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21st Century
GEOGRAPHY
A Reference Handbook
21st Century:
GEOGRAPHY
A Reference Handbook

Volume 1 & 2

Edited by

Joseph P. Stoltman
WesternMichigan University

'SAGE I reference
Los Angeles I London I New Delhi
Singapore I Washington DC
'SAGE
Copyright © 2012 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Los Angeles I London I New Delhi All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced or
Singapore I Washington DC
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
FOR INFORMATION: publisher.
SAGE Publications, Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
E-mail: [email protected]

SAGE Publications Ltd. Printed in the United States ofAmerica

1 Oliver's Yard
55 CityRoad Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
London EC1Y 1SP 21st century geography: a reference book / Joseph P. Stoltman, editor.
United Kingdom
v. 1- 2, em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
SAGE Publications India Pv1. Ltd.
B 1/11 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area ISBN 978-1-4129-7464-6 (cloth)
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110044
India 1. Geography-Handbooks, manuals, etc.
1. Stoltman, Joseph P.
SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.
Gl23.A182012
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FarEast Square 2011024468
Singapore 048763

Publisher: RolfA. Janke

Assistant to the Publisher: Michele Thompson
Acquisitions Editor: Jim Brace-Thompson
Production Editor: Belinda Thresher
Reference Systems Coordinator: Laura Notton
Reference Systems Manager: Leticia Gutierrez
CopyEditors: Colieen Brennan, Patricia Sutton, Renee Willers
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Proofreaders: Theresa Kay & Sandy Zilka
Indexer: Julie Grayson 11 1213 1415 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Cover Designer: Candice Harman
Marketing Manager: Kristi Ward
CONTENTS

VOLUME ONE

Preface xi
About the Editor xv
About the Contributors xvii

PART I. PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

1. Earth's Surface Landforms 3
ThomasP Feeney,ShippensburgUniversity
2. Meteorology: Forecasting the Future of Weather Prediction 13
Marcus 1. Bilker andJongnamChoi, WesternIllinois University
3. Applications of Weather Forecasting 29
John D. Frye, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
4. Weather Modification 39
Brian H. Bossak,Georgia SouthernUniversity
5. Understanding Climate History: An Eye to the Future 49
JamesF Petersenand Matthew S. Melancon, TexasState University, San Marcos
6. Global Change and Geographic Thought 59
John Harrington Jr. andLisa M Butler Harrington, KansasState University
7. Applications of Climatology 67
David R. Legates,University ofDelaware
8. Biogeography 77
Daniel G. Gavin, University ofOregon
9. Water Resources and Quality 89
Jeffrey J Dickey, University ofNew Mexico
10. Plants and Animals in Nature 99
Janet 1. Halpin, Chicago State University

PART II. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

11. CulturaIlHuman Geography 113
RobertC. Ziegenfusand Mathias Le Bosse,Kutztown University ofPennsylvania
12. Cultural Change and Diffusion: Geographic Patterns, Social Processes, and Contact Zones 123
DerekH. Alderman, East Carolina University
13. Attachment to Place 135
Richard W Wilkie and GeorgeF Roberson,University ofMassachusetts-Amherst
14. Perception and Sense of Place 149
Molly 0. Holmberg, Jung Eun Hong, and
KennethE. Foote, University ofColorado at Boulder
15. Political Geography and National Boundaries 161
ReeceJones, University ofHawai 'i at Manoa
16. Political Geography and Local Boundaries 171
J. Clark Archer, University ofNebraska-Lincoln
17. Nationalism 187
Erin H. Fouberg, Northern State University
18. Transnationalism 197
Kevin Archer, University ofSouth Florida
19. Geographic Perspectives on Democracy and Elections 207
Fred M Shelley, University ofOklahoma
20. Geography and National Security 219
Francis A. Galgano, Villanova University
21. Geography and Migration Analysis 231
SamuelThompson,WesternIllinois University
22. Demographic Dimensions: Describing Populations 241
RachelS. Franklin, Brown University
23. Generational Geographies: Millennials' and Baby Boomers' Perceptions
and Use of Nature 255
Karen S. Barton and Charles O. Collins, University ofNorthern Colorado
24. Census of Population: "Panning for Gold" 267
David G. Dickason, WesternMichigan University
25. Population Policies, Issues, and Geography 277
Ellen Percy Kraly, Colgate University
26. Urban Geography: Past, Present, Future 289
David M Walker, Ohio WesleyanUniversity
27. World Cities: Present and Future 301
StanleyD. Brunn, University ofKentucky
28. Urban Patterns and Ethnic Diversity 315
Emily Skop, University ofColorado-ColoradoSprings
WeiLi, Arizona State University
29. City and Regional Planning 325
William Gribb, University ofWYoming
30. Geographies of Public Space 337
ThomasChapman,Old Dominion University
31. Sustainable Urban Development and Transportation 345
ChristopherCusack,KeeneState College
32. Urban Networks: Communications and Corporate Nodes 355
Barney Warf University ofKansas
33. Geography of Well-Being 367
Robert W Morrill, Virginia PolytechnicInstitute and State University
34. Women and Minorities in Geography 379
Janice Monk, University ofArizona
35. Economy and Society: Geographic Views on Restructuring and Social Mediation 387
Jon Moore, University ofAkron
36. Global Consumption Patterns 399
Ian MacLachlan, University ofLethbridge
37. Global Production Patterns 411
Mark Graham, University ofOxford
Havard Haarstad, University ofBergen
 VOLUME Two

PART III. NATURE AND SOCIETY

38. Protected Areas and Nature Conservancy 423
StephenF Cunha,HumboldtState University
39. Politics of Land Use: Balancing Private Rights and Public Power 435
Dorothy Ives-Dewey,WestChesterUniversity
40. Water Use and Conservation 447
TamimYounos,Cabell Brand Centerfor Global Poverty andResource
SustainabilityStudies
TammyE. Parece, Virginia PolytechnicInstitute and State University
41. Wind, Geography, and Energy 457
StephenStadler,OklahomaState University
42. Globalization and Geography 469
Alex Standish,WesternConnecticutState University
43. Geographic Impact ofInvasive Species 479
Mary Ruth Griffin, University ofCharleston
44. Human Dimensions of Global Change 489
Anna Carrabetta, University ofMilano-Bicocca
SusanGallagher Heffron, AssociationofAmericanGeographers
45. Social Constructions of the Environment 499
Kevin Archer, University ofSouthFlorida
46. Natural Hazards and Natural Disasters 509
Burrell E. Montz, East Carolina University
GrahamA. Tobin, University ofSouthFlorida
47. Environmental Disasters 519
Jerry T. Mitchell, University ofSouth Carolina, Columbia
48. Public Health and Geography 529
Lisa Jordan, Florida State University
49. Landscape and Geography 543
Michelle Metro-Roland, WesternMichigan University

PART IV. REGIONS AND REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

50. Traditional and Future World Regions 555
John Agnew, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles
51. Urban Regions and Localized Food Systems: 21st-Century Innovations 563
LaDona Knigge, California State University, Chico
52. Rural Regions and Innovations 575
Darrell Napton, SouthDakota State University
53. Asia and Transnational Organizations 585
Gil Latz, Indiana University/PurdueUniversity Indianapolis
 54. Africa and Transnational Organizations 603
Garth AndrewMyers, University ofKansas
AngelaM Gray, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
55. Europe and Transnational Organizations 613
George W White,SouthDakota State University
56. Latin America and Transnational Organizations 623
Gary S. Elbow, TexasTechUniversity
57. North America and Transnational Agreements 635
J. Matthew Shumway,Brigham YoungUniversity
58. Australia/New Zealand/Pacific and Transnational Organizations 647
David A. Wadleyand TobyS. Gordon, University ofQueensland

PART V. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE

59. Remote Sensing: The Earth From Afar 665
Paul R. Baumann,State University ofNew York-Oneonta
60. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 677
Wen Lin, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
61 Cartography 687
Janet S. Smith, ShippensburgUniversity
Jeffrey S. Torguson,St. Cloud State University
62. Excursion Learning: Pedagogy of the Field 697
N. C. Heywood, University of Wisconsin-Stevens
Point
63. Geography: Electronic and Digital Resources 709
Linda R. Zellmer, WesternIllinois University
64. Geography and Visual Information 723
RogerBalm, Rutgers University
65. Spatial Thinking 733
Diana Stuart Sinton, University ofRedlands

PART VI. APPLIED AND PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHY

66. Environmental Planning and Management 745
Matthew T. Koeppe,George WashingtonUniversity
67. Recreation, Tourism, and Sports 753
Lucius F. Hallett IV, WesternMichigan University
68. Geography Education: The Quest for Geographic Literacy and Beyond 763
Michael Solem,AssociationofAmericanGeographers
69. Geography and Government 773
Edmund J Zolnik, GeorgeMason University
70. Geography as a Profession 783
M Beth Schlemper,University of Toledo

Appendices. Resources in Geography

A. Notable Books and Reports on Geography 795
JosephP. Stoltman, WesternMichigan University
B. Geographical Journals: A Sample with Annotations 803
Michael McDonnell, WesternMichigan University
C. The World Wide Web and Geography 811
Lisa M DeChano-Cook,WesternMichigan University
D. Association of American Geographers Specialty Groups 819
JosephP. Stoltman, WesternMichigan University
Index 823
PREFACE

W
elcome to 21st Century Geography:A Reference and they are correct. People interact with geography as
Handbook.As a discipline, geography spans the they navigate from location to location and as they interact
centuries. As a dynamic discipline, geography is with the environment. Decision making very often requires
ushering in the 21st century with vitality and purpose. The information about places, thus incorporating geography.
chapters in this handbook are written by geographers and Location analysts for major corporations as well as
people engaged with geographic research and professional individuals interested in renting or buying a place to live
work. Each chapter is presented in a similar format. First, are reminded of the importance of "location, location,
the authors present a look back into the early period of the location." A full range of people, from the very young to
research and writing for the chapter topic. Following the the very senior, make use of geography throughout their
early focus, but building toward the future, the second lives. In fact, it may be that people are so close to
discussion in each chapter focuses on the geographic topic geography and geographical thinking that they do not
at the beginning of the 21st century. That is followed by a recognize the many ways it functions as a habit of mind as
look to the future with speculation and prediction regarding they go about their daily lives or consider issues that help
the further development of the discipline. Of the three parts them understand the complexities of the world. This
of each chapter, it was the third that was generally the most handbook is designed to introduce you to the proven, the
challenging to write. Speculation about the future of the contemporary, and the emerging ideas that underpin this
discipline runs the risk that if the projection is not correct long-standing yet dynamic discipline.
and the discipline either does not develop in those ways or Geography is a very old discipline, dating back to earliest
with those attributes in the future, then it is viewed as an civilizations. People often think of geographic study as
inaccurate projection. On the other hand, if an author evolving as a practical means to manage the environment.
correctly anticipates the future of the discipline, then the This was especially the case in the Mediterranean region
chapter and author are well within the comfort zone of the of Europe, where the Greeks and the Romans made major
discipline. It takes intellectual courage to conjecture about changes in the natural environment to build and
the future, but each chapter provides a thoughtful geographically expand their civilizations. Early people in
consideration for the role of geography in the future. This many regions of the world used geography to migrate long
final part of each chapter demonstrates that an important distances over difficult terrain in search of food and water.
aspect of geography is its attentiveness to the future. Interactions between groups of early people resulted in the
The professional detail about geography and its diversity establishment of settlements that were optimal as pivotal
that are produced through the content and methodologies points for trade networks. Exchanges of rare minerals
within each topic are further evidence of the work of (gold) and necessary commodities (salt) reflected a
scholars and professionals. Each topic author demonstrates geography of production and consumption, trade and
the role of geography through the lenses of the particular exchange, that grew to span the globe. Every early
topic. The reader will be impressed by the breadth and civilization developed the geographic knowledge to get
depth of scholarship that is characteristic of the discipline from here to there, to record what was located between here
of geography. and there, and described what they found when they arrived
at a new place. The organization of Earth, its physical
patterns ofrivers and mountain passes, and the tempo ofthe
Very Brief History of Geography seasons (warm, cold, wet, dry) became essential information
to not only survive but also to thrive as a community. The
It is common to hear people comment that geography is use of geography was a common endeavor through the eyes
everywhere and part of nearly every activity we pursue, and feet of all early peoples.

