Transcript Review for Final Exam

Chapter 1:
Geography: Physical to Human Geography continuum
Environmental Systems:
1) components: stocks, flows, relationship, parameters
2) positive/negative feedbacks:
3) open and closed systems
4) tipping point
Geographers perspective of the world:
1) location matters
2) real world relationships
3) horizontal connections
4) importance of scale (spatial/temporal)
Chapter 1 (cont’d):
Maps, scales, projections, geographic information,
Geographic Information Systems
Time: local time, GMT (prime meridian), EST,
Chapter 2: Solar Energy
Three radiation laws:
(1) Planck’s law: black body emittance at a particular wavelength and given
temperature.
(2) Stefan-Boltzmann’s law: the total amount of energy a black body emits at all
wavelength at a given temperature.
E=σT4, where σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann’s constant.
(3) Wien’s law: the wavelength at which a black body emit the most energy at a
given temperature
λmax=A/T, where A is a constant.
Wavelength and energy: E=hc/ λ , the shorter the wavelength, the higher the
amount of energy a photon possess.
Radiowaves Microwaves Thermal ROYGBIV UV X-rays Gamma-rays
How does the amount of solar radiation arriving Earth surface change with
latitude, and why?
Solar Constant: 1367 w/m2
Energy Units: energy: Joules (J); energy flux: Watts (J/s); flux density: w/m2
Sun Declination Angles: summer/winter solstice, spring/autumn equinoxes
Latitude and daylength:
Chapter 3: Atmosphere
1. Atmospheric Composition: N2 (78%), O2(21%), Ar (0.9%)
2. Atmospheric Structure according to temperature profile:
(1) troposphere,
(2) stratosphere,
(3) mesosphere
(4) Thermosphere
3. Normal lapse rate/environmental lapse rate, temperature inversion
4. Ozone hole and Montreal Protocol
5. Primary Greenhouse gases: CO2, CH4, NO2
6. UNFCCC (1992), Kyoto Protocol (1997), Bali road map (2007) and
Copenhagen Accord (2009)
UNFCCC is the foundation
Kyoto is the first and only treaty that has a mandatory reduction target
These treaties are not perfect, but an effective forum for international
cooperation
Major dispute: Cap and Trade, Developing/Developed Countries
responsibilities and aid for developing countries
Chapter 4: Surface Energy
Radiation Balance Equation:
Rn=Q(1-α)-Lsurface+Latm
Rn net radiation
Q: total radiation from the sun
α: albedo, percent radiation reflected back from surface:
snow, forest, water
Lsurface: surface longwave radiation
Latm: atmosphere longwave radiation reaching the Earth surface
Heat transfer: conductance (molecular), radiation, convection/advection (eddies).
Daily radiation and temperature curves:
radiation maximize at local noon time.
air temperature minimum early morning at dawn, maximum early afternoon.
Energy Balanc Equation: Rn= LE + H+G
LE: latent heat
H: sensible heat
G: ground heat storage
Chapter 5: Temperature
Temperature Scales: Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin
Principle temperature controlling factors: Latitude, altitude, cloud cover
Temperature difference: land and water
1) evaporation
2) transparency
3) specific heat
4) movement (mixture)
Temperature measurements (daily, monthly, annual) : mean temperature,
maximum, minimum, temperature range, effective temperature, growing
degree days.
Sea Surface Temperature and El Nino
Gulf Stream and its impacts on Northern European climate
Temperature variation and latitudes: annual meam, annual max and min.
Chapter 6: Air and Ocean circulation
Air pressure, standard air pressure, partial pressure
Driving forces for air movement:
Gravity: air pressure
Pressure gradient force
Coriolis Force
Friction Force
Isobar: Isoline of constant air pressure: low/high pressure
Air movement near ground and upper atmosphere: High/low pressure
Three circulation cells: Hadley cell, Ferrel Cell, Polar Cell
pressure belts and major pressure centers affects us:
Aleutian Low
Icelandic Low
Pacific High (Hawaiian High in winter)
Bermuder High (Azores High in winter)
Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ）
Jet Streams and Rosby Waves
Chapter 7: Water in the Air
Three phases of water and its change from one state to the other
Vapor pressure (e), vapor pressure deficit (vpd), saturated vapor pressure (es),
relative humidity (h):
h=e/es; vpd=es-e; vpd=(1-h)es
Specific humidity (gH2O/kg air): not a function of temperature or air pressure.
