Global Community

Module 4 Maps, Climate, and Natural Landscapes

GEOG 205 Global Communities and Resources: Critical Perspectives

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Maps, Climate, and Natural Landscapes

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Introduction

Climate change is a concept that is often in the news these days.  However, many people do not  understand the science behind the urgency to solve our climate problems.  Climate is an umbrella term  that refers to temperature, atmosphere, erosion, tectonic shifts, glacial formation, and glacial melting.   It is of paramount importance in the study of geography.  Natural landscapes interact with climate, in  that they are part of the equation.  We will look at the effects of climate change on our planet, and by  extension, on the peoples of the planet.  As part of the analysis of people and the planet, we will look  at the science of cartography (map‐making and map usage). 

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Objectives

At the end of the module, the student will be able to:

Explain the basic principles of cartography.

Describe the elements necessary to study the impact of climate change in geography.

Identify the types and characteristics of natural landscapes across the earth.

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Mapping

 Cartography - the making of maps

o Remote Sensing - scanners and cameras on satellites transmit information to computers on Earth

 Geographic Information System (GIS) - programs allow presentation and analysis of spatial data

 Spatial Perspective - spatial patterns are crucial to how we live and how we organize our societies

o Space on the Earth’s surface

o Organization of that space

Cartography

• A great circle is any circle that divides the earth into a circumference of two equal  halves

• Examples of great circles include the Equator, all lines of longitude, the line that  divides the earth into day and night called the circle of illumination, and the plane  of the ecliptic, which divides the earth into equal halves along the equator. 

• Small circles are circles that cut the earth, but not into equal halves. • Latitude is an angular measurement north or south of the equator. (See next slide) • Low latitude ‐ generally between the equator and 30 degrees N • Midlatitude ‐ between 30 degrees and 60 degrees N and S • High latitude ‐ latitudes greater than about 60 degrees N and S • Longitude is the angular measurement east and west of the Prime Meridian • Prime Meridian is the imaginary line that divides the earth into the western and 

eastern hemispheres • Equatorial ‐ within a few degrees of the equator

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Nighttime Satellite Images Showing Electrical Lighting

Cartography

• Tropical ‐ within the tropics (between 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S • Subtropical ‐ slightly pole‐ward of the tropics, generally around 25‐30 degrees N 

and S • Polar ‐ within a few degrees of the North or South Pole

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 Scale - relationship between distance on a map and distance on the ground expressed as a ratio

 Small-scale map - ratio between map distance and real-world distance is very small

 Operational scale - scale at which social or natural processes operate

Map Scale and Scope

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 Worldwide population

 Regional populations

 Population density

 Population and natural resources

 Population and cultural / ethnic borders

Human Populations

• The worldwide population is currently approximately 8 billion people.  The  implications for climate change, food supply, and natural resources are important.

• Regional population analysis looks at the intersection of topography and peoples  within a certain region.  Questions are asked such as why do peoples choose a  certain region to settle, how does the topography benefit those peoples, and what  natural resources can be exploited by those peoples?

• Population density refers to the number of people per square mile.  These are  permanent settlers, not emigrants traveling through.  The implications are that  regions with higher population density have a more difficult time with movement  via infrastructure, and with housing and business placement.

• The natural resources of a region have to be shared by the population.  Non‐ renewable resources such as fossil fuels and minerals, once harvested, are  depleted.  Renewable resources such as water and agriculture still have to be  managed closely to meet the needs of citizens.

• Common ethnicities and cultures tend to live close to one another, but borders  must be drawn and observed due to the differences in cultural practices and the  need to allocate resources.  This can create political conflict. 

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Geographic Realms

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 Area - space occupied on Earth’s surface

 Boundaries - nature’s sharp divisions or divisions determined by using specific criteria

 Location - region’s name may give a clue

o Absolute location -latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates

o Relative location - location with reference to other regions

Criteria for Regions

• Defining regions as a finite geographic land space, it is difficult for regions to trade  with one another if each is employing a different economic system.  There are  trade rules such as the imposition of tariffs and quotas (how much of another  region’s goods can flow into an adjacent region) that make it difficult to trade  across disparate systems.

• National economic differences, such as two small nations that border one another  with different systems, produce trade challenges such as control of trade routes,  differing currencies for trading, and the buying and selling of goods between  private businesses and state‐controlled entities.

• The type of economic system (discussed in Module 2), determines who has the  legal right to harvest and distribute natural resources.  Either the state or private  businesses perform these functions.

• A region’s topography as an impact on the distribution and trade of goods  between regions.  Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, waterways, and airports  have to cross boundaries, which requires different peoples to work in cooperation  to build these structures.

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 Continental drift

o Pangaea - supercontinent that broke up and continues to drift apart

 Tectonic plates - lighter rock continents rest on slabs of heavier rock plates that move by magma circulation cells within the Earth

o Collision of tectonic plates causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions

 Pacific Ring of Fire

o Zone of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters that completely encircle the Pacific Ocean

Geology and Natural Hazards

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Natural Landscapes

 mountain chains to coastal plains

o Influence human activity and movement

Natural Landscapes

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Tectonic Plates

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 Global Climate Change

o Natural and anthropogenic (human-source) causes or warming or cooling

 Greenhouse effect

o Sun’s radiation becomes trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to climate changes

 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

o Predicts a global temperature increase of about 2°C in the course of the 21st century with significant regional variability

Climate

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 Weather - immediate state of the atmosphere in a certain place at a given time

 Climate - aggregate, total record of weather conditions at a place or a region over an entire period during which records have been kept

Köppen-Geiger Climatic Regions

 A climates - equatorial and tropical

 B climates - dry

 C climates - temperate

 D climates - cold

 E climates - frigid, polar

 H climates - highlands

Climate Regions

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World Climates

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Summary

In this module you learned about the basic terms comprising the study of maps, climate and natural  landscapes. You studied the concepts surrounding climate and discussed the primary topics related to  climate change.  You saw that there are connections between natural landscapes and climate  concepts.  You studied the importance of maps in studying geographic phenomena. Moving forward,  we will take a deep dive into the fundamentals of the human geography of the world, focusing on  distribution and growth of the world population, culture and space, and economic development. 

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References

Nijman, J.,Muller, P. & Shin, M. (2020). Geographic realms, regions, and concepts (18th Edition). Wiley.

Patrich, J. (2020). Physical geography (version 1). College of the Canyons. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/926

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Review as many times as required the information contained in the module folder (includes this presentation).

Read the reference material to clarify any questions.

Carry out all the activities according to the instructions.

Submit assignments on the indicated date through the educational platform.

Congratulations you have reviewed the theoretical summary of this week's topic!

Actively participate in collaborative sessions.

Remember that to successfully build your learning it is important that:

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