Physical Geography Exam 1 – Flashcards
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Geography
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the science of the earth's surface, climate, continents, countries, peoples, industries, and products.
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Physical Geography
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Rocks, minerals, landforms, water, weather, flora, fauna, soil
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Cultural Geography
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Populations, settlements, economic activities, transportation, recreational activities, languages, religion, political systems, traditions
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Atmosphere
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Air, surrounds the earth up to 10,000 km from the Earth's surface, more than 50% of the Earth's mass is below 6 km into the atmosphere
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Lithosphere
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Stone
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Hydrosphere
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Water
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Biosphere
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Life
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The four spheres
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Are interconnected and that's why humans are allowed to exist
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Earth
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Third planet from the sun
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Circumference
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40,000 km
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Maximum Relief
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Mariana Trench to Mount Everest
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The Equator
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Super important imaginary line
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Great Circle
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Imaginary line that is drawn to find the fastest way around a sphere
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Latitudes
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Like a ladder measures north and south Equator is the most important
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Tropic of Cancer
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Located at 23.5 degrees north
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Tropic of Capricorn
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Located at 23.5 degrees south
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Longitudes
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Run east and west Prime Meridian is the most important one
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Prime Meridian
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Runs through Greenwich, England
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Earth's Rotation Around the Sun
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Takes 24 hours, and rotates counter clockwise in relation to the sun
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Aphelion
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Happens during the summer time
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Perihelion
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Happens during the winter time
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Tilt of the Earth
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On it's axis 23.5 degrees
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North Pole
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Points to Polaris
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Summer solstice
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Happens in June, Keeps the Antarctic Circle in 24 hours of darkness
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Winter Solstice
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Happens in December, keeps the Arctic Circle in 24 hours of darkness
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Equinoxes
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March and September 21st, 12 hours of daylight
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Variations in day length take place as you move away from the?
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Equator
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Seasons
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Are more pronounced as you move away from the Equator
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Solar Day
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Use of measuring days by day light, in relation to noon
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GMT
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Greewich Mean Time, the standard unit of measurement we use to tell time. Add hours as you move east from the PM and subtract hours as you move west of the PM
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International Date Line
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The point at which you reset the date when traveling
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Daylight Savings Time
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Established during WWII, Spring forward, fall back, Efficient way to conserve energy
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Four Key Properties of a Region
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Size, Shape, Distance, Direction
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Topographical Map
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Measures elevations in relation to sea level
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Weather Maps
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Dynamic, discusses pressures
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Fractional Scale
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Based on numbers, is a ratio
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Graphic Scale
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A bar that can easily be measured
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Verbal Scale
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Words
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Large Scale
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Shows large details is very in detail
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Small Scale
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Smaller amounts of detail
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Nine Things That Are Needed for a Map
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Title, Date, Legend, Scale, Direction, Location, Data Source, Map Projection
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Advantage of a Globe
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It is tilted
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Cartography
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Projecting the globe in two dimensional space
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Equivalent Projection
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A map that attempts to get the sizes of continents correct
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Conformal Projection
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Gets the correct shape of the features and is accurate at the equator but becomes more distorted as it moves away from the Equator
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Cylindrical Projection
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If a piece of paper was wrapped around a globe and then outlined. Compromises land features
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Mercator Projection
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Most famous of cylindrical projections
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Plane Projections
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Uses the north or south pole as a reference, loses the entire opposite sphere, not good for global mapping
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Conic Projection
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Good for mapping a small area such as North and South America, not good for global mapping
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Pseudocylindrical Projection
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A mix between equivalent and conformal projections
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Robinson Projection
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The first Pseudocylindrical projection ever
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Interrupted Projection
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Not good if you want to study the oceans or Antarctica because they are broken up
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Isolines
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Lines that connect point values to magnitude
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Isobar
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Works with pressure
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Isotherm
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Works with temperatures
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Isohyet
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Works with rain
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WAAS
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Wide Area Augmentation System
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Remote Sensing
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Takes pictures of the Earth's surface without physical contact, we use infrared as a false color due to the fact that it can't be seen by the naked eye
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Orthophoto Map
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Multicolored and distortion free, used for city maps
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Radar
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Radio Detection and Ranging
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Geographic Information Systems
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Takes spatial data and layers all types of data to give more detailed information, requires a hyper computer
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Permanent Gases of the Atmosphere
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71% Nitrogen and 20.9% Oxygen Make up 98% of total atmosphere
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Particulates
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Mostly Aerosols and things produced by humans
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Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere
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Troposphere 10-15 km, Stratosphere-stagnant air, Mesosphere- middle, Thermosphere- heat, Exosphere- beyond
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Air pressure
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Varies with elevation, layers of pressure stacks so the lower you get
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Mercurial Barometer
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Used to measure pressure in a given place
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Homosphere
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lowest 80 km Everything is the same
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Ozone Layer
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Helps filter harmful radiation, linked to chemical reactions
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Ionosphere
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Linked to chemical reactions in the Atmosphere
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Heterosphere
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Band of helium gas
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Depletion of the Ozone Layer
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Largely caused by humans, CFCs it's a photochemical reaction that changes good Ozone Chemicals to bad Chlorines
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Montreal Protocol
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Made in 1987, wasn't ratified until 1999
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Smog
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Mixture of smoke and fog that doesn't allow heat to be radiated back out of the atmosphere
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Weather
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Short term atmospheric conditions for a specific area
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Climate
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Long term weather conditions
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Climateology
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Study of the climate
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Atmospheric Circulation
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Friction between the earth's surface, ocean, and the wind
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Coriolis Effect
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Causes a rightward turn in motion in the Northern Hemisphere and a leftward turn in the Southern Hemisphere
