The Physical Environment
Contents

Chapter 1: Essentials of Geography

Focus on The Physical Environment " Space Technology Puts Oceans in Focus". (NPR/National Geographic Expeditions)
(4:27)
Connections: "Mapping Earthquakes Online", Weekend Edition (5:22)
How To: Map Scale
Active Learning: Geographers at Work
Virtual Field Trip: Y2Y: Yellowstone to Yukon
Geographers at Work: Ken Foote - promoting the geographer's craft.
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Introduction to Topographic Maps"

Chapter 2: The Earth System

Focus on The Physical Environment:"Down To Earth" The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB)
Connections: "Dimming the Sun" Nova - air pollution's effect on solar radiation and global warming. Support site and program transcript. (2006)
Physical Geography Today: Real Time Geomagnetism monitoring - USGS
How To: In development
Active Learning: Environmental Inventory
Review & Resources

Chapter 3: The Atmosphere

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Field Notes from a Catastrophe" Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer, The New Yorker WGBH Forum
Connections: "Tracking Pollution" News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS)
Physical Geography Today: AIRNow - real time air quality data (US EPA)
How To: In development
Active Learning: In development
Review & Resources

Chapter 4: Energy and Radiation

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Arbiters of Energy" (NASA Earth Observatory)
Connections: Dating the Pyramids - A problem of Earth-Sun relations
How To: Calculating Noon Sun Angle
Active Learning: Sun Angle and Insolation Intensity
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Earth-Dun Geometry and Insolation"
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Radiation and Energy Balance at the Earth's Surface"

Chapter 5: Atmospheric Temperature

Focus on The Physical Environment:
"Temperature and Gas Laws" Mechanical Universe (Annenberg/CPB)
Connections: "Warming Oceans". (NPR) All Things Considered
How To: Temperature Gradients (In development)
Active Learning: Global warming and you.
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Air Temperature Patterns"

Chapter 6: Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation

Focus on The Physical Environment: "El Nino's Extended Family" (NASA Earth Observatory)
Connections: "When the Dust Settles" (NASA Earth Observatory); "The Effects of Globally Transported African and Asian Dust on Coral Reef and Human Health" (USGS)
How To: Drawing isobars;
Constructing a pressure profile
Active Learning: El Nino
Virtual Field Trip: El Nino and the Galapagos
Review and Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Atmospheric Pressure, Circulation, and Wind"

Chapter 7: Atmospheric Moisture

Focus on The Physical Environment: The Importance of Understanding Clouds. (NASA)
Connections: Scientific American: Fog for a Thirsty Planet
How To:
- Using the Saturation Curve
- Calculating adiabatic lapse rates
Active Learning: In development
Geographers at Work: Andrew Carleton - remote sensing of climate
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Water in the Atmosphere"

Chapter 8: Weather Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Weather Forecasting through the Ages" (NASA Earth Observatory)
Connections: "Trees lost to Katrina May Present Climate Challenge" (NPR)
Physical Geography Today: US National Weather Service - NOAA | US National Hurricane Center - NOAA
How To: Interpreting weather maps (In development)
Active Learning: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Special topic: Hurricane Katrina
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Midlatitude Weather and Weather Map Interpretation"

Chapter 9: Climate Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "The Climate Puzzle" Planet Earth (Annenberg/CPB) Activity
Connections: "Scientific American: Is Global Warming Harmful to Health?
Computer models indicate that many diseases will surge as the Earths atmosphere heats up.
How To: Classifying Climate (In development)
Active Learning: Climate Change and Vegetation
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Climate Classification and World Climates"

Chapter 10: The Hydrosphere

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Groundwater" The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB) Details
Connections: "Drying Out" News Hour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) August 23, 2002 report about the nearly dry Colorado River delta (10:25)
Physical Geography Today: Ground Water Climate Response Network - USGS
How To: Calculating a water budget
Active Learning: In development
Geographers at Work: Jeff Dozier - remote sensing & snow hydrology.
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Soil Moisture Budgets"

Chapter 11: Soil Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Weathering and Soils" Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB)
Connections: "China Desertification" (NPR) All Things Considered (5:36)
How To: Using a soil survey (In development)
Active Learning: Spatial pattern of soil characteristics
Geographers at Work: "Randy Schaetzl - Soil geomorphology"
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Analysis of Soil Moisture"