Adiabatic rising/descending (adiabatic cooling/heating)
Moist Adiabatic Rate: 6oC/1000m
Dry Adiabatic Rate: 10oC/1000m
Atmospheric stability:
Unstable: env. lapse rate (ELR) > DAR
Cond. Unstable: MAR< ELR< DAR
Stable: ELR> DAR
Daily Air Temperature and relative humidity
Chapter 8: Weather
Air mass: Air masses that influence the conterminerous US weather:
winter: mP (2), mT(2), cP, cA
Summer: mP(2), mT(2), cP, cT
Four air lifting mechanisms: convergence (low pressure), convective
(heating), orographic (mountain barrier), and fronts (cold, warm fronts)
Midlatitude cyclone: Low pressure + two fronts (cold and warm)
Tornados: horizontal rolling of air on the surface first, mesocyclone to pick up
the horizontal rolling of the air.
Hurricanes: warm SST (>26oC), rising atmosphere (tropical storm, ITCZ,
westerly waves)
northern hemisphere: spins counterclockwise
Chapter 9: Water Resources
Global water circulation: Ocean is the primary source of moisture for
precipitation on land
Water Balance Equation (Bucket Model):
P=ET + R +ΔS
How is water balance Eq. related to energy balance Eq.?
ET: Evapotranspiration (evaporation + transpiration)
R: Run-off
ΔS: Soil water change
Soil Water: porosity, field capacity, permanent wilting point
Soil composition: soil particles (silt, sand, clay), water and air
Potential ET vs. actual ET
Confined and unconfined aquifer:
Confined: bounded above and below with impermeable layers, thus high
water pressure and easy to extract
Unconfined: permeable layer on top and impermeable layers below, thus
easily recharged from above, but need pump to draw water.
Major problems with ground water resources: overdrawn and pollution (point
and non-point sources)
Chapter 10: Global Climate
Climate and weather
Factors controlling climate: Any factor that influences water and energy at a place
Continental and maritime climate
Major factors that determine climate: Precipitation and Temperature (water/energy)
Climate classification:
Tropical
Mesothermal
Microthermal
Polar
Highland
Desert
Chapter 11: Dynamic Planet
Uniformitarianism:
Geological time scale: eons, eras, period, epoch
Half time and radioactive decay
Earth Internal structure: Core (inner/outer),
Mantle (lower, upper, asthnosphere, uppermost mantle)
Crust (continental 2.7 g/cm3), oceanic (3.0 g/cm3)
Three types of rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic
Earth Crust composition: O (46.6%), Si (27.7%), Al (8.1%) , Iron (5.0%), Ca (3.6%)
How magnetic reversal help understand ocean floor spreading?
How radioactive dating help understand ocean floor spreading?
Continental drift: tectonic plate movements and earth quake and volcanoes
Chapter 19 Ecosystems
Ecosystem: A self sustaining association of living plants, animals and
microbes and their nonliving physical environment.
Net photosynthesis (Gross Primary Production),
Autotrophic respiration
Net Primary Production and Biomass
Global carbon cycle: sources: fossil fuel burning
land use change (e.g. deforestation)
ecosystem respiration
sinks: plant photosynthesis on land
phytoplankton photosynthesis/water
absorption in ocean
Chapter 19 (cont’d)
Biodiversity definition: variability among living organisms from all
sources (within species, between species and among ecosystems).
Biodiversity: αβγ-diversities
α-diversity: the number of species for a single ecosystem
γ-diversities: the number of species over a region for all ecosystems.
β-diversities: γ/α
Benefit of biodiversity: ecosystem stability and higher productivity
processes that threaten biodiversity: habitat loss, climate change,
pollution
Latitudinal/altitudinal patterns of species riches
Chapter 20: Terrestrial Biomes
Major terrestrial biomes: forest, savanna, glassland, desert, tundra
Criteria used for biome classification:
vegetation structure:
life forms
size and stratification
cover
periodicity
leaf size and shape
leaf texture
flora: list of species
Chapter 21 Human Denominator
I=P*A*T
ways to reduce environmental impacts for a country
P: population
A: resource use per person
T: level of environmental impact per unit production
Major human impacts on the environment:
Land transformation: deforestation, agriculture expansion, urban sprawl
Climate change
Biodiversity loss