Geography notes
Why does Europe need more migrants?
- The birth rate is currently falling all over Europe
- With no increase in pop. the government would be unable to accommodate for the lack of workers
- the lack of workers would affect infrastructure, the economy,etc.
Europe’s climate
- Europe’s climate is relatively mild
- Most of Europe lies in the temperate region and are therefore dominated by prevailing west winds
- Polar regions are only in the north of Europe
- Alipidic mountain ranges running from west to east block out cold air and therefore prevent cold snaps
- The climate is greatly affected by: the distance to large bodies of water, latitude, prevailing winds within the system of atmospheric circulation,etc.
Gulf stream
-Ocean and wind streams send winds all over the planet
-thermohaline circulation: temperature and salt content
- warm water means lower density and cold water increases density
- salt increases density
- golf stream is incredible important to the european climate
- The Gulf Stream brings in 15x more water than any other river in the world
- warm and cold periods on the planet are normal
- golf stream may be blocked due to the melting of glaciers
- gulf stream warms Europe
- lack of hear from the Gulf Stream would mean harsher climate for Europe
- stream from the Gulf Stream is 10,000km long
- prevailing west winds brings precipitation and warmer air
Prevailing westerlies
- westerlies are winds, which blow from west to east
- the westerlies move from 30-60 degrees latitude to the east
- at the core of the westerlies lies the jet stream
- main jet streams located near the altitude of the tropopause
- the path of jet streams typically have a meandering shape
- can start, stop, split into 2 or more parts, combine or flow in various directions
Europe’s climates
- Europe can be divided into 5 different climatic regions: the oceanic, transitional, continental, sub-polar and mediterranean climates
- The temperate climate is typical in mountainous regions
- low temperatures and a short vegetation period leads to large boreal forests with spruces, larch and occasionally birch (temperate climate)
- favorable climate for agriculture, industrial development and settlement (temperate climate)
- agriculture: dairy farming, livestock (in areas with high levels of precipitation), wheat, vegetables, fruit and wine growing (temperate climate)
- the mediterranean climate has mild winters and isn’t affected by cold air masses due to the Pyrennes and the Alps (temperate climate)
- Agriculture: olive, citrus fruit, wine and vegetables (temperate climate)
- the subpolar climate has cold and long winters and mild summers (temperate climate)
- average temperature is very low (temperate climate)
- low levels of precipitation (temperate climate)
Main landscapes of Europe
1. High mountains/ Fold Mountains
- summer months very hot and dry (High mountains)
- low annual rainfall (High mountains)
- water is rare (High mountains)
2.Low Mountains
- elevation between 1000-1,500m (Low Mountains)
- tree go up to highest peak (Low Mountains)
- no distinctive altitudinal zonation of vegetation (Low Mountains)
- deciduous and coniferous forests(Low Mountains)
- a relief of such a mountain is smooth due to erosion working the surface over time (Low Mountains)
- slightly covered by glacial ice (Low Mountains)
- features less marked (Low Mountains)
3. Hilly regions & Plains
- forest covered (Hilly regions & Plains)
- shows a smooth relief (Hilly regions & Plains)
- dominated by drumlins (Hilly regions & Plains)
- only gentle ridges (drumlins); otherwise flat (Hilly regions & Plains)
- rivers have very little gradient and slowly fill depressions or basins, originally formed into lakes, into swamps and plains (Hilly regions & Plains)
- lake basins originate from the joint work of erosion and weathering (Hilly regions & Plains)
4. Basins
- formed through sinking processes in the earth’s crust (Basins)
- filled up by river sediment (Basins)
- Scarplands can be found on the edge of basins (Basins)
- scarplands are formed erosion (Basins)
- loess located in regions lead to a favorable climate and fertile soil (Basins)
5. Lowlands
- flat areas without differences in altitude (Lowlands)
- lie close to sea level (Lowlands)
- distinctive coastline (Lowlands)
- rivers are slow flowing with fine sediments, which constantly cleave new riverbeds (especially during floods) (Lowlands)
Europe
- second smallest continent
- Paleo-europe
- Meso-europe
- Neo-europe
Ur-Europe
- Baltic Shield & East European Plain (Ur-Europe)
- rock older than 3 billion years (Ur-Europe)
- tectonic movements but exogenic forces, therefor flat, hilly relief with marshes and lakes (Ur-Europe)
- ore, stone coal, oil, natural gas deposits (Ur-Europe)
Paleo-Europe
- Caledonian Orogeny (400-500 mil) (Paleo-Europe)
- mountain ranges around 2,500m high (scandinavian mountains) and 1,300m high on the British Isles (Paleo-Europe)
