Guide to Key points.
Essentials of Geography
What is Physical Geography?
What is Latitude and Longitude?
How to we measure the Earth?
On Science
What is the Scientific Method?
How do we read time series graphs (i.e. mean, variance, trend, etc.)?
What does remote sensing mean?
Theme
The Atmosphere
Solar Energy & The Seasons
What are the forms of energy?
How do we measure energy?
What is matter? What are the forms of matter?
How does temperature affect volume and density?
What are the laws of thermodynamics?
What is Heat capacity and Specific Heat?
What two factors determine solar insolation?
Why do we have seasons?
Earth’s Energy Balance
What are the radiation laws?
What are absorption curves?
What is albedo?
Atmospheric Composition & Structure
What are the layers in the Atmosphere?
Why does temperature vary with altitude?
How does pressure vary with altitude?
What are the most abundant gases in the atmosphere
What makes a greenhouse gas a greenhouse gas?
Atmospheric & Oceanic Circulation
Winds move from _______ to ____________ pressure.
What are Hadley cells?
What is the Coriolis force and how does it affect winds?
Where do we have warm currents?
Where do we have deserts?
What is thermohaline circulation?
What is El Nino?
What is a teleconnection?
Global Temperatures
What is meant by normal?
What is temperature a measure of?
How do we measure temperature?
What are the 5 factors affecting the distribution of temperatures on Earth?
Theme
The Hydrosphere
Water and Atmospheric Moisture
How is Earth’s water distributed (i.e. how much in glaciers, oceans etc.)?
What are some of the unique properties of water?
What is latent heat and sensible heat?
What is relative humidity?
What is the dry adiabatic lapse rate?
What is the moist (saturated) adiabatic lapse rate?
What are some of the controls on the distribution of precipitation?
Water Resources
What are some of the important fluxes and reservoirs in the hydrologic
cycle?
How do we calculate a water balance?
What is a confined (unconfined) Aquifer?
Theme
Weather & Climate
Weather
What are the different types of air masses?
What three forces influence winds?
How do sea breezes and land breezes work?
What is a Chinook/Foehn?
What are the three mechanisms to lift air?
What is a front?
How do you identify a cold (warm front) on a weather map? Where will the
precipitation occur?
How does the jet stream form?
In what direction to the storm tracks move across North America?
What Sea Surface Temperature is necessary for a hurricane to form?