IX
x • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

Modem geography developed from the continued environmental geography, human geography, nature and
inquisitive nature of people and the necessity or desire to society relations, geographic information science
move from one location to another across land and water. (GIScience), regional studies, and applied geography. The
While travel from place to place was desirable, it was also section topics represent major overarching research topics
necessary. To develop a record of migration and trade, it was in the discipline at the beginning of the 21st century. In a
imperative for people to record on parchment or more diverse field such as geography, large umbrella topics are
durable surfaces ofstone and clay the geographic information a common means to organize the discipline for research
that confronted travelers as well as the spatial relationships foci, publications, field study, and applications of the
that could be recorded in both distance on Earth and time. theories and concepts of the discipline to the world outside
Thus, modem maps were designed out of necessity to of academia. People interested in the discipline and who
preserve a record for use by subsequent travelers as well as explore the work that geographers do are often surprised
to develop a cartographic library of the known world. that the discipline encompasses such a wide range of
Early modem geography, beginning in the Mediterranean scholarship, public interest, and practical applications. The
Sea region, included masterful recording in diaries and on handbook presents geography within the following sections
maps, reporting geographic information to governmental that are reflective of the discipline at the beginning of the
leaders and citizens and presenting information about Earth, 21st century.
its landmasses, coastlines, rivers, climates, people, and
natural resources through maps and diagrams. Inscribed as Part I. Physical and Environmental
part ofthe information presented on maps was the knowledge Geography (10 chapters)
that one could get from here to there and back again if they
knew geography. The discipline of geography thus emerged Geography includes the study, research, and explanation
as having something for everyone. The discipline enabled of Earth's system of physical processes and the ensuing
geographers to measure the circumference of Earth, to environmental conditions that result from those processes.
anticipate the seasons, and to explain the relationships The discipline was very much a physical science in its
between Earth and Sun in great detail. The geographical early development, with considerable attention to careful
knowledge that people developed of their local environment observation and critical examination ofthe great landforms,
often meant the difference between success and failure as a climates, and environmental interactions between animals
community. Nearly every aspect of what occurred at a place and other organisms on Earth. That interest has continued
was intertwined with the environment, and the environment to be a major aspect of physical and environmental
was to be studied and analyzed to determine the advantages geography and is reflected in the initial chapters within
and risks for the human population. this section.
Ifwe fast-forward to the 21st century, then geography is
observed as a dynamic discipline with many roles in Part II. Human Geography (27 chapters)
scholarship and society. It is an integrative science that
examines the many ways that the physical system of Earth Human inhabitants on Earth are regularly engaged in
and the sociocultural system developed by people interact organizing, reorganizing, and interacting with other groups.
with one another. The changes in the tools and the Included in human geography are social and cultural topics
methodologies of the discipline have clearly positioned ranging from urban architecture to urban land use and
geography in the space age at the global scale, the smartphone population dynamics as indicators of past, present, and
and global positioning system (GPS) stage at the personal possible future human activities. Also included in human
scale, and as a leading academic driver and active participant geography are studies of the attachments that people
in the digital revolution. Geographers continue to adjust develop to particular places such as a hometown or other
their lenses on the world through the use of both traditional special place and the spatial patterns that form the daily web
methodologies, such as mapping, and newly emerging of activity for people. Human geography is a major focus
technologies, such as global positioning, and the discipline within the discipline and delves into values and attitudes
has risen to the challenges and opportunities presented. that affect the ways humans view themselves, others, and
Those challenges and opportunities for the 21st century are other objects and living organisms in geographic space. The
discussed of this chapters of this handbook. most prominent subtopics within the human dimension of
the discipline are categorized as economic, political, cultural,
and historical geography. They represent the traditional core
Organization of the Handbook aspects of the discipline's human dimensions.
At the beginning of the 20th century, for example,
In this handbook, geography's dynamic nature is geographers studied the patterns of immigrants and their
represented in six section topics that comprise 70 chapters tendency to live in enclaves where common cultural traits
and 4 appendices. The section topics are based largely on were easily identifiable. At the beginning of the 21st
those used in scholarly research and writing within the century, geographers are studying social networking
discipline. Broadly speaking, they include physical and among different age and ethnic groups to determine the
 Preface. XI

spatial patterns of connectivity within and among diverse geographic analysis of their acnvmes, challenges, and
groups in the population. Emerging from the different successes. The European Union (EU) and the Association of
ways that geographers have studied humans in geographic Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), just to name two, are
space have been such interesting topics as the social forming new and dynamic regions based on global
construction of place as compared to the physical elements connections and internal cohesiveness. At the beginning of
of a place. Human geography is a part of the discipline that the 21st century, geographic research on regions has gained
engages numerous methods of research, ranging from in significance as regional roles and territorial configurations
interviews to geodigital surveys, to explore the theories emerge to meet the challenges of globalization.
and practices that explain the changing spatial patterns of
humans and their activities. Part V. Geographic Information
Science (7 chapters)
Part III. Nature and Society (12 chapters)
Part V includes topics that have changed greatly or are
The relationships between and among natural new within the discipline of geography during the past 3
environments and human societies are prominent within decades. Geographers were among the first to use aerial
geographic scholarship. Part III presents that focus through photography to analyze the surface of Earth and measure
a series of topics that have both academic and public the extent of particular types of land cover and land use,
interest. Geographers pursue critical analysis of the which had direct applications to community and regional
relationships between the human and natural systems on economic planning and the uses of natural resources in
Earth and have attended to the importance ofenvironmental local and regional contexts. That orientation to view Earth
stewardship and sustainability within their work. They from above for analytical and classification purposes
have studied the degree to which people are able to alter positioned geography very well for the satellite observation
and, in tum, are influenced by the physical system and the methods that developed as part of the race to space. The
increasing impacts of technology on the nature-society move from photography to digital imaging of Earth's
relationship. They search for critical thresholds for surface was a natural development for geography, and the
sustainable economic activity relative to the quality of the discipline was one of the first to spring forward into the
environment. Public policies and the responses to digital age. Geographic information systems (GIS), global
environmental hazards and global changes projections are positioning systems (GPS), and more recently personal
a major interest within geography in the 1st decade of the navigation devices are part of one's everyday encounter
21st century. The chapters in Part III suggest the ways that with geography. Maps in digital form viewed on a
geography is forging ahead to unravel the problems and computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or high
present solutions to the often complex relationships definition television often use overlays of different data
between societies and their environments. sets to illustrate the spatial relationships between and
among the patterns of information, such as forecasts of
Part IV. Regions and Regional flood crests and land elevation along rivers.
Perspectives (9 chapters) Analytical and critical studies of activities and changes
on Earth using spatial display devices and geodigital
Regions and regional perspectives are the ways that databases are among the methodologies that professional
geographers organize the world to address complex issues at geographers use in their work. Nearly every new
different scales of investigation. Some issues are studied development in geodigital data availability and processing
very well at the global scale, while others require a good brings new applications to the discipline of geography. The
deal of attention at the scale of the continent, country, or digital age is the hallmark of technology that enables
local community. The chapters in Part IV provide a geographers to access and visualize information in many
geographic analysis ofthe ways that organizations that cross ways. Geographic information science has advanced the
traditional national boundaries operate and exert geographic ways that geographers research topics and report the
influences. Within the discipline, many topics may be results of their research. The digital age has had a very
studied within a region, since the region provides the large impact on geography as a discipline. That impact is
framework for the investigation. Geographers often study only the first response to what is possible, and a role for
both human and physical geography topics within regions. geography in the 21st century will be to continue with the
The human environment relationships of people within development of applications of geodigital information and
regions, both large and small in area, have been the subject enable the frontiers of geography to leap forward.
of geographic research and scholarship. Earlier baseline
studies permit research and analyses of the changes that are Part VI. Applied and Professional
occurring within and between regions with increased Geography (5 chapters)
communications and transportation. International and
transnational organizations function throughout the regions What are the ways that geography serves as a source of
of the world and provide the need for an emerging regional professional engagement in the workplace? In the 21st
xii • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

century, geographers use their knowledge and skill in a representing their specializations within the discipline.
variety of professional positions and physical settings that SAGE Acquisition Editor Jim Brace-Thompson was my
range from the private sector and nongovernmental initial contact regarding the handbook, and he continued to
organizations (NGOs) to every level of local, state, and be a steady voice of encouragement as the chapter authors
federal government. The discipline provides considerable were recruited and the narratives were developed. The
preparation in critical thinking, problem solving, data development editorial team at SAGE provided the initial
management, and spatial representation and visualization. reviews and suggestions for further discussions regarding
The methodologies, skills, and knowledge of geography the chapters. That team was led by Sanford Robinson, with
are grounded in the social and geosciences and provide the whom I became quite a good e-mail correspondent. Carole
basis for the professional and applied work geographers Maurer and Nevair Kabakian did a considerable amount of
will complete in the future. All disciplines strive to be work with references and in aligning figures with the
thought of as having long-term viability and contributing narrative. Diana Axelsen worked closely on the development
to society at large. Geography is dynamic and pervasive. of the handbook and provided a huge assist in commenting
All geographers are, in one way or another, applied on chapters and finalizing the table of contents. Diana took
geographers because they use their knowledge and skill great interest in the chapter titles and the enhancement of
from the discipline to address and enhance the public their meanings for the reader. The persons who received the
good, whether it is through education, government service, most numerous questions regarding the uploading of draft
private enterprise, or the nonprofit sector. Spatial analysis, chapters were Laura Notton and Leticia Gutierrez, both
geographic information, critical thinking, and environ­ being systems coordinators at SAGE. They were expert on
mental stewardship represent the 21st century contributions the SAGE Tracking System (SRT) that was used to manage
to the applied nature of geography presented in Part VI of the flow of information on the project. During development
the handbook. of the handbook, Sheri Gilbert and Michele Thompson
served as editorial assistants, doing those behind-the-scenes
Appendices jobs that are essential to the overall progress. Once the
manuscript moved to the copyediting and proofreading
Book projects result in large amounts of content and stage, it was with a new group of talented people. Belinda
reference materials that do not make their way into the Thresher headed the production team, where the copyediting
published narratives. There were four sets of materials and proofreading were completed with the meticulous
that were in this category as the project developed, and assistance of Patrice Sutton, Colleen Brennan, Renee
they are included as appendices. Each of the four Willers, Theresa Kay, and Sandy Zilka. I was greatly
appendices enables the reader to further pursue impressed and encouraged by the fine work and dedication
resources, topics, and information about the discipline to the project by the individuals who were on the production
of geography. Limited in length, they represent what and editorial teams. To each of the above individuals, I
was deemed most important among the hundreds of bits extend my appreciation for their critical contributions in the
and pieces of information that would be significant in completion of the handbook.
the discipline during the next several decades of the I would also like to thank the authors who agreed to write
21st century. chapters and appendices. It was their work as geographers
that produced ideas, narratives, and experiences as manu­
scripts. The University Sabbatical Leave Committee at
Western Michigan University judged the handbook as an
People Involved with the Handbook
important academic project and awarded me research
leave during the 2010-2011 academic year, when most of
There were numerous people who became engaged in
the initial editorial work on chapter drafts occurred.
developing this handbook over a period of 3 years. The
Finally, steady encouragement at home was essential, and
editorial board members were Janice Monk, University of
Gillian Stoltman, my wife, was my loving inspiration
Arizona, and Michael Solem, Association of American
throughout the project.
Geographers. Both provided necessary and timely advice
throughout the project, and each contributed a chapter JosephP. Stoltman
ABOUT THE EDITOR

Joseph P. Stoltman is professor of geography and science International Council of Scientific Unions in the past on
education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, numerous assignments as a geographer and as a science
Michigan. He serves as coeditor of the International educator. He has served as president of the Social Science
Geographical Union Commission on Geography Edu­ Education Consortium, vice president for research and
cation'sjournal titled InternationalResearch
in Geographic president ofthe National Council for Geographic Education
and EnvironmentalEducation and is editor of the U.S.­ (NCGE), and chair of the Commission on Geography
based journal Researchin GeographicEducation. He has Education ofthe International Geographical Union, having
received several honors including the Distinguished served the latter organization in different capacities for 39
Faculty Scholar Award from Western Michigan University; years. He enjoys editing and, along with two coeditors,
the George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service from prepared and published a book for Wiley in 1971, and he
the National Council for Geographic Education; the coedited a volume for Springer in 2004. In the interim, he
Lifetime Achievement Award from the East Lakes Division edited, authored, and refereed periodical submissions,
ofthe Association ofAmerican Geographers; the President's research monographs, textbooks, and state, national, and
Award from the Michigan Council for the Social Studies; international geography education documents for
Distinguished Teaching Honors from the Association of professional societies and organizations. Firmly believing
American Geographers; the James Park Thomson Medal that a professional geographer's influence should focus in
for Distinguished Scholarship in Geography from the part on the place and space where one resides, he has
Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Australia; worked with local and state educational agencies on public
honorary membership in La Academia de Ciencias Sociales policy issues and with teachers and their students. He
de Mendoza, RepublicaArgentina; and the Gilbert Grosvenor enjoys teaching both within and outside the classroom and
Honors for Geographic Education from the Association of enjoys the opportunities to engage people in rescaling their
American Geographers, and he is a Fellow ofthe Grosvenor habits ofmind to self-education about both local geography
Center for Geographic Education. He has represented the and the world at large.

xiii
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

John Agnew is distinguished professor of geography at American Politics, 1960-2000(with S. Lavin, K. Martis
University of California, Los Angeles. He specializes in and F. Shelley, 2002) which was selected as a "Choice
political geography and international political economy with Outstanding Academic Title for 2003" by the Association
particular attention to the United States, Italy, and Greece. of College and Research Libraries, Historical Atlas of u.s.
From 2008 to 2009, he was president of the Association of Presidential Elections, 1788-2004 (with S. Lavin, K.
American Geographers. He is the author or coauthor ofmany Martis and F. Shelley, 2006) which was selected as the
books including, among the most recent, Globalization "Best Single-Volume Reference in Humanities and Social
and Sovereignty(2009), Berlusconis Italy (2008), and Sciences for 2006" by the Association of American
Hegemony:TheNew ShapeofGlobalPower(2005). Publishers, and most recently Atlas of the Great Plains
(with S. Lavin and F. Shelley, 2011).
Derek H. Alderman is professor of geography at East
Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. He earned Kevin Archer received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins
his PhD in geography at the University of Georgia in 1998. University. He is currently chair of the Department of
Cultural geography is his specialization in the discipline. Geography at the University of South Florida. His research
Of particular interest are the transitions that have occurred interests concern the effects of globalization on cities and
in cultural geography and the changes in the scale of states as well as the Disneyesque production of nature in
research. Influenced by the traditional landscape traditions South Florida. His recent publications include the edited
of the discipline as well as innovations in social and volumes CulturesofGlobalization: Coherence,Hybridity,
cultural theory, he has extended theory and research to Contestation and Relocating Global Cities: From the
examine the landscape as a site for people to reconstruct Center to the Margins.
and struggle over cultural meaning and identity in different
Roger Balm holds a PhD in geography (Rutgers University,
regional and historic contexts. His research examines the
New Jersey, 1995) and currently directs the undergraduate
politics of place naming, race and memory, place
program in the Department of Geography at Rutgers. His
representation in cyberspace, sport and music geographies,
research focuses on expeditionary art and imagery of the
and the American South.
19th and early 20th centuries with area interests in Mexico,
J. Clark Archer is professor of geography in the School of Central America, Andean South America, and the islands
Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. of the Mediterranean. He has been awarded fellowships
Clark grew up in a family in which both parents held from the American Geographical Society, the Community
graduate degrees in geography. His father, Alford Archer, College Humanities Association, and the Fulbright
worked in the geography division of the U.S. Census Foundation.
Bureau; and his mother, Barbara Archer, taught geography
Karen S. Barton is a human-environmental geographer at
in public schools. Clark earned a B.A. in political science
the University of Northern Colorado. Her research interests
(1964) and an M.A. in geography (1968) at Indiana
include maritime geography, sustainable development, and
University; and a Ph.D. in geography at the University of
environmental perception. She was recently awarded two
Iowa (1974). He has taught at the University of Texas, the
Fulbright-Hays fellowships to conduct research and curri­
University of Missouri-St. Louis, Dartmouth College, the
culum development in both Brazil and the Persian Gulf. Her
University of Oklahoma, and, since 1985, at the University
current work focuses on the role ofranchers as environmental
of Nebraska-Lincoln. Clark coauthored Sectionand Party
stewards in the Brazilian Pantanal (wetlands).
(with P. Taylor, 1981), AmericanElectoral Mosaics(with F.
Shelley, 1986), Political Geographyof the United States Paul R. Baumann, professor emeritus at the State
(with F. Shelley, F. Davidson and S. Brunn, 1996), Atlas of University ofNew York-Oneonta, did his graduate work at

