Geography The Science of Spatial and Descriptive Analysis

Geography

The Science of Spatial and Descriptive Analysis

Spatial Analysis

• Space– Different than raw numbers, statistics– Distribution, distance, density, area,

autocorrelation, topography, topology, and more.

– Theories and techniques for Spatial Analysis have been present for centuries, but only lately have they been available (computers, GIS, remote sensing).

– Output/Results: MAPS

Spatial Analysis

Geographers use specialized tools including maps, geographical information systems (GIS), remote sensing, mathematical modeling and statistics to allow them to portray information that varies spatially on the Earth’s surface

Spatial Analysis

Spatial Analysis

• The Visual Nature of Spatial Analysis– Viewing maps is a integrative action – Compare to reading (linear)– Information is absorbed as a whole– Spatial information shown differently– Spatial information is processed differently by

your brain

Graphic vs. Visual/Map Display

Text/Graphic vs. Visual/Map Display

Place

• Not well defined

Scale

• Not well defined

Geography

Geography looks at the world from the viewpoint of geographic space by synthesizing ideas from different disciplines and developing special techniques to represent and manipulate spatial information

Introducing Geography

Geography can be subdivided into human geography and physical geography

human geography examines economic, social and behavioral processes

physical geography examines natural processes, and is generally composed of biogeography, climatology and geomorphology.

Introducing Geography

Introducing Physical Geography

• Introducing Geography

• Spheres, Systems and Cycles

• Physical Geography, Environment, and Global Change





Physical Geography







Spheres, Systems and Cycles

The natural systems and processes involved in physical geography are considered to operate within four great spheres (or realms): the atmosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere


The life layer is the shallow Earth surface layer where the four realms (or spheres) interact and where most life forms are found


Scale, pattern and process are three interrelated geographic themes

Scale: the level of structure or organization at which a phenomenon is studied

Pattern: variation in phenomenon observed at a particular scale

Process: how the factors that affect a phenomenon act to produce a pattern at a particular scale


processes operating in the four spheres are studied at different spatial scales or levels of detail (global, continental, regional, local, individual)


a system is a collection of physical processes that are linked and act together in an organized way

a systems approach to physical geography looks for linkages and interactions between processes


Time cycles are periodic changes in system flow rates that occur over periods ranging from hours to millions of years

Physical Geography, Environment, and Global Change

Physical geography is also concerned with the relationships between humans and their environments Environmental change is caused by both natural processes and human interference

Some important topics of global change that physical geographers are investigating are global climate change, the carbon cycle, biodiversity, pollution, and extreme events

Why Physical Geography?

• Non-human processes that formed landscape fall into this realm

• Understanding of how life forms developed and arrived in our landscape

Three areas of Physical Geography

• Geomorphology

• Climatology

• Biogeography

Biosphere

Spheres of Interest:

Atmosphere

Lithosphere

Hydrosphere

Pedosphere

global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance

Geomorphology • Study of the structure and formation of

landforms (think patterns and processes)• Important in understanding internal earth

processes and structures, how the surface arrived at present and former states

• Sub areas of interest to us: – Plate Tectonics– Orogeny– Volcanism– Erosion and Mass Wasting– Glacial landforms– Deposition

Coastal and Oceanic Landforms

Why do we have barrier islands on the Atlantic but not he Pacific Coast of N. America?

Pattern

Process

Landforms

Climatology

• The Study of the Earth’s Weather Systems and the Weather Patterns they create

• “Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get”– Regional Climates (deserts, polar, alpine)– Swing Climates (Hot dry then cold dry then cold

wet…)– Glaciation– Erosion events/floods– Storms

Climatology and Scale

• Climatology was one of the first sciences to struggle with scale

• Weather is affected by many variables at multiple spatial scales

• E.g. Lifting by Pressure systems, Frontal, Convective, Orographic

Where does the weather come from?

Which way is the Wind blowing?

Climatic variables

• Some climatic variables affecting climate and weather operating at multiple spatio-temporal scales– Continental Arrangement– Air Currents/Jet Stream– Ocean Currents– Landforms– Water bodies

Continental Arrangement

Air Currents/Jet Stream

Ocean Currents

Biogeography

• Biogeography is the science which deals with patterns of species distribution and the processes that result in such patterns– Speciation – Extinction– Continental Drift– Glaciation

Biogeography and Continents

Present

Permian 225mya Triassic 200mya

Cretaceous 65myaJurassic 135mya

Extra Questions for All Geographers

• How do things work (differently) at different scales?

• What are the important patterns?• What are the important processes?• What patterns will I see at different scales?• How do living things respond to these patterns?• How do people respond to these patterns?

Documents

Geography The Science of Spatial and Descriptive Analysis