Physical characteristics vary on every location of this planet. In order to understand this planet, an assessment of different environmental aspects needs to occur to understand these variations. The purpose of this lab report is to evaluate the similarities and differences between three locations: Sacramento, CA; Austin, TX; and Augusta, ME. In order to thoroughly examine these similarities and differences, an examination will be made on Earth-sun relationships, water balance budgets, climate patterns, vegetation, as well as landform development. These similarities and differences will be found by utilizing different methods and deriving data and conclusions empirically. All three of the cities focused on in this lab report in very different locations and therefore, it is expected that the concluded data will reveal many differences in the themes mentioned above.
Background
In order to understand the content of this lab report, some major concepts must first be understood. It was once said that in short, geographers study “what is where, why, and so what”(Fairbanks and Sato). One concept that is needed to be known in order to understand the why aspect of this question is insolation. Insolation or incoming solar radiation is energy intercepted by a unit area on the Earth’s surface (Fairbanks and Sato). Insolation is a term needed to be understood in order to fully comprehend different patterns in climate. Second, within this lab report, potential evapotranspiration will be studied in order to help determine the water budget for each given city. Potential evapotranspiration is the amount of water that would be removed from the surface of a grid cell by evaporation and transpiration, if the amount of water already present in the...
... middle of paper ...
... of maple, beech, and birch.
In summary, after an analysis of the similarities and differences of the Earth-sun relationships, water balance budgets, climate patterns, vegetation, as well as landform development, it can be concluded that all three of the cities being tested have similarities, but are also vastly different. Conclusive information was found by collecting data through various methods throughout this course in order to distinguish how geography affects different locations throughout the United States of America. Through much research it was found that Sacramento, Austin, and Augusta are all very differently affected by a variety of geographical traits. Overall this was a large learning experience in that it is not commonly realized or thought about how different cities in the US as well as around the world are affected by geographical mechanisms.
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
Hess, D., McKnight, T. L., & Tasa, D. (2011). McKnight's physical geography (Custom ed. for California State University, Northridge ; 2nd Calif. ed.). New York: Learning Solutions.
Increase in water consumption is a topic usually discussed inasmuch as this problem affects many cities. Phoenix is located in the State of Arizona, with around 540 square miles. Moreover, according to official site of City of Phoenix, the city ranks as one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation with approximately 1.4 million people. The city of Phoenix, although it is being in an arid area, has a per capita consumption lower than expected. The consumption of water is essential for life; however, what have to be analyzed is the withdrawal of water; furthermore, the capacity of regeneration of water resources mainly for future generations, which is the concept of sustainability. There are many aspects that would influence the consumption of water; however, each city has its own particularities. Although, Phoenix when analyzed as totality does not have an excessive consumption; it is a peculiar city and if an analysis is done in small scale, such as neighborhood, it is possible to identify the major consumer of water. “Determinants of residential water demand reflect both indoor and outdoor use and including size of the houses, if the houses have swimming pools, lot size, and the prevalence of gardens and vegetation that require water.” (Elizabeth A. Wentz & Patricia Gober, 2007). In addition, according to Phoenix City, since 1881, when the city was officially incorporated, until today’s date, the city of Phoenix has been improving its own capacity to provide water for the population. Phoenix can reach 2.2 million people by the 2030 (Census Boreau, 2010). A challenge for the future is to find new resources to provide water for the population even in severe drought.
Most Americans have their favorite place to live or visit whether it be at a coastline or the mountains. The two states that are most favored by Americans are Florida and California. These are the biggest when it comes down to tourist attractions. There are many factors to consider when comparing California to Florida such as housing, weather, food, culture, and beaches.
Texas has a total land area of 261,914 square miles- making it the second largest state in the United States. Combined with a diverse geography, Texas has one of the most varied climates of any state. As the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases year by year, causing an increase in the Earth’s average overall temperature, changes in our climate are inevitable. We will investigate how those changes will affect the life of the everyday Texan - from our water resources, to our cities and why they are important issues that need to be addressed by our society.
