a t m o s f e r a

• wind develops from spatial difference in atmosphere pressure
  • result from uneven absorption of solar radiation
• isolines indicate pressure
• newton's second law of motion
  • force = ( mass x acceleration )
  • acceleration = force/mass
• wind acceleration is measured by density, pressure, and newtons
• intense area of temperature difference results in frontal zone / front
• frontal zones not moving against each other are stationary fronts
• warm front happens when warm subtropical moist air mass replaces cold dry polar air mass
• occluded fronts are cold fronts catching up and overtaking warm front
  • cold type occluded: air behind front is colder than air ahead
  • warm type occluded: air behind front is warmer than air ahead
• in the tropics weather is dominated by storms that form in intertropical convergence zone, subtropical high pressure zone, oceanic disturbances in trade winds
• intertropical convergence zone has wide band of cumulus & cumulonimbus clouds
• hurricanes are powered by latent heat energy released from condensation

v o c a b u l a r i o

• wind: air in motion
• anemometer: measures wind speed
• wind vane: measures wind direction
• air mass: large body of air of relatively similar temperature and humidity ( continental or maritime )
• source region: area of formation of air mass ( equatorial, tropical, polar, arctic )
• thunderstorms: form when moistunstable air is lifted vertically into atmosphere, releases latent heat
• mesocyclone: severe thunderstorms that develop strong vertical updraft
• tornado: vortex of rapidly moving air
• tropical depression: storm whose wind speed increases between 37 to 63 kmph

e s t r u c t u r a

• troposphere about 80% of atmospheric mass
  • tropopause is top of this area, thicker over equator and thinner at poles
• thermosphere slowly merges into space
• mesosphere coldest layer
• stratosphere warming with height

h i s t o r i a

• most tornadoes happen in united states in april, may, june, july
• 40k tornadoes have happened overlast 50 years
  • 689 died in missouri / illinous / indiana in 1925
• oklahoma 1999 por 6 horas 70 tornados spawned

o c e a n o s

• contain 97% of earth's water
• atlantic ocean makes up 21% of earth's surface area, receives freshwater from terrestrial runoff
• arctic ocean is smallest at 3% surface area
• indian ocean covers 14% has deepest point at java trench of 7258 meters
• pacific ocean largest region covering 30%
• southern ocean occupies 4% has deepest point at south sandwich trench

a g u a g l o b a l

• humidity is measured by three factors
  • mixing ratio: mass of specific gas component relative to mass of remaining gas components
  • saturation mixing ratio: mass of water vapor that can be held in kilogram of dry air at saturation
  • relative humidity: amount of water in air relative to saturation amount air can hold at given temp. x100
• clouds formed by condensation or deposition
  • orographic uplift air forced to rise because of phycisal presence of elevated land
  • convectional lifting surface heating of air at ground surface
  • convergence / frontal lifting two masses of air come together
  • radiative cooling sun is no longer supplying ground and overlying air with energy
• clouds with temp. below freezing develop large ice crystals because of vapor pressure difference between ice crystals and supercooled water droplets
• types of fog
  • radiation/ground near surface cooling of atmosphere due to longwave radiation, shallow
  • upslope air flows over higher topography, hills or mountains
  • advaction air flows over suface with different temp.
  • evaporation/steam/sea smoke type of advaction fog where cold air advances on warm air
  • frontal on warm fronts when rain descends on colder air

v o c a b u l a r i o

• humidity: water vapor in atmosphere
• saturation: addition of water vapor to mass of air leads to condensation
• precipitation: liquid or solid deposit that forms in saturated atmosphere
• dew point: temp. at which water vapor saturates from air mass into liquid
  • if below freezing it's called frost point
• change of states of water
  • condensation: vapor → liquid
  • freezing: liquid → solid
  • deposition: vapor → solid
• rain: liquid deposit that falls from atmosphere diameter 0.5-5 millimeters
• freezing rain: falling water droplets meet surface below 0°C
• temperature inversion: warm air found on top of cold air
• ice pellets / sleet: translucent spheres of frozen water
• snow pellets / graupel: spherical bits of ice diameter less than 5 millimeters
• hail: frozen precipitation more than 5 millimeters diameter
• fog: cloud of minute water droplets at ground level