- peneplain mountains (Paleo-Europe)
- stone coal deposits in England (Paleo-Europe)
- natural gas in North sea (Paleo-Europe)
Meso- Europe
- Variscan Orogeny (400-250 mil) (Meso- Europe)
- today low mountain ranges between Spain and southern Poland, Ural Mountains; e.g Schwarzwald, Vogesen (Meso- Europe)
- stone coal, brown coal (Meso- Europe)
Neo- Europe
- Alpide Orogeny: Has started 100 mil (Neo- Europe)
- high mountain ranges (fold mountain)
running from west to east (Neo- Europe)
- Sierra Nevada - Balkan - Caucasus (Neo- Europe)
- foothills/forelands, basin (Neo- Europe)
Ice Age (Glacial Period)
Europe’s current natural/physical shape = result of different ice ages throughout the last 1.8 mil (Glacial Period)
- glacier (Glacial Period)
- last ice age ended 10,000 years ago (Glacial Period)
- increase of temp of about 8-10 (Glacial Period)
- rise of sea level 130 (Glacial Period)
- dramatic changes to the coast line (Glacial Period)
Tundra zone
- made up of lichens and various mosses (Tundra zone)
- narrow zone; Iceland; Scandinavia; Russia; Norway (Tundra zone)
- similar vegetation to found in the Alps as well as northern Urals (Tundra zone)
- merges with taiga and boreal forest (Tundra zone)
- conifers, willow and birch thickets; open (Tundra zone)
- southern zone is closed (Tundra zone)
- heavily deforested (Tundra zone)
Mediterranean Vegetation
- broad leaved Evergreens, shrubs as well as scrub in some areas (Mediterranean Vegetation)
- aromatic plants and small trees (Mediterranean Vegetation)
- Scrub scattered through sommer drought (Mediterranean Vegetation)
- The wooded-steppe and grass-steppe vegetation zones are confined to Russia, Ukraine and the Danubian Lowlands (Mediterranean Vegetation)
Semi Desert Vegetation
-dry lowlands around the northern and the northwestern shores of the Caspian Sea (Semi Desert Vegetation)
European Union
After the treaty of Paris was signed and WWII was officially over ,Europe was in shambles with an ongoing rebuilding effort and an unstable economy the future of the EU looked bleary. Even after the war, tensions between countries remained high and europe’s leaders knew they had to prevent another war and in 1951 the ECSC was created.This alignment had such a great success it was extended into other aspects of life and was renamed the EEC and later the EC and eventually the members of the EC agreed to expand into the EU and 3 newly anointed members, one of them being Austria. (European Union)
The European Parliament
- voice of the citizens
- adopts EU law (The European Parliament)
- elected by citizens every 5 years (The European Parliament)
- right to vote is 18 except Greece, Austria and Malta (The European Parliament)
- 705 members (The European Parliament)
- amount of members per country is dependent on population size of that country (The European Parliament)
- Members work based on political affiliation not nationality (The European Parliament)
- decide on European laws together with the Council; if not agreed upon no new law (The European Parliament)
- elects the President of the European Commission (The European Parliament)
- approves of the 27 members as a body and the budget (The European Parliament)
European Council
- leaders of EU countries (European Council)
- meet at least 4 times a year (European Summits) (European Council)
- sets main priorities and overall policy directions (European Council)
- does not adopt EU law (European Council)
Council of the European Union
- represents the governments of EU countries (Council of the European Union)
- adapts EU law (Council of the European Union)
- ministers from all EU countries discuss matters and make decisions on policies and laws (Council of the European Union)
- ministers are assigned topics (Council of the European Union)
- two decision making body (Council of the European Union)
- make sure things are dealt with in the EU (Council of the European Union)
- majority voting/ unanimous voting (sensitive areas) (Council of the European Union)
European Commission
- 27 members with a president and multiple vice presidents (European Commission)
- president is nominated by EU commission and formally elected by the Parliament (European Commission)
- one member per country (European Commission)
- represent common interest of the EU (European Commission)
- proposes new laws and programmes (European Commission)
- before proposal seeks critic (European Commission)
- then these proposals are scrutinized by the EU Parliament and the Council (make final decision) can modify or reject (European Commission)
- executive body (European Commission)
- manages policies and the budget (European Commission)
- make sure EU law is correctly applies (European Commission)
Court of Justice of the EU
-interprets whether EU is correctly applied (Court of Justice of the EU)
- clarifies if any confusion arises (Court of Justice of the EU)
- 1 judge per member state (Court of Justice of the EU)