Heise Physical Geography 1114 Exam 1

Average temperature at Sea Level

- 59F

Atmospheric Composition

- Oxygen 20.95% - Nitrogen 78.08% - Argon .93% - Carbon dioxide .0395% - Other gases

Earths Albedo

.30 or 31%

Map Essentials

1)Title 2)Date 3)Legend (colors, symbols) 4) Scale (RF, verbal, graphic, direction, or latitude and longitude on the top) 5) location 6) data source (yourself, census, borrowed) 7) projection type

Solar Constant

1372 Watts per square meter

Subtropical

25-30 degrees North and South

Mid-Latitude

30 degrees and 60 degrees North and South

El Nino

Abnormally warms waters of west coast of South America, every 3-7 weeks, major events 1982-1983; 1997-1998, causes are unclear and effects unpredictable

Montreal Protocol

CFCs in aresols banned in 1987, 189 countries ratified, the worldwide CFC ban was successful in 1996

East Asian Monsoon

China, winter phase

Important lines of Latitude

Equator, Tropic of Cancer (N), Tropic of Capricorn (S), Artic Circle (N), Antarctic Circle (S), North Pole (N), South Pole (S)

Eratostenes

Greek scholar who was the first to measure the Earth about 2600 years ago, director of Greek library in Alexandria, used angle of the sun at noon in Alexandria, and Syene, he was only six and a half percent off

South Asian Monsoon

Indian, summer phase

How does ozone break down?

It is created by oxygen interacting with UV rays

Ideal Gas Law

P=pRT (Pressure equals density times gas constant times temperature

Santa Ana Winds

Surface high pressure forms as cold air moves into the Great Basin, air circulates clockwise around the high pressure center and into Southern California, the cold air in the high desert is forced up over the mountains by the NE to E flow, Air compresses and hears up as it flows down the Mt slopes and into the valleys

Inversions

Temperature, surface, upper-air, advectional, cold-air-drainage, subsidence, radiation, increase in temperature with height, works like a lid, temperature inversion in higher layer of atmosphere

Reflection

The ability of an object to repel waves without altering either the object or the wave. Radiation bounces off at exact same angle,

Scattering

The deflection of light waves in random directions directions by gas molecules and particulates in the atmosphere; shorter wavelengths of visible light are more easily scattered than longer wavelengths. Radiation bounces off in different directions, depends on the wavelength and particles

chinook

a localized down slope wind of relatively dry and warm air, which is further warmed adiabatically as it moves down the lee ward slope of the rocky mountains

Feedback Loops

a reinforcing change by a system

Monsoon

a seasonal reversal of winds; a general onshore movement in summer and a general offshore flow in winter, with a very distinctive seasonal precipitation regime

Remote Sensing

any method of gathering information without actually being at the location

Cross West to East

back 1 day (Monday to Sunday)

Open System

both energy and matter are exchanged across the system boundary, what goes in equals what goes out

Coriolis Effect

caused by Earths rotations first described by George Hadley mathematically in 1830 by Gaspard Coriolis, North Hemisphere any free moving object deflects to the right, Southern Hemisphere an free moving object deflects to the left actually a "force"

Positive Feedback Loop

change within a system continuing in one direction, makes the change bigger, ex: temperature

Valley and Mountain Breeze

conduction, re-radiation, day: lower pressure on mountain slopes, higher in valley land warmer, night: higher on mountain slopes lower in valley

Isotherm

connect points equal temperature

Isolines

connect points of equal value, there are 100s of types

Land and Sea Breeze

convection circulation,

How are land and sea breezes caused

day it lowers over land, and high over water night lowers over water, and higher over land

Katabatic Winds

descending, originate in cold upland areas, dense and cold, common in Greenland and Antarctica

Daylight Savings Time

designed by Germans to conserve energy during WWI, US adopted in 1918 but it was not universal, Uniform Time Act 1966, starts the second Sunday in March, ends the first Sunday in November, Permanent in Russia so double Daylight in summer (aka 2 hours ahead instead of 1 hour)

Global Positioning System (GPS)

developed in 1970s and 1980s by the Department of Defense, 24 satellites in orbit, but minimum 4 needed to establish a connection

International date line

discovered by Magellan's crew, 180 degrees longitude, it is not a perfect straight line, time remains the same but calendar day changes

Cultural Geography

economics politics, food, language, religion

Kinetic Energy

energy of movement, when an object becomes warmer it indicates that the average energy of the molecules in that substance has increased

Isobar

equal atmosphere pressure

Contour

equal elevation

Low Latitude

equator and 30 degrees North and 30 degrees South

Polar

few degrees of North and South Poles

Equatorial

few degrees of the equator

IPCC or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

first report in 1994 (AR1), the newest report 2013-2014 (AR5), executive summary for general public to understand, increase in Greenhouse Gases is due to human activity

natural pollution

forest fires, volcanic eruptions, dust, pollen

Secondary Pollutants

form as a result of processes in the air, sulfuric acid, photochemical smog (smoke and fog, gases react to UV rays, NO2 and hydrocarbons biggest contributor, ozone main component, damage crops, corrosive, damage eyes lungs and nasal passages)

