Geography of Surfing:Final Exam Review

Stuart H. SweeneyDepartment of GeographyUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Winter 2007

Geography questions:

• Where is it?

• Why is it there?

• What is it?

• Are proximate things influencing it?

• How long will it be there?

• Is it impacting its environment or other things nearby?

• Fundamental Themes

A middle latitude cyclone

35o N, 175oW

dij

Relative location?, characteristics?, processes?

A point and place in timeWhat is he holding and what does it represent?

When and where is he?

What happened to objects of that type?

Pric

e (P

)

Quantity (Q)

D

S

Q*

P*

Production and consumption Economic organization of surfboard manufacturing

Petroleum?

Foam Blank(Polyurethane, Polystyrene)

Laminating “Glue”(Polyester Resin, Epoxy)

Laminating “Skin”(Fiberglass, Wood, Graphite)Silica

“Shaper”

“Glasser”

fins

artwork

Spatial organization of surfboard manufacturingPre-modern history: 1936 first commercial production of fiberglass, 1940 first commercial production of rigid polyurethane foam.

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Redondo Beach

Noll

Noll/E.T.

Clark

Laguna Niguel

Walker

Wilmington

Weber

Walker

Retail &garage

2005Black Monday

Santa Cruz

FrenchCobra

Thailand

China75,000 Surftech Boards

Spatial Economics: Global, Regional, and Local

• Spatial economics / Cross-scale interactions

• Global- international trade

- offshore production / outsourcing

• Regional- interregional variation within country

- variation in what?

• Local- intra-urban variation

- retailing, noxious industries (zoning)

Geography of Surfing: Mission

• Are you excited about learning at UCSB?

• Do you know more about Geography, as a field, than you did in week 1?

• When you surf, plan a surf trip, decide where to paddle-out, choose your next surfboard….

will you do that differently because of this course?

UCSB Geography

• Nationally ranked #2 in most recent survey

• BA and BS degrees (MLPS)

• Major themes:

Earth System Science: bio-physical processes

Human-Environment Relations: perceive, modify, interact

Modeling, Measurement, and Computation: GIS, RS, in-situ measurement, spatial statistics.

• Formal emphases:� Geographic Information Science (GIScience)

� Population, Development, and the Environment (coming soon!)

Final Exam Structure

• 30% Cultural history and diffusion

• 30% Ocean waves and forecasting

• 40% Surf Industry and the environment

• Similar exam structure as midterms but longer:� True / False

� Multiple Choice

� Regional Geography / Maps

• Fundamental themes and concepts

Cultural history and diffusion

• Diffusion (review Gould reading)

• Cultural geography concepts (sociofact, mentafact…)

• Cultural history of surfing with emphasis on major players (emergence of Polynesia, London, Ford, Freeth, Kahanamoku, Blake)

• …from surfboard mfg (Blake, Simmons, Noll, Walker, Clark,…)

• Differences in cultural context of Hawaii, Australia, California.

Ocean waves and forecasting

• Scale-dependent processes

Time-Scales & Spatial-Scales

Series of conceptual models

• Solar Radiation (Heat) � Air Temp � Wind � Wave

• Air Temp / Circulation: Hadley-Ferrel model

• Wind: How to determine wind speed? (PGF, CF, SF…)

• Waves: Propogation, Dispersion, Refraction

Forecasting: Putting it all together. Reading / interpreting charts and graphs.

I. Global atmospheric circulation

• Global circulation

• Solar energy budget

• Four stage model leading to Hadley-Ferrel model1. landless stationary (convection, hemispheric flow)

2. 1+ rotating (Coriolis, 6 wind bands 0, 30, 60, 90)

3. 2+ seasons (23.5, amplifies temp diff)

4. 3+ land (specific heat capacity, further amplification)

II. Wind, Pressure, and Storm Depressions

• Wind speed= f(CF,PGF) if aloft

= f(CF,PGF,SF) if surface

• Rotation of winds near highs and lows, S vs N

• Aloft (geostrophic) versus surface

• Convergence and divergence zones (surface and aloft)

