Geography 111 Rainey Exam 2

Insolation

solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface

What causes the greenhouse effect, and is it a natural process?

When the Sun's energy reaches the Earth's atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. Yes it is a natural process

Through what mechanisms does latitude affect temperatures between the tropics and the polar regions?

1. Earth's Curvature

2. Earth's Rotation around axis

3. Earth's Orbit

4. Tilt of Earth's Axis

Explain why land surfaces tend to heat up and cool down more quickly than water surfaces

Water is a slow conductor of heat, thus it needs to gain more energy than the sand or dry land in order for its temperature to increase. On the other hand, soil loses its heat much faster. ... Additionally the oceans retain heat longer.... also land is opaque

How is this related to continentality and the maritime effect?

- Maritime Effect:

○ Water surfaces heat and cool slowly

§ High amount of cooling through evaporation

§ Surface is transparent (energy diffused)

§ Water has higher specific hear (absorbs more energy before warming up)

§ Water is highly mobile, allowing mixing between layers

- Continentality:

○ Land surfaces heat and cool quickly

§ Less cooling through evaporation

§ Surface is opaque (energy concentrated at surface)

§ Land has lower specific heat (absorbs less energy before warming up)

§ No mixing between layers

What does the environmental lapse rate refer to, and what affect does it have on mountain climates?

Earth's environmental lapse rate is the decrease in temperature with increasing altitude in the atmosphere. The density of air molecules in the atmosphere affects the air pressure, the force of air exerted on Earth's surface, which is the highest at sea level and steadily decreases with altitude.

Why can we not feel the weight of the air pressing down on us?

Human bodies are used to air pressure. The air pressure in our lungs, ears and stomachs is the same as the air pressure outside of our bodies, which ensures that we don't get crushed. Our bodies are also flexible enough to cope when the internal and external pressures aren't exactly the same.

Briefly explain how a convection system is set up, and how this is related to land and sea breezes.

The sea breeze strength will vary depending on the temperature difference between the land and the ocean. At night, the roles reverse. The air over the ocean is now warmer than the air over the land. The land loses heat quickly after the sun goes down and the air above it cools too.

Briefly explain what occurs at the inter-tropical convergence zone and the subtropical highs, and how the two are related.

The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ, is a belt of low pressure which circles the Earth generally near the equator where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres come together. It is characterised by convective activity which generates often vigorous thunderstorms over large areas

subtropical high - a significant belt of atmospheric high pressure situated around the latitudes of 30°N in the Northern Hemisphere and 30°S in the Southern Hemisphere.

Briefly explain how the Earth's rotation and surface friction affect wind patterns around high pressure and low pressure centers:

a. In the northern hemisphere

b. In the southern hemisphere

a. Veer towards the right winds flow clockwise away from the center of high pressure system

B. Veer towards the left winds flow clockwise away from the center of a high pressure system but flows clockwise in a low pressure system

Briefly explain how the trade winds and the westerlies are related to global pressure patterns.

Trade winds

Winds flowing from STHs to ITCZ in an easterly pattern (denotes direction wind blows from)

Flow from northeast in northern hemisphere

Flow from southeast In southern hemisphere

Westerlies

Flow poleward from the STH to the subpolar lows

Deflection causes them to blow from a general westerly direction

Name the various forms of precipitation.

rain, sleet, snow, hail ( conventional precipitation, orographic precipitation, and cyclonic precipitation)

What is the dew point temperature?

○ As warm air cools to its dew point temperature

§ It can no longer hold the moisture that it originally contained

It becomes super saturated

What does it mean when I say that the air is supersaturated?

It can no longer hold the moisture it originally contained

What are condensation nuclei?

Tiny particles on which droplets of water vapor can collect.

Name and describe main cloud types.

Cumulus - fluffy cotton-ball clouds

Cumulo-nimbus - thunderclouds

Stratus - thick blanket-like clouds that cover large portions of the sky

Cirrus - high, wispy clouds made up of ice crystals

What does relative humidity refer to?

the amount of water vapor present in air expressed as a percentage of the amount needed for saturation at the same temperature.

What produces a rain shadow, and what world regions can be found within a rain shadow?

a region having little rainfall because it is sheltered from prevailing rain-bearing winds by a range of hills.

The Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China is in a rain shadow due to the towering Himalaya mountain range

What are warm and cold fronts, and what causes them?

