Originally, ‘keeping vigil’ referred to family members or friends gathering around the bedside to watch over a dying person. Today, the definition can include being present at any serious life-changing event.
Why might this be relevant to GEOGRAPHY REVIEW? I thought about the definition of vigil because of the Vigil Network, which was set up in the USA in the early 1960s to address the need for long-term data collection to study the effects of global climate change. It is a system of drainage basins where geomorphological, hydrological, and biological data are periodically collected. Observation periods are intended to be greater than the life span of a single individual, and data are archived in a readily retrievable format to allow study by future generations of scientists.
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