title: BeiDou

text: In 2007, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that the resolution of the BeiDou system was as low as 0.5 metre. With the existing user terminals it appears that the calibrated accuracy is 20 m (100 m, uncalibrated).


title: BeiDou

text: In 2008, a BeiDou-1 ground terminal cost around (), almost 10 times the price of a contemporary GPS terminal. The price of the terminals was explained as being due to the cost of imported microchips. At the China High-Tech Fair ELEXCON of November 2009 in Shenzhen, a BeiDou terminal priced at was presented.


title: BeiDou

text: Sun Jiadong, the chief designer of the navigation system, said in 2010 that "Many organizations have been using our system for a while, and they like it very much".


title: BeiDou

text: BeiDou-2 (formerly known as COMPASS) is not an extension to the older BeiDou-1, but rather supersedes it outright. The new system is a constellation of 35 satellites, which include 5 geostationary orbit satellites for backward compatibility with BeiDou-1, and 30 non-geostationary satellites (27 in medium Earth orbit and 3 in inclined geosynchronous orbit), that offer complete coverage of the globe.


title: BeiDou

text: The ranging signals are based on the CDMA principle and have complex structure typical of Galileo or modernized GPS. Similar to the other global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs), there are two levels of positioning service: open (public) and restricted (military). The public service is available globally to general users. When all the currently planned GNSSs are deployed, users of multi-constellation receivers will benefit from a total over 100 satellites, which will significantly improve all aspects of positioning, especially availability of the signals in so-called urban canyons. The general designer of the COMPASS navigation system is Sun Jiadong, who is also the general designer of its predecessor, the original BeiDou navigation system. All BeiDou satellites are equipped with laser retroreflector arrays for satellite laser ranging and the verification of the orbit quality.


title: BeiDou

text: There are two levels of service provided – a free service to civilians and licensed service to the Chinese government and military. The free civilian service has a 10-metre location-tracking accuracy, synchronizes clocks with an accuracy of 10 nanoseconds, and measures speeds to within 0.2 m/s. The restricted military service has a location accuracy of 10 centimetre, can be used for communication, and will supply information about the system status to the user. In 2019, the International GNSS Service started providing precise orbits of BeiDou satellites in experimental products.


title: BeiDou

text: To date, the military service has been granted only to the People's Liberation Army and to the Pakistan Armed Forces.


title: BeiDou

text: Frequencies for COMPASS are allocated in four bands: E1, E2, E5B, and E6; they overlap with Galileo. The fact of overlapping could be convenient from the point of view of the receiver design, but on the other hand raises the issues of system interference, especially within E1 and E2 bands, which are allocated for Galileo's publicly regulated service. However, under International Telecommunication Union (ITU) policies, the first nation to start broadcasting in a specific frequency will have priority to that frequency, and any subsequent users will be required to obtain permission prior to using that frequency, and otherwise ensure that their broadcasts do not interfere with the original nation's broadcasts. As of 2009, it appeared that Chinese COMPASS satellites would start transmitting in the E1, E2, E5B, and E6 bands before Europe's Galileo satellites and thus have primary rights to these frequency ranges.


title: BeiDou

text: Although little was officially announced by Chinese authorities about the signals of the new system, the launch of the first COMPASS satellite permitted independent researchers not only to study general characteristics of the signals, but even to build a COMPASS receiver.


title: BeiDou

text: Compass-M1 is an experimental satellite launched for signal testing and validation and for the frequency filing on 14 April 2007. The role of Compass-M1 for Compass is similar to the role of the GIOVE satellites for the Galileo system. The orbit of Compass-M1 is nearly circular, has an altitude of 21,150 km and an inclination of 55.5°.


title: BeiDou

text: Compass-M1 transmits in 3 bands: E2, E5B, and E6. In each frequency band two coherent sub-signals have been detected with a phase shift of 90° (in quadrature). These signal components are further referred to as "I" and "Q". The "I" components have shorter codes and are likely to be intended for the open service. The "Q" components have much longer codes, are more interference resistive, and are probably intended for the restricted service.


title: BeiDou

text: The investigation of the transmitted signals started immediately after the launch of Compass-M1 on 14 April 2007. Soon after in June 2007, engineers at CNES reported the spectrum and structure of the signals. A month later, researchers from Stanford University reported the complete decoding of the "I" signals components. The knowledge of the codes allowed a group of engineers at Septentrio to build the COMPASS receiver and report tracking and multipath characteristics of the "I" signals on E2 and E5B.


title: BeiDou

text: In December 2011, the system went into operation on a trial basis. It started providing navigation, positioning and timing data to China and the neighbouring area for free from 27 December 2011. During this trial run, Compass offered positioning accuracy to within 25 metre and the precision improved as more satellites were launched. Upon the system's official launch, it pledged to offer general users positioning information accurate to the nearest 10 m, measure speeds within 0.2 metre per second, and provide signals for clock synchronisation accurate to 0.02 microseconds.


title: BeiDou

text: The BeiDou-2 system began offering services for the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. At this time, the system could provide positioning data between longitude 55° E to 180° E and from latitude 55° S to 55° N.


title: BeiDou

text: In December 2011, Xinhua stated that "[t]he basic structure of the BeiDou system has now been established, and engineers are now conducting comprehensive system test and evaluation. The system will provide test-run services of positioning, navigation and time for China and the neighboring areas before the end of this year, according to the authorities". The system became operational in the China region that same month. The global navigation system should be finished by 2020.


title: BeiDou

text: As of December 2012, 16 satellites for BeiDou-2 had been launched, with 14 in service. And as of December 2017, 150 m Chinese smartphones (20% of the market) were equipped to utilize Beidou.


title: BeiDou

text: The third phase of the BeiDou system (BDS-3) includes three GEO satellites, three IGSO satellites, and twenty-four MEO satellites which introduce new signal frequencies B1C/B1I/B1A (1575.42MHz), B2a/B2b (1191.795MHz), B3I/B3Q/B3A (1268.52MHz), and Bs test frequency (2492.028MHz). Interface control documents on the new open signals were published in 2017–2018.


title: BeiDou

text: On 23 June 2020, the BDS-3 constellation deployment was fully completed after the last satellite was successfully launched at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. BDS-3 satellites also include SBAS (B1C, B2a, B1A) and search and rescue transponder capabilities.


title: BeiDou

text: Characteristics of the "I" signals on E2 and E5B are generally similar to the civilian codes of GPS (L1-CA and L2C), but Compass signals have somewhat greater power. The notation of Compass signals used in this page follows the naming of the frequency bands and agrees with the notation used in the American literature on the subject, but the notation used by the Chinese seems to be different.


title: BeiDou

text: There has also been an experimental S band broadcast called "Bs" at 2492.028 MHz, following similar experiments on Beidou-1.


title: BeiDou

text: The first satellite of the second-generation system, Compass-M1 was launched in 2007. It was followed by further nine satellites during 2009–2011, achieving functional regional coverage. A total of 16 satellites were launched during this phase.


title: BeiDou

text: In 2015, the system began its transition towards global coverage with the first launch of a new-generation of satellites, and the 17th one within the new system. On 25 July 2015, the 18th and 19th satellites were successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, marking the first time for China to launch two satellites at once on top of a Long March 3B/Expedition 1 carrier rocket. The Expedition-1 is an independent upper stage capable of delivering one or more spacecraft into different orbits. On 29 September 2015, the 20th satellite was launched, carrying a hydrogen maser for the first time within the system.


title: BeiDou

text: In 2016, the 21st, 22nd and 23rd satellites were launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the last two of which entered into service on 5 August 2016 and 30 November 2016, respectively.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Varahagiri Venkata Giri (; 10 August 1894 — 24 June 1980) was an Indian politician and activist from Berhampur in Odisha who served as the 4th president of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974. He also 3rd vice president of India from 13 May 1967 to 3 May 1969. He is the first president to be elected as an independent candidate. He was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as president in 1974. After the end of his full term, Giri was honoured by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975. Giri died on 24 June 1980.


title: V. V. Giri

text: V. V. Giri was born in Berhampur, Madras Presidency (present-day Odisha) into a Telugu speaking Niyogi Brahmin family. His parents hailed from Chintalapudi village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and shifted to Berhampur for their bright future. His father, V. V. Jogayya Pantulu, was a successful lawyer and political activist of the Indian National Congress who had been working at Berhampur. Giri's mother Subhadramma was active in the national movement in Berhampur during the Non Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements and was arrested for leading a strike for prohibition during the Civil Disobedience Movement.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri completed his initial primary education at Hillpatna Primary School, Berhampur and higher education at the Khallikote College {now Khallikote College (Autonomous) and Unitary University}, then affiliated with Madras University, in Chennai. V.V. Giri was also elected to the student union of Khallikote College for three consecutive times and highly active in freedom movement during his student days in Berhampur.


title: V. V. Giri

text: In 1913, he went to Ireland to study law which he did at University College Dublin and the Honourable Society of King's Inns, Dublin between 1913–1916. Giri was one among the first crop of thirteen Indian students who sat the obligatory year long course at UCD in 1914–15. This was a requirement for being called to the Irish Bar through study at the King's Inns. In total, 50 Indian students studied at UCD between 1914 and 1917.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri and a fellow law student also enrolled to study on the full bachelor of arts course in UCD. Giri studied English, where he was lectured by Thomas MacDonagh, and Political Economy. His lecturer in political economy was the reformer and co-operativist Thomas A. Finlay SJ.


title: V. V. Giri

text: During the First World War, Giri travelled from Dublin to London and met Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi wanted for Giri to join the Imperial war effort as a Red Cross Volunteer. Giri initially acceded to Gandhi's request but later regretted his decision. According to one of Giri's biographers, "Gandhiji with his characteristic magnanimity relieved Giri of the obligation to join the Red Cross and did not breathe a word about it to anyone.”


