Understanding Weather, Climate, and the Five Themes of Geography

1. The Basics Unit One Weather, Climate, 5 Themes

2. The Nitty Gritty: Need to Know Terms • Geography: The study of how humans interact with the physical features of the earth. Prime Meridian Longitude Tropic of Cancer Latitude Tropic of Capricorn Latitude Equator Latitude

3. The 5 Themes of Geography • Location • Whereisit? • Absolute Location: Exactlywhereitis on earth – latitude and longitude cordintates. • Relative Location: Describes a place in comparison to places aroundit…next to the bigred barn

4. The 5 Themes of Geography • Place • Whatisitlike? • Physicalfeatures, cultural characteristics, climate, landforms, vegetation…all thatmakethem unique fromother places.

5. The 5 Themes of Geography • Region • How are places similar or different? • Characteristicsthatunify areas together • Physical • Political • Economic • Cultural • Example: Midwest in the United States

6. The 5 Themes of Geography • Human-Envrionmental Interaction • How do people relate to the physical world? • How do youractivities change witheachseason?

7. The 5 Themes of Geography • Movement - How Do People, Goods, and Ideas Get from One Place to Another? • Geographers use three types of distance to analyze movement: - linear distance - time distance - psychological distance

8. Natural Disasters The Earth Trembles • An earthquake occurs when plates grind or slip at a fault line • A seismograph detects earthquakes and measures the waves they create Earthquake Locations • Location in the earth where an earthquake begins is called the focus • Epicenter—the point directly above focus on the earth’s surface • Nearly 95% of earthquakes occur at tectonic plate boundaries

9. Natural Disasters The Explosive Earth • Volcano—underground materials pour from crack in the earth’s surface • Most volcanoes occur at tectonic plate boundaries Volcanic Action • Eruption—lava, gases, ash, dust, explode from vent in Earth’s crust • Lava—magma that has reached the earth’s surface; may create landform

10. Natural Disasters Hurricanes • Huge storms called hurricanes, or typhoons in Asia: - form over warm, tropical ocean waters - hit land with heavy rain, high winds, storm surge Tornadoes • Tornado—a powerful, funnel-shaped column of spiraling air: - born from strong thunderstorms - capable of immense damage

11. Natural Disasters Blizzards • Blizzard—heavy snowstorm with strong winds, reduced visibility Droughts •Drought: long period of time with either no or minimal rainfall Floods • Water spreads out over normally dry land

12. How do we “map” the Earth?? • Two or Three Dimensions • Globe—athree-dimensional representation (a sphere) of Earth • Map—a two-dimensional graphic representation of Earth’s surface • Cartographer(mapmaker) tries to accurately reflect earth’s surface • Mapprojection—way of showing Earth’s curved surface on a flat map • Surveying • Surveyors observe, measure, record what they see in a specific area • Remote sensing, gathering geographic data from a distance, includes: • aerial photography • satellite imaging • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a digital geographic database

13. How does Weather occur?? Ocean Motion • The ocean circulates through currents, waves, tides • Currents act like rivers flowing through the ocean • Waves are swells or ridges produced by winds • Tides are the regular rising and falling of the ocean • created by gravitational pull of the moon or sun • Motion of ocean helps distribute heat on the planet • winds are heated and cooled by ocean water Water, it’s EVERYWHERE! Lakes hold more than 95% of the earth’s fresh water • Ground water—water held in the pores of rock • Water table—level at which the rock is saturated

14. Onto the Dry Part of the Planet… Landforms • Landformsarenaturally formed features on Earth’s surface • Tectonic platesare massive, moving pieces of Earth’s lithosphere Plate Movement • Plates move in a few ways: • by spreading, or moving apart • subduction, or diving under another plate • collision, or crashing together • sliding past each other in a shearing motion

15. How Does Earth Change?? Altering the Landscape • Weathering—processes that alter rock on or near the earth’s surface • Mechanical weathering—processes that break rock into smaller pieces • Does not change rock’s composition, only size • Examples: frost, plant roots, road construction, mining • Chemical weathering—interaction of elements creates new substance • Example: when iron rusts it reacts to oxygen in air and crumbles • Erosion—when weathered material moves by winds, water, ice, gravity