Chapter 12: Biogeography of the Earth

Focus on The Physical Environment:
"Biodiversity" Rediscovering Biology (Annenberg/CPB) Activity
Connections: "Drugs and Bugs"
(NPR, 2000)
How To: In development
Active Learning: In development
Virtual Field Trip: In development
Geographers at Work: Alan Taylor - Biogeographer; Lisa Naughton : "Living With Wolves"
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Climate Net Primary Production, and Decomposition"
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Vegetation Form and Range"

Chapter 13: Earth Biomes

Focus on The Physical Environment:
In Development
Connections: In development
How To: In development
Active Learning: Environmental Regions of the Eastern Hemisphere (In development)
Virtual Field Trip: The Amazon and Flooded Forest Ecosystem
Geographers at Work:Lisa Naughton : "Living With Wolves"
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Bioclimatic Transects"
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Coincident Climates, Vegetation, and Soils

Chapter 14: Earth Materials and Structure

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Earth's Interior" Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB)
Activity
Connections: "Evolution of Landscape Change along Clear Creek, Colorado"
Part 1 Part 2, USGS. A look at the effects of urbanization, aggregate mining and reclamation.
How To: Constructing topographic profiles
Active Learning: Reading topographic maps (In development)
Geographers at Work: Ron Dorn - helping preserve rock art
Review & Resources

Chapter 15: Tectonics and Landforms

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Birth of a Theory" Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB) Activity
Connections: "South Asia Disaster" News Hour with Jim Lehrer. See "Tsunami Warnings" at the site.
Physical Geography Today: Earthquakes Hazard Program - USGS
How To: In development
Active Learning: Tectonic boundary processes and landforms
Review & Resources

Chapter 16: Volcanic Processes and Landforms

Focus on The Physical Environment "Volcanic and Seismic Hazards on the Island of Hawaii" (USGS)
Connections: "Remembering Krakatoa's Cataclysm" (NPR All things Considered)
Details.
Physical Geography Today: Update on Current Volcanic activity - Volcano World
How To: In development
Active Learning: In development
Virtual Field Trip: Volcanoes of the World (In development)
Geographers at Work: "Travis Heggie - Answering the Call of the Wild" (AAG)
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Igneous Landforms"

Chapter 17: Weathering, Erosion, and Mass
Movement

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Mass Wasting" The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB) One-time, free registration may be required to view film.
(29:00)
Connections: When Land Slides (NASA Earth Observatory)
Physical Geography Today: "Real-Time" Monitoring of an Active Landslide above Highway 50, California - USGS
How To: Interpreting hill slope profiles
Active Learning: In development
Geographers at Work: David Butler - Biogeography, geomorphology and landscape change.
Review & Resources

Chapter 18: Fluvial Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment - "Floods: Using Satellites to keep Our Heads above Water. (NASA Earth Observatory)
Connections: Three Gorges" All Things Considered Details
Physical Geography Today: Water Watch - USGS
How To: Calculating flood recurrence
Active Learning: Virtual River (Cal State-LA)
Virtual Field Trip: Yunnan Great Rivers Project
Geographers at Work: W. Andrew Marcus - hydrology, geomorphology, and stream habitat disturbance
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Drainage Basin Analysis"
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Fluvial Landforms"

Chapter 19: Glacial Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Gifts of the Glaciers" Sea Grant Institute
Connections:"7000 Year Old City Under Black Sea" (NPR) Details.
How To: In development
Active Learning: In development
Virtual Field Trip: Indian Peaks, Front Range, Colorado
Geographers at Work: Julian Dowdeswell - glaciologist
Review & Resources
For Course Instructors - Suggested Lab Manual Exercise: Lemke, Ritter, Heywood, "Glacial Landforms"

Chapter 20: Eolian Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Wind, Dust and Deserts" The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB)
(29:00)
Connections: "From the Dust Bowl to the Sahel" NASA Earth Observatory
How To: In development
Active Learning: In development
Virtual Field Trip: Sahara Trek
Review and Resources

Chapter 21: Ocean and Coastal Systems

Focus on The Physical Environment: "Waves, Beaches, and Coasts The Earth Revealed (Annenberg/CPB)
(29:00)
Connections: "A Dangerous Intersection: Humans and Climate Destroy Reef Ecosystem" NASA Earth Observatory
How To: In development
Active learning: Tsunami!
Review and Resources

References & Media Credits

WebActive: Active Learning on the Web

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For Citation: Ritter, Michael E. The Physical Environment: an Introduction to Physical Geography.
2006. Date visited. http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/title_page.html

The Physical Environment Contents

The Physical Environment
Contents