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was active in both Indian and Irish politics during his studies. Along with fellow Indian students he produced a pamphlet documenting the abuse of Indians in South Africa. The pamphlet was intercepted by Indian Political Intelligence and resulted in increased police scrutiny of Giri and his fellow students in Dublin. Meanwhile, anonymous articles were written by Indian students for the newspaper of the Irish Volunteers and in "The National Student", a UCD student magazine.


title: V. V. Giri

text: He was suspected of association with prominent ring leaders in the 1916 Rising including James Connolly, Pádraig H. Pearse and the young Éamon de Valera. Giri was called to the Irish Bar on 21 June 1916 but he did not complete his studies for BA in UCD. Indian students were subjected to police raids following the 1916 Rising and Giri recounts how he was served with one month's notice to leave Ireland on 1 June 1916.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Upon returning to India in 1916 Giri enrolled at the Madras High Court. He also became a member of the Congress party, attended its Lucknow session and joined the Home Rule Movement of Annie Besant. Giri abandoned a flourishing legal career in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for a Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920. In 1922, he was arrested for the first time for demonstrating against the sale of liquor shops.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was closely associated with the labour and trade union movement in India throughout his career. Giri was a founding member of the All India Railwaymen's Federation which was formed in 1923 and served as its general secretary for over a decade. He was elected president of the All India Trade Union Congress for the first time in 1926. Giri also founded the Bengal Nagpur Railway Association and in 1928 led the workers of the Bengal Nagpur Railway in a non violent strike for the rights of retrenched workers. The strike succeeded in forcing the British Indian government and the management of the railway company to concede the workers' demands and is regarded as a milestone in the labour movement in India. In 1929, the Indian Trade Union Federation (ITUF) was formed by Giri, N. M. Joshi and others with Giri as the president. The split with the AITUC came about over the issue of cooperating with the Royal Commission on Labour. Giri and the ITUF leadership of liberals decided to cooperate with the Commission while the AITUC decided to boycott it. The ITUF merged with the AITUC in 1939 and Giri became president of the AITUC for a second time in 1942.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was the Workers' Delegate of the Indian delegation at the International Labour Conference of the ILO in 1927. At the Second Round Table Conference, Giri was present as a representative of the industrial workers of India. Giri worked towards getting the trade unions to support the freedom movement in India and was twice president of the AITUC which was closely allied with the Indian National Congress.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri became a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1934. He remained its member until 1937 and emerged a spokesman for matters of labour and trade unions in the Assembly.


title: V. V. Giri

text: In the General Elections of 1936, Giri defeated the Raja of Bobbili to become a member of the Madras Legislative Assembly. Between 1937–1939, he was Minister for Labour and Industry in the Congress government headed by C Rajagopalachari. Giri was appointed Governor of the National Planning Committee of the Indian National Congress in 1938. In 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest against the British decision to make India a party in the Second World War. Having returned to the labour movement, Giri was arrested and spent 15 months in prison till March 1941.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Following the launch of the Quit India Movement, Giri was imprisoned again by the colonial government in 1942. He remained in prison when the AITUC met in Nagpur in 1943 where he was the president elect. Giri served his sentence in the Vellore and Amaravathi prisons. Giri remained in prison for three years, his longest sentence, until his release in 1945.


title: V. V. Giri

text: In the General Elections of 1946, Giri was reelected to the Madras Legislative Assembly and became a minister again in charge of the labour portfolio under T. Prakasam.


title: V. V. Giri

text: From 1947 to 1951, Giri served as India's first High Commissioner to Ceylon. In the General Elections of 1951, he was elected to the 1st Lok Sabha from Pathapatnam Lok Sabha Constituency in the Madras State.


title: V. V. Giri

text: On being elected to Parliament, Giri was appointed Minister of Labour in 1952. His policy initiatives as minister gave rise to the "Giri Approach" in industrial dispute resolution. The Giri approach emphasizes negotiations between the management and workers as the means for resolving industrial disputes. It holds that the failure of such negotiations should lead not to compulsory adjudication but to further negotiations through conciliation officers. However, differences with the government over patronage to trade unions, trade union and government opposition to the Giri Approach and the government's decision to reduce the wages of bank employees led him to resign from government in August 1954.


title: V. V. Giri

text: In the General Elections of 1957, Giri lost from the Parvatipuram double-member constituency. Giri played an important role in founding the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE). In June 1957, he was appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Between 1957–1967, Giri served as governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957–1960), Kerala (1960–1965) and Karnataka (1965–1967).


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was sworn in as the second Governor of Kerala on 1 July 1960. As Governor, Giri's active voicing of Kerala's fiscal needs with the Planning Commission led to the state being allocated significantly more funds in the Third Five Year Plan. When defections from the ruling Congress Party reduced the government to a minority, Giri recommended the imposition of President's Rule in Kerala after determining that an alternative government could not be formed. A hung assembly resulted from the elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1965. Since no party had a majority and no alliances commanding a majority could be formed, Giri again recommended the dissolution of the assembly and the imposition of President's Rule in the state.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was elected the third vice president of India on 13 May 1967, a post he held for nearly two years till 3 May 1969. Giri was the first vice president to not complete his full term in office on account of being elevated to the office of the president and was the third vice president to be elected to the presidency.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Following the death in office of President Zakir Hussain on 3 May 1969, Giri was sworn in as acting president the same day. Giri resigned from his post on 20 July 1969 to contest the presidential elections as an independent candidate. Immediately before resigning, Giri, in his capacity as acting president, promulgated an ordinance that nationalised 14 banks and insurance companies. He was succeeded as acting president by Mohammad Hidayatullah, the Chief Justice of India.


title: V. V. Giri

text: The election of a new president became a contest between the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the old guard of the Congress Party known as the Syndicate. The All India Congress Committee decided to support Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the presidential candidate, disregarding the Prime Minister's opposition. Giri, who was vice president, resigned and decided to contest as an independent candidate. Prime Minister Gandhi then decided to support him, endorsing a "vote of conscience" that allowed Congress legislators to vote for Giri. The election, held on 16 August 1969, witnessed a contest between Reddy, Giri and the opposition candidate C D Deshmukh. In the closely fought election V V Giri emerged victorious, winning 48.01 per cent of the first preference votes and subsequently getting a majority on counting the second preference votes. In the final tally, Giri had 420,077 votes against the quota of 418,169 votes required to be elected president.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Following Giri's election, an election petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India contesting its validity on the grounds of having used corrupt practices to influence voters. Giri, unusually for an incumbent president of India, chose to appear in person before the Court where he was examined as a witness. The Court ultimately dismissed the petition and upheld Giri's election as president.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was sworn in as President of India on 24 August 1969 and held office till 24 August 1974 when he was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. On his election, Giri became the only president to have also been an acting president and the only person to be elected president as an independent candidate.


title: V. V. Giri

text: As president, Giri unquestioningly accepted Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's decision to sack the Charan Singh ministry in Uttar Pradesh and advised her to go in for early elections in 1971. The ordinance abolishing privy purses and privileges of the erstwhile rulers of India's princely states was promulgated by Giri after the government's original amendment was defeated in the Rajya Sabha. His advice to Prime Minister Gandhi against the appointment of A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice of India superseding three judges senior to him was ignored by her as was his warning that a crackdown on striking railwaymen would only exacerbate the situation. As president, Giri made 14 state visits to 22 countries in South and South East Asia, Europe and Africa.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri is regarded as a president who completely subordinated himself to the prime minister and has been described as a "Prime Minister’s President", a loyalist president and a rubber stamp president under whom the independence of the office eroded. When Giri's term ended in 1974, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose not to renominate him to the presidency and instead chose Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who was elected in the presidential election of 1974.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri was honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1975 for his contributions in the area of public affairs. As president, Giri had suo motu conferred the Bharat Ratna on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971. Giri was in turn conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1975 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Gandhi, in an act seen as a quid pro quo measure. Giri was the fourth of the six Presidents of India to have been conferred the Bharat Ratna (viz. Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Husain, V.V. Giri, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee).


title: V. V. Giri

text: He was given a state funeral the next day and a week-long mourning period was declared by the Government of India. Rajya Sabha, of which Giri had been ex-officio chairman as Vice President of India, adjourned for two days as a mark of respect to him.


title: V. V. Giri

text: A commemorative postage stamp on V.V. Giri was released by the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department in 1974. The National Labour Institute was renamed in honour of V.V. Giri in 1995. V.V. Giri's hometown of Berhampur in Odisha has a major road, a secondary training school and a big market that are named after him. V.V.Giri donated his huge & historic bungalow in Brahmapur for a Girls School (Now its famous as GIRI Girls High School. It is also the first Girl's School and a famous secondary government school in Odisha). The British time market 'Victoria Market' is also renamed as GIRI Market in Berhampur. The family members of VV Giri resides in another small bungalow at Giri Road in Berhampur.


title: V. V. Giri

text: Giri authored "Industrial Relations" and "Labour Problems in Indian Industry", two popular books on issues of labour in India. His memoirs, published in 1976, are titled "My Life and Times".


