from the rest of the decay chain, which gradually build up as reaccumulates. The contamination could also be avoided by using a molten-salt breeder reactor and separating the before it decays into . The hard gamma emissions also create a radiological hazard which requires remote handling during reprocessing.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: As a fertile material thorium is similar to , the major part of natural and depleted uranium. The thermal neutron absorption cross section (σ) and resonance integral (average of neutron cross sections over intermediate neutron energies) for are about three and one third times those of the respective values for .


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: The primary physical advantage of thorium fuel is that it uniquely makes possible a breeder reactor that runs with slow neutrons, otherwise known as a thermal breeder reactor. These reactors are often considered simpler than the more traditional fast-neutron breeders. Although the thermal neutron fission cross section (σ) of the resulting is comparable to and , it has a much lower capture cross section (σ) than the latter two fissile isotopes, providing fewer non-fissile neutron absorptions and improved neutron economy. The ratio of neutrons released per neutron absorbed (η) in is greater than two over a wide range of energies, including the thermal spectrum. A breeding reactor in the uranium - plutonium cycle needs to use fast neutrons, because in the thermal spectrum one neutron absorbed by on average leads to less than two neutrons.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Thorium is estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in Earth's crust, although present knowledge of reserves is limited. Current demand for thorium has been satisfied as a by-product of rare-earth extraction from monazite sands. Notably, there is very little thorium dissolved in seawater, so seawater extraction is not viable, as it is with uranium. Using breeder reactors, known thorium and uranium resources can both generate world-scale energy for thousands of years.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Thorium-based fuels also display favorable physical and chemical properties that improve reactor and repository performance. Compared to the predominant reactor fuel, uranium dioxide (), thorium dioxide () has a higher melting point, higher thermal conductivity, and lower coefficient of thermal expansion. Thorium dioxide also exhibits greater chemical stability and, unlike uranium dioxide, does not further oxidize.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Because the produced in thorium fuels is significantly contaminated with in proposed power reactor designs, thorium-based used nuclear fuel possesses inherent proliferation resistance. cannot be chemically separated from and has several decay products that emit high-energy gamma radiation. These high-energy photons are a radiological hazard that necessitate the use of remote handling of separated uranium and aid in the passive detection of such materials.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: The long-term (on the order of roughly to ) radiological hazard of conventional uranium-based used nuclear fuel is dominated by plutonium and other minor actinides, after which long-lived fission products become significant contributors again. A single neutron capture in is sufficient to produce transuranic elements, whereas five captures are generally necessary to do so from . 98–99% of thorium-cycle fuel nuclei would fission at either or , so fewer long-lived transuranics are produced. Because of this, thorium is a potentially attractive alternative to uranium in mixed oxide (MOX) fuels to minimize the generation of transuranics and maximize the destruction of plutonium.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: There are several challenges to the application of thorium as a nuclear fuel, particularly for solid fuel reactors:


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In contrast to uranium, naturally occurring thorium is effectively mononuclidic and contains no fissile isotopes; fissile material, generally , or plutonium, must be added to achieve criticality. This, along with the high sintering temperature necessary to make thorium-dioxide fuel, complicates fuel fabrication. Oak Ridge National Laboratory experimented with thorium tetrafluoride as fuel in a molten salt reactor from 1964 to 1969, which was expected to be easier to process and separate from contaminants that slow or stop the chain reaction.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In an open fuel cycle (i.e. utilizing in situ), higher burnup is necessary to achieve a favorable neutron economy. Although thorium dioxide performed well at burnups of 170,000 MWd/t and 150,000 MWd/t at Fort St. Vrain Generating Station and AVR respectively, challenges complicate achieving this in light water reactors (LWR), which compose the vast majority of existing power reactors.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: In a once-through thorium fuel cycle, thorium-based fuels produce far less long-lived transuranics than uranium-based fuels,


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: some long-lived actinide products constitute a long-term radiological impact, especially and . On a closed cycle, and can be reprocessed. is also considered an excellent burnable poison absorber in light water reactors.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Another challenge associated with the thorium fuel cycle is the comparatively long interval over which breeds to . The half-life of is about 27 days, which is an order of magnitude longer than the half-life of . As a result, substantial develops in thorium-based fuels. is a significant neutron absorber and, although it eventually breeds into fissile , this requires two more neutron absorptions, which degrades neutron economy and increases the likelihood of transuranic production.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Alternatively, if solid thorium is used in a closed fuel cycle in which is recycled, remote handling is necessary for fuel fabrication because of the high radiation levels resulting from the decay products of . This is also true of recycled thorium because of the presence of , which is part of the decay sequence. Further, unlike proven uranium fuel recycling technology (e.g. PUREX), recycling technology for thorium (e.g. THOREX) is only under development.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Although the presence of complicates matters, there are public documents showing that has been used once in a nuclear weapon test. The United States tested a composite -plutonium bomb core in the MET (Military Effects Test) blast during Operation Teapot in 1955, though with much lower yield than expected.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Advocates for liquid core and molten salt reactors such as LFTRs claim that these technologies negate thorium's disadvantages present in solid fuelled reactors. As only two liquid-core fluoride salt reactors have been built (the ORNL ARE and MSRE) and neither have used thorium, it is hard to validate the exact benefits.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: Thorium fuels have fueled several different reactor types, including light water reactors, heavy water reactors, high temperature gas reactors, sodium-cooled fast reactors, and molten salt reactors.


