Chapter 1-7 Overview: Introduction to Geography and Latitude/Longitude

Definitions and scope of geography

• Geography is a broad discipline that looks at both human and physical phenomena (physical meaning environmental) and how they shape the world's environment and places.
• Geography is a spatial science: it studies how things vary over space and asks both where something happens and why it happens.
• The course emphasizes weather and climate, but geography connects to many fields (e.g., culture, politics, economics, business, crime, history).
• The instructor’s personal journey: switched from chemistry to geography after a classroom experience showing how science and human/cultural aspects can be integrated.
• Geography can substitute for some classes within a major because it’s so broad; it provides a link to many disciplines.

Core questions in geography: where, why, how, so what

• Where matters: identifying locations on the map and understanding spatial patterns.
• Why matters: understanding the processes and interactions that create patterns (e.g., why tornadoes form in certain regions).
• How and so what: mechanisms, implications, and actions in response to spatial patterns (e.g., future weather trends, human health impacts, policy responses).
• Example: tornado activity in the United States centers on Tornado Alley (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska) due to flat terrain, mountain barriers (Appalachians, Rockies) funneling air masses, and the collision of cold dry air from Canada with warm moist air from the Gulf.
• Global perspective: beyond the U.S., the second-most tornado activity occurs in Australia; reggae music is a cultural geography example illustrating how geography influences culture.

Human geography vs. physical geography

• Human geography deals with human-related topics and subspecialties.
  • Examples: crime geography, business geography, historical geography, urban planning, political science intersections, criminology.
  • There are minors and programs that leverage geography tools across majors.
• Physical geography (the focus in weather and climate) deals with natural processes:
  • Meteorology (weather) and climatology (long-term patterns).
  • Connected topics: oceans (ocean–atmosphere interactions), plants, animals, soils, and how climate affects the biosphere and lithosphere.
• The instructor identifies as a biogeographer with cross-training in ecology, zoology, botany, and soil science; emphasizes that weather and climate require understanding the broader Earth system.

Earth’s subsystems and their interactions

• Atmosphere: a thin shell of gases surrounding Earth; essential for life; contains the ozone layer; greenhouse gases keep Earth warm (prevent freezing); without it, life would not exist.
• Hydrosphere: all water on Earth (oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater, glaciers); about 70% of Earth’s surface is water; water cycle links weather, climate, and life:
  • Evaporation, condensation, precipitation form the hydrologic (water) cycle.
• Cryosphere: subset of the hydrosphere consisting of frozen water (glaciers, snow cover, permafrost, needle ice); sometimes treated as its own domain in hydrology.
• Biosphere: all living organisms, soils, and their interactions with climate and weather.
• Lithosphere: the solid Earth’s surface and the materials beneath it; geology overlaps but geography requires careful terminology to avoid mislabeling (geologist vs. geographer).
• Interconnections: all systems (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, lithosphere) are interconnected; changes in one affect the others (e.g., rain shadow effects from mountains; volcanic eruptions altering global temperatures).

Key geographic concepts and phenomena

• Rain shadow: mountains create windward (wet) and leeward (dry) sides due to orographic lifting; deserts commonly exist on the leeward side (e.g., Atacama Desert on the leeward side of the Andes).
• Volcanic eruptions and climate: volcanic ash in the atmosphere can reflect solar radiation, cooling global temperatures for years; conversely, particulates can trap heat in some conditions depending on pollutants and clouds.
• Coastal proximity and climate: water has a high specific heat, so coastal areas tend to have milder summers and winters compared to inland locations (e.g., Huntsville vs. Galveston).
• Example of climate influence on living systems: climate shapes ecosystems (plants, animals, soils) and human activities (agriculture, health).
• Cartography and map literacy: essential for weather and climate interpretations; familiarity with latitude, longitude, and map projections is foundational for analyzing weather maps and data.