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea (, born November 1, 1960) is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. Valenzuela played 17 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons, from to and to . While he played for six MLB teams, he is best remembered for his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Valenzuela batted and threw left-handed. His career highlights include a win-loss record of 173–153, with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.54. Valenzuela was notable for his unorthodox windup and for being one of a small number of pitchers who threw a screwball regularly. Never a particularly hard thrower, the Dodgers felt he needed another pitch; he was taught the screwball in 1979 by teammate Bobby Castillo.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela was signed by the Dodgers on July 6, 1979, and he made his debut late in the season. In , in what came to be called "Fernandomania," Valenzuela rose from relative obscurity to achieve super-stardom. He won his first eight starts (five of them shutouts). Valenzuela finished with a record of 13–7 and had a 2.48 ERA; the season was shortened by a player's strike. He became the first, and to date, the only player to win both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela had the best period of his career from to . He was named a National League (NL) All-Star in each season and won a major league-leading 21 games in , although Mike Scott of the Houston Astros narrowly beat him out in the Cy Young Award voting. Valenzuela was also known as one of the better hitting pitchers of his era. He had ten career home runs and was occasionally used by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda as a pinch-hitter. However, for the remainder of Valenzuela's Dodgers career, his pitching efforts were rendered less effective, largely due to nagging shoulder problems. He was on the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series championship team, but he did not play in the postseason because of his ailing shoulder. On June 29, 1990, Valenzuela threw his only MLB no-hitter, pitching at Dodger Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals, a 6–0 victory. Despite having recently shown flashes of his former self, he was unceremoniously released by the Dodgers just prior to the season. The remainder of his big league career was spent with the California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, and St. Louis Cardinals.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela retired from baseball after the 1997 season. In 2003, he returned to the Dodgers as a broadcaster. In 2015, he became a naturalized American citizen.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Fernando Valenzuela, the youngest of twelve children, was born in Etchohuaquila, a small town within the municipality of Navojoa in the state of Sonora, Mexico. His birth date is officially listed as November 1, 1960, but during his rookie season in 1981, several commentators questioned his age, guessing him to be significantly older than 20. His parents, Avelino and María, were poor farmers who worked the land with the help of their children, and are of Mayo indigenous ancestry.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: In 1977, Valenzuela began his professional baseball career when he signed with the Mayos de Navojoa. A year later, he was sent to the Guanajuato Tuzos of the Mexican Central League, posting a 5–6 win–loss record with a 2.23 earned run average (ERA). The following year, the Mexican Central League was absorbed into the expanded Mexican League, automatically elevating then 18-year-old Valenzuela to the Triple-A level. Pitching for the Leones de Yucatán that year, Valenzuela went 10–12 with a 2.49 ERA and 141 strikeouts.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: A number of MLB teams scouted Valenzuela during this time. Los Angeles Dodgers scout Mike Brito had gone to a game in Mexico to evaluate a shortstop named Ali Uscanga. Valenzuela threw three balls to Uscanga to fall behind in the count and then threw three straight strikes to strike out the batter. Brito said later that at that point, he "forgot all about the shortstop". The Dodgers finally gambled on the young lefty, buying out his Liga contract on July 6, 1979, for $120,000.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: After acquiring Valenzuela in the summer of 1979, the Dodgers assigned him to the Lodi Dodgers of the High-A level California League where he posted a 1–2 record and a 1.13 earned run average (ERA) in limited action. The Dodgers felt that Valenzuela needed to learn to throw an off-speed pitch, so they had Dodgers pitcher Bobby Castillo teach him to throw the screwball before the 1980 season. In 1980 Valenzuela was promoted to the Double-A level San Antonio Dodgers. There Valenzuela led the Texas League with 162 strikeouts, finishing the season with a 13–9 win–loss record and a 3.10 ERA.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela was called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen in September 1980. In the last month of the season, Valenzuela helped the Dodgers to a tie with the Houston Astros for the National League Western Division lead, pitching 17 scoreless innings of relief over the course of ten games, during which he earned two wins and a save. However, the Dodgers then lost a one-game playoff—and thus, the division championship—to the Astros.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: The following season, Valenzuela was named the Opening Day starter as a rookie after Jerry Reuss was injured 24 hours before his scheduled start, and Burt Hooton was not ready to fill in. Valenzuela shut out the Houston Astros 2–0. He started the season 8–0 with five shutouts and an ERA of 0.50. In addition to his dominance on the mound, Valenzuela's unusual and flamboyant pitching motion—including a glance skyward at the apex of each wind-up—drew attention of its own. It was a habit he claims to have developed spontaneously, although not until joining the Dodgers.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: An instant media icon, Valenzuela drew large crowds from Los Angeles' Latino community every time he pitched and triggered high demand across the country for his rookie 1981 Topps and Fleer baseball cards. The craze surrounding Valenzuela came to be known as "Fernandomania". During his warm-up routine at Dodger Stadium, the PA system would play ABBA's 1976 hit song "Fernando". He became the first player to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the Cy Young Award in the same season. He was also the first rookie to lead the National League in strikeouts. The Dodgers won the World Series that season.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Prior to the 1982 season, Valenzuela became the first player to be awarded a $1 million salary in arbitration (equivalent to $ million in ).


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela was less dominant after the 1981 player strike wiped out the middle third of the season, but the left-hander still finished with a 13–7 record and a 2.48 ERA. He led all pitchers in complete games (11), shutouts (8), innings pitched (192.1), and strikeouts (180). In the NL West Division Series against the Houston Astros, Valenzuela became the youngest pitcher to start the first game of any postseason series and later pitched a complete game in Game Three of the World Series against the New York Yankees. In total, he went 3–1 in the postseason as he helped the Dodgers to their first world championship since 1965.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: In addition to his skills on the mound, Valenzuela also displayed much better offensive skills than most pitchers. During his rookie season, Valenzuela batted .250 and struck out just 9 times in 64 at-bats, and he was the recipient of the National League's Silver Slugger Award for pitchers.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Following his outstanding debut, Valenzuela, nicknamed "El Toro" (the Bull) by fans, settled down into a number of years as a workhorse starter and one of the league's best pitchers.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Prior to the 1986 season, he signed a contract worth $5.5 million over three years (equivalent to $ million in ), then the wealthiest contract for a pitcher in baseball history. His annual average salary of $1,833,333 and 1988 salary of $2.05 million (equivalent to $ million in ) also both set records for a pitcher.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: He had one of his best seasons in 1986, when he finished 21–11 with a 3.14 ERA and led the league in wins, complete games and innings pitched. He lost a narrow vote for the 1986 National League Cy Young Award to the Astros' Mike Scott.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: At the 1986 All-Star Game, Valenzuela made history by striking out five consecutive American League batters, tying a record set by fellow left-handed screwballer Carl Hubbell in the 1934 contest.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: In 1987 his performance declined; he earned a 14–14 win–loss record with a 3.98 ERA. In 1988, a year in which the Dodgers won the World Series, he won just five games and missed much of the season, despite not being on the postseason roster, he still earned a second World Series ring. He improved slightly in 1989 and went 10–13; he posted a 13–13 record in 1990. He had one last great moment on June 29, 1990, when he threw a 6–0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals just hours after the Oakland Athletics' Dave Stewart had thrown one against the Toronto Blue Jays. According to teammate Mike Scioscia, Fernando and many Dodger players watched Stewart, who was a former Dodgers player, throw the no-hitter on TV. Afterward, before his game, Fernando said to his teammates, "You just saw a no-hitter on TV. Now you will see one in person."