title: Thorium fuel cycle

text: From IAEA TECDOC-1450 "Thorium Fuel Cycle – Potential Benefits and Challenges", Table 1: Thorium utilization in different experimental and power reactors. Additionally from Energy Information Administration, "Spent Nuclear Fuel Discharges from U. S. Reactors", Table B4: Dresden 1 Assembly Class.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had an estimated urban population of 51,903 at June 2018, having grown marginally at an average annual rate of 0.88% year-on-year over the preceding five years. It is the largest settlement in the Sunraysia region. Mildura is a major horticultural centre notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. It is very close to the New South Wales border.


title: Mildura

text: The city's central business district is located just a short distance from the banks of the Murray. Langtree Avenue is the main shopping and dining precinct in Mildura, with the middle section of the street a pedestrian mall. The other major retail precinct is along Fifteenth Street in the Mildura South area, where a mid-sized undercover shopping mall and several big box stores are located. The city's name was taken from the Mildura homestead, an early sheep station which covered most of the area. The urban area of Mildura is surrounded by irrigated horticulture, where the original grape and citrus blocks were located with water irrigated from the Murray River.


title: Mildura

text: There are several theories as to the origin of the name Mildura. While it was the name of the sheep station, without precedent in the English language, most historians believe it to have originated from Aboriginal Australian words. However, the etymology of Mildura is not certain, as in several local dialects, the words "mill" and "dura" have different meanings. The word "dura" is generally thought to mean "earth", "sand" or "rock" in the local Ladji Ladji language. However, usage of the word "mill" varies by dialect and may mean "red" or "water", and thus, interpretations of the name can vary from "red earth" to "water rock".


title: Mildura

text: Many Aboriginal people lived around the site of Mildura because of the abundant food. Local tribes included the Latjilatji and Jarijari.


title: Mildura

text: A major drought in Victoria from 1877 to 1884 prompted Alfred Deakin, then a minister in the State Government and chairman of a Royal Commission on water supply, to visit the irrigation areas of California. There he met George and William Chaffey.


title: Mildura

text: In 1886, Canadian-American irrigator George Chaffey came to Australia and selected a derelict sheep station known as Mildura as the site for his first irrigation settlement, signing an agreement with the Victorian government to spend at least £300,000 on permanent improvements at Mildura in the next twenty years.


title: Mildura

text: After much political wrangling, the settlement of Mildura was established in 1887. The Post Office opened on 23 January 1888.


title: Mildura

text: The nearby towns of Wentworth, Gol Gol, Curlwaa and Yelta sprang up in the mid-to-late 19th century. In the 1890s came the scourge of the rabbit. This devastated the sheep farmers, especially south of the Murray. There was also a financial recession at this time. Combined, these factors restricted growth of the new settlement.


title: Mildura

text: After this period, the new settlement grew and grew. It was soon the main town of the district. Suburbs and new satellite towns sprang up. From the 1920s, a number of 'suburban' train services were established to Merbein and Red Cliffs. These were operated by railcars.


title: Mildura

text: Post war Mildura experienced a large influx of migrants particularly from European and Mediterranean countries including Italy and Greece. Many of these migrants were attracted by the unskilled labour offered by the fruit picking industry.


title: Mildura

text: In 2004 there was a controversial proposal by the Victorian Government to build a state-level Long Term Containment Facility (LTCF) for Industrial Waste in Nowingi, approximately 50 km south of Mildura. The site is a small enclave of state forest surrounded by national park, and contains habitat important to a number of threatened species.


title: Mildura

text: The abandoning of the LTCF proposal was received with jubilation by opponents of the LTCF, not only in the Mildura area and elsewhere in Victoria, but also across the border in South Australia where there were fears that the toxic waste might affect the water supply via the Murray River and thereby the fruit-growing industries of the Riverland and Murraylands.