xv
xvi • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati. He Social Research, and scientific manager at the Medi­
has published three books and more than 50 peer-reviewed terranean and Middle East Department of Promos (the
articles on remote sensing, geographic information Special Agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce­
systems, and the use of digital technology in geographic CCIAA-for the development of international activities).
education. He was a National Science Foundation Fellow She holds a PhD in human geography from the University
at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration! of Pavia and Viterbo (IT) and an MA in cultural geography
Earth Resources Laboratory, a recipient of the National (research) from the Royal Holloway University of London
Council for Geographic Education's Distinguished Tea­ (UK). Since 2006, her research interests have been
ching Achievement Award, president of the Association of addressing research methods and systemic analysis. She
American Geographers' Middle States Division, chair of mainly has conducted research on land use and land cover
the National Council of Geographic Education's Remote change and on landscape and parks. From 2009, she has
Sensing Task Force, and a Strategic User of the Cornell been involved in the activity of the Mediterranean and
Theory Center's Supercomputing Facility. Middle East Department of CCIAA. Her most recent
publications include reports on infrastructure, migration,
Brian H. Bossak is an assistant professor of environmental
entrepreneurship, and trade in the Mediterranean region.
health sciences in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public
Health at Georgia Southern University. Formerly a coastal Thomas Chapman is an assistant professor of geography
hazards researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Dr.
and a geography professor, Dr. Bossak's research now Chapman earned his PhD at Florida State University, his
focuses on the health-related impacts of global climate MA at The University of Toledo, and his BA at Michigan
change and infectious disease modeling and prediction via State University, all in geography. A native of Grand
geographic information systems (GIS)/remote sensing Rapids, Michigan, he currently lives with his two cairn
methodologies. terriers in Virginia. His research interests revolve around
the spatial dimensions of citizenship and cultural politics,
Stanley D. Brunn is professor of geography at the
particularly how communities construct social geographies
University of Kentucky. He was awarded a PhD in
based on debates about economic and cultural justice
geography in 1966 from Ohio State University. Professor
issues and civil rights. His research publications include a
Brunn is widely recognized for his research and writing in
diverse selection of writings on issues such as geographies
social and political geography, having authored scholarly
of hate; civil rights law and the politics of place; electoral
books and journal articles over a period of many years.
geographies of race, class, and sexuality; geographies of
Additionally, he actively does research on the following
consumption and tourism; and public space. As a cultural
topics: geographical futures, information and communi­
theorist with many years of experience in the field of
cation, electronic human geographies, humane geographies,
geographic information systems (GIS), Dr. Chapman is
world urbanization, and disciplinary history. Recognized
also interested in critical examinations of technological
for his regional expertise in Europe, North America, and
empowerment surrounding the use of GIS.
Central Asia, his work as a professional geographer has
taken him to those regions regularly for fieldwork and Jongnam Choi is associate professor of meteorology in
consultation with other geographers, participation in the Department of Geography at Western Illinois
projects, and in advisory roles to governmental and University. He received his doctorate in geography from
nongovernmental organizations. the University of Georgia, Athens, with a focus in synoptic
meteorology. He received his BA (1990) and MA (1992)
Marcus L. Bilker has been an assistant professor of mete­
from the Seoul National University, Korea. His research
orology in the Geography Department at Western Illinois
interests emerge at the intersection of climate change,
University since 2009. He received his BS (meteorology,
sustainability, and human health.
mathematics, economics; 1993), MS (1997) and PhD
(atmospheric sciences; 2004), degrees at the University of Charles O. Collins is a cultural geographer at the
Wisconsin-Madison. He also concurrently holds an honor­ University of Northern Colorado with an abiding interest
ary research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. in the interplay between the contemporary landscape and
His research interests include numerical modeling, torna­ popular culture. Inspired by Peirce Lewis's observation
dogenesis, vortex interaction, and ozone transport. He has that the built landscape is our unwitting autobiography, he
presented several papers at the Association of American has thought about and investigated roadside memorials
Geographers annual meeting and the Meteorological and outdoor privies, defended mailboxes, and explored
Society's annual and severe local storms meetings. He just about anything else gracing the American roadside.
has also recently coauthored a paper on hurricane track
Stephen F. Cunha is a professor ofgeography at Humboldt
analysis and prediction, as well as another paper on ozone
State University and director of the California Geographic
transport.
Alliance. He previously spent 10 seasons as a park ranger
Anna Carrabetta is a senior researcher at the University in Yosemite and Alaska, and 4 years investigating the
of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, Department of Sociology and potential for a national park and biosphere reserve in the
 Aboutthe Contributors • XVll

Tajik Pamir. A graduate of University of California, use. His research interests are water rights, water resources,
Berkeley, and University of California, Davis, he writes and the interaction of human and environmental systems.
about environmental issues in mountain regions and the He has presented on the technical aspects of water right
need for more geography education in American schools. adjudication, flood prediction in ungauged basins, and the
In 2007, he received the California State University's perception of low flow in the Apalachicola River. He is
highest award for sustained excellence in the Social and currently an assistant professor and research data librarian
Behavioral Sciences and Public Service. at the University of New Mexico.
Christopher Cusack is professor of geography at Keene Gary S. Elbow is affiliated with Texas Tech University in
State College in Keene, New Hampshire. He earned his Lubbock (PhD, University of Pittsburgh). Dr. Elbow has
MA and PhD from the University of Akron, Ohio. His conducted fieldwork and written about Latin American
teaching responsibilities include courses in urban geography geography for more than 40 years. He was the recipient of
and planning, methods of spatial analysis, and geographic two Fulbright Awards for study in Latin America-Costa
information systems. He has previously published on Rica in 1983 and Ecuador in 1991 and 1993-and he has
issues of community planning, urban sustainability, and also conducted research and written extensively on
regional development. Cusack is past chair of the Regional Guatemala. His principal interests are in urban and cultural
Development and Planning Specialty Group of the geography of Latin America. Dr. Elbow is author or
Association of American Geographers and is a regional coauthor of several textbooks for elementary, middle
councilor of Gamma Theta Upsilon. school, high school, and university students. He has
Lisa M. DeChano-Cook is associate professor in the published more than 40 articles and book chapters. In
Department of Geography at Western Michigan University. 2003, he received the Preston E. James Eminent Career
Her research interests are in the areas of physical and Award from the Conference of Latin Americanist
environmental geography, focusing on natural hazards and Geographers, and in 2009, he received the George 1. Miller
hazard perceptions. She has published on the topics of Award for Distinguished Service from the National Council
natural hazards encountered in national parks, international for Geographic Education.
natural disasters, and land use in Michigan. She has a Thomas P. Feeney is associate professor of geography
secondary interest in environmental and geographical at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
education and in sports geography. He received his BA from the State University ofNew York
David G. Dickason is professor and director of the W. E. at Oneonta, his MS from Western Kentucky, and his PhD
(William Erastus) Upjohn Center for the Study of from the University of Georgia. Teaching is an important
Geographical Change at Western Michigan University. He part of his professional work, and he teaches a rotation of
completed his PhD degree at Indiana University. He has introductory geology, soils, hydrogeology, environmental
chaired the Department of Geography and the Asian Studies geology, and a graduate-level physical geology course. His
Program at Western Michigan University and directed the mentoring of graduate students entails studies that focus
university's community college in Malaysia. He has taught on natural water chemistry and aspects of karst
many courses including population geography, quantitative geomorphology and hydrology. As an avid field geographer,
methods, GIS, transportation geography, and geography of his field research projects include categorizing and
south and southeast Asia. He has received grants from mapping sinkhole collapses as well as topographic
many agencies including National Science Foundation, depressions and associated vernal ponds on the colluvial
Ford Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Fulbright­ fringe along the Blue Ridge.
Hays, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Kenneth E. Foote is a professor of geography at the
Corps of Engineers, and private benefactors. He worked at University of Colorado at Boulder. Much of his work in
the Census of India with its population geographers and cultural and historical geography focuses on landscape
cartographers, processed unpublished data from India's symbolism and the social and geographical dynamics of
1971 census, and was affiliated with the Department of public memory and commemoration, especially the imprint
Geography, Panjab University (Chandigarh). There, he of violence on landscape in the United States and Europe
gave the Arthur Geddes Memorial Lecture at the 32nd as reflected in his book ShadowedGround: Americas
Congress of the National Association of Geographers, Landscapesof Violence and Tragedy (2003). He has
India, with the theme "Globalization, Population and served as president of both the National Council for
Regional Development" (November 2010). Geographic Education and the Association of American
Jeffrey J. Dickey received an MS and a PhD in geography Geographers.
from Florida State University. He spent three and a half Erin H. Fouberg is associate professor of geography at
years providing research and technical support for water Northern State University. Dr. Fouberg served as vice
rights adjudication at the New Mexico Office ofthe State president of Publications and Products for the National
Engineer. In that capacity, he often met with small local Council for Geographic Education. Her research areas are
water users to discuss their perception and history of water sovereignty of American Indian tribes, voting behavior,
xviii • 21ST CENTURYGEOGRAPHY

and geography education. Dr. Fouberg coauthored Human Daniel G. Gavin is an assistant professor in the Department
Geography: People Place and Culture (Wiley & Sons) of Geography at the University of Oregon. Dr. Gavin
with Alexander B. Murphy and H. 1. de Blij. She is received his PhD at the College of Forest Resources,
currently writing Understanding World Regional University of Washington. He maintains an interest in the
Geographywith William Moseley (Wiley & Sons). biogeographic responses to climate change and forest
disturbance during the Holocene. He specializes in the
Rachel S. Franklin is associate director of the Spatial
biogeographic implications of changing fire regimes in
Structures in the Social Sciences (S4) program at Brown
western North America.
University and an assistant professor (research) in
Population Studies. Prior to holding this position, she was Toby S. Gordon is a graduate ofthe UniversityofQueensland
senior lecturer at the University of Maryland School of in Brisbane, Australia. He majored in commerce and
Public Policy, deputy director at the Association ofAmerican geography and assisted in writing the chapter on transnational
Geographers, and a demographer in the Population Division corporations in Australasia and the Pacific while on a
ofthe U.S. Census Bureau. As a population geographer, she university summer research scholarship.
is primarily interested in explanations of fertility and
mobility variations across space, with an emphasis on Mark Graham is a research fellow at the Oxford Internet
empirical applications. Methodologies used in her research Institute, University of Oxford. His work focuses on the
typically include spatial regression modeling, regional geographies of the Internet and uses of information and
analytical tools, and GIS. Recent work has addressed the communication technologies within the contexts of
internal migration of the young and educated within the economic development.
United States, the use of migration data from the American
Angela M. Gray is an assistant professor in the Department
Community Survey, and regional fertility adjustments in
of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
Italy. She is also particularly interested in understanding
She earned a PhD in geography (2009) at the University of
how local and regional population composition, in terms of
Kansas. Her primary research interests concern migration,
race and ethnicity, impact student diversity at American
refugees, gender, and resettlement in the political
colleges and universities.
geography of southern Africa, with a particular focus on
John D. Frye is an assistant professor in the Department Zambia.
of Geography and Geology at University of Wisconsin­
Whitewater. He earned his MS degree in geography from William Gribb is currently the director of the Graduate
Ball State University in 2004 and his PhD in geography Program in Planning within the Geography Department,
from the University of Georgia in 2008. He specializes in University of Wyoming. After receiving his PhD from
physical geography with particular emphasis in the Michigan State University (1982), he has held faculty
subfields of meteorology, climatology, hazards, and remote positions at Northern Illinois University, New Mexico
sensing. Within the fields of meteorology and climatology, State University, and the University of Wyoming. For the
his work focuses on synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, past 32 years, Dr. Gribb has worked with communities in
synoptic climatology, and weather analysis and forecasting Michigan, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming
of extreme weather events (e.g., severe thunderstorms and to build their capacity to manage their own future. His
nonconvective high wind events). He is currently working expertise is in land use and environmental and rural
on a project investigating the reliability of soil moisture planning, and he believes in combining citizen
estimates from satellite platforms and a second project participation, planning policies, and the use of geospatial
examining the cause and impacts of nonconvective wind technologies to create a planning decision support system
storms in the United States. so that local communities can analyze policies that will
affect their future. He has been a longtime advocate of
Francis A. Galgano Jr. (PhD, geography, University of community development and has worked recently on
Maryland, 1998) is associate professor and chair of the downtown revitalization, American Indian environmental
Department of Geography and the Environment at issues, agricultural land reinvestment, and greenbelt trail
Villanova University. He retired from the U.S. Army in development. Dr. Gribb is part of a team that is addressing
2007 as a lieutenant colonel after 27 years of service with the current issues of energy development and community
experience in tank and cavalry units; his last assignment responses to these impacts in Wyoming and the Rocky
was at the U.S. Military Academy, where he was an Mountain west. Dr. Gribb has also worked with Wyoming
academy professor and director ofthe Geography Program. teachers through a National Geographic Society grant for
Dr. Galgano is a physical geographer with expertise in the past 20 years on integrating geography into the
coastal geomorphology, military geography, and environ­ curriculum with other subjects and to create place-based
mental geography. He has published three military geography curriculum materials. Using the local environment,
books and has written numerous papers on national teachers can make geographic concepts and techniques
security and military geography issues. relevant and contemporary to their students.
 Aboutthe Contributors • xix