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Early in his major league career, Valenzuela had trouble communicating with his catchers because he spoke very little English. Mike Scioscia, after being called up as a rookie, made the effort to learn Spanish and eventually became Valenzuela's "personal catcher" with the Dodgers before becoming the full-time catcher.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: After pitching ineffectively in spring training in 1991, Valenzuela was released by the Dodgers. At the time of Valenzuela's release, several Dodgers leaders, including Tommy Lasorda, Fred Claire, and Peter O'Malley, praised Valenzuela for creating exciting memories over several seasons and they indicated that it was a difficult decision to release him.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: An abortive attempt at a comeback with the California Angels failed later that summer. Valenzuela signed with the Detroit Tigers in the spring of 1992, but he never played for the team, and was out of the Majors in 1992, with his contract being purchased by Jalisco of the Mexican League that summer. He pitched and played some first base when he wasn't on the mound before making another brief comeback in 1993 with the Baltimore Orioles.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Jumping between the big leagues and Mexico for the next few seasons, he put together one more solid big-league season in 1996 for the San Diego Padres, going 13–8 with a 3.62 ERA. He retired a year later with a final record of 173–153 and a 3.54 ERA as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: On June 29, 2004, Valenzuela announced he would return to the mound in the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico (the Mexican Pacific Coast League) to play for Los Aguilas de Mexicali in October; he was nearly 44 years old at the time. He pitched again in the Mexican winter league during the 2005–06 season. On December 20, 2006, in Mexicali, BC, Mexico, Fernando Valenzuela was the starting pitcher for Los Aguilas de Mexicali in the last professional game of his career.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela was considered an atypically good hitter for a pitcher. His best year at the plate was 1990—his last year with the Dodgers—when he hit .304 with five doubles, one home run, and 11 RBI in 69 at-bats. That gave him a 101 OPS+, meaning Valenzuela ranked just above average among all National League hitters that year, including non-pitchers. With 187 hits in 936 career at-bats—roughly two full seasons worth of at-bats for a full-time position player—his career batting average was .200, with 10 home runs, 26 doubles, and 84 RBI. Valenzuela was even used on occasion as a pinch-hitter, batting .368 (7-for-19) in such situations. Twice while with the Dodgers, Valenzuela was called upon to play outfield and first base in marathon extra-inning games in which he did not pitch. He won the Silver Slugger award for pitchers in 1981 and 1983.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: In 2003, Valenzuela returned to the Dodgers organization as the Spanish-language radio color commentator for National League West games, joining Jaime Jarrín and Pepe Yñiguez in the Spanish-language booth. In 2015, he was switched to the color commentator job on the Spanish-language feed of SportsNet LA.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela also served on the coaching staff of Team Mexico during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2009 World Baseball Classic, 2013 World Baseball Classic, and 2017 World Baseball Classic.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame on August 23, 2003, in a pregame on the field ceremony at Dodger Stadium. In 2005, he was named one of three starting pitchers on MLB's Latino Legends Team. In 2013, he was enshrined into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. Valenzuela was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2006.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: As a show of respect, the Dodgers have unofficially kept Valenzuela's jersey number 34 out of circulation and they named him as part of the initial class of "Legends of Dodger Baseball" in 2019.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: On October 26, 2010, ESPN broadcast a documentary commemorating Valenzuela's arrival with the Dodgers titled "Fernando Nation" as part of their "30 for 30" documentary series.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: On October 25, 2017, Valenzuela threw the first pitch at Game 2 of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium, introduced by recently retired announcer Vin Scully, and joined by Steve Yeager.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: The Mexican Baseball League commemorated Valenzuela's legacy on 6 July 2019, and retired his jersey number #34 from the entire league.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: In 1981, Valenzuela married Linda Burgos, a schoolteacher from Mexico. Early in his career, Valenzuela and his family spent offseasons between the Mexican cities of Etchohuaquila and Mérida. The couple has four children. One of Valenzuela's sons, Fernando, Jr., played in the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox organizations as a first baseman. Since 2006, Fernando Jr. has played minor league baseball in Mexico or in independent leagues.


title: Fernando Valenzuela

text: Valenzuela became a U.S. citizen on July 22, 2015, at a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles. He has participated in two Tournament of Roses Parades—in 1983 aboard the float from the Government of Mexico and in 2008 aboard the Los Angeles Dodgers' float. In 1981, Valenzuela participated in the East Los Angeles Christmas Parade as Grand Marshal.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS or DS) is a security and law enforcement agency that acts as the operational division of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is a branch of the United States Department of State. Its primary mission is to protect diplomatic assets, personnel and information, as well as combat visa and passport fraud. The agency also undertakes counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cybersecurity and criminal investigations, both domestically and abroad.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Originating from diplomatic security measures enacted during the First World War, DSS was formally established in 1985 in response to the deadly 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. It is the leading U.S. law enforcement agency abroad and the most widely deployed in the world, protecting 275 U.S. diplomatic missions in over 170 countries and 29 U.S. cities. DSS special agents are unique in U.S. federal law enforcement for also being members of the Foreign Service.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The agency's most visible activity is providing security to the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and other senior diplomats, both domestically and abroad. As part of its duty to provide a safe and secure environment for U.S. diplomacy, the DSS also protects foreign dignitaries, advises U.S. ambassadors on security matters and manages security programs for international events, often in cooperation with domestic and foreign counterparts.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: While best known for its security role, DSS is a full-fledged law enforcement agency that conducts international criminal investigations, threat analysis, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, security technology and cybersecurity. The agency employs over 2,000 special agents, sometimes referred to as "DSS Agents" or "DS Agents." These agents are federal agents with the power to arrest, carry firearms, serve arrest warrants and perform other law enforcement activities.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Whereas most U.S. federal law enforcement agents are members of the Federal Civil Service, the majority of DSS special agents are both Foreign Service specialists and law enforcement officers. DSS agents are uniquely required to serve multiple-year tours abroad as a condition of employment. When not on an overseas assignment, agents serve at DSS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, or in one of the 29 field offices nationwide. A small percentage of DSS special agents are members of the State Department's Civil Service and are not mandated to serve tours overseas; they instead focus on criminal investigations and dignitary protection within the United States.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: When assigned to domestic field offices, DSS special agents investigate passport fraud and visa fraud, and protect visiting foreign dignitaries. They also investigate the activities of foreign intelligence agencies that are focused on the Department of State, assist in apprehending fugitives that have fled the United States, and conduct background checks on State Department employees, applicants and contractors.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: When assigned to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, DSS special agents perform law enforcement duties at U.S. missions, provide security assistance, protect senior diplomats and perform other roles as needed. The ranking DSS Special Agent at an embassy or consulate holds the title Regional Security Officer (RSO) and is often known as the 'security attaché'.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The origins of DSS go back to the early stages of the First World War, when the United States, which sought to maintain its neutrality, found itself the target of espionage, sabotage and passport fraud. German and Austrian spies were known to be conducting operations in New York City using forged or stolen identity papers. In late 1915, Secretary of State Robert Lansing recommended creating an international law enforcement task force within the Department of State to investigate such crimes.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: When his suggestion failed to gain support, on April 4, 1916, Secretary Lansing, with the authorization of President Woodrow Wilson, created his own task force, the Bureau of Secret Intelligence, which he dubbed "the Secret Service of the Department of State." An off-the-books adjunct to the Division of Information, the Bureau was also known as the Office of the Chief Special Agent, possibly to disguise its sensitive operations.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Supported by confidential funds from Secretary Lansing's office, this small force was composed of agents from the U.S. Secret Service, who specialized in counterfeit currency, and agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), which had the best forensic laboratory in the country. The agents were overseen by a junior Foreign Service Officer, Leland Harrison. Tasked primarily with counterespionage and counterintelligence, the team also investigated passport fraud, protected U.S. and foreign diplomats on U.S. soil, and processed threat reports from overseas posts. Following U.S. entry into the war, the Bureau also interned and exchanged diplomatic officials of enemy powers.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: After the war ended, Congress passed laws requiring American citizens to return with passports and resident aliens to enter with visas. State Department agents began investigating subsequent instances of passport and visa fraud. Around this same time State Department agents began protecting distinguished visitors to the United States. By the 1920s, the Chief Special Agent no longer reported his office's activities directly to the Secretary of State, instead answering to the Assistant Secretary of State for Administration. Within the next two decades major passport fraud activities were detected and neutralized worldwide, often involving both Communists and Nazis.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: During World War II, State Department agents were once again involved in interning and exchanging diplomatic officials of enemy powers. Around this time, the Chief Special Agent's office became known as SY (short for Office of Security), which in turn was under the Administration Bureau of the Management Undersecretary. After World War II, SY began expanding its presence overseas, with numerous Regional Security Officer (RSO) positions created in overseas posts.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In 1961, Otto Otepka, then a deputy director of SY, brought to the attention of the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee deficiencies in the State Department clearance process. The allegations were traced all the way up to then Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Despite multiple awards, appeals from multiple U.S. Senators and not backing down, Secretary Rusk removed Otepka from his position and ultimately unceremoniously fired him.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Starting sometime after World War II, SY began regularly protecting visiting heads of state, but it had done so sporadically since the 1930s. Before his departure in 1947, SY Director Bannerman began codifying procedures for overseas security. This process continued in the late 1940s, with a number of RSO positions being created. From that time and through the early 1970s, the number of agents remained relatively small, hovering around 300, with more than half of these serving overseas at any given time. The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing was a catharsis for the State Department, which would transform SY into the newly created Diplomatic Security Service, part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Congress formed a commission headed by Admiral Bobby Ray Inman to look into the bombings of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Beirut. The resultant Inman Report recommended that security at the State Department needed to be elevated to a higher priority. In 1985, Congress created the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS), headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, and the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), headed by the Director of DSS, who is subordinate to the Assistant Secretary of State for DS. However, DSS is the federal law enforcement agency, and not the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS).


