Questions and Answers of Physical Geography Great Systems

Describe the sequence of processes that produce migration in a sand dune.
What are some key differences and similarities between coastal and desert sand dunes in terms of how they form, their size, and their shape?
What factors are contributing to desertification on Earth today and why are prospects high for an increase in the rate of desertification?
What is loess, what were the source environments of this material, and when and where were loess deposits laid down?
What wind systems are most responsible for long-distance atmospheric transport, what are the principal sources of atmospheric dust, and in this context what is the connection between the Sahara and
Does the case of Mt. St. Helens invalidate the theory of community-succession? Explain.
If there was a poleward or equatorward shift in a biome, what event(s) could possibly have initiated such a geographic change? What landscape features can also induce a biome to shift location?
Identify the specific associations between the five major biomes (forest, savanna, grassland, desert, and tundra) and climate. How does the presence of water affect their species diversity, and the
How has plate tectonics influenced the global distribution of plants and animals? What barriers have helped to determine the similarity factors between the continents?
What are some of the major environmental impacts of animals? Are their impacts similar, or different to those made by humans? Explain. What factors make soil a key determinant in the principal
Identify an environmental event which is capable of changing the geographic distribution of plants at the global scale. Identify another event which can change plant distributions at a regional scale
Distinguish between plants with narrow and wide tolerance ranges. Is tolerance the same for all phases of a plant’s life cycle?
What is meant by the term plant habit? Name several habits, what is accomplished by each, and what sort of environment each is associated with. Is there any advantage to the evergreen habit?
What is meant by the term floristic association and what are the major factors that control the makeup of floristic associations?
Of three major groups of vascular plants, which is presently dominant on the planet, how long have they been around, and what is the long-term trend of this group in terms of global geographic
In terms of geographic coverage, what is the dominant class of vegetation in the world? What are macrophytes and what distinguishes them from microphytes?
Some observers argue that humans are now utilizing more than 40 percent of Earth’s annual productivity.What does this include? How much of the world’s land area is now taken up by some form of
What is the Gaia hypothesis and how does feedback play into this concept? How is it that humans may be having a negative influence on the global ecosystem yet the feedback operating in processes such
Describe several major differences in the geographic patterns of productivity between terrestrial and marine environments at the global scale. Are the oceans more or less extreme than the landmasses?
Ecosystems live in a changing world, therefore it should be no surprise to learn that they are capable of self-adjusting their behavior. In this context, what is meant by the terms homeostasis and
Sketch a diagram illustrating the energy flow to and through a forest beginning with the input of solar radiation. How much energy is taken up in photosynthesis and what form does this energy take?
Is a food chain a system? What are its component parts? Describe an energy pyramid and relate it to the “10 percent rule.”
Name four ways of defining ecosystems and to which of these definitions do the following terms belong: total productivity, net photosynthesis, and respiration.
“Carbon dioxide is moved in both gaseous and sedimentary cycles.” What does this mean and what are the main inputs and outputs of atmospheric CO2? Do scientists think that atmospheric CO2 has
“All life belongs to networks or systems of organisms. . .” is a reference to what? What is the source of energy that drives these systems? What are geothermal-based ecosystems? Where are they
Since the last glaciation and the rise of agriculture, humans have become the major change agent of the biosphere. What evidence is there to support this contention?
Name the three major life zones of the oceans and characterize each in terms of the relative abundance of life. How would you characterize the photic zone?
What is meant by the statement: “the biosphere acts as a mediator in the formative processes of the landscape?” Provide one example of biochemical and biophysical effects.
How would you characterize the distribution of life underground? Under what sort of climatic conditions can we expect to find the bulk of the biosphere concentrated near ground level or underground?
In the biosphere, what are the five kingdoms of organisms? Which of these groups are considered microorganisms and which of the groups accounts for the bulk of the biosphere in terms of mass and
How would you describe the biosphere’s physical character (e.g. mass and thickness) relative to that of the other great spheres of Earth, that is, the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere?
Identify some of the real and expected impacts of global warming on the atmosphere, the biosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere.
