GES 1000 OL1 Environmental Systems: Climate and Vegetation
Exam 1 Review
Exam 1 will be conducted Monday Mar 3 from 4:45 – 7:15 PM in COB 329.
There are 2 exam sessions: 4:45-6:00 PM and 6:00-7:15 PM.
E-mail me ([email protected]) if you are uncertain about your assigned exam session.
You should arrive promptly at the start of your exam session to ensure you have adequate time
to complete the exam as exams will end right on schedule at 7:15.
Material Covered:
McKnight Text: Chapters 1, 3, 4
Labs 1, 2, 3, 4
There will be both a hard copy portion of the exam and a Blackboard portion of the exam.
Blackboard
The multiple choice and matching sections of the exam are on Blackboard.
Section 1: Multiple Choice on Blackboard (30 points)
There will be 30 multiple choice questions. As you review, pay particular attention to the chapter outlines
(http://web.uccs.edu/geogenvs/ges100-online/outlines.htm) and practice quizzes (on Blackboard).
More than half the multiple-choice questions on the test come directly from the practice quizzes.
Section 2: Matching on Blackboard (20 points)
There will be 20 definitions on the exam taken from the list of terms below. The hard copy of the
exam will include this exact same list of terms. You will match the appropriate term from the list
provided to each of the 20 definitions on Blackboard.
Check the chapter outlines and the glossary (at the back of the text) for the correct definitions.
Knowing the meanings of these terms will help you in all portions of the exam, not just the matching!
lithosphere
atmosphere
hydrosphere
biosphere
latitude
longitude
rotation
revolution
perihelion
aphelion
polarity/parallelism
sun’s declination
troposphere
stratosphere
insolation
shortwave radiation
longwave radiation
solar constant
greenhouse effect
conduction
convection
advection
latent heat
albedo
environmental lapse rate
temperature inversion
isotherms
The Hardcopy Portion of the Exam
Section 3: Diagrams, Graphs, and Maps (50 points)
You should be familiar with and able to interpret and/or construct diagrams, graphs and maps
associated with the topics that were treated in this unit. Completing and understanding the
associated labs is very helpful in preparing for this portion of the exam.
Items to which you should pay particular attention:
1. the spherical earth and geographic grid system
a. major components of the spherical earth: equator; prime meridian; poles; hemispheres
b. special circles and their latitudes: equator; Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn; Arctic/Antarctic Circle
c. plotting locations by latitude/longitude on a map of the earth
d. rewriting latitude/longitude coordinates
2. the earth’s seasons
a. spherical representations of earth’s seasons, solstices, and equinoxes as it revolves
around the sun
b. earth’s daily pattern of noon, midnight, sunrise, and sunset as it rotates on its axis
3. the annual cycle of insolation
a. how to graph the intensity of incoming solar radiation (insolation)
b. latitudinal variation in the intensity of insolation: matching data and latitudinal location
4. global patterns of air temperature
a. how to read and interpret isothermal maps (textbook p. 90)
b. seasonal temperature patterns revealed by isothermal maps
5. climographs
a. how to construct basic climographs: graphing temperature and precipitation
b. interpreting geographical variation of climatic data: latitudinal and coastal vs. continental
Blackboard Advisory and Helpful Hint
NOTE: You will be able to access the exam on Blackboard only once. Be sure you are
satisfied with your answers before submitting the exam for grading.
* You will have both the hardcopy portion and the Blackboard portion of the exam at the same
time, and you may use both simultaneously to help in answering the questions – I encourage it!
I suggest you wait to submit the Blackboard portion until you have completed the entire exam. *
Basic Concepts from Labs 1-4 You Should Understand
1. Latitude and Longitude
 Latitude measures angular distances north or south of the equator and ranges from 0o at
the equator to 90o N or S at the poles
 Longitude measures angular distances east or west of the prime meridian and ranges from
0o at the prime meridian to 180o E or W at the international dateline.
 Latitude and longitude are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds. There are 360
degrees (o) in a circle, 60 minutes (′) in 1 degree, and 60 seconds (″) in 1 minute.
 The equator divides the earth into the northern and southern hemispheres. The prime meridian
and international dateline divide the earth into the eastern and western hemispheres.
2. Earth's Seasons
 Earth's seasons are caused by the combined effect of the axial tilt (23.5o) of the earth, the
earth's annual revolution around the sun, and polarity (the north pole always points in the
same direction – toward Polaris, the North Star)
 The sun is never directly overhead farther north than 23.5oN or farther south than 23.5oS.
 At the equinoxes (March and September) the noon sun is directly over the equator.
 The noon sun is directly over 23.5oN during the June solstice and over 23.5oS during the
December solstice.
 To determine which season is which on a diagram, note in what direction the North
Pole is pointing. It points toward the sun during June (summer in the northern hemisphere)
and away from the sun during December (winter in the northern hemisphere).
3. Solar Insolation
 Insolation refers to incoming solar radiation.
 For locations in the northern hemisphere, the greatest insolation occurs during our
summer (Jun-Aug) - resulting in a hump in the center of the graph of annual insolation.
 For locations in the southern hemisphere, the greatest insolation occurs during their summer
(our winter Dec-Feb) – resulting in a dip in the center of the graph of annual insolation.
 Two basic things can happen to incoming solar radiation: it can be reflected by either the
atmosphere or the ground in which case it is reflected without altering either the object it
strikes or the radiation waves; or, it can be absorbed by either the atmosphere or the
ground in which case it heats up the object and is reemitted as longwave radiation.
4. Global Pattern of Air Temperature
 Gross patterns of temperature are controlled largely by the following four factors:
latitude; land-water contrasts; altitude; and, ocean currents.
 The major determinant of temperature is latitude, reflected by the conspicuous east-west
trend of isotherms on world temperature maps.
 Large bodies of water have a moderating effect on air temperature because water both
warms up and cools off more slowly than land.
 Generally, summer temperatures are warmer over continents than oceans at the same latitude.
 Generally, winter temperatures are colder over continents than oceans at the same latitude.
 Generally, continental locations have a greater diurnal and annual temperature range than
coastal/maritime locations.
 The interiors of large landmasses in high latitudes are the coldest places on earth and
have the greatest annual temperature range.