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Director of DSS is an active DSS agent and is often referred as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS), as he/she is senior to the various assistant directors of Diplomatic Security who hold positions equivalent to Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS). The PDAS designation signifies the DSS director's preeminence over the other DASs within DSS, while at the same time signifying his/her position under the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The first several Assistant Secretaries for DS were senior Foreign Service Officers, while the last three have been senior law enforcement officers, brought in from other law enforcement agencies. With the creation of DS and DSS, its ranks grew to well over 1,000 agents. However, by the mid-1990s, budget cutbacks were foisted on the U.S. State Department by Congress, and the department in turn trimmed the budget of DSS to the point where it had dwindled to a little over 600 agents.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Although DSS was by then a Bureau within the State Department, the vast majority of RSOs overseas continued to report to the Administration Officer. This changed in 1999, as fallout from the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998. The terse message from the then Undersecretary for Management announcing the immediate change made it clear that this action was against his best judgment and insinuated that it was done because then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ordered it. This change stripped DSS out from under Administration Officers and placed the RSO directly under the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in the chain of command at an Embassy.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Outside the Department of State, there is much confusion about the relationship between the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The DS oversees all security related matters of the Department of State, which includes security at U.S. embassies and consulates. DS has approximately 34,000 employees, of whom roughly 2,400 are U.S. federal agents within DSS. As such, DSS is the primary mechanism by which the Bureau of Diplomatic Security accomplishes its law enforcement (criminal investigative) and security missions.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, who in turn is served by several Deputy Assistant Secretaries (DAS). The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) is the Director for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and is always an active DSS Special Agent.All employees who work for Bureau of Diplomatic Security, including those of DSS, are referred to as DS employees. This usage sometimes appears in DOS press releases, although recently multi-agency press releases from the Department of Justice distinguish between DSS and its umbrella organization. Additionally, DSS special agents are frequently assigned to positions within DS but outside of the DSS chain of command hierarchy. For example, while assigned overseas, Department of State employees are evaluated by their superiors at the embassy or consulate to which they are assigned. In the case of DSS agents, the RSO (senior special agent at post) is rated by the Deputy Chief of Mission and reviewed by the Chief of Mission (Ambassador). The DSS hierarchy has no input on the agent's evaluation, though it does provide instructions to the agent.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The DSS is best identified with its protection assignments around the globe. The largest permanent dignitary protection detail carried out by DSS agents is on the United States Secretary of State. The Ambassador to the United Nations also has an ongoing protection detail. Some U.S. ambassadors receive protection from DSS in addition to security provided overseas by the host countries, depending on their post.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Currently, the protection detail for the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq is one of the largest in the agency's history.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Protection of visiting Foreign ministers and senior officials from major nations, Heads of States and governments not officially recognized by the U.S, Heads of Major International organizations and high ranking diplomats are typically covered by DSS. Notable protection details include most major members of the British royal family, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Princess Diana, Yasser Arafat, Tsai Ing-wen and Boris Yeltsin. DSS may also provide protection to high-risk private individuals visiting the U.S, such as prominent foreign dissidents or opposition leaders.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Office of Foreign Missions is responsible for the protection of foreign embassies and consulates on U.S. soil. Since DSS does not have a true uniformed force with police powers, other agencies or local police departments are reimbursed for providing this service; two notable are the Secret Service Uniformed Division in Washington, D.C. and the New York City Police Department. During the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in September, DSS, as well as the U.S. Secret Service and other federal agencies, protect dozens of foreign dignitaries in New York City.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS has the authority to provide protection for foreign heads of state and was the lead agency for this role through the early 1970s. However, an order signed by President Richard Nixon gave primary responsibility of protection of visiting heads of state to the Secret Service. Nevertheless, the DSS has expanded its protection mission, including providing security to the heads of Afghanistan, Haiti and Liberia in their respective home countries.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State raised questions about whether DSS would serve its usual protective role, since, as a former First Lady, she received Secret Service protection. The DSS was ultimately named as the lead agency to carry out the protection for Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS investigations, carried out by numerous Field Offices and Resident Agent offices throughout the U.S, and by RSOs overseas, focus mainly on passport or visa fraud. DSS Special Agents also investigate such cases as human and sex trafficking, document fraud, international parental kidnapping, violations of the Protect Act, assaults on federally protected persons, fugitive arrests overseas (with host nation assistance), counterterrorism and counterintelligence (CI) investigations and international organized crime cases. If there is a nexus to passport and/or visa fraud, use of State Department documents, diplomatic activities, the U.S. Foreign Service, or terrorism, DSS is typically involved.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: U.S. passports and visas are valuable travel documents, and consequently some foreign nationals fraudulently acquire U.S. passports and visas to carry out criminal activities, including terrorism, inside the borders of the United States. It is a federal offense to apply, or assist someone in applying, for a U.S. passport or visa when they are not entitled to one. Usually this means an alien in the U.S. trying to establish a false U.S. identity, or stealing the identity from an American, often one who has died. Visa fraud can also include participating in sham marriages in order to allow an unentitled foreigner to become a U.S. citizen.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Sometimes Americans, including Foreign Service Officers (FSOs), are the target of DSS investigations, such as an FSO selling visas for personal gain. DSS also investigates other alleged improper or illegal behavior by Department of State personnel, to include incidents of espionage. Such cases would involve other agencies, such as the Department of Justice. Overseas DSS must take the role of local and state law enforcement when investigating issues such as spousal or child abuse by U.S. government personnel assigned to the embassy. This is because the host country will not investigate or prosecute diplomats, who are considered to have immunity from their laws. DSS also conducts tens of thousands of background investigations per year – not just for the Department of State, but for other federal agencies as well.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In recent years, DSS has expanded its overseas investigations program with ARSO-I's (Assistant Regional Security Officer-Investigators), also known as "Overseas Criminal Investigators." These agents are given special training in consular functions and are commissioned consular officers. However, they spend a large amount of their time working with the fraud units in consular sections, investigating visa and passport fraud, as well as crimes that have a nexus to those documents, including terrorism, organized crime, trafficking in persons, and narcotics violations. The ARSO-I's may work alien smuggling and human trafficking investigations alongside resident or regional ICE- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents. Attaché who typically has jurisdictional primacy in these arenas. At the U.S. border, ARSO-I's may work alien smuggling, human trafficking, and passport and visa fraud cases with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and HSI. In addition, ARSO-I's also have responsibilities outside of their respective Consular assignments for mission security.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Diplomatic Security Service Office of Investigations and Counterintelligence (DS/ICI/CI) conducts a robust counterintelligence program designed to deter, detect, and neutralize the efforts of foreign intelligence services targeting Department of State personnel, facilities, and diplomatic missions worldwide.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The office's counterintelligence division conducts aggressive counterintelligence inquires and counterespionage investigations with other U.S. government agencies. Counterespionage investigations are conducted in coordination with the FBI in accordance with their legal mandates.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The division conducts numerous counterintelligence and security awareness training programs for all U.S. Government personnel requesting or having access to sensitive Department of State facilities and information. All training programs enhance the understanding of both foreign intelligence and espionage threats and countermeasures, and educate employees on the foreign intelligence environment.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In addition, the office relies on a cadre of security engineers to deter, detect, and neutralize attempts by foreign intelligence services to technically penetrate U.S. office buildings and residences. These efforts range from detecting a simple listening device in the wall to countering the most sophisticated electronic eavesdropping devices and systems.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On June 4, 2009, DSS and the FBI arrested former Department of State employee Walter Kendall Myers on charges of serving as an illegal agent of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government. Myers’ arrest is the culmination of a three-year joint DSS/FBI investigation.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Diplomatic Security Service maintains agents in dozens of Joint Terrorism Task Force operations around the country. The Office of Protective Intelligence and Investigations (PII) in the Threat Intelligence and Analysis division has DSS Special Agents who travel all over the world investigating threats to the Secretary of State and U.S. Embassies and Consulates. Any time there is a threat or an attack against a U.S. Embassy or Consulate, DSS Special Agents are the first on the scene to investigate.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism rewards program of DSS. The Secretary of State is currently offering rewards for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In the days following the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, DSS Special Agents investigated the incident along with personnel from the FBI, HSI, State Police, Boston Police, Cambridge Police, and other law enforcement agencies; this led to the death of one suspect and the capture of the second suspect.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS investigates crimes against State Department personnel and other U.S. Government personnel and families assigned under Chief of Mission authority at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad. DSS Special Agents have investigated thefts, assaults, rapes, and murders, among other charges, around the world. Unlike investigations conducted in the United States by other federal agencies, DSS Agents have to work jointly with their foreign counterparts in often hostile areas of the world.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On January 28, 2009, CIA station chief Andrew Warren in Algiers, Algeria was reportedly under investigation by DSS for having allegedly raped two local Muslim women.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Diplomatic Security Service is tasked with tracking and capturing fugitives who have fled U.S. jurisdiction to avoid prosecution. In 2009, it assisted in the resolution of 136 international fugitive cases from around the globe.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In 1995 DSS Special Agents Jeff Riner and Bill Miller, the RSOs assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, along with Pakistani police and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), arrested Ramzi Yousef, who was wanted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Jared Ravin Yaffe ran a child pornography ring between March and September 2008 by paying babysitters to give him access to children. When police took note, Yaffe fled to North Carolina, Germany, Romania or Bulgaria, and finally Brazil. He traveled under his real name with his own passport and was chased by U.S. Marshals. On February 11, 2009, the United States District Court, Southern District of California issued a federal arrest warrant for Yaffe, and on April 11, Yaffe was profiled on the television show "America's Most Wanted". Brazilian federal police caught him on May 11, and he was returned to the United States the next day, where he faced 20 counts in San Diego of child sexual assault, kidnapping, production of child pornography, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He initially pled not guilty, and his bail was set at $5 million. A year after his capture, Yaffe pled guilty to several counts and was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison, while a babysitter who had provided a child to him also pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. DSS Special Agent Terrance Lawrence was involved in returning Yaffe from Brazil.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On September 19, 2009, Special Agents from DSS located Derrick Yancey, a former deputy sheriff from DeKalb County, Georgia, in Punta Gorda, Belize. Yancey was wanted in Georgia for double murder of his wife Linda Yancey and a day laborer.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On November 23, 2009, DSS Special Agents from the U.S. Embassy's Regional Security Office (RSO) worked closely with the U.S. Marshals Service, Guatemalan National Police, and INTERPOL to locate alleged murder suspect 24-year-old Ariel Beau Patrick, who was taken into custody in Guatemala. Ariel Patrick was featured on America's Most Wanted.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: "America's Most Wanted" featured the capture of Robert Snyder in Belize – DSS Special Agent (RSO) Rob Kelty was interviewed by John Walsh.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On April 26, 2010, after failing to check in with pretrial services within two days of his April 21 hearing on his bond status, Andrew Warren 42, was apprehended by a combined team of Norfolk Police Department Fugitive Investigators, DSS Special Agents and U.S. Marshals. Judge Ellen S. Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the former CIA officer.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On July 30, 2010, special agents from DSS located fugitive George Alvin Viste in Peru. Viste was wanted in Clark County, Washington on seven different criminal charges including the rape of a child, child molestation, and incest. “Diplomatic Security’s Regional Security Office in Lima worked closely with the U.S. Marshals Service and our law enforcement counterparts (INTERPOL) in Peru to locate Viste,” said Jeffrey W. Culver, Director of the Diplomatic Security Service.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On October 8, 2010, DSS agents located Dario Sarimiento Tomas in Pampanga, Philippines. DSS worked with Philippine officials to apprehend Tomas, who was wanted in South Korea on charges that he defrauded an individual there of more than $200,000. Tomas was arrested by law enforcement officials from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigations and National Police. Tomas was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul as a Customs and Border Protection Officer.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On February 3, 2011, Paul Eischeid, a fugitive and member of the Hells Angels who had eluded U.S. Marshals for nearly eight years, was arrested. The accused murderer was arrested in Buenos Aires. An Interpol Red Notice, as well as investigations by the U.S. Marshals Service and DSS in Argentina led to his capture.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On October 5, 2011, in cooperation with the U.S. Marshals Montana Violent Offender Task Force and Belize Police, DSS arrested Michael Patrick McNulty on a $100,000 warrant issued by the state of Montana.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On November 7, 2012, U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) announces the capture of John Earl Gorham. The U.S. Parole Commission issued an arrest warrant for Gorham on Oct. 17, regarding the subject's original conviction of sodomy, kidnapping and assault with the intent to commit sodomy. Gorham was convicted and sentenced to 35 years on these charges. Gorham was arrested for being drunk in public and for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female at a Chantilly High School football game. The USMS and task force partners from the Diplomatic Security Service located Gorham at his residence on Church Lane in Bowie, MD. The subject was arrested without incident and turned over to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for prosecution.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: On April 20, 2013, in coordination with Nicaraguan authorities, the FBI's Panama City Legal Attaché Office and the Diplomatic Security's Regional Security Office of the U.S. Embassy in Managua located Eric Justin Toth in Esteli, Nicaragua, where he was placed into custody. His arrest was the result of an exhaustive and well coordinated investigation by the FBI's Washington Field Office, the FBI legal attaché, and Special Agents of the Diplomatic Security Service assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Managua.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The DSS presence overseas is led at each embassy by a DSS Special Agent known as a Regional Security Officer (RSO), who is in charge of a Regional Security Office and serves as the senior law enforcement advisor and security attaché to the U.S. Ambassador.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Like all members of the Foreign Service, DSS agents cannot remain posted in the U.S. for more than six consecutive years and must eventually be assigned to an overseas post. Once assigned overseas, a DSS agent will typically serve first as a Special Agent called an Assistant Regional Security Officer (ARSO) in a Regional Security Office. Agents who enjoy the overseas lifestyle will try to get a second tour in a Special Agent slot at a large embassy, or possibly serve as a Regional Security Officer (RSO) at a small post or as a Deputy Regional Security Officer (DRSO) at a medium-sized post. Usually after two back-to-back overseas tours, agents will be encouraged to return to the U.S. and serve in a headquarters position before returning overseas as a Regional Security Officer.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS has been expanding its criminal role overseas and now has many overseas fraud investigator positions. These positions are referred to as “I” positions – as in “Investigator” – and they are commonly referred to as ARSO-Is. These agents work out of the consular sections of embassies and consulates instead of the Regional Security Offices. The performance of these agents is rated by the RSO or the Deputy RSO and is reviewed by the Consul General.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: There are several other overseas positions filled by DSS agents. At new building construction sites, agents will serve as the Site Security Manager (SSM) where they will supervise the overall security of the new building including the Construction Security Technicians (CST) and Cleared American Guards (CAG). For construction at posts where there is a critical counterintelligence (CI) threat, agents will also serve as CI investigators dedicated to preventing compromise of the most sensitive spaces within the new embassy.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: It is common for domestically assigned DS agents to serve temporary duty (TDY) at Embassies overseas. Such duty can range from various types of protection duties to RSO support or security training for an overseas post, and may last for as little as a few days to multiple months.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS agents have often found themselves in harm's way, with four agents and 28 contract security specialists killed in the line of duty as of July 2006. The vast majority of DSS casualties had taken place within the five years in Iraq, where DSS continued to conduct its most critical and dangerous protective missions.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: It should be noted, however, that the Regional Security Officer title is currently in an unofficial period of flux and, although not officially sanctioned, some agents posted overseas use derivative titles such as security attaché or only use their agent titles on their business cards. Newer agents generally dislike the title, because it doesn't reflect their law enforcement status, and consider it a vestige of Diplomatic Security's SY days.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: According to U.S. law, the title "security officer" is legally defined as someone who is employed by a private entity and is not a law enforcement officer. Additionally, it is noted that RSOs no longer cover multiple countries and are thus not regional. Even some more seasoned agents have taken to referring to themselves as Special Agent-in-Charge/Regional Security Officer on their official biographies.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The method in which the RSO title is implemented also has the potential to create confusion when interacting with outside organizations. It is possible at larger overseas missions with multiple diplomatic facilities located in the same country to have multiple agents with the Regional Security Officer title. India, for example, has an RSO position at the embassy at the Senior Foreign Service level and 4 other RSOs at the consulates at the significantly lower grade 3 level yet all of these agents have the same job title. Sometimes the title Senior Regional Security Officer will be used to help prevent confusion or to indicate that the agent is the most senior in the country.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The OCI manages all DSS investigative forces abroad, namely Assistant Regional Security Officer-Investigators (ARSO-Is), DSS special agents responsible for ensuring the integrity of the U.S. passport and visa system. Embedded in 120 diplomatic posts across 85 countries, there are roughly 130 ARSO-Is who conduct criminal investigations and work with foreign governments to build a global law enforcement network; they maintain formal partnerships and training programs with foreign police, immigration, and customs officials to target a wide range of criminals, including forgers, smugglers, and terrorists. The division's prevailing goal is to "combat crime where it originates rather than waiting for it to cross U.S. borders."