A cold weather front is defined as the changeover region where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass. Cold weather fronts usually move from northwest to southeast. The air behind a cold front is colder and drier than the air in front.

Fronts are the principal cause of significant weather. Convective precipitation (showers, thundershowers, and related unstable weather) is caused by air being lifted and condensing into clouds by the movement of the cold front or cold occlusion under a mass of warmer, moist air.

What type of precipitation is each front usually associated with?

A warm front brings gentle rain or light snow, followed by warmer, milder weather

When the cold front is passing, winds become gusty; there is a sudden drop in temperature, and heavy rain, sometimes with hail, thunder, and lightning.

Name and describe three types of storms, and how they form.

Tornado - Turbulence created by rapidly advancing cold front:

--combines with rapidly rising air

Forms funnel-shaped cumulo-nimbus cloud

--spawns a small, extremely intense storm

--winds 125-300 m.p.h.

Midlatitude Cyclone - Causes wave in the frontal boundary

--creates a cyclonic pattern

Large differences between two air masses

--causes fronts to move fast

Hurricane - Begins in a low-pressure zone over warm waters

(more common in N. Hem.)

--warm, moist air rises, sucking air from surface

--creates tall cumulo-nimbus clouds which release

energy to warm storm center

Who originally developed the most widely used climatic classification system in use today?

a. What two variables is this classification system based on?

b. What variable did his student, and later colleague (what was his name?), use to refine the boundaries of the climatic regions that his mentor originally developed?

Wladimir Köppen

a. temperature and precipitation

b. Rudolf Geiger;

Af climate

Af (Tropical Rainforest) Climate

No dry season

--no month averages <2.5 inches precipitation)

--average 80"-120" annual precipitation

Am climate

Am (Tropical Monsoon) Climate

Short (1-3 month) dry season

--followed by wet season (over 100 inches)

Aw climate

Aw (Tropical Savanna) Climate

Wider daily and annual temperature range

--poleward side of Af and Am climates

3-9 month dry season

--followed by a 3-9 month wet season

Avg. 40-60 inches annual precipitation

BS climate

BS (Semi-arid) Climate

10-30 inches precipitation/year

--intermediate between desert and wetter climates

BW climate

BW (Arid) Climate

True desert

--<10-15 inches precipitation/year

Vegetation

-spiny vegetation and succulents (cactus) in wetter

areas, no vegetation in drier areas

Cfa climate

Cfa (Humid Subtropical) Climate

Hot summers (Avg. >72ºF)

No dry season

--trade winds, maritime effect

Cs climate

Cs (Dry Summer) Climate

Summers dry; winters moist

Mediterranean Climate

--associated with Chapparal vegetation

(California) and wildfire hazard

--subtropical highs, dominant wind

systems

Cfb and Cfc climates

Cfb/Cfc (Marine West Coast) Climates

Year-round precipitation

--maritime effect, Westerlies, orographic effect

Large conifers, ferns, mosses

Cw climate

Cw (Dry Winter) Climate

Winter months: <2.5 inches precipitation

--continentality, wind systems, subtropical

highs (winter)

Df climate

Df (No Dry Season) Climate

--wetter sides of climates

Dfa climate—northern broadleaf

Dfb climate—northern coniferous

Dfc climate—boreal forests

Dw climates

Dw (Dry Season) Climate

Drier sides of continents

Primarily found in Siberia

--in rain shadow of surrounding highlands

ET climate

ET (Tundra) Climate

Warmest month averages 27-50ºF

Tundra

Cold adapted vegetation assemblage

--short grasses

--mosses

--lichens

--low shrubs

--some places less than 4 inches tall

EF climate

EF (Ice Cap) Climate

Average warmest month: <27ºF

No vegetation

--ice caps and glaciers

How has the definition of what constitutes a "resource" changed over time?

How does a potentially renewable resource differ from a (truly) renewable resource and a non-renewable resource?

- Renewable Resources

○ Replaced or replenished by natural processes

- Perpetual Resources

○ Virtually inexhaustible

§ Sunlight

§ Wind

§ Waves

§ Tides

§ Geothermal energy

- Potentially renewable resources

○ Renewable if managed properly

○ Non-renewable if not

§ Groundwater

§ Soil

§ Plants

§ Animals

- Non renewable resources

○ Exist in finite amounts or

○ Generated slowly, so practically non-renewable

§ Fossil fuel

§ Nuclear fuel

Most fuels

Be able to define what a resource is, and to provide examples of both human resources and natural resources.