In the global carbon dioxide cycle what is the annual input to the atmosphere from human sources and actions? How does this number compare with the actual annual rate of buildup in the atmosphere and
Find the approximate location of Washington, DC on the map in Figure 8.8 and list a number of likely differences between the climate and landscape then and that now. Where in North America are those
What is meant by negative feedback in a system, and in Figure 8.34 explain how it can be argued that an increase in carbon dioxide could lead to atmospheric cooling?Figure 8.34 CO2,
Can you describe in a paragraph or two the major differences in climate between the interior of a large midlatitude city and a forested landscape outside the city on a summer day? What geographic
What two atmospheric gases are mainly responsible for the greenhouse effect and how have the amounts of these gases in the atmosphere changed over the past 250 years? What accounts for the change?
Can you name the three changes that comprise the Milankovitch cycle and identify the key feature of each?And what is meant by atmospheric transparency and what is its connection to past climate
Ten thousand years ago and 1400 years ago mark important dates of change in the global climate. What happened to climate at those times and name a number of major effects of each.
At different times in Earth’s past, volcanoes have contributed to climate change. By what mechanisms do volcanoes affect the atmosphere and what are the major effects on climate?
Can you name at least three major climate-change events of the distant past that affected Earth at a global scale and what were their apparent causes?
What are some of the indicators of ancient (prehistoric) climate change and what is the scientific basis for using oxygen-16 and oxygen-18 as a measure of past temperatures? How can land uses of the
Our perception and memory of climatic conditions experienced in life are often different from what the climatic records reflect. What are some of the explanations for this?
What climates are particularly well suited for wool and cotton clothing, respectively? What are the factors that originally contributed, and continue to contribute to these climate–fiber
What are the characteristics of North American indigenous shelters that make them good adaptations to the climates where they exist?
Using Figure 7.17, identify the five major climatic zones of the Köppen–Geiger classification system, and describe the general characteristics of the temperature and precipitation regimes within
How do the pressure systems differ between the dry and stable and wet and stormy climate types produced by the tropical and midlatitude atmospheric engines? What drives the major changes that produce
Why can the midlatitude climate zone be characterized as “a huge playing field in which contrasting types of air compete for position.” How does this game change over landmasses and the oceans?
What roles do sun angle and the intertropical convergence zone play in the tropical climate engine? How do the circulation systems of the atmosphere and ocean currents expand the influence of this
What uncertainty factors are present at the global, regional, and local scales that influence climates at these scales?
Referring to Figure 7.3, identify the energy transfers at these three systems levels: the solar radiation, atmospheric, and storm. How is the climate at a specific location affected by these energy
When climate is defined as the general condition of the atmosphere at a place on Earth, what is meant by general condition?
How are geographic coverage and the behavior of climatic systems related? Explain how this relationship plays out at the global and regional geographic scales, and identify the primary factors
Compare and contrast the hazards posed by thunderstorms and blizzards.
How do tornadoes and hurricanes differ in their geographical characteristics? When do most tornadoes occur in North America, and what is the key determinant of their damage?
What are the consequences of recent increases in coastal population concentrations?
Why is it so difficult to predict the exact landfall location of a hurricane? What advances in recent years have helped improve the accuracy of these predictions?
What factors determine the amount of damage caused by a hurricane? During hurricane Ike in 2008, 20,000 people ignored the warning to evacuate Galveston and chose to stay on their properties. What
Trace the changes a typical Atlantic hurricane undergoes from origin to landfall. Why don’t hurricanes form near the Equator? Why do some curve away from North America? What causes their storm
Describe the anatomy of a midlatitude cyclone. What are the precipitation patterns associated with its warm and cold fronts?
Identify the three primary motions of midlatitude cyclones. Why is their general motion to the east? Why does the cold front move faster than the warm air, and what happens when the cold front
Using Figure 6.23, identify the primary air masses which influence your local weather. What happens to their relative influence during the changing seasons? mT mp cP jet stream
Describe the three stages of thunderstorm development. What is the relationship between thunderstorms and tornadoes in general and, specifically, what conditions within thunderstorms may give rise to
What is the difference between a stable and unstable parcel of air? How can a stable parcel of air become unstable?
What are the three standard measures of humidity and how are they used? How is relative humidity related to the dew point?
Draw a diagram of the water-vapor–precipitation exchange system, and identify the exchanges of energy which produce water vapor and precipitation and change their states on the surface and within
Identify the geographical regions where each of the four precipitation types is likely to occur. How can it be said that convection plays a role in all types of precipitation?
Compare the collision–coalescence and Bergeron processes for precipitation droplet formation, and identify their differences and similarities.