title: Mildura

text: The Mildura Rural City Council and residents spent almost $2 million fighting the Government's proposal for the LTCF at Nowingi. On 10 January 2007 the Victorian Government did not rule out some form of reimbursement for the council's legal and other costs in opposing the LTCF. "The general rule is that people bear their own costs, that is most likely to apply in this case ... but I've indicated and I am prepared to talk to the council and mayor about the whole issue of how Mildura moves forward and I'll do that," John Thwaites said.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is situated on flat land without hills or mountains on the southern bank of the Murray River and surrounded to the west, north and east by lakes and billabongs including Lake Hawthorn, Lake Ranfurly and Lake Gol Gol. Several towns surround Mildura on the flat plains including Merbein to the west as well as Irymple and Red Cliffs to the south which could be considered suburban areas or satellite towns separated by small stretches of open farmland.


title: Mildura

text: While the land along the river and irrigation channels is fertile, much of the land around Mildura is also dry, saline and semi-arid.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is a largely low-rise and low density urban area that is overwhelmingly dependent upon private automobiles for transportation. Residential dwellings consist almost solely of single-family detached homes on relatively large allotments. The population has been growing rapidly for several decades and most of the residential growth has occurred in the south-western and southern parts of the urban area.


title: Mildura

text: The central business district is located at the northern end of the urban area, fronting onto the Murray River. The main shopping street of Mildura is Langtree Avenue, which features a pedestrian mall and shopping centre. However, this shopping precinct competes with the Mildura Central Shopping Centre, located at the opposite end of the urban area on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Deakin Avenue. Fifteenth Street is also the main strip of big box stores and other commercial enterprises.


title: Mildura

text: The tallest buildings are the two-storey 1934 Old Mildura Base Hospital, two-storey Marina Dockside apartments completed in 2010 and the three-storey tower/spire of the 1920s T&G building.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: "BSk") with hot summers and cool winters. It is only about 50 metres above sea level despite being several hundred kilometres from the coast.


title: Mildura

text: Rainfall totals are about 280 mm a year and are spread evenly across the months and seasons with Winter and Spring having the most rainy days.


title: Mildura

text: Average maximum temperatures range from a hot in summer to a mild in winter. Minimum temperatures range from around in summer to in winter, when frost is common and often destructive to irrigated crops. Mildura experiences some very hot days in summer with temperatures exceeding 40 °C (104 °F) on a number of days per year.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is also known as the centre of "Victoria's Food Bowl" and is a major producer of citrus fruits (especially oranges), and wine. It is also notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. The local area produces more than 70% of Australia's dried vine fruits.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is part of the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone, in which fruits or vegetables may not be taken into the area (they can, however, be taken out). This is to stop the Queensland fruit fly from invading crops and plantations which could have a devastating effect on the economy. Disposal bins into which fruit can be disposed of are located along highways entering the zone.


title: Mildura

text: Tourism is a A$210 million industry in Mildura. However, a large percentage (30%) are domestic tourists visiting friends or relatives.


title: Mildura

text: The city's situation on the Murray River makes it a hub for watersports, paddlesteamers and boat cruises. The still conditions make Mildura ideal for hot air ballooning and the Mildura International Balloon Fiesta attracts many visitors. The Australian Inland Botanic Gardens, located nearby in Mourquong is another popular attraction which draws visitors to the city.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura Central's (formerly Centro Mildura) extensive redevelopment in 2005 has positioned the centre as the major shopping destination within the Sunraysia region. Mildura Central is also the only fully enclosed, air-conditioned shopping centre in this area and offers a retail mix including representation from a number of national fashion stores. Serving a primary trade area population of 60,000 residents, Mildura Central also receives consumers from beyond the trade area including the Riverland, Swan Hill, Robinvale and Broken Hill. It includes a large Target, a Big W to the side of Mildura Central, a 19 aisle Woolworths and a Coles supermarket across the road. Other retailers in Mildura Central include JB Hi-Fi, Kaisercraft, Jay Jays and EB Games.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura's location in Victoria and consistently strong local lobbying have seen the Government of Victoria take an interest in the city as a possible centre for population and industry decentralisation programs. There have been numerous proposals involving the state government for large scale developments and investments, many ambitious and speculative that have been shelved indefinitely.


title: Mildura

text: Given the large amount of sunlight Mildura receives, it is the site for several proposals for large scale solar power in Australia including a massive solar updraft tower proposal in 2004 and 2010. In 2013, Mildura Solar Concentrator Power Station, a 1.5 MW demonstration plant, was commissioned by Silex Systems and it was expected to be expanded to 100 MW by 2017. However, in August 2014, the project was abandoned by Silex, due to lack of commitment to renewable energy by the Abbott government. The government's plans to scrap the praised Renewable Energy Target (RET) in Australia were cited as one of the main reasons for abandoning the project. International scientists criticised this decision extensively, claiming Australia risks being "left behind the rest of the world" if it cuts its plans for renewable energy. The decision to not build the plant may also cause electricity prices to rise significantly in the country.


