Geography 210: Physical Geography and Environmental Issues

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Geography 210 Physical Geography and
Environmental Issues

• Dr. B. Mark
• and
• Mr. F. Chmara-Huff
• Fall Quarter 2006
• The Ohio State University

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Todays Outline

• Introduce Course
• Defining Geography
• Defining Course Objectives
• Course Themes
• Earth as a planet with a geographic coordinate
  system

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Course Instructors

• Instructor
• Dr. Bryan Mark
• Office 1136 Derby Hall
• Email mark.9_at_osu.edu
• Phone [phone]
• Office hours Wed and Thurs 1030AM-1230 PM, or
  by appointment

• Assistant
• Fletcher Chmara-Huff
• Office 1155 Derby Hall
• Email chmara-huff.1_at_osu.edu
• Phone [phone]
• Office hours TBD, by appointment

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Who is Dr. B. Mark?

• Geographic vagrant (NM, MA, RI, NY, UK, EU)
• Interdisciplinary education
• BA in History
• MA in Geography
• PhD in Earth Science
• Tropical glaciers
• Paleo-environmental data
• Global climate change
• Water resources

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Remote Sensing Geographic Information Systems
(GIS)

• Glacier outlines
• Volume calculation

• visualization

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Paleoenvironmental dataglacier moraines
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How will the instructor know you?
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Course Syllabus

• Course Structure and Policies

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Schedule
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Tips for success

• Attend participate
• Do readings before lecture
• Ask questions
• Communicate with instructors
• Find relevance and take an interest

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What is Geography?
and how is it relevant?
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Defining Geography

• Geo Earth graphy to write
• science that studies the relationships among
  natural systems, geographic areas, society,
  cultural activities and the interdependence of
  all these over space.
• (Christopherson, 2003)

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Space, Spatial
related concept distance-decay
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Geography is the study of the Earths environment
and its people
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Geography is the study of the Earths environment
and its people
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Geography is the study of the Earths environment
and its people
Bourtange, NetherlandsThis one-meter resolution
satellite image was collected by Space Imaging's
IKONOS satellite on Sept. 20, 2003
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People modify Earths environment
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Overview of Geography (cont.)
Geography is Interdisciplinary! The common
thread among the MANY sub-disciplines is the
spatial context Things closer in space tend to be
more closely related than things separated by a
larger distance
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Overview of Geography (cont.)

• Geographic sub-disciplines
• Physical
• Human
• Physical and Human
• People Society Environment

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Climatology
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Hydrology
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Water resource monitoring
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Biogeography
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Biogeographer, Dr. Keith H. Topps, Nipissing
University, Ontario, Species Replacement at an
Alpine Treeline, Top of the World Highway, Yukon,
Canada
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Overview of Geography (cont.)

• Human Geography (Examples cont.)
• Historical Geography
• Electoral Geography
• Cultural Ecology
• Urban Geography
• Transportation
• Urban planning
• and on and on and on

2000 Presidental Electoral Map
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Electoral Geography
2004 Presidental Electoral Map
2004 presidential election results on a
population cartogram
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Geography is NOT only descriptivebut considers

• Why are places where they are?
• How is the place changing?
• How do humans influence the the place?
• What characteristics of people and places can be
  explained by what processes?

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Major Geographic Techniques

• Remote Sensing (e.g. Satellite Images)
• Monitoring Land Use Changes
• Geographical Information Systems
• Urban Planning
• Cartography
• Mapping
• Spatial Analytical Methods
• spatial statistics or geomathematics

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• Strahler Strahler (SS) CH 1 The Earth as a
  Rotating Planet

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The Earth as a Rotating Planet

• The Geographic Grid
• Earth Rotation
• The Earths Revolution around the Sun

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The Geographic Grid

• Earths coordinate system is divided into 360
  degrees
• Each degree is divided into 60 minutes
• Each minute is divided into 60 seconds
• Port Columbus
• 39 deg. 59 min. 52.7 sec. N, 082 deg. 53 min.
  30.8 sec. W
• This division provides a grid of imaginary
  lines
• parallels (east - west)
• meridians (north - south)

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The Geographic Grid
b) Longitude (meridians) 1 degree of longitude
111 km at the equator and 0 at the poles
a) Latitude (Parallels) 1 degree latitude
constant 111 km
Figure 1.3, p. 28
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The Geographic Grid
Latitude is the angle between a point on a
parallel and the centre of the Earth and a point
on the equator Longitude is the angle between a
point on a meridian and the centre of the Earth
and a point on the Prime Meridian
Figure 1.5, p. 29
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun

• Revolution
• one complete circling around the Sun
• from above north pole in counterclockwise
  direction
• the path is not circular but is elliptical
• orbits on the plane of the solar system

E
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
the Earth and Moon both rotate and revolve in a
counterclockwise direction (when viewed from a
point over the Earths north pole)
Figure 1.14, p. 38
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
sun is not in the middle of the plane of the
ecliptic
Aphelion - the Earth furthest away from Sun
(July 4)
Perihelion - the Earth closest to Sun (January
3)
152 million km
147 million km
variation in distance of 3
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Earth Rotation
The earths axis is tilted 23½ away from the
plane of the solar system
Figure 1.16, p. 40
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
the Earth rotates about its axis from west to
east once every 23 hours and 56 minutes the
Earths axis points same way (parallelism) as it
revolves around the sun
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
at equinox, the circle of illumination passes
through both poles the subsolar point is the
equator each location on Earth experiences 12
hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness
Figure 1.18, p. 41
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
Solstice (sun stands still) On June 22, the
subsolar point is 23½N (Tropic of Cancer) On
Dec. 22, the subsolar point is 23½S (Tropic of
Capricorn)
Figure 1.19, p. 41
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
the latitude of the subsolar point marks
the suns declination which changes throughout
the year
Figure 1.20, p. 42
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The Earths Revolution around the Sun
the four seasons occur because the Earth
maintains a constant orientation (tilted 23½
with respect to the perpendicular to the plane of
the ecliptic) as it revolves around the sun
Figure 1.17, p. 40
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