Cross East to West

forward 1 day (Monday to Sunday)

Analemma

graph showing annual change in latitude of direct rays of sunlight

High-Latitude

greater than 60 degrees North and South

Drawing an Isoline map

have to estimate unknown values, closed lines, lines never touch or cross, constant interval, gradient tells how rapid the change

Dynamic High

high pressure cell associated with prominently descending air

Thermal High

high-pressure cell associated associated with cold surface temperatures

Specific Heat

how much does it take to raise the temperature water warms up slower and cools faster, and land heats up faster and cools down slower

Insolation

incoming solar radiation, it is constant, solar radiation budget at top of the atmosphere

Main Causes of Monsoons

large latitudinal migrations of the trade winds associated with large seasonal shifts of the ITCZ over Southeastern Eurasia

Isohyet

liquid precipitation amounts

Small Scale

little detail, has smaller representative fraction which the dominator is larger, provides a lot of area but little detail

Climate

long term average of weather conditions, 30 year record minimum including large phenomenon's to determine

Large Scale

lots of detail, generally has a larger representative fraction which mean on dominator is small, portrays only a small portion of Earth's surface but portrays it in considerable detail

Thermal Low

low pressure cell associated with warm surface conditions

Dynamic Low

low-pressure cell associated with prominently rising air

Relationship of Ideal Gas Law

lower density means lower pressure

Stratosphere

lower temperature, the average depth is 20 miles

Isogonic

magnetic declination

Physical Geography

natural in origin, land based, soil, plants, weather/climate, water, rocks and minerals

Black Body Radiators

object that is perfect emitter, emits all possible at every wavelength

Albedo

percentage of reflection the more that reflects the higher it becomes

Origin of Wind

pressure gradient

Air Pollutants

reduces visibility and poses health risks, most common over urban areas, and under high pressure (stable air), wind distributes pollutants

Zones of Latitude

regions on Earth that fall within general bands

Primary Pollutants

released directly into the air, carbon monoxide (most plentiful), nitrogen compounds, sulfur compounds, coaland pertrolem, sulfuric rain (sulfur + hydrogen)

Closed System

self-contained and isolated from influences outside that system, rare to find in nature, self-sufficient and closed to everything except what's inside

Weather

short term conditions in a specific area

man-made

smog, car exhaust, plant fumes

Tipping Point

system becomes unstable and changes abruptly until it reaches a new equilibrium, point of no return

Rayleigh scattering

takes place when the shortest wavelengths of visible light- violet and blue- are scattered more easily in all directions by the gas molecules in the atmosphere than are the longer wavelengths of visible light

Troposphere

temperature inversion, no set boundaries but starts at 50 miles, the Northern lights occur in this layer

Negative Feedback Loop

tend to inhibit a system from changing, increasing a system input tends to decrease further change keeping the system equilibrium, makes the change smaller

Absorption

the ability of an object to assimilate energy from electromagnetic waves that strike it, good absorbents are bad reflectors, impacts temperatures, takes radiation

Western Intensification

the pool-ward-moving warm currents off the east coast of continents tend to be narrower, deeper, and faster than the equator-ward-moving cool currents flowing-off the west coast of continents Ex: Gulf Stream

Radiation

the process in which electromagnetic energy is emitted from a body; the flow of energy in the form of electromagnetic waves, emission, the suns temperature versus the earths temperature (longwave versus shortwave)

Greenhouse Effect

the warming in the lower troposphere because of differential transmission for shortwave and long-wave radiation through greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; the atmosphere easily transmits shortwave radiation from the sun but inhibits the transmission of long-wave radiation from the surface. keeps Earth warm, greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, others trap outgoing radiation

Standard Time

there was no standard time till the mid 1800s, each time zone is 15 degrees wide with a Central Meridian, the United Time Coordinate (UTC) or Green

Main Causes of Wind

thermal low in summer, thermal high in winter, ITCZ shift, Himalayas

Map Requirements

title, date, legend, and scale

Tropical

tropics 23.5 degrees North and South

Thermosphere

varies with time and place, average depth of 11 miles at equator and 8 miles at poles. The temperature stagnates at the tropopause it shifts higher during hot times and lower during cold times

Mesaphere

warmer temperature inversion, there is no mixing in this layer and the average depth of 19 miles

Climate Change

warming of the earth due to increase in human produced greenhouse gases, Carbon Dioxide up 40%, Methane up more than 100% and 25x stronger than Carbon Dioxide

Transmission

waves pass all the way through, the ability of medium to allow electromagnetic waves to pass through it

Equilibrium

when inputs and outputs are in balance over time, the conditions within a system remain the same, input whatever goes in equals what comes out

Mie Scattering

when the atmosphere contains large quantities of larger particles, all wavelengths of visible light are more equally scattered, leaving the sky more gray than blue

Perihelion

when the earth is closet to the sun (91,400,000 miles)

Aphelion

when the earth is farthest from the sun (94,500,000)