Mary Ruth Griffin originally began her academic career journeys of French botanist and biogeographer Andre
aspiring to be a journalist but while in college became Michaux, who surveyed the trees and other plants of
intrigued by the natural sciences. As an undergraduate, she eastern North America during the period 1785 to 1796.
obtained a BS degree in liberal arts with a major in botany
John Harrington Jr. is professor of geography at Kansas
and a minor in education. Following that, for nearly 7
State University. He earned all three of his degrees in
years, she served as a high school science teacher in the
geography, with the PhD from Michigan State University,
shadow of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. During
the MA awarded by the University of Minnesota, and the
that time, she completed a master's degree in secondary
BS from Michigan State University. The major topics ofhis
science education. As a high school science teacher, she
scholarly research include human-environment interactions,
was known for involving students in lab and outdoor
rural and regional geography, physical geography, and
research activities. She would volunteer to teach new
geospatial analysis and application. His current research
courses and consequently developed a broad background in
efforts involve examination of adaptation to the impacts of
scientific subject matter, teaching courses in Earth science,
climate change, coupled human and natural systems
physical science, biology and ecology. Eventually, she
analysis at National Science Foundation (NSF) long-term
returned to the same university from which she obtained
ecological research sites, and efforts to improve grade
her earlier degrees to pursue a PhD in the College of
school geographic education in Kansas. Courses that he
Agriculture and Natural Resources' interdepartmental
teaches regularly include environmental geography, human
program of plants, soils, and insects at the University of
dimensions of global change, climatology, climate of the
Tennessee at Knoxville. Her dissertation work was in the
Great Plains, human impacts on the environment, and the
area of biological control usage in agricultural systems.
history and philosophy of geography.
Specifically, she examined the ability ofan entomopathogenic
fungus to endophytically colonize important agricultural Lisa M. Butler Harrington is a professor at Kansas State
plants and its efficacy to act as a dual-purpose biological University, with a PhD in geography from the University of
control agent. On graduating, she accepted an appointment Oklahoma. Her master's and BS degrees are from Clemson
at the University of Charleston in West Virginia and taught and Colorado State universities, respectively, in park
numerous courses including microbiology, parasitology, administration. She has research and teaching interests in
anatomy and physiology, and scientific writing. She also rural geography, sustainability, natural resources, and
continued her love of involving students in research-based environmental change. Regionally, her research has focused
activities. She has pursued her interests in the area of plant especially on the U.S. Pacific Northwest, as well as the
sciences. She has held the appointment of visiting assistant Great Plains states. Harrington has served as secretary of
professor at Ohio University in the Department of the Association ofAmerican Geographers (AAG), councilor
Environmental and Plant Biology. for the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain Division of the AAG,
an officer in the Contemporary Agriculture and Rural Land
Havard Haarstad is a postdoctoral research fellow at the
Use/Rural Geography specialty group of the AAG, and a
Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Norway.
board member of the Applied Geography Conferences. She
He has a PhD from the same department. His work has
also has been active in the Quadrennial Rural Conferences
focused in particular on the political economy of foreign
of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada since
direct investment (FDI) and natural resource governance
1991. Harrington has taught at Western Washington, New
in Latin America.
Mexico State, Central Michigan, and Eastern Illinois
Lucius F. Hallett IV is an assistant professor of geography universities, as well as Kansas State.
in the Department of Geography, Western Michigan
University, where he specializes in the geography of travel Susan Gallagher Heffron is the senior project manager
and tourism. His PhD in geography is from the University for Geography Education at the Association of American
of Kansas. In addition to being an avid traveler, he is also Geographers. She holds a PhD in curriculum and instruction
a qualified gourmet chef. One ofhis specialties is barbeque, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and focused her
but all ethnic and regional dishes are part ofhis geography­ research on the uses of technology to teach geography.
of-foods experience. His research deals with topics related Heffron has worked on teacher professional development
to travel and tourism within Michigan, the United States, programs for Earth and global climate change science. Her
and globally. professional activities have been directed to Earth system
applications for the discipline of geography. She also
Janet I. Halpin completed her PhD in geography at the serves as the project manager for Geographyfor Life:
University of Ottawa, Canada, on land use transformation National GeographyStandards(2nd ed.).
due to agriculture and forestry in northeastern Manitoba. N. C. Heywood is professor of geography, University of
She teaches at Chicago State University and is interested Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After childhood in the north­
in the role of transportation networks and trade in the eastern United States, international experience as a U.S.
diffusion of alien invasive species and in the American Navy navigator, and a cartography internship with the
xx • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

National Geographic Society, he completed his BA (State Geography, Progress in Human Geography, and
University of New York [SUNY]-Plattsburgh), MA Transactionsofthe Institute ofBritish Geographers.He is
(Georgia), and PhD (Colorado) degrees in geography. He currently completing a book on border security projects in
joined the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the India, Israel, and the United States.
Department of Geography and Geology in 1989, where he
Lisa Jordan is joint-assistant professor of geography and
continues as a physical geographer specializing in
public health at Florida State University. Her research
environmental hazards, biogeography, field methods, and
centers on the intersections of GIS and public health, with
career development. He has received a personal Excellence
a focus on applications in disaster response and environ­
in Teaching award from the University of Wisconsin­
mental justice.
Stevens Point, and he shared a departmental Excellence in
Teaching Award from the University of Wisconsin Board LaDona Knigge is an assistant professor in the Department
of Regents. Several of his research projects have assisted of Geography and Planning at California State University,
the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forestry Chico. She received her PhD at the State University of
Division and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest New York in Buffalo in 2006 and her undergraduate
Service. As a longtime field study advocate, Heywood degree in Geography and Sociology at the University of
firmly insists on the rule ofwilderness:to take nothing but Wyoming in 1999. Her research interests are on community
photographs and leave nothing but footprints. Maya next gardening, local and sustainable food systems, and
generation of field researchers honor this rule but leave community engagement.
even fewer footprints. To measure or to even observe an Matthew T. Koeppe received his PhD in geography in
object or place is to alter it. It is the duty of modem field 2005 from the University of Kansas. He has since worked
professionals to leave intact those places that are all our at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
progeny can ever know. The penultimate field success is Headquarters and the Association ofAmerican Geographers.
when we walk out of a place with lasting notes and no one He also serves as assistant professorial lecturer in geography
knows that we were ever even there. at the George Washington University. His research focuses
on the expansion of mechanized agriculture in the Brazilian
Molly O. Holmberg is the director of MollyMaps, Ltd,
Amazon and food production, consumption, and sustain­
and received her PhD in geography from the University of
ability broadly.
Colorado, Boulder. Her research includes examining
online maps of climate change impacts, and the use of Ellen Percy Kraly, a William R. Kenan Jr. Professor,
maps in online journalism and in science communication. teaches in the Department of Geography at Colgate
Molly also runs MollyMaps, a mapping company devoted University, where she also serves as director of the Upstate
to hand-drawn maps and artistic expressions of place. Institute, an initiative to share university scholarly resources
with the surrounding region. She received her postgraduate
Jung Eun Hong is a PhD student in geography at the
degrees from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg
University of Colorado at Boulder. Her research interests
School of Public Health and Fordham University. Her
are GIS education, web-based GIS applications, and user
research interests include U.S. immigration policy, refugee
interface design for GIS applications.
policy and resettlement, population and environmental
Dorothy Ives-Dewey, AICP, is an associate professor in change, community and public health, HIV/AIDS in sub­
the Geography and Planning Department at West Chester Saharan Africa, and the use of population data in public
University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Her academic policy in the administration of Aboriginal affairs in colonial
background is in urban and regional planning with primary and early Federation Australia. She has conducted research
focus in land use planning and development regulation. She for the UN Statistical Office, the U.S. Commission on
has published qualitative and quantitative research on the Immigration Reform, and Medicins san Frontieres. She has
evolving nature ofland use planning processes, development served as a consultant to the U.S. Census Bureau. She serves
planning tools, and the fiscal impacts of development on on the Board of Directors ofthe Population Specialty Group
local economies. She practiced professionally for 10 years of the Association of American Geographers. She is past
as a land planning consultant in the Philadelphia region, president of the Board of Directors of the Mohawk Valley
representing private developers and local governments in Resource Center in Utica, New York. Kraly is the Colgate
land use conflicts. representative to Imagining America, a consortium of
universities and colleges that promotes public and engaged
Reece Jones is an assistant professor of geography at the
scholarship.
University ofHawai'i at Manoa. Reece completed his PhD
in geography at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in Gil Latz is associate vice chancellor for International
2008. His research in political geography investigates the Affairs at Indiana University/Purdue University Indiana­
role boundaries play in the political organization of space. polis and associate vice president for International Affairs
His work has been published in many journals including at Indiana University. He received his PhD in geography
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, from the University of Chicago in 1986. His graduate
EnvironmentandPlanningD: SocietyandSpace,Political research training included affiliation with the University of
 Aboutthe Contributors • xxi

Tokyo, 1980 to 1984. Dr. Latz's published research elected as chair of the Asian Advisory Committee (Race
focuses on regional development policy (agriculture and and Ethnic Advisory Committees-REAC) for the U.S.
urban) in Asia, North America, and Europe, with a Census Bureau, while serving her third term as a member
secondary interest in international trade and educational ofREAC appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
video development. He served as academic production
Wen Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of
consultant and cohost (with Susan Hardwick and Jim
Geography and Earth Science at the University of
Binko) of Teaching World Regional and Human
Wisconsin-La Crosse. Her research interests include
Geography:Standards-Content-Methods, the Annenberg/
critical GIS, implementation and usage of GIS in urban
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Project/Cambridge
governance, and GIS applications in environmental
Studios, 2003. His research has been funded by the Japan
studies.
Foundation, the Japanese Ministry of Education, the
National Science Foundation, the Annenberg/Corporation Ian MacLachlan (PhD, Toronto) is a professor of
for Public Broadcasting Project, the u.s. Fulbright geography at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and
Commission, and the Rotary Foundation. editor of The Canadian Geographer/Le Geographe
canadien.An economic geographer with wide interests,
Mathias Le Bosse was educated at Ecole normale super­ he has focused his research on livestock and beef
ieure in Paris and received his doctorat at the University of issues ranging from the impact of bovine spongiform
Paris and his PhD in geography at the University of encephalopathy (BSE) and contemporary cattle production
Wisconsin-Madison in 2000. An assistant professor of in Alberta to 19th century slaughterhouse reform in the
geography at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, his United Kingdom. His book, Kill and Chill: Restructuring
main teaching and research interests lie in cultural and Canada's Beef Commodity Chain (2001), analyzes
political geography and the geography of Europe. locational change in the geography of the Canadian meat
David R. Legates is a professor in the College of Earth, packing industry. His current research is concerned with
Ocean, and Environment and an adjunct professor in the global patterns of meat consumption and livestock
Statistics Program at the University ofDelaware in Newark, production and trade.
Delaware. He received his BA in mathematics and Michael McDonnell is the government documents and
geography (double major) in 1982, his MS in geography/ maps librarian at Western Michigan University. He is also
climatology in 1985, and his PhD in climatology in 1988­ liaison between the library and the Geography Department
all from the University of Delaware. He served on the at Western Michigan University. As map librarian, he
faculty in the College of Geosciences at the University of manages one of the largest map depository units in the
Oklahoma for nine and a half years and in the Department state of Michigan, cataloging and making accessible local,
of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State state, national, and international maps in both print and
University for one and a half years before returning to the digital formats.
University of Delaware in 1999. He also is recognized as a
Certified Consulting Meteorologist (CCM) by the American Matthew S. Melancon has an MS and a BS (anthropology
Meteorological Society and currently serves as the Delaware minor) in geography from Texas State University, where
State climatologist. His research interests include hydro­ he is currently working on his PhD. His professional
climatology and surface water hydrology, precipitation and interests include climate change, fluvial processes in arid
climate change, global and regional climatology, statistical! environments, and mountain biogeography.
numerical methods, spatial analysis and spatial statistics, Michelle Metro-Roland is affiliate assistant professor of
and digital!numerical cartography. He was the recipient of geography and the director of Faculty and Global Program
the 2002 Boeing Autometric Award in Image Analysis and Development for the Haenicke Institute for Global
Interpretation by the American Society of Photogrammetry Education at Western Michigan University. She has an MA
and Remote Sensing. in history from University of California, Berkeley, and a
PhD in geography from Indiana University. Her research is
Wei Li is an associate professor of Asian Pacific American situated at the interstices oflandscape and tourism. She has
Studies and Geography, Arizona State University. She worked across geographic scales from small rural sites in
received her PhD in geography at the University of the Midwest of the United States to the urban built
Southern California. Her research focuses on immigration environments of European capital cities, such as Skopje
and integration, as well as financial dynamics and Asian and Budapest. She is coeditor of the book Landscape,
American communities and businesses, especially in regard Tourism, and Meaningand is completing a monograph that
to Chinese Americans. Her highly acclaimed work has deals with Peircean semiotics, landscape, and culture in
drawn attention from both academia and popular media. the built environment, which will be published by Ashgate.
She has extensive training in using a mixed-method
approach in her research as well as management skills in Jerry T. Mitchell is the director ofthe Center ofExcellence
collaborative projects that involve multinational, multi­ for Geographic Education and a faculty research associate
campus, and multidisciplinary teams. She was recently with the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute,
xxii • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

