EXAM 1 Flashcards
placed geo. within a modern philosophical framework
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
who wrote the “Essay on the Principle of Population”
Thomas Malthus (1798)
what approach do we have… (systematic or regional)
systematic
two major (flat) categories of resources
renewable & nonrenewable
other words for renewable and nonrenewable
flow (renewable) and fund (nonrenewable)
examples of natural disasters
tornados, drought, hurricanes, volcanos, sandstorms, etc.
def. of arithmetic density
population to total area (population/square mile/kilometer)
def. of physiological density
population to arable land (aka cultivation)
population of Earth?
8 billion
percentage of those that live within 93 miles of a coastal area?
44%
how much of actual land is arable?
10%, 3.6 billion
population of USA?
333 million
country with highest population & number?
China, 1.4 billion
circumference of Earth? who discovered it?
24, 901 (25,000 miles), Eratosthenes
which is the larger scale? 1:100,000 or 1:10,000?
1:10,000. more detail.
which lines are 0 to 90?
latitude
which lines are 0 to 180?
longitude
which lines are called parallels?
latitude (lines of = latitude)
which lines are called meridians?
longitudes (lines of = longitude)
angle of Earth’s tilt?
23.5 degrees
three major categories of map projections?
cylindrical, plane, and conical
cylindrical…
placing cylinder over globe and transferring points before unfolding
plane (or azimuthal)…
flat surface next to globe, distortions away from pt. of contact
conical…
cone placed on globe, helps converge lines of long. towards poles
the human eye can see…
0.4um to 0.5um reflects blue
0.5um to 0.6um reflects green
0.6um to 0.7um reflects red
primary Earth observing satellite? when was it launched? (two answers)
LANDSAT - 1972 and Sept. 2021
what are active sensors?
- use beam of wave energy as a source, sending the beam back toward an object
- part of energy is reflected back to source and recorded by detector
- examples: radar (radio detection and ranging) and lidar (light detection and ranging)
what are passive sensors? what’s an example?
- acquire images without providing source of energy
- hyper-spectral sensors with hundreds of narrow channels
- can help detect minerals in soils and unique plant dynamics
- most common example: camera
what is a sun synchronous orbit?
nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet’s surface at the same local mean solar time
what is frequency?
measures of waves in cycles per second
weather vs. climate… what’s the difference?
weather short-term, climate long-term
what are the four states of matter?
solid, liquid, gas, plasma
what states are the latent heat of condensation? is heat taken in or released?
gas to liquid
heat is released
what is the most prominent gas in our atmosphere?
nitrogen
what is the range percentage of water vapor in the atmosphere?
0.2% to 4%
the troposphere decreases at environmental…
lapse rate of 3.5ºF per 1000ft
why is the stratosphere important?
ozone gases. a lot.
what does the magnetosphere protect us from? what is the belt called?
- radiation
- Van Allen radiation belt
what’s the ‘solar constant’ mean? how much?
amount incoming radiation from sun
= approx. 2 calorie/squared/cm/min
what are isotherms?
lines of equal temperature
what degree scale is 0º freezing and 100º boiling?
Celsius
what degree scale is 32º freezing and 212º boiling?
Fahrenheit
what is used to measure air pressure?
barometer
what times of the days are the daily cycle of temperatures?
before sunrise, mid afternoon
what does the Coriolis effect do?
moves to the right (northern hemisphere)
when do sea breezes occur?
during the day
what type of cell is a cyclone? how does it spin? from top to bottom, how is it set up?
low pressure
counterclockwise
divergence, low pressure, convergence
what type of cell is an anticyclone? how does it spin? from top to bottom, how is it set up?
high pressure
clockwise
convergence, high pressure, divergence
what is albedo?
solar reflectivity
what is the percentage of albedo on Earth?
32%
what did Homer do for geography?
placed knowledge in a geographical context
what does the systematic approach involve in physical geography?
studying the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere
what was the Malthusian theory on population?
unchecked growth will result in a j-curve that eventually collapses due to limited resources
what proportion of US income is used for food?
8.6%
what shape is Earth?
oblate ellipsoid (or geoid)
what are the 3 ways to do a scale?
1) VERBALLY (state “1 inch = 5 miles”)
2) GRAPHICALLY (bar graph, like on google maps)
3) REPRESENTATIVE FRACTION (1:1000)
what is magnetic declination?
the difference between true north and magnetic north
what is the Doppler Effect?
an observed change in the frequency (wavelength) of a wave when the source or observer is moving
what is aphelion? when does it occur?
when the earth is farthest from the sun
- July 4th
what is perihelion? when does it occur?
when earth is closest to the sun
- January 3rd
what is the estimated approximate diameter of the Milky Way?
100,000 light years
what range does the Earth’s tilt vary from every 41,000 year cycle?
22.1 to 24.5 degrees
def. of latent heat?
associated energy related to a change in state of matter
what percentage does nitrogen make up the atmosphere?
78%
which layer of the atmosphere has solar winds?
magnetosphere