l i t o s f e r a

• earth is ~ 4.6 billion yrs
  • big bang creates earth from molten mass from solar nebula
  • giant impact from body ~ 4.5b creates tilt & moons
  • water brought by comets & asteroids
  • life emerges in cambrian ~ 580m
• measures of time
  • eons, eras, periods & epochs
  • hadean eon = no life
  • archaen = simple life
  • proterozoic = multicellular
• anthropocene is modern life
  • humans permanently affect geographical force
  • mid-20th century with industrialization & globalization
• plate boundaries & tectonics
  • 3 main types
    • divergent (constructive) moving apart, creates new crust
    • convergent (destructive) move together, subduction and collision
    • transform (conservative) slide/grind alongside
• caused by mantle convection
• move from divergent to convergent zones
• plate tectonics split in pangea ~260ma

r o c k c y c l e

• minerals combine to make rock
  • igneous formed by solidification of molten magma
  • metamorphic forms from recrystallization of other rocks through pressure increase, temperature rise, chemical alteration
  • sedimentary formed by the deposition/alteration/compression or lithification of weathered rock debris, chemical precipitates, organic sediments
• geological provinces: shield, platform, orogen, basin, lip, extended crust

m a s s w a s t i n g & f l o o d i n g

• downslope movement of earth materials
  • shear stress - downslope by gravity acting on mass (t)
  • shear strength - retaining forces by particle arrangement, friction, moisture (s)
  • factor of safety: (resisting force) / (driving force) or s/t
    • fs > 1 stable
    • fs < 1 unstable
• process-response system
  • hillslopes receive solar radiation, precipitation, weathering
  • output evapotranspiration
• controlling factors are strength of slope materials, oversteepening, water content
• F = W sin Ø
  • f gravitational force
  • w weight of material
  • Ø angle of slope
• heavy rainfall causes instability
  • soil saturation increases weight
  • reduces cohesive bonds between individual soil particles
  • bedding plane on hillslopes makes other plane slide across lubricated surface
• clays & slit slopes have unique mass wasting, rotational slip and mudflow
• floods are most common natural hazard, occur when flow height > channel capacity
• 4 types of floods
  • regional, high ppt snowmelt
  • flash, high ppt in mountains
  • ice jam, ice damming
  • dam failure, breech of levees or dams
• predited by recurrence interval aka flood probability
  • p(%) = 1/rx100
  • r = years
• riverflow sources are runoff, interflow
• water movement in soil controlled by gravity, capillary action, and soil porosity
• stream discharge equation Q = W x D x V
  • q stream discharge
  • w channel width
  • d channel depth
  • v velocity of water

v o c a b u l a r i o

• deposition: change in state of matter from gas to solid that occurs with cooling
• subducting plate: plate being pushed down by convergence
• evatranspiration: loss of water to atmosphere via evaporation and transpiration
• rainsplash: microscale process of soil erosion from impact of raindrops
• rill: small steep sided channel carrying water
• soil creep: movement of sediments in cyclical steps, caused by temp fluctuations, moisture, gravity
• solifluction: slow movement of soil caused by freeze-thaw action
• interception: capture of precipitation by plant canopy and evaporation or sublimation
• streamflow: water flowing in the organized channels of a stream or river
• stemflow: process that directs precipitation down plant branches and stems
• canopy drip: directs rainfall or snowfall along the edge of the plant canopy
• throughfall: process of precipitation passing through the plant canopy
• infiltration: movement of water into soil layer
• hygroscopic water: held within 0.0002 millimeters of soil surface, non-mobile, only removed via heating
• matric force: soil water from 0.0002 to 0.06 millimeters from surface
• capillary water: moves horizontally and vertically in soils by the process of capillary action
• gravitatonal water: moves through soil due to gravitational forces
• wilting point: point at which the rate of water leaving a plant's leaves > water uptake by the roots
• throughflow: sporadic horizontal flow of water within soil layer

[http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/images/ground_hydro.jpg]