Why is the moist adiabatic lapse rate lower than the dry adiabatic rate? What happens to a parcel of air which begins to produce condensation after cooling at the moist adiabatic lapse rate?
How do atmospheric temperature inversions occur, and what are the major concerns associated with them?
What is the equatorial counter-current and what is its connection to El Niño? What changes take place in the ocean that mark an El Niño event. How is the Southern Oscillation related to El Nino?
What is meant by long-distance atmospheric transport? What wind systems are involved, what is transported, and how far is it moved? How do you think the atmosphere cleanses itself of these materials?
Referring to Figure 5.40, identify the primary thermal layers of the ocean, and describe their role in the thermohaline circulation. How do ice exclusion and ocean evaporation contribute to the deep
Describe the Gulf Stream as an energy system in terms of inputs, transport, and outputs with attention to where geographically these parts of the system are located and what effect the system has on
Using Figure 5.37 for reference, trace the gyre in the mid North Atlantic. Identify the sections of this gyre where there is a cold current and a warm current. What are the major wind systems that
Describe how ocean currents are generated and how it is possible for water beneath the surface layer to move. What is the Ekman spiral and what is meant by Ekman transport?
Referring to the map in Figure 5.29, can you describe the logic of Columbus’s routes to and from the New World? What wind systems did he utilize? What current systems?Figure 5.29 12 subtropical
What is the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)? Why does it shift with the seasons and what is its relationship to the monsoons in Asia? Where is the ITCZ during the winter monsoon?
How do you account for the dramatic differences in the annual temperature range of San Francisco and St. Louis? What is it about the thermal characteristics of land and water that produces the
Examine Figure 5.18. What is the polar-front jet stream and what does it have to do with zonal energy transfer on Earth? How does this jet stream change seasonally?Figure 5.18 cold air -60%- tropical
What is the Coriolis effect and what is its influence on wind direction north and south of the Equator? At the Equator? What is the difference in the direction of surface winds and upper-level winds
Wind systems occur at several scales from the global to the local. Describe several of the subsystems that operate within the global wind system; specifically, the different types of pressure cells
Referring to Figure 5.7, how does air pressure vary with increasing altitude, and how is air pressure represented on maps?Figure 5.7 cold air: high pressure warm air: low pressure cold air: high
Use the following sequence of events to sketch a Hadley cell between the Equator and 30° north latitude:(a) Uplift of warm air at the Equator;(b) Divergence of this ascending air in the upper
Describe the change in Earth’s rotational velocity from the Equator to the poles. What are the rotational velocities of the Earth and its atmosphere at the Equator and at higher latitudes, and how
Is the heat produced from solar radiation evenly distributed over the Earth? If not, where is most of it concentrated? How is this reservoir of heat redistributed and where does it go? Does it make
And finally, briefly explain why on a map of North America the pattern of isotherms does not trend directly east–west across the continent.
Can you explain the difference between continental and maritime temperature regimes and how the northern and southern hemispheres differ in this regard?
What is meant by the term thermal microclimate and what are some of the key factors controlling such phenomena?
In the formula for net radiation, what are the incoming and outgoing components? Which of these operate at night and how is it possible that landscape can register a negative net radiation?
Why does evaporation from a surface produce cooling and what is the name and thermal effect of the opposite process, that is, one that warms the surface?
What happens to the radiant energy absorbed by the landscape on a sunny day? Where does it go and what terms are applied to it?
When air and water are at the same temperature, they contain the same amounts of heat energy. Is this statement true? Why or why not, and what thermal principle applies here?
Name and describe the three basic mechanisms of heat transfer on Earth, their relative rates of heat transfer, and the part of the global environment in which each is most active.
Briefly describe the concept of net solar radiation and explain how it would vary in a landscape with and without snow cover.
Why do certain areas of the Earth located considerably north and south of the Equator receive more incoming solar radiation at ground level than the Equator itself?
What would be the equinox and solstice sun angles for the locations on Earth’s surface at 40 degrees north latitude?
Explain the logic of sun angle as a control on the distribution of solar energy on the Earth’s surface. How does sun angle change with the seasons and variations in the slope of the land?
What is albedo and what conditions yield high and low albedos over land and water?
Name the three principal processes responsible for the reduction of solar radiation as it passes through the atmosphere and relate these processes to ultraviolet, infrared, and visible forms of

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