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: With its global partners, ARSO-Is help locate and return an average of 300 fugitives to the U.S. annually; missions have included dismantling major human smuggling networks, identifying criminals involved in child exploitation and pornography, ending international scams, and disrupting suspected terrorist travel.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: DSS agents have been involved in investigations of most terrorist attacks on U.S. interests overseas in the past twenty years, including the 2000 bombing of the USS "Cole", and bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa in 1998. In 1995, DSS Special Agents Jeff Riner and Bill Miller, the RSOs assigned to the U.S. embassy in Pakistan, along with Pakistani police and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), arrested Ahmed Ramzi Yousef, who was wanted in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City; despite FBI press releases, the agency played no role in his capture.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: In addition to being posted at U.S. missions around the world, DSS agents have worked closely with their foreign counterparts to secure such events as the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy; the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, 2010 World Cup Football Matches and a host of other special events. While the Olympics are the most well-known events, DSS agents have worked with host country security on numerous other large-scale events around the world. For events with a large U.S. presence, such as the Olympics, an Olympic Security Coordinator – always a DSS agent – will be named to manage all of the security and liaison with the host government. All other federal agencies, such as the FBI, ATF, USSS, and DOD components, will report to the DSS agent in charge.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The DSS Special Agent hiring process is widely regarded as one of the most difficult and challenging within both the federal government and general law enforcement. Less than 2% of applicants successfully completes and passes the hiring process. Agents Candidates must successfully pass an intensive multi-stage evaluation process that includes a series of written exams, knowledge-based exams, writing samples, panel interviews, and situational judgment exercises; a physical fitness test (PFT); a comprehensive medical examination granting worldwide availability; and an exhaustive background investigation for security clearance at the level of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). A final suitability review and vote by a Foreign Service panel evaluates a candidate's overall ability to represent the interests of the United States abroad.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: All DSS special agents have at least a four-year bachelor's degree, and most have graduate and/or post-graduate degrees. Agent candidates must be under the age of 37 at the time of commissioning, unless granted a waiver due to prior military service.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: After a new agent candidate is hired, he or she begins a nearly nine-month training program that includes the Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) (pronounced flet-see) in Glynco, Georgia; a Basic Special Agent Course (BSAC) at the Diplomatic Security Training Center, and courses at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, Virginia. After completion of all initial training, agents are required to pass quarterly re-qualifications on their duty weapons, which include the Glock 19M, Colt Sub Machine Gun, the Mk18 rifle, and Remington 870 shotgun. A new training facility that will consolidate DSS' various training venues is located at FT Pickette VA. A new special agent is usually assigned to a domestic field office for two to three years before taking on an overseas assignment, although an agent can expect to be sent on frequent temporary duty assignments overseas even when assigned to a domestic post. However, agents may be called overseas much earlier depending on the needs of DSS. As members of the Foreign Service, agents are expected to spend most of their career living and working overseas, often in hazardous environments or less developed countries throughout the world.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: When assigned to the United States special agents are authorized to carry firearms both on and off duty and when assigned overseas are authorized to carry firearms when approved by the chief of mission.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Former weapons included the SIG P228 (9mm pistol), SIG P229 (9mm pistol), Uzi submachine gun, the Ruger Mini-14 carbine, and the Colt SMG (9mm submachine gun). Stockless or "shorty" versions of the Remington 870 shotgun may still be found in some DSS offices. DSS agents were issued the Smith & Wesson Model 19 revolver (.357 Magnum caliber), but switched to 9mm pistols around 1993.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: These and other weapons systems may be employed by DSS Special Agents assigned to high-threat locations. The agents going to those locations attend additional training (HTOC) in these weapons before they are deployed.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: The Director of the DSS is also the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, reporting to an Assistant Secretary of State.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Since the establishment of the Diplomatic Security Service, four Special Agents have died in the line of duty. As of March 2016, a further 133 locally engaged DSS staff, host country law enforcement personnel and members of the US military had been killed while undertaking diplomatic security duties.