both at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Germany, The Netherlands, Canada, Ecuador, Brazil, and
South Carolina. His primary research areas lie in cultural New Zealand. In 1986, he was a Fulbright Research
responses to disaster, environmental justice, geospatial Fellow, University of Turku, Finland, and lectured
technology, and geography education. He holds a BS in extensively in Finland and Sweden. Dr. Morrill was a
history and an MA in geography and environmental primary author for Guidelinesjor GeographicEducation
planning, both from Towson University; he earned his PhD (1984) and Geographyjor Life: National Standards in
in geography from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Geography(1994). His publications appear in the Journal
Mitchell is the editor of the Journal ofGeographyand has ojGeography,JournalojGeographyin Higher Education,
been conducting research on the effects of Hurricane Social Education, and in numerous curriculum
Katrina in coastal Mississippi since 2005. monographs, atlases, and national geography education
reports. In 1989, he was president of National Council for
Janice Monk is professor of geography and development
Geographic Education (NCGE), and in 2007, he received
and research social scientist emerita in the Southwest
the NCGE George Miller Award for his contributions to
Institute for Research on Women at the University of
geography education.
Arizona. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Association of
American Geographers, where she serves as coprincipal Garth Andrew Myers is a professor in the Departments
investigator of the project Enhancing Departments and of Geography and African!African American Studies at the
Graduate Education in Geography. Her interests and University of Kansas. He earned a PhD in geography
publications address aspects of gender, diversity, the (1993) from University of California, Los Angeles. He has
history of women in American geography, international authored three books, coedited two others, and published
research and teaching collaborations, and geography in more than 40 articles and book chapters on African
higher education. She was president of the Association of development. His primary research emphasis lies with the
American Geographers in 2001 and 2002 and is a recipient political and cultural geography of urban development in
of the AAG Lifetime Achievement Award. eastern and southern Africa.
Burrell E. Montz (PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder) is Darrell Napton is a professor of geography at South
professor and chair of the geography department at East Dakota State University. He received his PhD from the
Carolina University. With more than 25 years of experience University of Minnesota. His interests in rural life stem
with research in natural hazards, Dr. Montz has published from his early years in a farm family, where he observed
numerous articles, proceedings papers, and book chapters on the impacts of several innovations on agriculture, rural
hazards, resource management, and environmental analysis. land use, and local communities in western Missouri.
Her current research centers on various hazard topics Professionally, he has explored the consequences of
including the flow and use of warning system information, policies, markets, and technological change on U.S. land,
the effectiveness of structural and nonstructural mitigation land use, and the environment. For the past 10 years, Dr.
measures, and understanding vulnerability to multiple Napton has collaborated with USGS Earth Resources
hazards. Observation Systems (EROS) Center on the National Land
Cover Trends Project, where geographers use remotely
Jon Moore is an assistant professor of geography at the
sensed imagery to measure and interpret national and
University of Akron in Ohio. He earned his PhD in
regional land changes. He teaches classes in land use
economic geography from the Ohio State University in
change and its consequences.
2003. His research examines economic development in old
industrial cities. Most recently, he is engaged in the study Tammy E. Parece is a doctoral student in the geospatial
of biomedical services and medical product research and and environmental analysis PhD program, Department of
development in the Greater Cleveland and Akron Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation,
metropolitan areas. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University. Tammy has
Robert W. Morrill, professor emeritus of geography,
earned a master of science degree in geography from
completed his PhD in geography at Clark University in
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a
1973. He served as assistant professor through professor
graduate certificate in geographic information systems
(10 years as head) at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
from Virginia Commonwealth University.
State University, 1973 to 2003. He is co-coordinator of
the Virginia Geographic Alliance, from 1992 to the James F. Petersen is a professor of geography at Texas
present. Dr. Morrill's research interests are in political State University in San Marcos. A physical geographer
geography and geography education. His research grants interested in geographic education, his PhD is from the
are from the National Science Foundation, the National University of Utah, with a BA and MA from California
Geographic Society, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and State University, Chico. He has authored and edited
the Foundation for the Improvement of Post Secondary numerous books and scholarly articles, is a past president
Education. He has led numerous study abroad programs of the National Council for Geographic Education, and is
and teacher summer institutes to Switzerland, Italy, active in professional organizations in Texas and
 Aboutthe Contributors • xxiii

internationally. He is a regular collaborator with European Redlands, she helped to design and launch a master of arts
geographers. in education degree in spatial literacy curriculum and
instruction in the School of Education, and she teaches its
George F. Roberson is adjunct assistant professor in the
first course, Foundations of Spatial Thinking. She was a
DepartmentofGeosciencesatthe UniversityofMassachusetts­
2009-2010 Spatial Literacy in Teaching (SPLINT) Fellow
Amherst, (geosciences PhD, 2006, University of
at the University of Leicester (UK). Diana previously
Massachusetts-Amherst) and publisher/founder of Colla­
worked for the National Institute for Technology and
borative Media International (Denver, Amherst, and
Liberal Education (NITLE), where she developed
Tangier). Expanding from direct experience, urbanism,
mapping-based curriculum and taught workshops for
interculturalism, and constructive alterity, Roberson's work
faculty at many different universities. She has taught
employs place, feminist, and postcolonial theories. His
geography, GIS, and environmental studies courses at
major focus is in Tangier, Morocco, and the greater
Alfred University and the University of Rhode Island.
Mediterranean region. He is co-convener of the Tangier
Diana holds a BA in comparative religions (Middlebury
International Conferences, organized annually under the
College) and MS and PhD degrees in geography (Oregon
auspices of the Morocco-based nongovernmental
State University).
organization (NGO), International Centre for Performance
Studies (ICPS). He was the Fulbright Scholar for research Emily Skop is associate professor of geography and
to Morocco from 2007 to 2008. environmental studies at the University of Colorado at
Colorado Springs. She received her doctorate from the
M. Beth Schlemper is an assistant professor in the
Department of Geography at Arizona State University. Her
Department of Geography and Planning at the University
primary research focuses on the intersection between
of Toledo in Ohio. She previously served as an Education
migration and regional development, with particular
Research Fellow and consultant for the Association of
attention to the ways in which public policy shapes racial
American Geographers for EDGE Phase I (2005-2009),
and ethnic diversity within urban environments in the
and she is a co-principal investigator on EDGE Phase 2
United States. Her explorations ofthe immigrant experience
(2009-2012). Her current research interests include a
have generated substantial enthusiasm and recognition,
primary focus in graduate education in geography,
and in ongoing research projects at multiple scales and in
particularly in the areas of professional development,
multiple places, she combines a variety of qualitative and
departmental climate, and career preparation, and a
quantitative techniques, including in-depth interviewing,
secondary focus in historical geography.
focus group analysis, and intensive field research, along
Fred M. Shelley is professor of geography at the University with spatial and statistical analysis of census data. She
of Oklahoma. He received his PhD from the University of endeavors to work in collaborative, interdisciplinary
Iowa in 1981 and has taught at the University of Southern settings and to present and publish her research both
California, Florida State University, and Texas State nationally and internationally.
University-San Marcos. His research interests include
Janet S. Smith is associate professor of geography at
political and electoral geography, the world economy, and
Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
the historical and cultural geography of the United States.
She received her BA from the University of Virginia in
He has published several books and more than 100
Charlottesville and both her MS and PhD from the
refereed journal articles and book chapters on these and
University of Georgia. Teaching constitutes the core of her
related subjects.
professional work, and she teaches undergraduate courses
J. Matthew Shumway, a professor, is head of the in cartography, GIS, world geography, the geography of
Department of Geography, Brigham Young University. He Europe, and senior seminar as well as a graduate-level
received his PhD from Indiana University in 1991. His applied GIS course. Her work with graduate students has
research interests include migration and income change in involved studies of the influence of map animation on
the United States, spatial patterns of income inequality, learning, how to map and visualize campus crime, the
international migration and religion, demographic change importance of spatial thinking on learning, and the
in the United States, and the rural mountain west. influence of environmental education on student
perceptions of the environment. Her primary research
Diana Stuart Sinton is the director of Spatial Curriculum focus has been on the relationship between maps and
and Research at the University of Redlands (California), learning, specifically studies investigating spatial abilities
where she leads LENS (LEarNing Spatially), a campuswide of children, mental mapping, cartographic mismatch in
initiative to integrate mapping and spatial perspectives into textbook maps, the connections between teaching GIS and
diverse academic disciplines. Her focus is the role for flow theory, and the different influences oftwo-dimensional
spatial literacy in higher education, a topic that she has and three-dimensional maps on learning. Jan served as
written about in publications such as UnderstandingPlace: vice president for Curriculum and Instruction for the
GIS and Mapping Across the Curriculum (Environmental National Council for Geographic Education and subse­
Systems Research Institute [ESRI] Press, 2007). At quently served as president in 2008. Currently, she is the
xxiv • 21ST CENTURY GEOGRAPHY

coordinator for the Pennsylvania Alliance for Geographic reconfiguring ideas about politics, culture, and education.
Education and was recently recognized as the Pennsylvania His book, Global Perspectives in the Geography
Distinguished Geographer. Curriculum: Reviewing the Moral Case for Geography
(2008), was published by Routledge.
Michael Solem is educational affairs director for the
Association of American Geographers. Since 2003, Dr. Samuel Thompson is an associate professor in the
Solem has served as principal investigator or co-principal Department of Geography at Western Illinois University.
investigator on more than $3.5 million in federally funded After earning a BA in geography and an MA in planning,
projects aimed at enhancing the teaching and learning of he spent several years working with local governments
geography in postsecondary education. He currently before pursuing a doctoral degree from the University of
directs the Enhancing Departments and Graduate Education Akron. His research interests include population analysis,
(EDGE) in Geography project and the Center for Global regional studies, and rural-urban planning. His most
Geography Education (CGGE) initiative, both funded by recent population work focuses on the graying ofAmerican
NSF. EDGE is a research and action project designed to baby boomers.
improve the preparation of geography graduate students
Graham A. Tobin (PhD, University of Strathclyde, U.K.)
for academic and nonacademic professional careers. CGGE is a professor in the Department of Geography and
is an initiative supporting online international teaching and associate vice president for academic affairs in the Office
learning collaborations in undergraduate geography courses. of the Provost at the University of South Florida. Dr.
Dr. Solem served as the external evaluator for Oregon State Tobin's research interests in natural hazards, water
University's Graduate Ethics Education for Future resources policy, and environmental contamination focus
Geospatial Technology Professionals project. He currently on sustainability concerns of human vulnerability, com­
serves as the North American coordinator of the munity resilience, social networks, and health conditions
International Network for Learning and Teaching in hazardous environments. His current research is being
Geography in Higher Education (INLT), is associate conducted in communities around two active volcanoes in
director ofthe Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education Ecuador and Mexico, and in hurricane-prone areas of the
at Texas State University-San Marcos, and leads the United States.
AAG's efforts with the Carnegie Academy for the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning program. He has Jeffrey S. Torguson is professor of geography at St. Cloud
twice received the Journal of Geography in Higher State University in Minnesota. He received his MA and
Education's biennial award for promoting excellence in PhD degrees, both in geography, from the University of
teaching and learning for his research on faculty Georgia. His teaching involves him in cartography,
development and graduate education in geography. geographic information systems (GIS), and map design and
presentation at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Stephen Stadler is a professor of geography at Oklahoma He has served on several advisory boards pertaining to
State University and has been at OSU since 1980. His cartography and GIS within higher education systems, and
undergraduate and MS degrees are from Miami University he has held office with several related specialty groups
(Oxford, Ohio). He received his PhD in physical geography within the Association ofAmerican Geographers. Professor
from Indiana State University in 1979. His specialty is Torguson is a coauthor of Cartography: Thematic Map
applied climatology. He has had research grants from the Design, 6th edition, published by McGraw Hill.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy and Dr. DavidA. Wadley lecturesat the UniversityofQueensland
has published in a variety ofjournals in geography and the in Brisbane, Australia, in courses ranging through economic
atmospheric sciences. He was the editor for Oklahoma geography, city planning, and real estate studies. His main
entries in the Columbia Gazetteerofthe World. He was a qualifications are from the Australian National University in
founder of and remains on the steering committee of the Canberra, and he has consulted for the Organisation for
Oklahoma Mesonetwork, the first state-run weather­ Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and
observing network in the United States. As a principal many public and private organizations in Australia. His
investigator in the Oklahoma Wind Power Assessment research interests include economic, urban, ideological
Initiative, he has helped to produce statewide maps of and geopolitical developments, demographics, and
wind power density and prepare other electronic data futurology.
layers for comparison. He has served as the president of David M. Walker (PhD, University of Kentucky, 2008) is
the Oklahoma Renewable Energy Council and is the state
an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and
geographer of Oklahoma. Geography at Ohio Wesleyan University. Walker focuses on
Alex Standish is associate professor ofgeography, Western contemporary urban issues in Latin America, where he has
Connecticut State University. His PhD is from the done extensive research in Tijuana, Oaxaca, and Mexico
Department of Geography, Rutgers, the State University of City, but has become recently drawn toward investigating
New Jersey. Standish is researching how global change is sociospatial urban changes and immigration in central Ohio.
 Aboutthe Contributors • xxv

At Ohio Wesleyan University, he teaches Urban Geography 2010) the Executive Vice President and Research Director
every fall semester. The highlights of the course are when he for Environmenal Sustainability Programs at the Cabell
and the students leave the classroom and put urban theories Brand Center for Global Poverty and Resource Sustainability
to practice across Ohio's cities. Studies, a nonprofit organization. Dr. Younos's research
interests include water conservation, decentralized water
Barney Warf is a professor of geography at the University
infrastructure and rainwater harvesting, urban storm water
of Kansas. His research and teaching interests lie in the
management, water-energy nexus, and mitigation of
broad domain of human geography. Much of his research
climate change impacts at the local level. Dr. Younos has
concerns economic geography, emphasizing services and
been a principal investigator for more than 40 research!
telecommunications. His work straddles contemporary
technical projects and has authored or coauthored more
political economy and social theory on the one hand and
than 145 publications including two edited books. Dr.
traditional quantitative, empirical approaches on the other.
Younos has presented invited talks in China, Japan,
He has studied, among other things, New York as a global
Hungary, Poland, and Spain and conducted a study abroad
city, telecommunications, offshore banking, international
program on sustainable management of water resource in
networks of finance and producer services, and the
the Dominican Republic.
geographies of the Internet. He has also written on military
spending, voting technologies, the U.S. electoral college, Linda R. Zellmer is government information and data
and religious diversity. services librarian at Western Illinois University, where she
George W. White completed his undergraduate degree serves as the library's liaison to the Departments of
with majors in geography and German studies at California Geography and Geology and the School of Agriculture.
State University, Hayward (now East Bay). He then She has experience locating and using geospatial and
obtained an MA and a PhD in geography at the University attribute data and provides reference services related to
of Oregon. Afterward, he spent 15 years at Frostburg State government information and data to students, faculty, and
University in Maryland, where he attained the rank of full staff in all subject areas.
professor and served for a time as department chair. In the
fall of 2009, he moved to South Dakota State University, Robert C. Ziegenfus, professor of geography at Kutztown
where he now serves as head of the Department of University of Pennsylvania, obtained his master's degree
Geography. Political geography and Europe are two of his in geography from the Pennsylvania State University,
primary interests. He is the author of books such as Nation, specializing in cultural geography, and he received his
State, and Territory: Vol. 1. Origins, Evolutions, and PhD from Rutgers University, specializing in environmental
Developments(2004) and coauthor of Contemporary and medical geography. After a short stint at the
World Regional Geography and Essentials of World Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Ziegenfus returned
RegionalGeography. to his alma mater in 1982. He has taught cultural geography
every semester since then, in addition to several environ­
Richard W. Wilkie is a professor in the Department of mental courses and research methods. Dr. Ziegenfus won
Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the prestigious Wiesenberger Faculty Award for Excellence
(geography PhD, 1968, University of Washington). A in Teaching in 2005. He has been a consultant to the
number of overlapping research themes have dominated Environmental Protection Agency, Helen Keller
Wilkie's research, teaching, and writing in recent years, International, the Lehigh Valley Health Network, and a
centering on perception and sense of place, spirit of place, number of local municipalities. Dr. Ziegenfus has served
and attachment to place, and on understanding migration on the Berks County Agricultural Land Preservation Board
and urbanization processes in Latin America-especially since its inception in 1989, and he has chaired the board
in Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador. Other for the last 15 years.
interests include visual geography (landscape and light),
visualizing information (cognitive modeling), and Edmund J. Zolnik, PhD, is an assistant professor in the
historical geography-most notably Massachusetts and School of Public Policy at George Mason University. He
New England, the American West, and Mexico. Richard received his doctorate in economic geography from the
Wilkie's books include Latin American Population and University of Connecticut in 2004. His research interests
UrbanizationAnalysis (1985) and The Historical Atlas of include community and regional development, safe and
Massachusetts(1991). sustainable transportation, and multilevel modeling. Dr.
Tamim Younos, formerly research professor of water Zolnik has worked with local governments in Connecticut
resources and former interim director of the Virginia Water and Virginia on public policies to cope with congestion
Resources Research Center at Virginia Tech, is (since July and sprawl.
PART 1

PHYSICAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY
1
EARTH'S SURFACE LANDFORMS

THOMAS P. FEENEY
ShippensburgUniversity

A
t 29,035 feet above sea level, Mount Everest's Physical geographers especially have the background
summit stands as the highest place on Earth's necessary to study Earth's surface features. Those features
surface. Together, Everest and its close rivals include the landforms that make up the surface of Earth and
form the "roof of the world" in a relatively small region of influence where and how people settle on and use those
the Asian continent. Thirty-two of the highest peaks are landforms in many different ways. Specifically, this is the
located there, all part of the Himalaya-Karakoram region world of the physical geographer who specializes in geo­
between northern India and southern China, extending morphology. Geomorphologists study the structure of
westward toward Afghanistan. Everest and the other high Earth's landforms and the processes that have created them.
peaks in this part of the world tower above the highest We have learned much over the centuries, but the answers
peaks of the other continents. Knowing the names and to the earlier questions have resulted in additional questions
locations of these mountains has been and is a fundamental that challenge us for answers now and in the future.
part of traditional geography. In fact, many nongeogra­
phers think that is what geography is all about. That mis­
conception of the discipline hides the real reason for The Planet We Live On
geography's importance, which is to develop explanations
for why Earth's surface (including its people) is the way it Since antiquity, our inherent curiosity has ranged from the
is. In this case, why are all of these mountains concentrated very basic questions about the size and shape of the earth to
in such a small region? Have these mountains formed in a today's questionsthat explorethe ages oflandforms: How old
way that is different from the highest peaks on the other is that hill? You can easily research the answer to the size and
major continents? If it's so, why? How has this mountain shape of Earth with a book or a computer and will quickly
range posed a barrier to human migration? Answering learn that Earth is not a perfect sphere as, in fact, it is greater
these questions requires the study of geology, meteorol­ in distance along the equator than it is from pole to pole. This
ogy, and climate, as well as information from other disci­ is the subject of geodesy, an active and vibrant field of study
plines. Other disciplines often include physical or social even today. But we should appreciate that this is a very old
science information that is integrated within a systematic question and that remarkably accurate answers came when it
analysis to answer the geographic questions posed. was asked-without the aid of modem technology.

3
4 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

The answer was quite ingenious if you think about it a With only horses and mules, early settlers in the United
bit. In roughly 200 BCE, Eratosthenes observed that the States, and across the world for that matter, looked for
sun's rays projected completely to the bottom of a water gaps, or passes, as ways to get through the mountain
well on the summer solstice. On that day, Eratosthenes was ranges. Often, the gaps were areas where a river was flow­
visiting Syene, an ancient city near present-day Aswan in ing out of the higher elevations or peaks and had formed a
Egypt. This was peculiar because it was something that he water passage through the mountain ranges. This is often
had not observed in his home city of Alexandria. In Alexan­ the case in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern
dria, he observed that the sunlight was at a slight angle from United States, where the mountains tend to be long, linear
directly overhead, and he used a vertical tower to measure ridges of folded rock. The Cumberland Gap of Tennessee
the angle. He concluded that at Alexandria, the sun's rays and the Delaware Water Gap are famous sites. Harrisburg,
were 7.2 degrees from the vertical on the day of the summer the state capital of Pennsylvania, is located where the
solstice. If Earth were a sphere, or 360 degrees around, then Susquehanna River emerges from the folded ridges of the
Earth's circumference would be roughly 50 times the dis­ Valley and Ridge Appalachians. The Susquehanna is a
tance between the two cities (360 degrees/7.2 degrees). At remarkable river that has cut across the ridges and valleys.
that time, the distance between the two cities was measured Water gaps served as sites for early travelers to follow the
in a unit that is not clearly defined today, but it is thought to gentler grade of the river through the mountain barriers.
have been about 500 miles. If the distance were approxi­ With time, this same gentle slope was used by railroads,
mately 500 miles between Syene and Alexandria, then Earth and eventually four-lane highways, all of which are in use
was determined by Eratosthenes's method to be about today (Figure 1.1).
24,000 miles in circumference, a value remarkably close to Expansion into the American west revealed an entirely
the modem value that is just short of 25,000 miles. new landscape and geomorphology. Where the eastern
landscape was dominated by deciduous trees and tall grass
A Sense of Scale prairie, the arid west did not have the land cover or vegeta­
tion of the more humid east. Here the rocks stood out, and
Scale, the relative size of things, is a fundamental con­ the relationship between rock type and slope called out to
cept of geography. For example, Earth's circumference is be studied. The questions regarding physical geography of
roughly 25,000 miles, giving it a diameter of nearly 8,000 the region and the processes that formed them were readily
miles. With these numbers, Earth seems like a big place to observable or at least exposed adequately so that key ques­
us. But if we take the highest point on Earth as 29,035 feet, tions could be asked even if definitive answers were not
or about 6 miles, and compare it to Earth's radius of 4,000 immediately forthcoming. Questions and answers, or theo­
miles, then the comparison suggests that Earth's surface is ries, would await the evolving ideas from physical geogra­
actually very smooth. Most people, however, are only 5 or phy and geomorphology. Those were the challenges that
6 feet tall, and mountain ranges and river valleys pose led to the theories and conjectures by 19th-century scien­
major barriers to exploration and travel. In Australia, for tists and explorers.
example, the vast majority of the country's 21 million
people reside on a narrow slice of land between the Great
Dividing Range and the sea. The higher density of the Landform Analysis
population in southeastern Australia is consistent with
geomorphology of the region, which is largely the result of The late 1800s was a time ripe for the birth of ideas on how
the deposition of the materials eroded from the eastern, Earth's landforms had actually formed. At this time, the
wetter slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Compared to United States was growing westward into wide open land­
the total size ofAustralia, the eastern slice of the continent scapes. Much of this growth was preceded by explorers and
is less than one sixth of the land area. Geomorphologic surveyors as well as scientists. Coincidentally, this was also
processes have provided the base for much of Australia's the time that Charles Darwin was presenting ideas about the
agricultural economy. evolution of life on the planet, which, in hindsight, most
Another example can be cited in North America and likely affected the thinking of at least some scientists of the
specifically the United States. In this continental region, day. The development of evolutionary models to explain
the mountainous landforms have greatly influenced the how landscapes formed was somewhat new. Prior to this
shape of several state boundaries where the highest eleva­ time, it was fashionable to spend considerable time prepar­
tion, or divide, along the crest of the mountains is used as ing written descriptions distinguishing one landform from
the boundary. This is a clear example of the influence of another in an effort to classify them, in much the same way
geomorphology on political and territorial decisions by that birds and trees were identified by key characteristics.
governments. The historical geography of the United There were benefits from the descriptive studies of the
States is filled with examples of mountains and escarp­ period. Regardless of the discipline, classification schemes
ments with their sheer or steep changes in elevation that help to clear the clutter and to organize features for more
have clearly formed major obstacles to the migration of scientific study. For these reasons, many landforms have
people to the great western regions from the original 13 names that relate back to their shape and morphology, as
colonies. there was little to nothing known about their genesis. The
 Earth :\. Surface Landforms • 5

Figul'c 1.2 View of Mauna Loa Volcano as Seen From

Kilauea Volcano
NOTE : Both vo lca noe s a re shield volc an oes on the Islan d o f Hawa i' i that
ha ve a charac teristic low, bro ad do me sha re . No te the stea m in the
for eground venting fr om Kilauea.

Figure 1.1 Portion of a U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-Minute

Topographic Map of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
SOU RCE : U.S. Geo log ica l S urve y. ( 1977 ). Harris burg Hes/ 7.5-lI1 illu/e
quadrangle. Wash ingto n, DC : Auth or.

NOT E: The S usque hann a River 110ws so uth across the folded la ndsca pe
o f the Va lley and Ridge Pro vince. Co nto ur interval is 20 feet.

shield volcanoes that formed seve ral of the islands of

Hawai'i , for exa mple, look like a Viking or Roman shield
used in battle, and that led to a permanent classification used
today (figure 1.2). Or land forms were o ften given their
name from another language, such as the German word
felsenmeer . which American geomorphologists used to
describe a "sea of rock" or "sea of boulders" (Figure 1.3).

The Formation of Landscapes

By the latter part of the 19th century, the western United
States served as a newly ava ilable laboratory to study
Earth's surface. The drier climate and absence of a dense Figurc 1.3 Frost-Shattered Boulders in the Rocky
land cove r yielded a land scape much more open to study Mountains of Colorado Are Broken by
than in the more humid eastern part of the country. The Expanding Icc as Warm Daytime Temperatures
initial surveyo rs and scienti tic explorers quickly discov­ Melt Water That Refreezes During the Cold
ered that rivers rose high in the snow-capped Rocky Moun­ Nights Associated With Alpine Landscapes
tain ranges and flowed toward the ocea n. From the highest
peaks (the Continental Divide), rivers that flow eas twa rd
follow the long, gentle path across the Great Plains to the mount ains towar d the Pacific. Expeditions to the Rockies
Mississippi and eve ntually the Gulf of Mexico. The west­ and, in turn, downstream on the Colorado River along its
flowing rivers take a much steeper route through the path through the Grand Canyo n led to the fundame ntal
6 • I)IIY SI C AL A ~D ENV I RONMEN TAL G EOG RAP IIY

co nce pt tha t rive rs are not o nly water flowin g downh ill but ou tside for ce (F igure 1.4). River sys tems then cut deep can­
a lso that they are age nts active ly ero d ing their c ha nne ls yo ns in a n aue mpt to reach the ocean's leve l. A more mature
dee ply into the ea rth. But ho w deepl y wi ll they erode'? The phase saw rivers ero ding more laterally, mean der ing to cre­
lead er of the newl y created Geo logica l Survey (now the ate a mo re level land scap e. The final o ld-age phase resu lted
U.S. Geo logi ca l S urvey), John Wesley Powel l. ca lled th is in a near plain-like landscape Davis referred to as a pene­
maximum dep th the base level . Base le vel became an plain, where pene was d rawn from the Latin for "a lmos t"
importa nt co nce pt in geology and geomo rpho logy. S ince (Figure 1.5). In sho rt, from Davis's viewpoint, the pe ne plain
river s ca nnot flow uphill. the oceans mu st se rve as the was nea rly, but not quit e, a geo mo rphic plain .
ultimate base le ve l, wi th all rive rs working to cut, o r inc ise , Da vis a nd his cycle oferosion th eor y had a stro ng hol d
a cha nne l so that the y flow tow ard and j oi n the ocean. o n th e st udy o f Ea rth 's physi cal la nd fo rms for m uc h o f
Sma lle r tribu tary river s erode the surface so that their the ea rly 1900s. Ho we ve r, flaws in th e model a nd a return
cha nne ls meet w ith the river o r lake that they flow ed into . to mor e process-or iented stud ies bega n a gene ra l re tur n
In turn, the large r rive r se rve d as a local base level. One to G ilbe rt's ideas of ho w landforms were c rea te d . By th e
ca n see w hy in the late 1800s this wa s a rem a rka ble o bse r­ late 1940 s, a post- World War II e ra sa w geog raphic stud­
vation and the basis fo r s ubseq ue nt the ories of river flo w, ies inco rp o rating new tool s a nd mor e qu antitati ve study
e rosio n, tran sp ort , and sed ime nta tion. o f Ea rth's landform s a nd Ea rth-s urface pro cesses. Fo r
So me o f Powell 's fe llow geo log ists ex panded on the ex a m p le, th e bra nc hing tri bu tary strea ms o f river sys te ms
new ly emerg ing idea o f ri vers acting as working agents, or we re number ed a nd e ntered int o c lass ificatio n syste ms
g iant eng ines, that carved the landscape tow ard a base ( Horton, 194 5 ), and math e ma tical rel at ion sh ips betwee n
level. O f prim e imp ort an ce is th e work of G . K. Gi lbert a stream c hanne l's length, wi dth , and depth were de ve l­
( Dav is. 1926: Yoch elso n. 1980) , who e nv isioned the land ­ o ped (Leo po ld, Wo lm an , & M ille r, 1964 . It was becom­
scape as a result o f geo log ic struc ture and rock type versus ing clear that th e o nly way to tru ly unde rstand Ea rth 's
the e ros ive pow er of water and cl imate. He introduced the surface la nd fo rm s was to st udy Ear th-surface pro cesses.
idea that a river flows down a c hanne l s lope whe re grav ity As a resu lt, the latt e r part of the 20 th ce ntury saw the e me r­
provides it wi th ene rgy to car ry se dime nt down stream and ge nce of process geomorphology,
o ut of the watershed. Th e stee per the s lope, the more ene rgy Process-ori ented studies of a rid an d eo lian lan dscapes
the rive r has to erode. (I' the cha nne l ero de d to base level or saw the detai led research of sa nd du nes as well as th at of
became too flat , then the flow of water wo uld s low and the glaciers . St udies of g lac iers showed how the ice ac tua lly
sed iment be ing carrie d along by the strea m wou ld be deforms like plastic, allow ing the g lacie r to cree p a long
dep osited in the c ha nnel. In the end, G ilbe rt proposed tha t m uch like the tread o n a bu lldozer. At the sa me tim e these
river s adj ust the ir s lope by dep os iting or e rod ing the strea m stu dies o f ice, w ind, a nd wa ter we re goi ng o n, the re was a
c ha nne l to crea te a s lope that possesses the perfect am ount much mor e massi ve study focusin g o n how the planet
o f ene rgy to tran sp ort exactly the sedime nt that it ero des : wor ked as a who le. Understa nd ing the ways Earth's co m­
Sed iment in equa ls sed ime nt o ut. This is a state of equilib­ pon e nts functioned as a sys te m wo uld pot enti all y o pe n
ri um, and Gi lbe rt called th is a riv er at grade, o r a graded the door to much more com pre he ns ive study and und er­
river. The idea that a land scap e is the result of a series of sta nding of ind ividu al landfo rms.
processes operating to reach an eq uilibrium co nd itio n is
fundame nta l to the study of land form s, eve n today. This
obse rv ing and thin king ab o ut basic ac tions in the natu ral
wo rld wa s imp ortant to the dev elopment o f theor ies and
pr incip les of physical geography. It was perh ap s G ilbe rt 's
greates t co ntribution. Bu t in that time, G ilbe rt's idea o f an
eq ui librium co ndition came in sta rk co ntrast to the sc ien­
tific ideas co nce rni ng the evolution o f life o n the plan et
and, also, the evolution of everything else. T he idea of
evolution suggested that things in nature cha nge d, or
evolved, over time . Gi lbe rt's idea of eq uilibrium suggested
that land fo rms in nature ac hieved a form and then stayed
the sa me. T he eq uilibrium co nce pt did not ga in an imm ed i­
ate foo tho ld, a nd the stage was set for a mor e evo lutio nary
sty le of lan d fo rm assess me nt.
T he co nce pt that land form s an d, in fact, the enti re lan d­
sca pe was part o f an evolutionary cyc le was convincing ly Fi!-:urc 1..4 Phot o of G ra nd Te to ns , Located Ju st So uth of
put forwa rd by William Morris Davis ( 1899) . Davis env i­ Ye llowstone Na tio na l Pa rk in Wyom ing
s ioned that the land scap e evo lved ove r time through the NOTE : T he maj or pea ks a re snow covered even in .J uly. g iv ing rise to
progressive stages of youth, maturi ty, and old age. Yout hfu l g laciers a nd snowm elt streams thai erode the peaks that rise ro ugh ly
land scap es had been lifted above the oc ean level by so me <i.5 00 feet in local re lief
 EIJr/1I \ Sur/ace Landforms • 7