title: Mildura

text: Another large development which has been controversial was the proposal for Mildura to be the site for Victoria's second casino.


title: Mildura

text: Since early settlement Mildura has been home to artists, writers and creative people. Organisations such as the Red Cliffs Musical Society, Eisteddfod, Mildura Ballet Guild and Mildura Country Music Festival have helped grow a reputation for home grown talent and creative community. The hub of this community is the Mildura Arts Centre, which began as a gallery space at Rio Vista House in the 1950s and became fully established in 1956 with the building of a new regional art gallery and performing arts theatre. In 2012, after two years of construction, the new Mildura Arts Centre opened.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is host to many annual festivals such as the Mildura Country Music Festival, the International Balloon Fiesta, the Jazz Food & Wine Festival, Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival, Murray River International Music Festival, Mildura Writers Festival, Mildura Palimpsest, and the Mildura Show. There is also the annual Mildura masters coarse fishing competition held in November which attracts a number of international and local coarse anglers and the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show


title: Mildura

text: As of the , there were 33,444 people residing in 15,320 households. Indigenous Australians make up 4.6% of Mildura's population. 77.4% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 1.4%, Italy 1.1%, India 0.9%, New Zealand 0.9% and Afghanistan 0.8%. 80.0% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 1.7%, Turkish 1.1%, Tongan 0.8%, Hazaragi 0.7% and Mandarin 0.7%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion, so described 33.1%, Catholic 21.8% and Anglican 11.3%.


title: Mildura

text: In 2018 Mildura recorded the highest rural crime rate in Victoria and the fourth highest crime rate in the state overall.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has long been associated with the Calabrian Mafia, with claims made by police in 1966 that annual organised crime meetings were held in Mildura to co-ordinate nationwide criminal activities. In a 1960s National Anti-Mafia Directorate report by John T. Cusack (United States' Bureau of Narcotics) and Ugo Macera (assistant commissioner of police in Calabria) claims were made that the "ancient Calabrian Secret Criminal Society known as the L'Onorata Societa" and the "'Ndrangheta" were operating "throughout the State, with large segments in the fruit growing and farming areas of Mildura and Shepparton" adding that "There are reports the Society has existed in Victoria since 1930". They have reportedly been involved in revenge killings, cannabis production and weapons purchases.


title: Mildura

text: During the 1980s the Mildura Mafia emerged as a major crime group that dominated marijuana production in Australia and ran an Australia-wide money-laundering network. Several notable mafia murders have been linked to the region including the suspected mafia hit on 43-year-old Marco Medici in 1983, police believe the murder may be connected to the assassination of anti-drug crusader Donald MacKay at Griffith in 1977. The 1984 murders of Melbourne gangsters Rocco Medici and Giuseppe Furina are also connected to Mildura through the Medici family. In 1982, 42-year-old Mildura greengrocer Dominic Marafiote and his parents were murdered after Marafiote gave South Australian police the names of Calabrian mafia bosses in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. In 2016 Mildura residents Nicola Ciconte, Vincenzo Medici and Michael Calleja were convicted and sentenced in Italy for their role in a plot to smuggle up to 500 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has recorded significantly higher than average rates of methamphetamine use. Rural methamphetamine use overall is 2.5 times higher than in metropolitan areas. Prior to 2010 rates of use of illicit drugs in rural areas were significantly lower than those in the cities.


title: Mildura

text: In 2014, a Mildura-based Comancheros Motorcycle Club member and former Australian Defence Force (ADF) sniper, Joshua Faulkhead, was arrested after being caught transporting large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy between Sydney and Mildura. Faulkhead was sentenced to nine years and five months in jail.


title: Mildura

text: In 2015, 20 people were involved in a large drug trafficking operation in Mildura in north-west Victoria. Methamphetamine, marijuana and ecstasy were seized in raids. The drugs seized were reported to be worth more than $15,000. $20,000 in cash were seized and a number of weapons were also seized. Later that same year, Stephen Gillard and Geoffrey Hitchen from South Penrith, were arrested for possession of $300,000 worth of methamphetamines in scrubland off the Mallee Highway at Tutye, west of Ouyen. Local farmers uncovered plastic fruit juice bottles containing the drugs after noticing the men behaving strangely the previous day.