Geography in practice: tools and methods

• Cartography and maps: core for locating features, understanding spatial relationships, and communicating patterns.
• Latitude and longitude: universal coordinate system to pinpoint locations on Earth.
• Map projections: required to translate the globe to flat maps; important in weather mapping and GIS.
• Remote sensing: satellite imagery and other remote sensing data are essential for monitoring weather patterns, hurricanes, and climate indicators.
• GIS (Geographic Information Systems): computerized mapping and spatial analysis;
• Statistics and math: quantitative skills are important in geography, not just qualitative descriptions.
• Lab focus: the first lab/quizzes emphasize maps, latitude/longitude, and basic spatial reasoning.

The atmosphere and the layers of Earth’s spheres (quick recap)

• Atmosphere height (as discussed in-class example): approximately six miles up from the ground to the edge of the atmosphere (noting the instructor’s phrasing in the session).
• The 4 major spheres (as context for weather and climate): atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere; often extended with cryosphere as a distinct sub-domain.
• Emphasis on the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and how they interact to drive weather and climate phenomena.

Latitude and longitude fundamentals (refresher and key rules)

• Latitude and longitude are a universal coordinate system to locate any point on Earth.
• Lat/long orientation and order:
  • Latitude is written first; longitude is written second.
  • Latitude measures north-south position relative to the equator; longitude measures east-west position relative to the prime meridian.
• Latitudes:
  • Run from 0° at the equator to 90° at the poles (north or south).
  • Lines of latitude are horizontal (parallel) and do not intersect.
• Longitudes:
  • Run from 0° at the prime meridian (Greenwich, England) to 180° east or west.
  • Lines of longitude are vertical and intersect at the poles; they form a circle from 0° → 180° east and 0° → 180° west, meeting at the International Date Line at 180°.
• Prime meridian and Greenwich: longitude’s starting point is the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England.
• The International Date Line sits roughly at 180° longitude and marks where each new day begins; crossing this line changes your calendar date.
• Time zones and longitude: the division of the Earth into time zones is tied to longitude; a common rule is about 15° of longitude per hour (360°/24h = 15°/h), though the lecture included a brief moment of discussion about the calculation (the instructor noted the correct value after an earlier misstatement).
• Angular distance between two lat/long positions:
  • Angular distance is the difference in latitude and/or longitude between two points, computed by following the sphere geometry. An intuitive approach used in class was to draw the positions to visualize crossing the equator.
• Examples to internalize:
  • Between 20°N and 30°S: the angular distance is
    |20^ ext{°} - (-30^ ext{°})| = 50^ ext{°}.
  • Between 20°N and the North Pole (90°N): the angular distance is
    90^ ext{°} - 20^ ext{°} = 70^ ext{°}.
  • Between 1°N (Endoplasma Beach) and the South Pole (90°S): angular distance is
    1^ ext{°} + 90^ ext{°} = 91^ ext{°}.
  • Miles corresponding to angular distance: since 1^ ext{°} ext{ latitude}
    oughly equals } 69 ext{ miles}, a 91° distance corresponds to approximately 91 imes 69 ext{ miles} \,= 6{,}279 ext{ miles}.
• Worked coordinate problem from class (Huntsville to Pacific Island):
  • Start: latitude 30°N, longitude 160°W.
  • Move 50° south: latitude becomes 30°N → 20°S (i.e., new latitude =
    -20^ ext{°}.)
  • Move 50° west: longitude 160°W → 210°W, which wraps around to 150°E (since longitudes wrap around at 180°; 210°W is equivalent to 150°E).
  • Final coordinates: 20^ ext{°} ext{S}, ext{ } 150^ ext{°} ext{E}.
  • Note: after crossing the 180° line, longitude can be expressed using the opposite sign (east vs west) by wrapping around; a schematic method the instructor used was to visualize the circle of longitudes and count degrees across the International Date Line.
• Amoeba Island example (practice in map reading):
  • Lat/long notation requires reading the y-axis (latitude) first, then the x-axis (longitude).
  • Example data given:
  • Phyto Head: latitude 0° (on the equator), longitude 3° East.
  • Endoplasma Beach: located near the North Pole (≈ 90°N) at a Western Hemisphere longitude (relative to the United States).
  • Specific questions from the activity:
  • Which city is closest to the North Pole? Endoplasma Beach (closest to 90°N).
  • Which city is closest to the United States in terms of longitude? A western-hemisphere city (the slide indicates the western location closest to the U.S.).
  • Angular distance from Endoplasma Beach to the South Pole: Endoplasma Beach is at about 1°N, so the distance is about
    |90^ ext{°} - (-1^ ext{°})| = 91^ ext{°}. 91^ ext{°} imes 69 ext{ miles/°}
    ightarrow ext{≈ } 6{,}279 ext{ miles}.
• Practical geometry tips provided in class:
  • Latitude lines run horizontally (parallel) and are read as north/south of the equator.
  • Longitude lines run vertically (converge at the poles) and are read as east/west of the prime meridian.
  • When asked to find a location, always report latitude first, then longitude.
  • If you’re given coordinates that cross the International Date Line, visualize longitudes on a circle and adjust east/west accordingly.
  • When solving angular distance problems on exams, drawing the scenario is highly recommended for visualization.

