Physical Geography: GEOG 1301

Spring 2005

Chapter One: Essentials of Geography

Course Introduction

This course requires a lot of reading. Make sure that you schedule enough time to complete readings, assignments and do the reviews on the internet. I expect that each of you will login and create a user profile at the textbook web site. When you fill out the profile, have your quizzes sent to yourself and me.

Each week I will assign 1-3 chapters for reading. Check the schedule to see which of the chapters is the focal chapter. Read this one carefully. For each chapter, read the “Objectives” section (and print the objective page from the web site as a guide.) For the chapters that are not focal, review the objectives, identify major definitions and the key processes (concepts.) Although the majority of the tests will be upon the focus chapters, at least 10% of the questions will come from the other chapters (this means that you will probably drop a grade if you skip these chapters completely.)

Assignments will cover concepts (short answers from the end of the chapter) and definitions. There will be online questions (from the book web site.) Test questions will often come from these assignments and the web site.

Physical Geography- Tsunami

The recent South Asian Tsunami is a good example of why the study of geography is important;

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/tsunami1.html&edu=high

http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/intro.html

http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/welcome.html

Tsunami Blog: http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/

Imagery of Tsunami Waves: http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

Temple College will offer a Geography Field Course in Southern Thailand in May 2005 (May 25-June 13.) We will visit a number of areas impacted by the tsunami.

Chapter One: Essentials of Geography

Important Concepts:

Five Themes of Geography- Location, Place, Regions, Movement and Human-Earth interaction.

Spatial Analysis- method by which geographers explore the world and problems. Searches for patterns in the distribution of human actions and environmental processes across the earth’s surface.

Geography means, "writing about the earth." It is the study of relationships and connections between places or events and within space and systems. It is the study of the distribution of objects (natural and human) upon the earth their relationships. In another sense it is about the "forms" that we find around the planet (cities, transportation networks, mountain ranges, river valleys) and the "processes" that create them (economics, travel/dispersion/war, tectonic uplift, erosion.)

All forms are the result of processes.

The basics of Geography:

http://geography.about.com/

Physical Geography: study of physical elements and processes that make of the environment. A study of the forms and processes of the earth.

Earth Systems Concepts

System: ordered interrelated set of things, their attributes, and flows of matter and energy between them.

Open System: Not self-sustaining. Inputs of patter and/or energy flow into the system. Earth is an open system in terms of energy, insolation enters freely and is radiated back in to space freely.

Closed System- A self-contained system. Earth is mostly a closed system in terms of energy.

Positive and Negative feedback loops- (page 9-10)- Effect of information that is returned to the system causing growth or decline in the system.

Dynamic Equilibrium- a system showing changing trends over time that fluctuates around an average. Once a system reaches a threshold it will change.

Model- Simplified representation of part of the world. This is how we conceptualize and solve problems.

The 4 Spheres of the Earth System:

§ Atmosphere

§ Hydrosphere

§ Lithosphere

§ Biosphere

Location and Mapping the Earth

Cartography: Science of map making

Map: 2-D representation of some portion of the earth’s surface. A map is a model.

Map Scale

§ Relationship between the dimensions of a map and the dimensions of the Earth

§ Expressed as a ratio between a distance on the map and a distance on the Earth (1:24,000)

§ One unit of distance on the map represents 24,000 of the same units of distance on the Earth (RF = Representative Fraction)

Large Scale Maps

§ A large-scale map is one in which a given part of the Earth is represented by a large area on the map

§ Large-scale maps show more detail than small-scale maps

§ Large-scale maps are used to show site plans, local areas, neighborhoods, towns and cities. 1:2,500 is an example of a large scale.

Small Scale Maps

§ A small-scale map is one in which a given part of the Earth is represented by a small area on the map

§ Small-scale maps generally show less detail than large-scale maps, but cover large parts of the Earth.

§ Maps with regional, national, and international extents typically have small scales, such as 1:1,000,000.

Location - Latitude (measuring location north and south of the Equator (Parallels of Latitude)) and Longitude (measuring location east and west of the Prime Meridian).

Latitude - 0°- 90° North (North Pole) and 0° - 90° South (South Pole).

Longitude - 0° - 180° West; 0° - 180° East

Important latitudes:

§ North Pole (90 Degrees, N)

§ Arctic Circle (66.5 Degrees, N)

§ Tropic of Cancer (23.5 Degrees, N)

§ Equator (0 Degrees)

§ Tropic of Capricon (23.5 Degrees, S)

§ Antarctic Circle, (66.5 Degrees, S)

§ South Pole (90 Degrees, S)

Latitude measures angular distance from the equator. Longitude describes time. The earth turns 360 degrees (longitude) in 24 hrs. This equals 15-degrees/1 hour.

Global Positioning System (GPS): A satellite based system to determine location on the earth’s surface. Uses a radio receiver and a clock to determine position (in a handheld unit.) The use of GPS is becoming ubiquitous in everything from vehicles to package tracking. Tools such as this increase the need for geographic education.

Distance and Direction: Directions is shown as an orientation from a point (north, south, east and west.) Distance requires "cost" to move. Cost can be time (miles per hour), money (a plane ticket), energy (gravity, friction, etc.), fuel (gasoline) or other resource. This cost is known as the "friction of distance" and is part of an important geographic concept known as "distance decay."

Movement: Consider the concepts of distance and distance decay.

Distance decay: the presence or impact of a phenomenon that impacts movement across a distance.

Friction of distance is the effort of cost of movement.

Remote Sensing: acquisition of data about earth’s surface from space. Image consists of pixels, each carrying a signal that represents the radiation reflected from the earth’s surface. Measures the amount of radiation emanating from the earth’s surface.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Computerized application that links databases to digital maps for spatial analysis and modeling.

Raster GIS: grid based with a spatial extent (rows and columns). Cells have a size, known as resolution.

Vector GIS: Based upon measured coordinates. Features are symbolized as points, lines or polygons

Wireless mapping:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5094082/site/newsweek/

GIS at the US Geological Survey

http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/

ESRI- the World’s Leading GIS Software Company

http://www.esri.com/index.html

GIS.com- Good intro site:

http://www.gis.com/

The Geography Network (We will use this often):