title: Mildura

text: In 2017, a joint Australian Federal Police (AFP) and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation lead to the seizure of $2.4 million in cash at the Mildura Airport, after 255 kilograms crystal methamphetamine were found at a storage facility in Northern California in June. The bust was part of an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to use a light plane to export drugs from the US to Australia. The 72-year-old pilot, a 52-year-old man from Zetland, and a 58-year-old Melbourne man were charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs and money laundering offences. The crystal methamphetamine was reported to be worth $255 million. Those arrests were connected to $2.4 million which was found in Mildura, in a prime mover that was driven from Adelaide in April.


title: Mildura

text: Local newspapers include the Sunraysia Daily, Mildura Midweek and Mildura Weekly. Online news sources include the Mildura Independent Star and River 1467 AM News. Local radio stations include ABC Local Radio (National), River 1467 AM (3ML) (Commercial), 97.9 Sun FM Sunraysia (Commercial), 99.5 Star FM (Commercial), and Hot FM (Community).


title: Mildura

text: Local TV stations include ABC TV, SBS TV, Seven, WIN Television (9), Mildura Digital Television (10), 7two, 7mate, 7flix, 9Go!, 9Gem, 9Life, ABC TV Plus, ABC Kids, ABC Me, ABC News, SBS HD, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS Food, NITV, SBS WorldWatch, 10 Bold and 10 Peach.


title: Mildura

text: Of the three main commercial networks, Seven News produces short local news and weather updates throughout the day, broadcast from its Canberra studios. WIN Mildura produced half-hour "WIN News" bulletins for the Sunraysia region until May 2015.


title: Mildura

text: The Sunraysia region, including the city of Mildura, was the first region in Australia to switch off analogue TV broadcast in the implementation of the country's DTV transition process.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has nine Australian rules football teams competing in the Sunraysia Football League; Imperials, Mildura, South Mildura, Irymple, Robinvale-Euston, Wentworth, Merbein, Red Cliffs and Ouyen United. Mildura also have a junior football League ranging from age groups of under 10s to under 16s.


title: Mildura

text: Roller Derby is a growing sport in the region, with Mildura having its own league, the Mildura Roller Derby League, which participates in competitions around Victoria and, at least annually, holds a tournament in Mildura.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has six swimming clubs and local competitions are regularly held during summer. Clubs train all year round.


title: Mildura

text: The Sunraysia Rugby League is also based in Mildura and has six senior men's teams competing for the annual premiership. Rugby league matches are played from May to September.


title: Mildura

text: The Sunraysia Cricket Association operates its competition between October and March annually. The SCA (not to be confused with Southern Cross Austereo or Supercheap Auto also abbreviated SCA and this SCA and the 2 other SCA’s are all from Australia) consists of eight teams; Coomealla-Wentworth, Merbein South, Irymple, Mildura East, Mildura Settlers, Mildura West, Nichols Point and Workers-Gol Gol.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has a horse racing club, the Mildura Racing Club, which schedules around nine race meetings a year including the Mildura Cup meeting in May.


title: Mildura

text: The Sunraysia Baseball League plays during autumn and winter and has four baseball clubs in the league; Hawks, Saints, Eagles and Wanderers. There are four junior grades (U/7s, U/10s, U/13s and U/16s), three senior grades (A, B and C Grade) and a women's competition.


title: Mildura

text: Basketball also has a large following in Mildura with hundreds of teams in all divisions entered in the Mildura Basketball Association's summer league.


title: Mildura

text: Association football (soccer) also has a large following in Mildura, with there being a popular junior and senior league played during the winter months. The league consists of six teams, those being Three Colours, Mildura City, Mildura United, Irymple Knights, Nichols Point and Northern Suns.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is a town well-known for motor sports. It has several tracks in the region to cater for different types of motor sports, including the Mildura Kart Club (Go-Kart racing), Timmis Speedway (Automobile speedway), Olympic Park Speedway (Motorcycle speedway), Sunset Strip (1/8-mile drag racing), and North West Victoria Motorcycle Club. (Off-road motorcycle racing). The Mildura TT Circuit hosted the Australian TT in the 1950s.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is home to four field hockey teams (Koowinda, Mildura Wanderers, Rivaside and Waratahs) which compete in the Sunraysia Hockey Association. The association has grades for males and females, ranging from Under 9s to A grade.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura is on the intersection of the Sturt Highway from Adelaide to Sydney and the Calder Highway to Melbourne via Bendigo. Deakin Avenue, the main street of Mildura, is known as the longest straight avenue in Australia, at 12.1 km. CDC Mildura, BusBiz and Dysons operate V/Line bus services that connect Mildura to various parts of Victoria and southern New South Wales. Greyhound Australia run buses to Adelaide and Sydney via Canberra. NSW TrainLink run buses to Sydney. The Henty Highway Bus Service runs buses to Horsham.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura has a railway connection to Melbourne, which is used for freight transport that generally runs three times a week in each direction. In May 2006, it was announced that the Mildura line would receive a $73 million upgrade using gauge convertible sleepers.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura Airport is the third busiest airport in Victoria, serviced by three QantasLink flights daily to Melbourne (with four services on Thursday & Friday), three Regional Express Airlines flights to Melbourne, with Regional Express flights daily to Adelaide, Sydney and Broken Hill. Virgin Australia had one flight per day in each direction between Melbourne and Mildura until 2020.