title: Diplomatic Security Service

text: Many former DSS agents have become authors and written works of fiction and non-fiction about their experiences.


title: Pond

text: A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from that of lakes and wetlands. Ponds can be created by a wide variety of natural processes (e.g. on floodplains as cutoff river channels, by glacial processes, by peatland formation, in coastal dune systems, by beavers), or they can simply be isolated depressions (such as a kettle hole, vernal pool, prairie pothole, or simply natural undulations in undrained land) filled by runoff, groundwater, or precipitation, or all three of these. They can be further divided into four zones: vegetation zone, open water, bottom mud and surface film. The size and depth of ponds often varies greatly with the time of year; many ponds are produced by spring flooding from rivers. Ponds may be freshwater or brackish in nature. 'Ponds' with saltwater, with a direct connection to the sea that maintains full salinity, would normally be regarded as part of the marine environment because they would not support fresh or brackish water organisms, so not really within the realm of freshwater science.


title: Pond

text: Ponds are usually by definition quite shallow water bodies with varying abundances of aquatic plants and animals. Depth, seasonal water level variations, nutrients fluxes, amount of light reaching the ponds, the shape, the presence of visiting large mammals, the composition of any fish communities and salinity can all affect the types of plant and animal communities present. Food webs are based both on free-floating algae and upon aquatic plants. There is usually a diverse array of aquatic life, with a few examples including algae, snails, fish, beetles, water bugs, frogs, turtles, otters and muskrats. Top predators may include large fish, herons, or alligators. Since fish are a major predator upon amphibian larvae, ponds that dry up each year, thereby killing resident fish, provide important refugia for amphibian breeding. Ponds that dry up completely each year are often known as vernal pools. Some ponds are produced by animal activity, including alligator holes and beaver ponds, and these add important diversity to landscapes.


title: Pond

text: Ponds are frequently manmade or expanded beyond their original depths and bounds by anthropogenic causes. Apart from their role as highly biodiverse, fundamentally natural, freshwater ecosystems ponds have had, and still have, many uses, including providing water for agriculture, livestock and communities, aiding in habitat restoration, serving as breeding grounds for local and migrating species, decorative components of landscape architecture, flood control basins, general urbanization, interception basins for pollutants and sources and sinks of greenhouse gases.


title: Pond

text: The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized. Limnologists and freshwater biologists have proposed formal definitions for "pond", in part to include 'bodies of water where light penetrates to the bottom of the waterbody,' 'bodies of water shallow enough for rooted water plants to grow throughout,' and 'bodies of water which lack wave action on the shoreline.' Each of these definitions are difficult to measure or verify in practice and are of limited practical use, and are mostly not now used. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of "pond" and "lake" that rely on size alone.


title: Pond

text: Some regions of the United States define a pond as a body of water with a surface area of less than 10 acres (4.0 ha). Minnesota, known as the "land of 10,000 lakes", is commonly said to distinguish lakes from ponds, bogs and other water features by this definition, but also says that a lake is distinguished primarily by wave action reaching the shore. Even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there is no universally recognized standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international Ramsar wetland convention sets the upper limit for pond size as 8 hectares (80,000 m; 20 acres). Researchers for the British charity Pond Conservation (now called Freshwater Habitats Trust) have defined a "pond" to be 'a man-made or natural waterbody that is between 1 m(0.00010 hectares; 0.00025 acres) and 20,000 m (2.0 hectares; 4.9 acres) in area, which holds water for four months of the year or more.' Other European biologists have set the upper size limit at 5 hectares (50,000 m; 12 acres).


title: Pond

text: In North America, even larger bodies of water have been called ponds; for example, Crystal Lake at 33 acres (130,000 m; 13 ha), Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts at 61 acres (250,000 m; 25 ha), and nearby Spot Pond at 340 acres (140 ha). There are numerous examples in other states, where bodies of water less than 10 acres (40,000 m; 4.0 ha) are being called lakes. As the case of Crystal Lake shows, marketing purposes can sometimes be the driving factor behind the categorization.


title: Pond

text: In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on an individual basis, as conventions change from place to place and over time. In origin, a pond is a variant form of the word pound, meaning a confining enclosure. In earlier times, ponds were artificial and utilitarian, as stew ponds, mill ponds and so on. The significance of this feature seems, in some cases, to have been lost when the word was carried abroad with emigrants. However, some parts of New England contain "ponds" that are actually the size of a small lake when compared to other countries. In the United States, natural pools are often called ponds. Ponds for a specific purpose keep the adjective, such as "stock pond", used for watering livestock. The term is also used for temporary accumulation of water from surface runoff ("ponded" water).


title: Pond

text: There are various regional names for naturally occurring ponds. In Scotland, one of the terms is lochan, which may also apply to a large body of water such as a lake. In the South Western parts of North American, lakes or ponds that are temporary and often dried up for most parts of the year are called playas.  These playas are simply shallow depressions in dry areas that may only fill with water on certain occasion like excess local drainage, groundwater seeping, or rain.


title: Pond

text: Any depression in the ground which collects and retains a sufficient amount of water can be considered a pond, and such, can be formed by a variety of geological, ecological, and human terraforming events.


title: Pond

text: Natural ponds are those caused by environmental occurrences. These can vary from glacial, volcanic, fluvial, or even tectonic events. Since the Pleistocene epoch, glacial processes have created most of the Northern hemispheric ponds; an example is the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. When glaciers retreat, they may leave behind uneven ground due to bedrock elastic rebound and sediment outwash plains. These areas may develop depressions that can fill up with excess precipitation or seeping ground water, forming a small pond. Kettle lakes and ponds are formed when ice breaks off from a larger glacier, is eventually buried by the surrounding glacial till, and over time melts. Orogenies and other tectonic uplifting events have created some of the oldest lakes and ponds on the globe. These indentions have the tendency to quickly fill with groundwater if they occur below the local water table. Other tectonic rifts or depressions can fill with precipitation, local mountain runoff, or be fed by mountain streams. Volcanic activity can also lead to lake and pond formation through collapsed lava tubes or volcanic cones. Natural floodplains along rivers, as well as landscapes that contain many depressions, may experience spring/rainy season flooding and snow melt. Temporary or vernal ponds are created this way and are important for breeding fish, insects, and amphibians, particularly in large river systems like the Amazon. Some ponds are solely created by animals species such as beavers, bison, alligators and other crocodilians through damning and nest excavation respectively. In landscapes with organic soils, local fires can create depressions during periods of drought. These have the tendency to fill up with small amounts of precipitation until normal water levels return, turning these isolated ponds into open water.


