What is Geography? * -To classify, to compare, to generalize, to ascend from causes and in doing so to trace out the great laws of nature and to mark their influence upon mankind *
Geodesy - Study of earths shapes *
Cartography- Art and science of map making. *
Place – Has spatial boundaries, theses differences may be physical or cultural. *
Environment – How humans view a landscape, how does environment effect us. * * Development Of Geography – know the order
Phase 1-Exploration of the world
Phase 2-Establishment of the Discipline
Phase 3-Dominance of regional geography
Phase 4-Emergence of physical and human geography
Phase 5-Physical Geo, Integrated Geo, Human Geo *
Topic 3 & 4– How we Map the Earth/ Remote Sensing
Knowledge – we make best inferences based on the past (always a degree of uncertainty) *
Social Ethical Issues? – much of cartography basis comes from psychology
Many communication decisions are culturally based
Cognitive Issues
Perception
Cognition – perception, thought process, prior experience *
GIS – Geographic Info System to a location on earth
Is a computer system used for storage, retrieval
Data Base may include- Postal code, addresses ect..
Display component is Cartography
Raster data –is made up of pixels
Vector data- made up of nodes or vertex *
GPS- Gives us coordinates ( Lat/Long) *
S/A – selective availability ( USA scrambles signals to make less accurate but can turn them on at anytime to be more effective)
WAAS – Wide Area Augmentation system ( ~ 3 m) *
Latitude- angular measure from equator
Longitude- Requires a given point ( has multiple points)
Prime Meridian is the international Dateline
ERRORS
Usually cause by tech glitches in the system
Multi path when a signal bounces off several objects before reaching receiver
Atmosphere to travel through
12:00-1:00 is the worst time to use because most people in the world are using it. *
Cartographic Scale
1/100 -more detail
1/10000 -more area *
Remote Sensing
Passive- camera
Active – Camera w/ flash
Canada is a leader in remote sensing *
Electromagnetic (EMR)
Radiation Travel at ~3x 10^8 m/s
Emitted by all objects above -273 C that would be absolute 0
Visible Light is from 400nm-700nm *
Orbit Types of Sattelites
Sun Synchronous – Rotates around N and S pole crosses same point on earth during each rotation
Landsat 7, Terra, Aqua, Navster
Geostationary
Typical of meterological and communication satellites
GEOS, Anik
Radarsat and Envisat
Not visible light Radar Image *
Topic 5 – Earth Structure and Dynamics
Relief- Vertical elevation changes of a landscape
Impacts- Weather, climate, ocean currents
Orders of Relief 1- Continents and Ocean Basins 2- Mountain, plains, lowlands 3- Individual features at local level
What is responsible for earths relief? *
Endogenic – Processes within the earth *
Causes movement that builds up the surface
Controls where molten rock hardens to create the solid rock of the continents
Ex. Radioactive decay *
Exogenic- Surface processes
Wears down the bumps on the surface to create what we see today.
Ex. Running, H20, wind
Earths Internal Structure *
Inner Core- Iron w/ high density
Density – how many particles are within a specific volume
Inner Core ~ 13.5 g/cm^3
Density increases as layers become closer to earth
Lisosphere 70 km *
Convection in the Mantle
Radioactive decay inner/outer core, layers about become heated (becomes less dense due to increase in heat)
Friction forms between lithosphere plates and mantle material which may cause plates to push pull *
Plate Boundaries *
Divergent -(thinning) * Sea floor spreading centers * Plates spread apart * New crust formed
Convergent- (thickening) * Plates come together * On plate pushed underneath
Transform – (minor thickness