Formation of Depressions: Surface Winds

(Horizontal Pressure Variation, Friction) ���� Wind Speed

Formation of Depressions: Surface Winds

(Horizontal Pressure Variation, Friction) ���� Wind Speed

III. Waves

• Wave characteristics (T, f, L, H, H/L)

• Wave form versus particle (orbital until d<L/2)

• Single numbers versus distribution� H1/3, L, Dp

� Directional spectrum, period histogram

• Conceptual understanding of wave generation� displacing and restoring forces

� equilibrium state, fetch limited, duration limited

� equilibrium state � energy distribution

� linear growth, exponential growth, saturation

• Basic terminology

� T = period = time interval between two peaks passing a fixed point

� f = (1/T) = number of peaks passing a fixed point per second.

� L = wavelength

� H = wave height

Characterizing and describing waves

• Wind Waves� Wind Frictional Stress Energy

Characterizing and describing waves

Characterizing and describing waves

• Directional spectrum and wave field

Source: http://cdip.ucsd.edu

III. Waves

• Waves after they leave the storm area

• Wave speed, organization or energy, dissipation of energy

• Celerity of propagation, deep water c=1.56 T � Equations vary with depth (L/2, L/20)

� c=L/T, L=cT

• Organization: Radial dispersion � phase, group speed cg=c/2

� near versus far from storm

• Dissipation: Circumferential dispersion (30-45 degrees)

IV. Wave Climate and Forecasting

• Surfer questions:� When will waves arrive from a storm at a given location?

� How big will the waves be when they arrive?

� Where should I surf?

• Will the waves break at one of the local beaches/reefs?

• Alternative approaches to answering the questions:� Long time scale (long-distance trip planning): wave climate

� Near term (surf next week? tomorrow?): forecasting

- Experience / local knowledge

- On-line materials (Wavewatch III, surface analysis, CDIP)

- Forecasting hobbiest

Surf Industry and Environment

• Production / Consumption in space (recommend reading “Globalisation and development” Potter et al. in reader)

• History of surfboard construction

• changes in materials, mfg process, labor mix

• major innovations and their implications

• Economic / Spatial organization of production

• Environmental evaluation of alternative products / production regimes.

Economic organization of surfboard manufacturing

Petroleum?

Foam Blank(Polyurethane, Polystyrene)

Laminating “Glue”(Polyester Resin, Epoxy)

Laminating “Skin”(Fiberglass, Wood, Graphite)Silica

“Shaper”

“Glasser”

fins

artwork

Spatial organization of surfboard manufacturingPre-modern history: 1936 first commercial production of fiberglass, 1940 first commercial production of rigid polyurethane foam.

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Redondo Beach

Noll

Noll/E.T.

Clark

Laguna Niguel

Walker

Wilmington

Weber

Walker

Retail &garage

2005Black Monday

Santa Cruz

FrenchCobra

Thailand

China75,000 Surftech Boards

Spatial organization of surfboard manufacturing

1960-1980sBlanks: Single technology, near monopoly, few production sites

Shaping: Surfer/Shaper pairing, Local market shapers (Bark), relatively easy market entry. Master-apprentice training.

Glassing: Under same roof? One glasser for several shapers? Artwork, design element.

1990-2000sBlanks: Multiple technology, multiple locations

Shaping: Difficult entry. Capital-intensive, large scale.

Glassing: Nuisance/hazardous zoning, concentration, vertical integration.

Environmental impacts: What’s in a surfboard?

• Toxic chemicals- Regulation / Mitigation

• Polyester resins-Federal hazardous air pollutant

-Respiratory, skin, and eye irritant

-Not classified human carcinogenicity

• Toluene Diisocyanate (polyurethane foam)- “Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”

- Spleen, liver, ovaries, pancreas, …

• Recycling??

Regional Geography / Maps

• Australia and the Pacific Islands (from part I)

• World storm regions (from part II)

• Central America and Caribbean (Colas: Intro, Costa Rica, El Salvador)

• East Asia (Colas: Intro, Bali, G-land, Mentawai Islands)

Thank You!