title: Mildura

text: In 1905, a small group of Sisters of Mercy came from Wentworth to Mildura and established a convent in a weatherboard building on the corner of Pine Avenue and Tenth Street.


title: Mildura

text: Catholic secondary education commenced in Mildura in 1906 when the Sisters of Mercy began conducting classes in rooms attached to the original convent in Pine Avenue. The Certificate of Registration of a School, dated 31 December 1906, indicates that sub-primary, primary and secondary classes were being conducted from the convent at the time.


title: Mildura

text: In 1911 boarding school facilities were provided in Olive Avenue and in 1914 a new school was erected in Walnut Avenue. The first buildings of St Joseph's College at its present site were opened in 1929. The college has well equipped classrooms, science and computer laboratories, creative arts and design and technology complex, religious education centre, library, sports facilities, staff and student amenities.


title: Mildura

text: The college has been closely linked with the development of Mildura since the opening of the irrigation settlement by the Chaffeys in the 1880s. In 1890 the Governor of Victoria, Lord Hopetoun, laid the foundation stone of what was to become the Chaffey Agricultural College but, due to financial difficulties, the college was not built. In 1911, the Education Department of Victoria agreed to erect a high school on the Chaffey College site and Mildura High School was officially opened in September 1912. The diamond jubilee of the school was celebrated on 8 and 9 September 1972. It celebrated its 75th anniversary in August 1987 and in 2012 celebrated its centenary over the weekend of 14–16 September.


title: Mildura

text: As part of a strategic plan by the Ministry of Education in 1990, Mildura High School changed its name to Mildura Secondary College to reflect the changing nature of educational delivery in secondary schools. Again, as a result of restructuring in education provision since 1995, the college has been known as Mildura Senior College, catering exclusively for the final two years of secondary education.


title: Mildura

text: Mildura Senior College caters exclusively for Year 11 & 12 students. In 2013 there will be approximately 500 students in Year 11 and 400 in Year 12. Entrance to Year 11 is open to all students living in the Sunraysia District who have successfully completed Year 10. The decision regarding the satisfactory completion of Year 10 is the responsibility of the 7-10 College. Enrolment at the College is also dependent on factors such as age, behaviour record and other achievements. Please see the section on enrolment for further information.


title: Mildura

text: Chaffey Secondary College is a Victorian state government secondary school catering for students in Years 7 to 10 located in Deakin Avenue. In 2012 the college had 640 students enrolled. The college offers 120 to 140 different courses each term as part of its modular learning program. Students and families participate in a program of course counselling and student-led presentations each term to help students create the most appropriate course for their ability, pathway and interests. The college has a double-court gymnasium which it operates as a joint-use facility with the Mildura Rural City Council. The college operates a small theatre with seating for up to 220 people.


title: Mildura

text: Sunraysia Institute of TAFE's main campus is located in Benetook Avenue. In 2008, the institute had 6,592 students enrolled.


title: Mildura

text: La Trobe University operates a regional campus in Mildura, with 500 students enrolled as of 14 February 2018.


title: Mildura

text: The songs "Mildura (Home of Mine)" and "Come to Mildura – the Land of Winter Sunshine" were written by Reg. Stoneham in the 1920s.


