Browse Items (128 total)

  • Collection: Environmental Systems & Societies

 

Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition

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The Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition) online textbook describes an area of knowledge within Geography known as Physical Geography. The textbook contains over three hundred pages of information and more than four hundred 2-D…

Deserts: Geology and Resources

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Contents: What Is a Desert; How the Atmosphere Influences Aridity; Where Deserts Form; Types of Deserts; Desert Features; Eolian Processes; Types of Dunes; Remote Sensing of Arid Lands; Mineral Resources in Deserts; Desertification.

The Physical Environment: an Introduction to Physical Geography

Online introductory textbook on physical geography. Students and educators can find nineteen chapters equipped with animations, interactive materials, and audio. At the end of each chapter, visitors can find review questions, a quiz, an overview of…

Divided Islands

These are cases of international islands divided between two or more countries. There are many examples around the world of this kind of political border, where one island is split.

Singapore's Economic Development

Fifty years ago, the city-state of Singapore was an undeveloped country with a GDP per capital of less than US $320. Today, it is one of the world's fastest growing economies. Its GDP per capital has risen to an incredible US $60,000, making it the…

Political Geography of the Oceans

The control and ownership of the oceans has long been a controversial topic. Since ancient empires began to sail and trade over the seas, command of coastal areas has been important to governments. However, it wasn't until the twentieth century that…

Overview of GDP and GNP

Gross domestic product, also known as GDP, is defined as the total market value (the amount that a product would trade for in the open market) of all goods and services produced within a specific a location over a particular time period. GDP includes…

Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today. By definition the word "plate" in geologic terms means a large slab of…

Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources created by the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. They include petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Fossil fuels serve as the dominant source of energy for humanity, powering over four-fifths of…

MegaRegions

Emerging MegaRegions in the Unites States. Megaregions are characterized by a socio-spatial expansion of population, commerce, and resources across a geographical landscape. These geographical landscapes have population counts that exceed 10 million…

Biogeography

An Overview and History of the Study of Biogeography

Mapping tree density at a global scale

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Ground-sourced tree density data is assembled to provide a global map of tree density, which reveals that there are three trillion trees (tenfold more than previous estimates); tree numbers have declined by nearly half since the start of human…

Icebergs not the trigger for North Atlantic cold events

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Abrupt climate change is a ubiquitous feature of the Late Pleistocene epoch1. In particular, the sequence of Dansgaard–Oeschger events (repeated transitions between warm interstadial and cold stadial conditions), as recorded by ice cores in…

Recovery potential of the world's coral reef fishes

nature14358.pdf
Continuing degradation of coral reef ecosystems has generated substantial interest in how management can support reef resilience1, 2. Fishing is the primary source of diminished reef function globally3, 4, 5, leading to widespread calls for…

The changing form of Antarctic biodiversity

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Antarctic biodiversity is much more extensive, ecologically diverse and biogeographically structured than previously thought. Understanding of how this diversity is distributed in marine and terrestrial systems, the mechanisms underlying its spatial…

Contribution of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns to extreme temperature trends

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This study identifies statistically significant trends in mid-atmospheric circulation patterns that partially explain observed changes in extreme temperature occurrence over Eurasia and North America; although the underlying cause of circulation…

Pacific western boundary currents and their roles in climate

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A review of western boundary currents in the Pacific Ocean explores their far-reaching influence on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the Indonesian Throughflow, Asian monsoons, and ocean circulation in the South China Sea, and concludes that major…

Rogue antimatter found in thunderclouds

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An inside about lightnings

Global carbon export from the terrestrial biosphere controlled by erosion

nature14400.pdf
Particulate organic carbon export from the terrestrial biosphere is primarily controlled by physical erosion, and tectonic and climatic forcing of physical erosion may favour biospheric particulate organic carbon sequestration over silicate…