- Resource

○ Naturally occurring, exploitable material

§ Perceived by society to be useful to a society's economic and material well-being

- Natural Resources

○ Occur naturally within the environment

- Human resources

○ Scientists inventors capable workers

What factors is natural resource availability dependent on?

1. Physical characteristics of the resources

i. Governed by physical laws

2. Human economic and technological conditions

i. Must be understood to be a resource

ii. Influenced by culture

What is the difference between proved reserves, usable reserves, uneconomic reserves and undiscovered reserves of a particular resource?

- Resource Reserves

○ Predicting how much of a particular resource is potentially usable depends on:

1. Knowledge of resource and its distribution

- Difficult when found underground, or in remote areas

2. Current economic and technological conditions

- Higher prices allow more to be extracted under difficult conditions

- New technologies can allow more to be extracted, often at lower costs

3. Rate at which resource being used

- Depends on:

® Price

® Population growth

Industrial expansion or conservation

Why is energy considered to be a "master" resource?

Used to make other resources available

How has energy use by humans changed over time?

- Pre-agricultural societies

○ Primarily food energy and fuel wood

- Agricultural societies developed technologies to harness more energy

○ Domesticated plants and animals

○ Wind to power ships

○ Water to turn waterwheels

- Wood historically dominant energy source

○ 1/2 world population still cooks and heats with wood

- Shift from renewable resources to non-renewable fuels

○ Sparked industrial revolution

○ Increased personal wealth in industrial societies

Which countries are the primary producers of the world's petroleum supplies? Which are the primary

consumers?

In 2016, the major producers of crude oil were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the Russian Federation, Canada, and Iran.

US and China

What factors contributed to the world's current dependence on crude oil as an energy source?

a. When did the US start importing more oil than it produced?

b. What was the impact of this deficit in supply relative to demand have in terms of global geopolitics

and the global economy?

c. What changes did it lead to, in terms of energy consumption?

What is "fraccing," what technologies are used, and what impact is "fraccing" having on:

a. US reserves of crude oil?

b. Potentially on the environment?

deep shale production of oil and gas

a. the reserves are greatly decreasing

b. it creates fractures in the rock

Be able to define what a resource is and to provide examples of both human resources in natural resources

Resource- Naturally occurring exploitable material perceived by society to be useful to a societies economic and material well-being

Human Resources- scientists inventors capable workers

Natural resources- occur naturally within the environment

What is an exotic species how to these species often impact native species

Exotic species- animals who were not naturally from area but moved there and can harm other animals and cause death

Where current estimates of crude oil reserves and how long will they last a current rates of use

Crude oil supplies 33% of energy consumption the three top producers or the United States, Russian federation, and Saudi Arabia

When did the European and US industrial revolutions begin and what impact did they have one coal use

1850 -10%. 1910-80%

What are the primary current uses of coal in industrialized countries

Electric power generation in Coke production

What are the primary current uses of coal in less industrialized countries

Home heating and cooking and electricity and factories

What are the three main types of coal

Lignite, bituminous, anthracite

What is the cleanest burning coal

Lignite

What is the dirtiest burning of coal

Anthracite

What are some of the economic and environmental problems associated with coal use

It mutilate original surface leads to acidification of lakes and streams, is the removal of sulfur and other ways from stack gases required, expensive, bulky to transport

Where is natural gas primarily found in the United States and which countries have the largest natural gas reserves

United States - Texas Louisiana Kansas Oklahoma New Mexico

World reserves- Russia, Middle East, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America

What is oil shale

Fine grained calcium and magnesium carbonate contains kerogen and is a waxy tar like substance

What are tar sands? How much oil our tar sands estimated to contain? Where are the largest tar sands deposits found?

Sandstone is saturated with by two men may contain several trillion bar barrels of oil up to 1 trillion barrels in Alberta Canada

What are the main problems with using oil shells and tar sands

It is expensive to extract, it uses large amounts of land water and energy, strip mining for extraction

What does can mention no nuclear production involve

Controlled splitting of uranium released heat create stream to drive electric generators

What are biomass fuel's

Organic materials produced by living organisms burn directly or converted to oil or gas is a major energy source in developing world in the consumption is insignificant and developed world

What are the two major sources of biomass fuel's

Living plants in wastes

Hydro power

Second most commonly use renewable energy source supplied about 7% of energy consumed globally and 2015 it is kinetic energy from moving water

