1. The Natural Environment

12. Earth Systems Concepts System- a collection of physical processes that are linked and act together in an organized way. Model- a simplified version (generalization) of reality. A leaf is a natural system

14. Earth Systems Concepts

16. Positive feedback loop- meltwater ponds on Greenland ice sheet

17. Earth http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Earth

18. Earth’s shape = Geoid Figure 1.11

23. The Geographic Grid b) Longitude (Meridians) 1 degree of longitude = 111 km at the equator and 0 at the poles a) Latitude (Parallels) 1 degree latitude = a constant 111 km

24. Latitude is the angle between a point on a parallel and the center of the Earth and a point on the equator Figure 1.13

25. Latitude

26. Longitude is the angle between a point on a meridian and the centre of the Earth and a point on the Prime Meridian Figure 1.15

27. Longitude

28. The Earth: Great Circles and Small Circles

29. The Earth: Time Zones International Date Line- (180°) marks the place where each day officially begins (12:01am) and sweeps westward as the earth rotates. opposite the prime meridian put in a sparsely populated area to avoid confusion

30. Maps, Scales, and Projections Cartography- the part of geography which embodies map making Map- a generalized view of an area, usually some portion of the Earth’s surface, as seen from above and greatly reduced in size

31. 3 types of map scales Maps, Scales, and Projections

32. Map Projections- the reduction of the spherical earth to a flat surface Problems: Figure 1.24

33. Figure 1.25