McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation Chapter 1 Vocabulary – Flashcards
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Physical Geography
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Study of the physical elements of geography.
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Cultural Geography
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The study of the human and/or cultural elements of geography.
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International System (S.I.)
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Properly known as the "metric system" of measurement.
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Atmosphere
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The gaseous envelope surrounding Earth.
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Hydrosphere
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Total water realm of Earth, including the oceans, surface waters of the lands, ground water, and water held in the atmosphere.
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Cryosphere
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Subsphere of the hydrosphere that encompasses water frozen as snow or ice.
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Biosphere
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The living organisms of Earth.
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Lithosphere
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Tectonic plates consisting of the crust and upper rigid mantle. Also used as a general term for the entire solid Earth (one of the Earth "spheres").
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Latitude
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Location described as an angle measured north and south of the equator.
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Longitude
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Location described as an angle measured (in degrees, minutes, and seconds) east and west from the prime meridian on Earth's surface.
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Parallel
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A line connecting all points of equal latitude; such a line is parallel to all other parallels.
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Meridian
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An imaginary line of longitude extending from pole to pole, crossing all parallels at right angles, and being aligned in true north-south directions.
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Prime meridian
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The meridian passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich (England), just east of central London, and from which longitude is measured.
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Equator
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The parallel of 0° latitude.
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North Pole
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Latitude of 90° north.
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South Pole
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Latitude of 90° south.
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Tropic of Cancer
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The parallel of 23.5° N latitude, which marks the northernmost location reached by the vertical rays of the Sun in the annual cycle of Earth's revolution.
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Tropic of Capricorn
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The parallel of 23.5° N latitude, which marks the southernmost location reached by the vertical rays of the Sun in the annual cycle of Earth's revolution.
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Arctic Circle
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The parallel of 66.5° north latitude.
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Antarctic Circle
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The parallel of 66.5° south latitude.
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Great Circle
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Circle on a globe formed by the intersection of Earth's surface with any plane that passes through Earth's center.
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Rotation [of Earth]
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The spinning of Earth around its imaginary north-south axis.
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Revolution [around the sun]
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The orbital movement of Earth around the Sun over the year.
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Inclination [of Earth's axis]
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The tilt of Earth's rotational axis relative to its orbital plane (the plane of the ecliptic).
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Polarity (parallelism) [of Earth's rotation axis]
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A characteristic of Earth's axis wherein it always points toward Polaris (the North Star) at every position in Earth's orbit around the Sun. Also called parallelism.
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Plane of the Ecliptic
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The imaginary plane that passes through the Sun and through Earth at every position in its orbit around the Sun; the orbital plane of Earth.
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Perihelion
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The point in its orbit where Earth is nearest to the Sun (about 147,100,000 kilometers or 91,400,000 miles).
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Aphelion
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The point in Earth's elliptical orbit at which Earth is farthest from the Sun (about 152,100,000 kilometers or 94,500,000 miles).
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March equinox
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One of two days of the year when the vertical rays of the Sun strike the equator; every location on Earth has equal day and night; occurs on or about March 20 each year.
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June solstice
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Day of the year when the vertical rays of the Sun strike the Tropic of Cancer; on or about June 21; summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
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September equinox
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One of two days of the year when the vertical rays of the Sun strike the equator; every location on Earth has equal day and night; occurs on or about Septermber 22 each year.
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December solstice
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Day of the year when the vertical rays of the Sun strike the Tropic of Capricorn; on or about December 21; winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Circle of Illumination
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The edge of the sunlit hemisphere that is a great circle separating Earth into a light half and a dark half.
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Solar Altitude
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Angle of the Sun above the horizon.
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Time Zone
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Region on Earth (generally a north-south band defined by longitude) within which the agreed-upon time is the same.
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UTC (Universal Time Coordinated)
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The world time standard reference; previously known as Greenwich mean time (GMT).
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Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
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Time in the Greenwich time zone. Today more commonly called UTC or Universal Time Coordinated.
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International Date Line
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The line marking a time difference of an entire day from one side of the line to the other. Generally, this line falls on the 180th meridian except where it deviates to avoid separating an island group.
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Daylight-Saving Time
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Shifting of clocks forward one hour.