title: Mildura

text: G. H. Ball's "My Old Home Town (Mildura)" was recorded on the B-side of John Collinson's first recording of "Waltzing Matilda" in 1926.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: Shankaracharya Temple or Jyeshteshwara Temple is a Hindu temple situated on top of the Shankaracharya Hill on the Zabarwan Range in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is at a height of above the valley floor and overlooks the city of Srinagar.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: On festivals such as Herath, as Maha Shivratri is known as in the region, the temple is visited by Kashmiri Hindus. The temple is also considered as a Buddhist icon, and with the hill which has had multiple names over the centuries, is connected to the Persian and Muslim faith as well.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The temple and adjacent land is a monument of national importance, centrally protected under the Archaeological Survey of India. Dharmarth Trust has managed the temple since the 19th century, along with others in the region. Karan Singh is the sole chairperson trustee.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The structure is considered as the oldest temple in Kashmir, historically and traditionally. It is situated on a hill that is a well preserved Panjal trap formed by Permian era volcanic activity. There is no consensus with regard to an exact date of construction.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The earliest historical reference to the hill comes from Kalhana. He called the mountain 'Gopadri' or 'Gopa Hill'. Kalhana says that King Gopaditya granted the land at the foot of the hill to the Brahmins that had come from the "Aryadesa". The land grant, an "agraharam", was called 'Gopa Agraharas'. This area at the base is now called Gupkar. Kalhana mentions another village in the vicinity of the hill where King Gopaditya housed some of the Brahmins to a village next door in present-day Dalgate. Kalhana also mentions that King Gopaditya built the temple on the top of the hill as a shrine to Jyesthesvara (Shiva Jyestharuda) around 371 BCE.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: In 1899 James Fergusson placed the temple construction to the 17th to 18th century. Fergusson disputes claims that structures on the basis of which he makes this claim are from repairs. Aurel Stein while agreeing that the superstructures are from a more recent date, places the base and the stairs as much older. Historical figures associated with the monument include Jaloka, one of the sons of Ashoka (Gonandiya), according to the Rajatarangini.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: Kashmiri Hindus strongly believe the temple was visited by Adi Shankara (8th century CE) and has ever since been associated with him; this is how the temple and hill got the name Shankaracharya. It is here that the literary work Soundarya Lahari was composed. It was composed by Adi Shankara after accepting the major faith in the region at the time, that of Shakti, and that the union of Shiva and Shakti, as in Shaktism, transpired into the symbolism of the Sri Yantra.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: Names associated with the hill include Sandhimana-parvata, Koh-e-Suleman, Takht-i-Sulaiman or simply Takht Hill, Gopadri or Gopa Hill. The Dogra King Gulab Singh (1792-1857 CE) constructed the steps to the hill from Durga Naag temple side. Steps existed before as well, leading further, to the Jhelum. Nur Jahan used the stones of the steps in the construction of Pathar Mosque.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The Maharaja of Mysore came to Kashmir in 1925 and made the electrical search light installations at the temple, five around it and one on the top. The Maharaja left an endowment to fund the cost of electricity. In 1961 Shankaracharaya of Dwarkapeetham put the statue of Adi Shankaracharaya in the temple. Sri Aurobindo visited the temple area in 1903. Vinoba Bhave visited it in August 1959.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: A road to the temple was constructed by Border Roads Organisation in 1969. While this was road construction was primarily to aid the setting up of a communications tower, and part of the road would be closed to the public, the road would also be used for those going to the temple. There are around 240 steps to reach the presiding deity. The Dharmarth Trust has built two small shelters here for sadhus. The hill has a large range of flora. There is very limited human activity on the hill other than religious tourism. From the top of the hill, Justine Hardy, a British writer, counted over 1350 boats on the Dal Lake. Jhelum is visible. The wide panorama covers major landmarks such as Dal Lake, Jhelum, and Hari Parbat.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The temple rests on a solid rock. A tall octagonal base supports a square building on top. Each side of the octagon is feet. The front, back and flanks are plain while the other four sides have minimal design but noticeable angles. The center is made up of a circle in diameter with an entrance wide. The walls are .


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The terrace around the square temple is reached by a stone staircase enclosed between two walls. A doorway on the opposite side of the staircase leads to the interior, which is a small and dark chamber, circular in plan. The ceiling is supported by four octagonal columns, which surround a Basin containing a Lingam encircled by a snake.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The temple is used for regular worship and pilgrims visit the temple during the Amarnath Yatra. During the yatra, on the lunar phase of the new moon, the associated tradition of bringing Shiva's holy mace to the temple is carried out. The temple is part of the governments' tourist circuits. On occasions such as Maha Shivaratri, Herath, the temple is lit up. To ensure adequate preparations during festivals, as is the procedure with other religious and cultural centers in the city such as Hazratbal Shrine, the district administration reviews arrangements. The temple was one of hundred Archaeological Survey of India monuments lit up in 2021 to mark the administration of one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses in India.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: In 1948 Sheikh Abdullah wrote a letter to the Madras weekly "Swatantra". Abdullah directed his message to south India at a time when India had sent someone from the south to defend its case in the United Nations, He wrote that Shankaracharya, someone from the south, came to Kashmir where his dialogue with a Kashmiri Hindu lady, in which he was outwitted, led to the development of Shaivism. Abdullah wrote that "a memorial to the great Shankaracharya in Kashmir stands prominent on the top of the Shankaracharya Hill in Srinagar" and that the temple contained an idol of Shiva.