Iceland was nearly squarely on the crest of the Mid-Atlan­

tic Ridge. and the question arose as to whether the rest of
the midocean mountain range was volcanic. Stronger sub­
mersib les. both manned and robotic and able to withstand
the great pressure of the ocean depths. were sent down to
visit the peaks of the midoccan ridges. Like Iceland, they
were found to be volcanic. The question was. why'!
With time. the observations and subsequent ideas, theo­
ries, and models explained the process that was occ urring
deep in the ocea ns. In fact. the answers to many of the
global questions about volcanoes, the origin of mountain
ranges, earthquakes, and our discussion of how mountains
rose above sea level were being answered by studies in the
ocean. Study of the ocean floor 's topography is an exce l­
lent example of how geography and geo logy comp leme nt
Figure 1.5 Meandering Stream Channels in Northeastern one another in the study of landfor ms even when it is
Colorado's Pawnee Buttes National Grassland underwater.
NOTE : The strea ms have acted to erode thi s land scape to a nearly level, The spatial pattern o f oce anic mountain ranges dif­
plana r landscape also referred to as a peneplain. fered in that some appeared as zippers along the middle
of the oceans, while others appeare d along the margin s of
the ocea ns. The key to understandin g the ir differenc e
comes from the study of the roc ks that formed the zip­
Landform A nalys is on a Global Scale pers. The midocean ridges . made of basalt. are linked to
Earth's inter ior.
Much of our understanding of g lobal geo logy and. in The new generations of submersible vehicles that could
turn, landform deve lopment came in the time direct ly fo l­ withstand the great depths of the ocea ns also allowed scien­
lowi ng Wor ld War II. Like many major military confl icts tists to see that the lava was actively flowing from the
in history, a numbe r of tools were dev ised for use in mili­ midocean ridges. On the other hand. crescent-shaped island
tary operations and support. The development of radar, systems like Japan, Indonesia. and the Aleutians were
sona r. and stronger. more power ful submarines during form ed from andesite. a rock with a much ditTerent compo­
World War II has peacetime applications. In the postwar sition. Rock type, when coupled with the fact that the island
era, those tools were mod ilied for numerous academic and arc systems were always adjace nt to the deep trenches.
scientific inquiries. For example, it was clea r that the led to the conce pt of seafloor spreading. In the theory of
image of a flat, featureless ocean floor was not really the sea!loor spreading, the so lid materials on the ocean floor,
case given the number of islands in the wor ld's ocea ns. such as lava, are extruded at the midocean ridges and return
Now, instead of using sonar to find an enemy submarine. to Eart h's subsurfa ce at the trenches in areas known as
sonar was used to find the ocean floor. As ships crossed the subducti on zones. This mode l allows Earth's tectonic plates
oceans. they sent a sonar beam toward the bottom and to plunge beneath, push, and scrape aga inst each other and,
receive d the reflected signal. Throu gh measurements and in tum , provides an explanation for the occurrence of earth­
calculations, it was possible to develop a transect of the quakes. Plate boundaries also offered the opportunity to
ocean floor's topograph y along that line. When numerous exp lain volcanism. since the plates of solid materials at the
transects were joined, they revealed numerical data about subduction zones dive deeply into the earth, where pressure
depth for large areas of the most traveled parts of the and the resulting heat convert the ocean floor materials to
ocea ns. It was not until 1977 that a complete map of the magma. Where the plates separate or there is a deep frac­
entire world. including the ocean basins with their moun­ ture reaching the surface. the magma has an opportunity to
tains. mountain ranges. and deep trenches. was fi nally migrate 10 the surface. Perhaps most importantly in the big
creat ed. The variation in topograp hy was not really a sur­ picture of landform s and Eart h processes. seafloor spread­
prise. but their spatial pattern, or geography, was astound­ ing and subduction zones allow the plates to recycle Earth's
ing. The mountain s were by no means isolated, as they all physical materials from the surface to great depths and
seemed to be part of longer mountain ranges. subsequently back to the surface.
Where pea ks along a mount ain range were high
eno ugh to prot rude thro ugh the ocea n surface. an island Tools of the Modem Geomorphologist
was formed . Iceland is a clas sic exa mple of that process
along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. On the other hand . deep Study of Earth's surface and eve ntual understandin g of
canyons were discovered along the ocea n margin s and Eart h-surfac e processes have required more than ju st walk­
along the co ntinental coastlines. The volcanoes of Iceland ing around looking at the landscape and snapping a few
were qu ickly recognized as important pieces to the puzzle. pictures. Scientifi c interpretatio n requires the detailed
8 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

mapping of the landforms, including their form, or mor­ in geography. Topographic maps, such as Figure 1.1, dem­
phology, spatial distribution, and geologic makeup. Hun­ onstrate how the landscape was mapped by connecting
dreds of years ago, mapping of Earth was done with a small points of equal elevation above sea level to create contour
telescope (transit) set on a tripod, a long chain to measure lines.
distance, and a survey pole. Surveyors marched slowly In the past, these lines were drawn by hand as trained
across the landscape measuring angles and distances to geographers interpolated between data points to draw
locate political boundaries, but they also mapped Earth's smooth contour lines. Today, however, computer software
surface features and recorded descriptions in field notes. uses mathematical algorithms to do the interpolation
An astounding example of this is the fact that the first cal­ between data points in drawing contour lines. The 403
culation of Mount Everest's height was completed by sur­ separate data points in Figure 1.6 are contoured in just this
veyor George Everest, using similar tools. way to create a topographic map (Figure 1.7). These con­
Continuous topographic surveys across Earth's surface tours form a series of closed lines, or irregularly shaped
determined the elevation of specific points, which were circles, that reveal the top of Whiteface Mountain, home of
recorded by latitude and longitude: point after point after the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games alpine events.
point (Figure 1.6). With hundreds of data points, geogra­ Hundreds of feet lower in elevation are two long contours
phers put their skills to work by connecting points of that form a "V" in the center of the map with the point of
equal elevation with a line called a contourline. A contour the "V" directed toward the southwest, represented in the
line is a special type of isoline for elevation. Isolines are lower left of the map. The point on contours, such as this
used for graphics presentations on the World Wide Web, "V," are pointing upstream and indicate a river valley land­
on smartphones, and on television. They appear on tem­ scape, which in this case is the Au Sable River, which
perature and precipitation maps and on the weather maps flows eastward to Lake Champlain between New York
that are displayed as part of the daily weather report. In State and Vermont, Earth's physical features may be
making such maps, points of equal temperature are con­ mapped with great accuracy using mathematical algo­
nected and called isothermsfor temperature and isohyets rithms based on computer and graphic modeling.
for precipitation. Using isolines to create a continuous Digital topographic maps are used in a variety ofways to
surface of temperature or, in the case of landforms, a study the landscape. Once in digital form, the data can be
continuous surface of elevation is a fundamental concept modified to create a three-dimensional (3-D), or wireframe,
map of Earth's surface (Figure 1.8). Maps like these can be
rotated and viewed from a variety of different angles. They
make it possible to use techniques ofvirtual transformations
that give the viewer the option to fly over the landscape and
view it and sometimes peer into and through it. Movies that
.." . %itefa:e Mount~i.n • use such mapping techniques for graphic representation are
....... . thrilling to the viewer and provide great fun, but they are not
. ", .. ... :.'.: ..... "
'

much help to scientists for studying the landscape. However,

the graphic qualities and ability to alter perspective do pro­
vide scientific benefits. Using data sets and modeling per­
mits the calculation of slope values and generation of slope
'. maps that help with land use planning and identifying areas
where landslides or other natural hazards are present. Just as
importantly, maps in 3-D can be used to calculate attributes
such as length, area, and volume that aid in the characteriza­
tion of specific landforms .
-. ' .. .'. The power of computers and computer software has
". ". enhanced the desire to have large numbers of data points
for mapping. Computer programs have been designed to
interpolate hundreds of data points (such as the 403 data
points used in Figures 1.7 and 1.8) with rapid results and
greater accuracy compared to interpolating contour lines
Longitude
using fewer data points. In contour mapping, the sources
of data may be a global position system (GPS) that contin­
Figure 1.6 ElevationData Points Scattered Across a
ually records the elevation data points. The computer
Regionin Northern New York State That Is Just
software then selects the data points to be used for the lines
Over 9 SquareMiles (25 krrr')
on the map, interpolates as necessary, and inscribes the
SOURCE: Map prepared by T. P. Feeney. contour. This is more quickly achieved and usually more
NOTE: Each of the 403 elevation points on the map has a precise latitude accurate compared to traditional contour mapping when
and longitude that enable a computer to generate contours. the maps were drawn by hand.
 Eart h :\. Surface Landforms • 9

L .
• !
preci s el y lo catin g a ll p os sib le infor mati on , ra n g in g fr om
e lev a t io n t o so i ls , o n g ra p h p ap e r, th en fe eding th e gra p h
p ap er w it h it s p re ci se g r id lo c a ti o n s int o a c o m p ute r t o u se
o } · i th e info r m at ion to ge nera te th e m ap , Di git a l e leva t io n
. '. i::.. '" ', .
0 0 ' 0 ' • " , 0 • - :

.1
m od e ls ( DE Ms) s tore a vas t a mo u n t o f geo refe re nce d d at a
I I ; • \ ' <9­
00 in co m pa c t fi le s th at a llow th e so ftwa re t o c re a te a va r ie ty
o f m ap s of the s u r face mu ch lik e th at of W hit efa c e M oun ­
i , \
t a in . Th e d iffe r en c e is th at in st e ad o f a fe w hundred d at a
p oi nt s , a D EM m a y ha v e th ou s and s o f dat a p oint s t h at
a l lo w fo r c rea t io n o f a d et ai led m od el o f Ea rt h's s ur face
8.00.
a n d d em on st rat e t he p o w er of co m p u te r m appin g . As a n
i . exa m p le, th e m aj or r id g e s , va lleys , a n d a ga p in a r idge a re
q uit e a ppare n t o n th e wes te rn si de o f a c o m p u te r-ge ne ra te d
! , 00
shaded-rel ief map d er iv ed from D EM dat a (F ig u re 1.9 ) .
'.
T he ga p in th e rid g e as see n fro m a gro u n d p hot o gr aph
. " s hows th is s u bs ta n t ia l land fo rm (Fig u re 1.10 ) , but th e s u b­
.' t le top o gr ap hi c a l d rain a g e n e tw ork s a n d lo w rid g e s are n ot
so cl e a r w he n a geog ra p he r work s in th e fie ld. Th e d et ail
- - -0,-- -1
of a D EM r e v e al s th e se s ma ll s trea m va lleys, as we ll as t h e
Longitude lo w, lin ear rid g e s that re flec t th e und e r lyin g bed ro c k th at
is res is ta n t to eros io n . Bo th of t hese fe at ur e s w o u ld o t he r­
Figure 1.7 Conto ur Lines of Equa l Ele vation Are Used to w ise go unn o ti c ed o n a co nve n tio na l t op o gr aphi c map
Descri be the Same Reg ion Incl uded as
b e c au s e the typi c al co nto u r int er v al of 10 o r 2 0 fe et wo u ld
Figure 1.6. the Reg ion Aro und White fa ce
b e mu ch to o grea t. T he n e w geos pa t ia l te chn ol o g ie s e na b le
Mountain in the Ad irondack Mo untai ns of
Northe rn New York S tate ge ogra p hers t o de tec t s u b t le c h arac te r is t ics o f Ea r th 's s u r­
face th a t a d d to w hat is kn own a bo ut Ea rt h h is to ry. T ho se
fea t u res m a y a lso p e rm it m akin g p r edict ion s a bo u t futu re
landfo rm evo lu tio n .
D E M s h a ve p ro v id ed a co nve n ie n t di gi ta l s to rage for­
T he goal in m appin g ph y s ic al fe a t ures of Ea rt h is th at m at so tha t Ea rt h 's top o gr aph y ca n be m app ed in g rea t
w it h m or e d at a point s , a m or e d eta iled m od e l of Ea r t h 's de ta i l, giv ing Ea rt h s c ie n t is ts th e o p po rt u n ity to p er form
s u r fa c e landfo r m s c a n b e pr odu c e d. With thi s co nce p t , th e d et a iled s t u d ies of landfo rm s . Co llec tio n o f th e d at a p oints
te chn ol o g y invo lve d w it h co l lec t ing field da ta p oint s o f h a s a lso ad v a n c ed so t hat aircra ft a n d s a te lli tes u s e se nso rs
e leva t io n ( th e e leva t io n lo c a t io n s o n t h e map ) h a s a dva nced t hat e mit e le c tro mag net ic waves to m ap Ea rt h's s u rface ,
a s we ll. E leva t io n d at a of Ea rt h 's s urface a re s to red d igi ­ R em ot e se n s i ng h a s b e en used for d e cad e s to map land u s e s
ta lly as a gr id (la t it u de , lon gitud e , e leva tio n) in data ba se s an d th ei r c ha nges w it h p ort ion s o f th e v is ua l s pec t ru m , t h e
th at a re georefe re n ced. Geor e fe re nc ing is s im ila r t o seve n co nve n tio na l co lors of t he rainb o w that are easi ly

. 2 10 0 ~
1U
>
&l 500 .