Common misconceptions and terminology to remember

• Do not confuse geographer with geologist. Geography is broad (human + physical). Geologists focus on lithosphere and related geology topics; mislabeling can upset professionals in the field.
• The earth’s systems are interconnected; weather and climate cannot be fully understood by looking at only one sphere.
• The term cryosphere can be used to denote the subset of frozen water within the hydrosphere; some scientists prefer this term to emphasize its distinct characteristics from the broader hydrosphere.
• The four (or five) Earth spheres are often taught together in weather/climate courses to illustrate integrations like how atmospheric processes interact with oceans (hydrosphere) and landforms (lithosphere).

Quick practical takeaways to study for exams

• Know the two main branches of geography and examples of each:
  • Human geography: geography of crime, business, urban planning, historical geography.
  • Physical geography: meteorology, climatology, oceanography, biogeography, soil science.
• Understand and memorize the key definitions and relationships:
  • Latitude: north-south position relative to the equator; range 0^ ext{°} ext{ to } 90^ ext{°} north or south.
  • Longitude: east-west position relative to the prime meridian; range 0^ ext{°} ext{ to } 180^ ext{°} east or west.
  • Prime meridian: longitude 0°, located at Greenwich, England.
  • International Date Line: roughly at 180° longitude.
  • Time zones: conceptually 360^ ext{°} / 24 ext{ h} = 15^ ext{°/h}, though beware practical zones can deviate due to political boundaries.
  • 1° of latitude ≈ 69 miles.
• Be able to perform basic angular distance calculations and interpret maps by drawing when needed.
• Understand why weather and climate topics are important for human societies (health, infrastructure, policy, adaptation).
• Be familiar with the lab focus areas: maps, remote sensing, GIS, and basic statistics needed for geographic analysis.

Quick references (formulas and numeric facts to remember)

• Time zone width (theoretical):
  ext{Time zone width} = rac{360^ ext{°}}{24 ext{ h}} = 15^ ext{°/h}.
• 1° latitude distance:
  1^ ext{°} ext{ latitude}
  oughly = 69 ext{ miles}.
• Angular distance examples:
  • Between $20^ ext{°}N$ and $30^ ext{°}S$: angular distance = |20^ ext{°} - (-30^ ext{°})| = 50^ ext{°}.
  • Between $20^ ext{°}N$ and $90^ ext{°}N$: angular distance = |90^ ext{°} - 20^ ext{°}| = 70^ ext{°}.
  • Endoplasma Beach at ~$1^ ext{°}N$ to South Pole: angular distance = 90^ ext{°} + 1^ ext{°} = 91^ ext{°}.
• Latitude is always listed first, longitude second; latitude lines are parallel (do not intersect), longitude lines converge at the poles and cross the globe.
• Geographic coordinate conventions and concepts are used widely in navigation, climate studies, remote sensing, and GIS analyses.