Geography Flashcards
All Y9 Geography topics
What is a Natural Hazard?
A natural process which poses some sort of danger towards humans or even wildlife
What do you know about tornadoes?
Climatic (wind),
Fast moving winds in a vortex, warm air rises and spins above cold air
What do you know about volcanoes…
Tectonic, magma breaks through gaps in tectonic plates to form them
What do you know about Wildfires…
Climatic(sun), sun/lightning sets vegetation on fire (which are effective fuels, so the fire spreads)
What do you know about droughts?
Climatic(no rain), occurs when more water is used than is replenished, and can be fueled by changing wind patterns
What do you know about floods…
Climatic, when there is more water when the can can absorb, happens often in flood plains, and so civilizations in flood plains are flooded more
What do you know about landslides…
When rocks and soil is loose, it can fall and create a landslide
What do you know about earthquakes…
Tectonic, when movement of tectonic plates is blocked, the force builds up and is released in an earthquake
What do you know about tsunamis…
Earthquakes below the ocean can displace lots of water, causing a tsunami
What is the difference between a hazard and a risk? (Good to know, but probably not tested on this)
A hazard is anything with the potential to do harm and a risk is the likelihood that a hazard will cause a specified harm to someone
What are tropical storms?
Natural hazards where there is an area of low pressure with winds moving around the calm central eye of the storm. It has heavy winds and rainfall.
Where do hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons form?
Hurricanes- Atlantic, Cyclones- Indian, Typhoons- Pacific
Conditions needed for a tropical storm to form:
Sea surface temperature of at least 26 degrees, between 5 and 20 degrees north/south of the equator, low wind shear, 90m+ deep waters, cumulonimbus clouds
What wind speeds do tropical storms need to have to be officially counted as a hurricane?
74mph+
Tropical storm- Step 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
1.Air is heated above the surface of the warm tropical oceans, and the warm air rises rapidly under the low pressure conditions 2. As the air rises, it cools and condenses to form cumulonimbus clouds which generate torrential rainfall. The heat given off when the air cools powers the tropical storm (latent heat) 3. The rising air draws up more air and large volumes of moisture from the ocean, causing strong winds 4. The Coriolis effect causes the air to spin upwards the calm central eye of the storm. Cold air sinks in the eye, meaning that there is no cloud, so it is dryer and much calmer here 5. The tropical storm travels across the ocean in the prevailing wind. When the tropical storm meets land it loses its power as it loses a source of moisture and heat, so it weakens, and is further slowed down by friction upon passing over the land. The average tropical storm has the lifespan of 2 weeks.
What is a storm surge?
When sea levedl rises rapidly and particularly high due to a tropical storm
Tornadoes- Characteristics
Usually form in late afternoon, when warm humid air meets with cold dry air, often preceded/occur alongside high winds/heavy thunderstorms/hail, life span of few seconds to a few hours, average width is 660 feet, average speed of movement is 30 mph, they die within 6 miles on average
How tornadoes form- wind shear, updraft, storm, supercell
(Wind Shear) Fast moving winds roll the air below into a horizontal vortex (a spinning tube) above opposing surface winds (Updraft) Air near the ground is warmed by the sun and lifts up, causing the horizontal vortex to become upright (Storm) The updraft creates two vortices. The stronger one becomes the heart of the thunderstorm and the other one dies (Supercell) Upper level winds tilt the mesocyclone (the rotating updraft) allowing the storm to grow, as warm air is sucked into the storm away form the cool air in the downdraft
What scale is used to measure a tornado’s intensity?
The Fujita scale, ranging from F0 (weak) to F5 (strong)
Examples of tornadoes, effects, responses, etc
Varies, use book