Where is Hydro power produced and where is it consumed

It is produced in concentrated regions where topographic provides more flow energy like in Washington, Oregon, California, Tennessee River Valley, and the Northeast. It is consumed where it is produced because long-distance transmission is expensive the largest producers or Idaho, Oregon, Washington

What a major drawbacks of Hydro power projects

It has high environmental and social cost, reservoirs cover large amounts of land, flood for us wetlands farmlands villages, displaces many people, changes stream dynamics and threaten some species

What are the major advantages and drawbacks of solar energy

Advantages - abundant perpetual energy source

Drawbacks - defuse an intermittent must be collected over a large area and needs to be stored when sun down

Describe each of the four primary ways in which solar energy is currently being utilized

Water in space heating, parabolic trough system, PV roof systems, geothermal heating

What supplies for the energy for the geothermal energy and where are the geothermal feels generally located

They are powered by plate tectonics and they are location specific foundering hotspot such as Iceland, western US, Hawaii, Philippines, Japan in New Zealand

What are geothermal heat pumps of how they work

Tap constant temperature found in soil below the frost line

What are wind powers main advantages and disadvantages

Advantages - Perpetual, does not complete scarce resources, turns turbines directly, built in erected quickly, costs lowered by technology, now complete with fossil fuel's perpetual, does not complete scarce resources, turns turbines directly, build and erected quickly, costs lowered by technology, now competes with fossil fuel's

Disadvantages Dash me first strong steady wins, intermittent needs a reliable storage, needs thousands to produce energy for one nuclear plant, aesthetic impact in Hazard Post two birds

Who currently are the primary wind power producers around the world

Germany

What is a soil in what portion of the soil is most important for supporting life on earth

Then layer of decompose rock decaying plant matter most lifeforms depend on this then later

What happens to stores with the natural vegetation is removed

Accelerated erosion

What does allow many traditional agriculture to remain stable for thousands of years

Terracing intercropping contouring, crop rotation's, following, maturing

What factors have upset this balance in recent years agriculture

Growing population in global market competition caused changing practices

What is desertification?

Expansion or intensification of areas with degraded or destroyed soil and vegetation

What are the main environmental factors and types of human activities that contribute to desert of Acacian and what is the certifications impacts on so no more resources

Unpredictable rainfall cycles, drought, overgrazing, Deforestation, burning

What does salinization referred to

Concentration of salt and topsoils water evaporation from surface

What is the wetland and one of the two main types of

What Lane is a vegetated land surface periodically or permanently covered by or saturated with standing water. Two main types include swamp and marsh

Estuarine Zone

the relatively narrow area of wetlands along coastlines where salt water and fresh water mix.

What are some important functions of wetlands

Wetlands act as protective natural sponges by capturing storing and slowly releasing water over a long period of time, wetlands improve water quality by acting as sediment sinks or basins

What impact of the swamplands not have on the treatment of wetlands according to official US policy

Wetlands reclamation became US policy Refers to converting to some other more productive use

How has Americans perception of wetlands change in recent decades

Wetlands were seen a swampy smelly breeders of mosquitoes and diseases

What are the three components of the biosphere in which it interacts with the other three earth spheres

Abiotic, biotic and energy components - lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

food chain

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

hydrolic cycle

the continuous circulation of water between the atmosphere, oceans, and earth

What happen with the Kissimmee River was channelized

Tremendous reduction in water fountain game fish in last fall most 55 mi.² of wetland habitat

What are the four main contributors to water pollution

Fertilizers, pesticides, sediment, industrial chemical waste

Channelization

An engineering technique to straighten, widen, deepen, or otherwise modify a natural stream channel.

What are the two primary types of sources of water pollution

Surface water, ground water

Eutrophication

A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria.

Biocides

A broad-spectrum poison that kills a wide range of organisms.

acid precipitation

Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog

What are the primary contributors to acid rain

Sulfur and nitrogen

biological magnification

increasing concentration of a harmful substance in organisms at higher trophic levels in a food chain or food web

thermal pollution

a temperature increase in a body of water that is caused by human activity and that has a harmful effect on water quality and on the ability of that body of water to support life

municipal waste

the waste materials produced in homes, businesses, schools, and other places in a community

Ozone

A form of oxygen that has three oxygen atoms in each molecule instead of the usual two.

Halons

Compounds similar to CFCs, in which bromine or fluorine atoms replace some or all of the chlorine atoms.