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Chapter 1 Elemental Geosystems

The Essentials of Geography

Books and resources

• TEXTBOOK: Elemental Geosystems, 6/E, By Christopherson

• LAB BOOK: Encounter Geosystems by Christopherson and Thomsen

• Web search: “Earth Science Centralia”

• www.mygeoscienceplace.com

Essentials of Geosystems• Define geography, and physical geography in

particular.• Describe systems analysis, open and closed systems,

feedback information, and system operations, and relate these concepts to Earth systems.

• Explain Earth’s reference grid: latitude and longitude, plus latitudinal geographic zones and time.

• Define cartography and mapping basics: map scale and map projections.

• Describe remote sensing and explain geographic information system (GIS) as tools used in geographic analysis.

Geography (from geo, "Earth," and grapbein, "to write") is the science that studies relationships among geographic areas, natural systems, society, cultural activities, and the interdependence of all these over space.

Physical geography - examination of natural environments: the nature of physical elements and processes; their distribution and interrelationships

“spatial” refers to the nature and character of physicalspace

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F-5 tornado destruction in Greensburg Kansas, 2007.

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Harlequin frog, p. 14

Spatial scale

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Five spatial themes of geography: location, place, movement, regions, human-Earth relationships

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Relationships between physical geography and human/cultural geography. Note list of organizations on p. 4.

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The Scientific Method

Hypothesis = educated guess;(important role is to be testable)

Scientific theory = widely accepted explanation of a natural phenomenon that fits all the data

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Open system – matter and energy transformed

Earth is an open system wrt Sun’s E and closed wrt resources and matter

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The leaf, a natural open system. Light + CO2 + H2O + nutrients = O2 + carbos (sugars) throughphotosynthesis.

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System equilibrium: steady state vs. dynamic; tipping points are thresholds where conditions can change abruptly.

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Mount Pinatubo 1991 eruption

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Earth’s four main environmental spheres

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Equitorial and polar circumference; dashed = perf circle

EG6_Figure_01_11-LEratosthenes in 247 BC calculated Earth’s circumference at 28,738 mi (close to 24,860!!!)

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Parallels of latitude EG6_Figure_01_12b-L

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Latitudinal geographic zones EG6_Figure_01_14a-L

Meridians of longitude

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Small circles and great circles

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Clock times determine longitudeEG6_Figure_01_2_1_NR-L

Triangulation via GPS satellites, p. 20

EG6_Figure_01_2_2_NR_LEG6_Figure_01_2_3_NR-L Using GPSGPS on Mount Everest

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Earth’s coordinate system

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Modern international time zones

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International date line ~ 180°

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Projections

Mercator ~ “true shape” (AD 1569); advantage = “rhumbline” of constant direction is straight. Areas are bogus—exaggerated at poles.

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Rhumb line = shortest distance but in a constant direction (on Mercator projection)

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Remote sensing, p. 28

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3 orbits

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Kliuchevskoi volcano

Sept. 1994

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Radar image of same eruption as in previous slide, 1994

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June 26, 2002 Terra image of Kamchatka

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Radarsatmosaic

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GOES 12 first image from, 23.300 mi

GOES = geostationary operational environmental satelllites

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EROS data center in Souix Falls SD; http://edc.usgs.gov

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GIS

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EG6 Table 01 02