title: Pond

text: Manmade ponds are those created by human intervention for the sake of the local environment, industrial settings, or for recreational/ornamental use.


title: Pond

text: Many ecosystems are linked by water and ponds have been found to hold a greater biodiversity of species than larger freshwater lakes or river systems. As such, ponds are habitats for many varieties of organisms including plants, amphibians, fish, reptiles, waterfowl, insects and even some mammals. Ponds are used for breeding grounds for these species but also as shelter and even drinking/feeding locations for other wildlife. Aquaculture practices lean heavily on artificial ponds in order to grow and care for many different type of fish either for human consumption, research, species conservation or recreational sport.


title: Pond

text: In agriculture practices, treatment ponds can be created to reduce nutrient runoff from reaching local streams or groundwater storages. Pollutants that enter ponds can often be mitigated by natural sedimentation and other biological and chemical activities within the water. As such, waste stabilization ponds are becoming popular low-cost methods for general wastewater treatment. They may also provide irrigation reservoirs for struggling farms during times of drought.


title: Pond

text: As urbanization continues to spread, retention ponds are becoming more common in new housing developments. These ponds reduce the risk of flooding and erosion damage from excess storm water runoff in local communities.


title: Pond

text: Experimental ponds are used to test hypotheses in the fields of environmental science, chemistry, aquatic biology, and limnology.


title: Pond

text: Some ponds are the life blood of many small villages in arid countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa where bathing, sanitation, fishing, socialization, and rituals are held. In the Indian subcontinent, Hindu temple monks care for sacred ponds used for religious practices and bathing pilgrims alike. In Europe during medieval times, it was typical for many monastery and castles (small, partly self-sufficient communities) to have fish ponds. These are still common in Europe and in East Asia (notably Japan), where koi may be kept or raised.


title: Pond

text: In Nepal artificial ponds were essential elements of the ancient drinking water supply system. These ponds were fed with rainwater, water coming in through canals, their own springs, or a combination of these sources. They were designed to retain the water, while at the same time letting some water seep away to feed the local aquifers.


title: Pond

text: A defining feature of a pond is the presence of standing water which provides habitat for a biological community commonly referred to as pond life. Because of this, many ponds and lakes contain large numbers of endemic species that have gone through adaptive radiation to become specialized to their preferred habitat. Familiar examples might include water lilies and other aquatic plants, frogs, turtles, and fish.


title: Pond

text: Often, the entire margin of the pond is fringed by wetland, and these wetlands support the aquatic food web, provide shelter for wildlife, and stabilize the shore of the pond. This margin is also known as the littoral zone and contains much of the photosynthetic algae and plants of this ecosystem called macrophytes. Other photosynthetic organisms such as phytoplankton (suspended algae) and periphytons (organisms including cyanobacteria, detritus, and other microbes) thrive here and stand as the primary producers of pond food webs. Some grazing animals like geese and muskrats consume the wetland plants directly as a source of food. In many other cases, pond plants will decay in the water. Many invertebrates and herbivorous zooplankton then feed on the decaying plants, and these lower trophic level organisms provide food for wetland species including fish, dragonflies, and herons both in the littoral zone and the limnetic zone. The open water limnetic zone may allow algae to grow as sunlight still penetrates here. These algae may support yet another food web that includes aquatic insects and other small fish species. A pond, therefore, may have combinations of three different food webs, one based on larger plants, one based upon decayed plants, and one based upon algae and their specific upper trophic level consumers and predators. Hence, ponds often have many different animal species using the wide array of food sources though biotic interaction. They, therefore, provide an important source of biological diversity in landscapes.


title: Pond

text: Opposite to long standing ponds are vernal ponds. These ponds dry up for part of the year and are so called because they are typically at their peak depth in the spring (the meaning of "vernal" comes form the Latin word for spring). Naturally occurring vernal ponds do not usually have fish, a major higher tropic level consumer, as these ponds frequently dry up. The absence of fish is a very important characteristic of these ponds since it prevents long chained biotic interactions from establishing. Ponds without these competitive predation pressures provides breeding locations and safe havens for endangered or migrating species. Hence, introducing fish to a pond can have seriously detrimental consequences. In some parts of the world, such as California, the vernal ponds have rare and endangered plant species. On the coastal plain, they provide habitat for endangered frogs such as the Mississippi Gopher Frog.


title: Pond

text: Often groups of ponds in a given landscape - so called 'pondscapes' - offer especially high biodiversity benefits compared to single ponds. A group of ponds provides a higher degree of habitat complexity and habitat connectivity.


title: Pond

text: Many ponds undergo a regular yearly process in the same matter as larger lakes if they are deep enough and/or protected from the wind. Abiotic factors such as UV radiation, general temperature, wind speed, water density, and even size, all have important roles to play when it comes to the seasonal effects on lakes and ponds. Spring overturn, summer stratification, autumn turnover, and an inverse winter stratification, ponds adjust their stratification or their vertical zonation of temperature due to these influences. These environmental factors affect pond circulation and temperature gradients within the water itself producing distant layers; the epilimnion, metalimnion, and hypolimnion.


title: Pond

text: Each zone has varied traits that sustain or harm specific organisms and biotic interactions below the surface depending on the season. Winter surface ice begins to melt in the Spring. This allows the water column to begin mixing thanks to solar convection and wind velocity. As the pond mixes, an overall constant temperature is reached. As temperatures increase through the summer, thermal stratification takes place. Summer stratification allows for the epilimnion to be mixed by winds, keeping a consistent warm temperature throughout this zone. Here, photosynthesis and primary production flourishes. However, those species that need cooler water with higher dissolved oxygen concentrations will favor the lower metalimnion or hypolimnion. Air temperature drops as fall approaches and a deep mixing layer occurs. Autumn turnover results in isothermal lakes with high levels of dissolved oxygen as the water reaches an average colder temperature. Finally, winter stratification occurs inversely to summer stratification as surface ice begins to form yet again. This ice cover remains until solar radiation and convection return in the spring.


title: Pond

text: Due to this constant change in vertical zonation, seasonal stratification causes habitats to grow and shrink accordingly. Certain species are bound to these distinct layers of the water column where they can thrive and survive with the best efficiency possible.


title: Pond

text: For more information regarding seasonal thermal stratification of ponds and lakes, please look at "Lake Stratification".


title: Pond

text: Ponds provide not only environmental values, but practical benefits to society. One increasingly crucial benefit that ponds provide is their ability to act as greenhouse gas sinks. Most natural lakes and ponds are greenhouse gas sources and aid in the flux of these dissolved compounds. However, manmade farm ponds are becoming significant sinks for gas mitigation and the fight against climate change. These agriculture runoff ponds receive high pH level water from surrounding soils. Highly acidic drainage ponds act as catalysis for excess (carbon dioxide) to be converted into forms of carbon that can easily be stored in sediments. When these new drainage ponds are constructed, concentrations of bacteria that normally break down dead organic matter, such as algae, are low. As a result, breakdown and release of nitrogen gases from these organic materials such as NO does not occur and thus, not added to our atmosphere. This process is also used with regular denitrification in anoxic layer of ponds. However, not all ponds have the ability to become sinks for greenhouse gasses. Most ponds experience eutrophication where faced with excessive nutrient input from fertilizers and runoff. This over-nitrifies the pond water and results in mass algae blooms and local fish kills.


title: Pond

text: Some farm ponds are not used for runoff control but rather for livestock like cattle or buffalo as watering and bathing holes. As mentioned in the use section, ponds are important hotspots for biodiversity. Sometimes this becomes an issue with invasive or introduced species that disrupt pond ecosystem dynamics such as food-web structure, niche partitioning, and guild assignments. This varies from introduced fish species such as the Common Carp that eat native water plants or Northern Snakeheads that attack breeding amphibians, aquatic snails that carry infectious parasites that kill other species, and even rapid spreading aquatic plants like Hydrilla and Duckweed that can restrict water flow and cause overbank flooding.


title: Pond

text: Ponds, depending on their orientation and size, can spread their wetland habitats into the local riparian zones or watershed boundaries. Gentle slopes of land into ponds provides an expanse of habitat for wetland plants and wet meadows to expand beyond the limitation of the pond. However, the construction of retaining walls, lawns, and other urbanized developments can severely degrade the range of pond habitats and the longevity of the pond itself. Roads and highways act in the same manor, but they also interfere with amphibians and turtles that migrate to and from ponds as part of their annual breeding cycle and should be kept as far away from established ponds as possible. Because of these factors, gently sloping shorelines with broad expanses of wetland plants not only provide the best conditions for wildlife, but they help protect water quality from sources in the surrounding landscapes. It is also beneficial to allow water levels to fall each year during drier periods in order to re-establish these gentile shorelines.