Many important events in United States history have been influenced by geography. Geographic factors or conditions include location, size, climate, natural resources, and physical features. These events in turn have had political, social, and economic impacts on the development of the United States.
The first law of geography states that “Everything is related to everything else but near things are more related than distant things” (Tobler, 1970 p236). In statistics, we call this phenomenon as spatial autocorrelation. In general sense, we can define the spatial autocorrelation as the extent to which objects or activities in the geographical proximity are related to other objects or activities on the surface of earth. In spatial analysis, we are dealing with information that is quite distinct. On one hand, we are taking into consideration the attributes of spatial aspects such as climate, altitude, temperature, road material, road surface conditions, drainage gullies, traffic load, curvature etc. but also the aspects that are location
Taking the time to appreciate nature can allow individuals to value naturally produced resources as well as the beauty of the environment. As societies continue to urbanize and strive to prosper, sometimes they neglect these naturally occurring resources. This kind of broad issue can be considered in any city, but one city one should regard is Kansas City and its current standings in terms of being eco-friendly. Thus, several specific issues can arise if the residents of Kansas City do not take the initiative to preserve is natural resources and environments, which include increased air pollution, tainted water sources, and landfills. By considering these problems that potentially harm Kansas City’s local environments, it allows one to decide
Greece is a country with an interesting geography that is diverse in many senses. The location of Greece itself, as well as the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere come together to form the cumulative geography of the country. These categories of geography interact with each other to form Greece as it is. The location, its longitude and latitude, effects the country’s climate, or its atmosphere. Likewise, the country’s relationship to water, the hydrosphere also effects the climate. This is just one example of how the different categories and characteristics of a place’s geography can effect it.
The region I will be investigating the very diverse state of California. California was not always as popular as it currently is; the state started out as a part of Mexico, and then eventually was taken over by the United States. Even once it was part of the United States, it was quite empty up until the Gold Rush. After the Gold Rush people slowly began moving to the beautiful state. In the 1960’s and the 1970’s California rapidly began to grow, due to the beautiful beaches, and perfect weather. The absolute location of California is 37.0000° N, 120.0000° W. The relative location of California is east of Arizona and Nevada, and south of Washington. When I went to California we spent most of our time on the beach, and people watching. The most
Atmospheric scientists first used the term “Greenhouse-Effect” in the early 1800’s. It was used to describe the naturally occurring functions of trace gases in the atmosphere and did not have any negative connotations. In the recent decades, we often hear about the term greenhouse effect in somewhat negative terms. It is important to know that without the greenhouse effect life on earth as we know it would be impossible. In the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the type of surface that sunlight first encounters is the most important factor. Forests, grasslands, oceans’ surface, ice caps, deserts, and cities all absorb, reflect, and radiate radiation differently. Sunlight falling on a white glacier surface strongly reflects back into space, resulting in minimal heating of the surface. Sunlight falling on a dark desert soil is strongly absorbed and contributes to significant heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Cloud covers also affect greenhouse warming by both reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface and reducing the amount of radiation energy emitted into space. Although the greenhouse effect is a naturally- occurring process, humans have recently ampl...
Climate activists and scientists have dedicated time into researching techniques for geoengineering such as “reflecting sunlight from space, adding vast quantities of lime or iron filings to the oceans, pumping deep cold nutrient-rich waters to the surface of oceans and irrigating vast areas of the north African and Australian deserts to grow millions of trees” (Vidal). The techniques did show that there would be a potential temperature drop of approximately eight
Welcome to our city YRN. We have 600,000 residents in our city. Our city is cold during the winter and hot during the summer. We love the cold weather because it helps get rid of fungus on plants and crops. We love the hot weather because the sun helps our crops with photosynthesis. Our city consist of many mountains, oceans, and plains. We get our water from snow, rain, hail, rivers, oceans and lakes. 25 percent of our city is crops, 25 percent of our city is forests, and 50 percent of our city consists of industries. We need forests because we not want our city to trap heat.
Meehl, Gerald A. "Solar and Greenhouse Gas Forcing and Climate Response in the TwentiethCentury." 2012. Web 13 May 2015
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...