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: The 2000 Bollywood films "Mission Kashmir" and "Pukar" feature the temple. The temple also briefly features in the 1974 the song "Jai Jai Shiv Shankar."


title: Shankaracharya Temple

text: In 2012, government figures placed 438 temples in the valley. According to the chairperson of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, there are 1,842 sites associated with Hinduism in Kashmir including big and small temples, springs, caves and trees.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: Crossfire Hurricane was the code name for the counterintelligence investigation undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from July 31, 2016, to May 17, 2017, into myriad links between Russian officials and associates of Donald Trump and "whether individuals associated with [his] presidential campaign were coordinating, wittingly or unwittingly, with the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election".<ref name="OIG_12/9/2019"></ref> Trump was not personally under investigation until May 2017, when his firing of FBI director James Comey raised suspicions of obstruction of justice, which triggered the Mueller investigation.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: The investigation was officially opened on July 31, 2016, initially due to information on Trump campaign member George Papadopoulos's early assertions of Russians having damaging material on Trump's rival candidate Hillary Clinton. From late July to November 2016, the joint effort between the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Security Agency (NSA) examined evidence of Russian meddling in the presidential election. The FBI's team enjoyed a large degree of autonomy within the broader interagency probe.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: The FBI's work was taken over on May 17, 2017, by the Special Counsel investigation of 2017–2019, which eventually resulted in the Mueller Report. Mueller concluded that Russian interference occurred in a "sweeping and systematic fashion" and that there were substantial links with the Trump campaign, but the evidence available to investigators did not establish that the Trump campaign had "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: Trump and his allies repeatedly alleged that the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was opened on false pretenses for political purposes. A subsequent review done by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, released in redacted form in December 2019, found no evidence that political bias against Trump tainted the initiation of the investigation, but did find that the FBI made 17 errors or omissions in its FISA warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) for surveillance of Trump aide Carter Page.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: On January 23, 2020, two of the four FISA warrants were declared invalid by the Department of Justice. James E. Boasberg, a Washington D.C. federal judge, also said that surveillance collected against Page lacked a legal basis. As a result of this and other issues that raised questions about the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, Attorney General William Barr assigned John Durham, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, to lead an investigation into Crossfire Hurricane.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: On August 19, 2020, a former FBI attorney plead guilty to making a false statement stemming from his alteration of an email connected to one of the FISA warrant applications.<ref name="Lucas_1/29/2021"></ref>


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: On October 19, 2020, Barr appointed Durham to be a Special Counsel, elevating the form of the investigation, in this probe.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: After working on the Ben Carson 2016 presidential campaign as a foreign policy adviser, in early February 2016 George Papadopoulos, codenamed "Crossfire Typhoon" by the FBI,<ref name="Herridge_4/9/2020"></ref> left the Carson campaign. That same month, he moved to London to begin working for the London Centre of International Law Practice (LCILP), with which he has been associated for several months. On March 6, he accepted an offer to work with the Trump campaign. As part of his duties with the LCILP, on March 12 he traveled to the Link Campus University in Rome to meet officials with the university. While on this trip, on March 14 he met Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud and informed the professor about his joining the Trump campaign. On March 21, the Trump campaign told the "Washington Post" that Papadopoulos was one of five foreign policy advisers for the Trump campaign. Mifsud took more interest in Papadopoulos, and met him in London on March 24 with a Russian woman posing as "Putin's niece".<ref name="LaFraniere_Mazzetti_Apuzzo_12/30/2017"></ref>


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: Mifsud traveled to Moscow in April 2016, and upon his return he told Papadopoulos that Russian government officials were in possession of "thousands of emails" that could be politically damaging to Hillary Clinton. According to reporting by "Malta Today" about FBI records, Mifsud told the FBI in his February 2017 interviews that he had no advanced knowledge of Russia having emails from the Democratic National Committee, and did not make any offers to Papadopolous. On May 6, Papadopoulos met Alexander Downer, the Australian High Commissioner to Britain in a London bar, and told him about the Clinton emails over drinks. After WikiLeaks released hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails on July 22, the Australian government on July 26 advised American authorities of the encounter between Downer and Papadopoulos. Receipt of this information spurred the FBI's launch of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation on July 31.


title: Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)

text: In late July 2016, according to his May 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, CIA director John Brennan convened a group of officials from the CIA, NSA and FBI to investigate Russian interference. In a July 2017 interview, Brennan described this group effort as a "fusion cell". According to his later testimony, Brennan gave the FBI leads involving "contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign" that were beyond the CIA's mandate to pursue. He said this information "served as the basis for the FBI investigation to determine whether such collusion [or] cooperation occurred".