Thursday, 26 February 2015

Introduction to Weather and Climate Questions




1)   What warms the planet?
Decay of radioactive isotopes provides about half of the Earth’s heat and the rays from the sun.

2)   Referring to this diagram explain why the equatorial regions receive more radiation and therefore are warmer than Polar Regions.
This diagram shows the polar region gets more direct sunlight then the Polar Regions. Which will make the Polar Regions more colder.
3) Define Albedo. Which would absorb more radiation a snow covered
mountain or a black roof?
Albedo is the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet. A black roof absorbs more radiation than a snow-covered mountain.

4) Explain lapse rate. 
Lapse rate is the rate at which air temperature falls with increasing altitude. n the lower regions of the atmosphere (up to altitudes of approximately 12,000 metres (39,000 ft), temperature decreases with altitude at a fairly uniform rate. Because the atmosphere is warmed by convection from Earth's surface, this lapse or reduction in temperature is normal with increasing distance from the conductive source.

5) Explain Aspect. In the Northern Hemisphere will plants grow better on the north or the south side facing side of a mountain?
aspect is the compass direction that a slope faces.

6) Why do we have seasons?
The reason we have seasons is because the earth is on a slant. As it makes around the yearly journey the earth is on a slant. The areas that get more sunlight are mostly in the summer season and vise versa.

7) Which heats up faster: Land or Water?
A land surface will heat up more quickly, because the heat gets absorbed in the surface, and to a much higher temperature than the open ocean will. Shallow ocean or lake waters will warm more rapidly and to higher temperatures than deep waters, because shallow water has less mass to heat up.

8) Describe the impact that being far away from water has on the climate of the prairies
The climate is a lot drier and it shows through plants. Certain plants cannot be grown in the prairies because the climate is to dry.

9) Explain the impact of the Gulf Stream on Norway.
The Gulf Stream on Norway has strong winds, which keeps ice and snow away. Even though Norway is close to the artic there’s less snow because of the wind.

10) What current runs past BC?
The Alaska current runs past B.C.

11) Describe the impact of adding extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere on the temperatures of Earth.
By adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere it would cause the Earth to heat up more.

12) Describe convection.  THIS IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND AS WE MOVE THROUGH THE COURSE
Convection is the movement in gas or liquid in which the warmer parts move up and the colder parts go down. Meaning dense materials rise and denser materials drown under the influence of gravity. Which results in heat.

13) What is wind?
Wind is the perceptible natural movement o air. It can come in a form of a current from air blowing from a particular direction.

14) Explain urban heat islands, and explain why they occur.

An urban heat island is a metropolitan area that is significantly warmer that the other areas within the surroundings. It usually happens from human activities.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

5 Themes of Geography

Part B:


Location:


Absolute Location:
  • Exact location of Jakarta -6.2000 S, 106.8000 E
Relative Location:
  • Located in the northern, southern and eastern hemisphere
  • located in Asia
  • neighbouring countries are Malaysia, Singapore and Papua
  • Borders the Indian Ocean and pacific ocean
Place:


Physical Features:
  • Volcanoes, mountains, costal plains, lakes and rivers are around the island
  • Animals are found on the islands such as; rhinos, tropical frogs and cockatoos
  • Plants are found on the islands such as; Orchids, rhododendrons and wax ginger flower


Cultural Features:
  • Barobudor Temple, Prambana Temple and the Bali are man made features
  • Islam is Indonesia main religion
  • Indonesian is the main language
  • The Indonesian flag is based on the banner of the 13th century Majapahit Empire in East Java
Human-Environment Interaction:
  • Indonesians use some of the land for farming
  • They adapt to the environment  by choice of clothing
  • Indonesians have changed the land for the worse by logging and mining
  • Most Indonesians live in Jakarta, mainly  because it is the capital city and is where most trade opportunities arise
Movement:
  • communication satellites and community based internet infrastructures are used to spread ideas
  • Boats, trains and gas are methods of travel
  • Oil and gas are the main export as well mineral fuels
  • Refried petroleum oil is the main import
Region:


Indonesia and it's neighboring countries have a similar region.
  • Same climate
  • Same language
  • Have similar landform
  • All export oils
  • Neighboring countries either border the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean




5 Themes of Geography

Part A:


Human-Environment Interaction:
Human-Environment Interaction considers the fact how humans adapt and modify the environment; however, this can either have a negative or a positive affect on the environment. The image I have chosen is the Golden Gate bridge to show the theme of Human Interactions. The use of this bridge shows the environment has been modified for our needs. If there were no humans on earth there would be no bridge. Humans built bridges to make their lives easier for travelling and to get to certain places quicker.



Movement:
Movement is a theme which studies the movement and migration of ideas, goods and resources. The image I have chosen is a cargo ship for the theme of Movement. Ships are not always used to move people around from one place to another. Cargo ships are used to ship goods and  resources from one city to another country/city. For example Port of San Diego brings in nearly 3,300,000 metric tons of cargo per a year. Most of the time this port receives cars or food from the Dole Food Company. This cargo ship in my picture can also be transporting cars or bananas to another city for profit, which leaves the ship to be part of the theme Movement. 


                                             Image result for serpentine river
Place:
A place describes the human and physical characteristics of a location. Physical characteristics include descriptions of mountains and beaches and rivers. Human characteristics  include the human designed cultural features of a place. A temple is an example  of a human charastics. I chose the Serpentine River as a place. It is a physical characteristic which people can use to give directions to small businesses which are around it.


Wednesday, 18 February 2015

4 Spheres of the Environment

What happened?
The Sumatra Earthquake occurred in September in 2009 off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
The magnitude of the earthquake was 7. 9 from the Richter Scale. 
The epicenter was 45 kilometers west-northwest of Padang, Sumatra and 220 kilometeres southwest of Pekanbaru, Sumatra.
This earthquake affected three different countries which are Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
This earthquake left 1,112 people dead and 1,214 people severely injured!




How is each sphere involved?
The biosphere is affected by the Lithosphere. The biosphere contains living organisms and the lithosphere(the earthquake) can violently shake the ground and kill multiple different types of living organisms; however, people don't typically die from an earthquake unless something falls, from the violent shake, on top of the living organism.
The atmosphere can be affected by the lithosphere as well. When an earthquake happens it's because the tectonic plates either collide or diverge. As there's an earthquake there are toxic gasses being released into the atmosphere which is affecting the clean air animals and living organisms need.
The hydrosphere can affect the lithosphere and the biosphere. When there is an earthquake under water it can start a formation of a tsunami. Tsunamis have the ability to destroy inhabitants on an island and bring mass destruction in the area along the coast line. The earthquake Sumatra created a localized tsunami and it struck the Metawau Islands.


Thursday, 12 February 2015

My Country

What's my country?
My country is Indonesia.

Where is it?
Indonesia is in the continent of Asia.
The latitude and longitude  are 3.2591 S, 109.7028 E. 
Australia, India and Palau neighbor around Indonesia.


What is the size (Km)?
The size of Indonesia is 1,919,440 Km

What is the population?
According to the 2013 Statistics from "World Bank" Indonesia has about 249.9 million people.

What is the capital city?
The capital city of  Indonesia is Jakarta.

What type of government does it have?

Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system for governing. It can be described as constitutional, presidential and republic.