Figure 1.8 The Sa me 403 Data Poi nts of Latit ude , Longitude, and Elevation Used to Create the Contour Map in Figure 1.7 Are
Used Here to C reate a Wir efra me Map o f the Sa me Regi on of Whiteface Mo untain in Northern New Yor k Sta te
10 • PHYSICAL A ND EN V I RONl\ IENTA LGEOG RA PH Y

features that we cannot view with our eyes, such as infrared

radiation that is longer wave heat energy. Recent advances
in this type of technology arc making use of laser beams
that are emitted from instruments mounted on low-flying
aircra ft and allow for high reso lution mappin g of the
surface. Termed light detection and ranging (Iidar ). these
instrume nts mounted on airplanes. often referred to by
those who use remotely sensing data as platforms, can mea­
sure elevation data at a rate from 2.000 to 5.000 pulses per
seco nd and have a vertical precision of 15 centimeters. or
about 6 inches ( ational Ocea nic and Atmos pheric
Administration [NOAA]. 2008). Lidar data are being used
to map coastal areas where shorelines can change signifi­
cantly from erosion, especially after storm events, and lidar
has been used to visualize and measure the subtle topogra­
phy changes associated with old landslide scars in areas
where the typical topographic mapping of 10- or 20-foot
contour intervals was not detailed enough to offer that type
F ig ure 1.9 Shaded- Relief Map of a Gap in the of interpretation. This is important to geography because
Appalachian Mounta ins' Va lley and Ridge
there are places and regions where landslides were not con­
Province Generated From a IO-Me ter OEM
sidered a problem, but evidence from L1 DAR imagery sug­
SO RCE: U. S. Geolo gical Surve y. (2000) . D E,l t for Pennsyl vanio gests they arc a hazard. Geographers are called on to
7. 5 M in ute 10 Meter: Washington. DC: Author. M ap prepared by
answer the question of whether landslides are a potential
T. P. Feeney.
hazard today in terms of land use. settlement. insurance.
NOTE : The star and a rro w sho w the locati on and direct ion of the ph oto­ emerge ncy response. and public safety. II' there were land­
gra ph in Figure 1.10 . slides in the past, then what is the potential that they might
occ ur aga in? Geogra phers studying Earth's landforms in
the 21st century have a role in answe ring those types of
questions.

Study ofLandforn IS ill the 2 1st Century

The 2 1st century is an exc iting time to be a geographer

who studies landform s. The tech nologies being devel­
oped to collect 3-D data o f Earth's surface and to analyze
those data arc evo lving at an incredible rate. Computers
now allow geographers to analyze acc urate and detai led
data and draw conclusio ns that may have been missed in
the past because the topograph ic data were simply too
coa rse. often referring to topograph ic information that
was too blunt to perform the analysis necessary to resolve
questions and pursue answers. In add ition, the study of
land forms is more than ju st creating maps. The interpr e­
tation of the image s requires an understandin g of the
processes that might have crea ted the landform, their past
effec ts. and possib le co nsequences in the present and
Figure 1.10 Photograph Showing the Relative Scale of a future. The physical geog rapher exa mines land forms in
Gap and Ridges Included in the Shaded-Rel ief
such a way that o ften requires applying math. che mistry.
lap in Figure 1.9
and physics to exam ine the questions that are asked, and
NOTE: Drainage patterns and low, linear ridges revealed by mapping a physical geographer often work s on a research team
high-resolution DEM data arc not obvi ous in the photograph. that has other members who arc expert in disciplines that
complement land form studies.
For example, today's geomorphologists are working to
repair some environmental mistakes from the past. Huge
remembered using the mnemonic ROY G Sl Y (red. orange, piles of unused rock from coal mines mark the legacy of
yellow, gree n. blue. indigo. violet). The emitted energy coa l mining in the 19th and 20th centuries in many places
outside the visual spectrum is also revealing of surface where mining occurred. The "slag" piles are typically made
 Earth :1 SurfaceLandforms • II

of sandstone and shale that can be laced with the mineral

pyrite, also known esfool :\' gold. Pyrite is made of iron and
sulfur, and when exposed on Earth's surface, it has created
a type of toxic tea or coffee as water has percolated through
the slag. The sulfur that becomes dissolved in water creates
a sulfuric acid, and the iron leaves the streambeds coated in
an orange color.Although the water may appear to be clean,
it is actually devoid of any life because it is simply too
acidic to support most forms of life. Geographers are devel­
oping means to alter the acid mine drainage and return the
ecology of nearby streams to their original state. Ideally,
this has a long-term impact on the local environment, the
economy in terms of fishing and other recreational activi­
ties associated with streams, and the toxic elements that
will no longer flow downstream to pollute lakes and rivers
as well as municipal water systems.
In a similar manner, geomorphologists are working to
modify engineering structures that were constructed in the
past to reduce the impact of flooding in urban and rural
areas. Historically, stream channels were straightened in
an effort to speed excess runoff away from city streets and
other impervious surfaces, such as large parking lots. To
combat the high-velocity flood waters, engineers placed
large boulders along the stream banks in an effort to stabi­
lize them from erosion. The larger vegetation that would
normally grow along a stream and shade and coo l the
water in warmer months did not take root in the banks that
were largely stones and baskets of rocks, result ing in
warmer water in the stream. It was known that warmer Figure 1.11 The Surface of Mars as Seen From the Odyssey
water temperatures, combined with the lack of pools and Orbiter
riffles removed by the channeling of the stream, created an
SO URCE : Nat iona l Aero na utics and Space Adm inis trat ion (NASA ).
environment where aquatic life could not survive. Flood­ (2006). Mars Odvsscy Orbiter. Washin gton. DC: Author. Retri eved
ing downstream was actually increased in some instances April 13. 20 II . trorn hllp: //ww w.nasa.gov/mission_ pages/m ars/news/
since the natural process of a stream to develop deep pools mgs-200 61 206.ht ml
of water and to provide vegetation along the sides of the NOT E: Th e Marti an surface capt ure d by th is image sugg es ts a landscape
stream and slow the velocity of the water in the stream that has been substantia lly modi fied by flowing wa ter.
were lost. As a result, 2 1st-century streams are being
returned to their original form using the techniqu es of
stream restoration, a rapidly grow ing field that is based on of northern Canada, Alaska, and northern Eurasia and sug­
the understanding of how natural stream processes operate . gest that ice occurred at the surfa ce sometime in the past. In
On a different scale, technology being used to study the end, the study and interpretation of landforms on Earth
Earth's surface today is also being used to study landscapes are not only providing a means for informative study of our
on other planets and moons. The National Aeronautics and planet, but also they are offering a means to understand how
Space Administration (NASA) is exploring Mars with orbit­ surfa ce processes work here on Earth and on other planetary
ers that circle the planet and examine it with sensors and objects with quite different environmental conditions. The
with rovers that have crawled over the surface and collected search is going on both within our solar system and beyond
soil and rock samples for analysis. The images and data into deep space.
returned to Earth from Mars, which is more than 35 million The 2 1st century will witness the discovery of addi­
miles away, are being exa mined by geomorphologists tional information about Earth's land forms that will result
who compare the Martian landscape to Earth's landscapes. in the refinem ent of prior knowledge and add new knowl­
The landforms being observed on Mars are like fingerprints edge in the domain of physical geography, Earth science,
that provide clues to the processes that created the land­ and geomo rphology. Geography's role will entail looking
forms' features. Of special interest are land forms that sug­ more closely at Earth's landforms using the techn ologies
gest that water was once present on Mars. Sinuous 'iver that are developing. The 2 1st century will see greater inter­
channels suggest that water once flowed on the sur ace est in geomorphology as part of citizen' s science, since
(Figure 1.11 ). Landforms that appear on remotely senJed every object on Earth is located on a landform . Those
images appear much the same as in the permafrost regions landform s have a past, a present, and importantly a future
12 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

that may reveal significant geographic information in the morphology. Geological Society of America Bulletin,
21 st century. 56, 275-370.
Leopold, L. B. (1994). A view of the river. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Leopold, L. B., Wolman, M. G., & Miller, J. P. (1964). Fluvial
References and Further Readings processesin geomorphology.San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
Lillie, R. J. (2005). Parks andplates: Thegeologyofour national
Barlow, N. (2008). Mars: An introduction to its interior, surface parks, monuments,andseashores.New York: W. W. Norton.
and atmosphere.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Planetary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Science. Coastal Services Center. (2008). Lidar 101: An introduction
Bloom, A. L. (1991). Geomorphology:A systematicanalysis of to lidar technology,data, and applications.Charleston, SC:
Late Cenozoiclandforms (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Author.
Prentice Hall. Schullery, P. (2001). America'snational parks: The spectacular
Davis, W. M. (1899). The geographical cycle. Geographical forces that shapedour treasuredlands. New York: Dorling
Journal, 14,481-504. Kindersley.
Davis, W. M. (1926). Biographical memoir Grove Karl Gilbert, Van Gorp, L. (2007). Investigatinglandforms.Huntington Beach,
1843-1918 (Vol. 21, p. 303). Washington, DC: National CA: Teacher Created Materials.
Academy of Sciences Memoirs. Vogt, G. (2008). LandscapesofMars: A visual tour. New York:
Easterbrook, D. J. (1998). Surfaceprocessesand landforms(2nd Springer.
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Yochelson, E. L. (Ed.). (1980). The scientific ideas of G. K.
Horton, R. E. (1945). Erosional developments of streams and their Gilbert (GSA Special Paper 183). New York: Geological
drainage basins; hydrophysical approach to quantitative Society of America.
2
METEOROLOGY
Forecasting the Future of
Weather Prediction

MARCUS L. BUKER AND JONGNAM CHOI

WesternIllinois University

G
eo gra p hy and meteorology are closely related. Since the middle of the 20th century, technological
While geographyis mainly concerned with the advances have dominated the science of weather and fore­
spatial patterns on Earth's surface, meteorology casting, which is normally referred to as meteorology. The
is the study of the behavior of the atmosphere and the advent of weather satellites and computers provided a
resulting weather conditions. Those conditions impact quantitative revolution in how weather observations and
the surface and result in spatial patterns of precipitation, forecasts are produced. While the past half century has
temperature, wind, and weather events of note that range enjoyed increasingly accurate weather forecasts, there is
from summer thunderstorms to hurricanes, the largest and uncertainty on the horizon. This is largely the result of
fiercest of atmospheric events. In scientific language, this computers that have become more powerful in their pro­
is referred to as meteorology. In everyday language, this cessing capacities than is the quality of the data that are
is referred to as the weather,or short-range conditions of processed. The future of meteorology will therefore focus
the atmosphere, at a geographic location. Geography has on increasing the number and accuracy of observational
had a long-standing interest in predicting what the state capabilities of remote sensing platforms, including those
ofthe atmosphere will be tomorrow and the next day, week, using satellite, lower atmosphere aircraft and balloons,
and month. The complexities of the atmosphere, data col­ and ground-based radar. In addition, a paradigm shift in
lection, and prediction have resulted in the discipline of numerical weather prediction (NWP) will need to occur to
meteorology, which has its roots and its applications in move the science forward. This chapter will discuss the
geography, as a result of geography's tradition as an Earth different types and history of radar and satellite data plat­
science. Meteorology provides the regular observations of forms, followed by a discussion of new instruments cur­
the atmosphere and its impact on the surface of Earth that rently under development and testing. The science of
result in climatology, the use of meteorological observa­ NWP (or computer-generated weather forecasts) will then
tions over a substantial period, usually 100 years or longer, be introduced, along with a brief history in the context of
to formulate the major trends for the temperature and preci­ the synopticparadigm. These will be followed by a dis­
pitation in a location or region. The three topics, geogra­ cussion of the barriers to further improvements in NWP
phy, meteorology, and climatology, are inseparable elements and describe how these barriers may be overcome in the
of Earth. 21st century.

13
\4 • PHYSI CAL A ND ENV IRONMENTAL GE OG RA PH Y

Radar With Meteoro logy Radar was deve loped in the mid to late 1930s and was
first used as a military defense system. During World War
Radio detection and ranging (radar) devices generate some II, radar ope rators noticed noise in return echoes due to
of the most important types of data in all of meteorology precip itation. Scientists exa mined their findings with these
(next to in situ observations) and are the most effic ient tools echoes and developed the first opera tional weather radars.
that meteorologists usc in detecting and predicting short ­ In 1964, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis­
term weather conditions. Radar gives them the ability to tration (NOAA) and the Natio nal Seve re Stor ms Labora­
detect and measure intensity and type of precipitation and tory (NSSL) began to investigate severe weather with
also allows them to approximate the motions of precipitating co nvent ional radar, WS R-57 (Weather Surve illance Radar
systems. Radar uses electromagnetic radio wave and micro­ 57). This radar simply shot out beams of energy that would
wave radiation to detect these features. As radio waves are reflect off precip itat ion and return to the transm itter.
sent out from antennae, they bounce off precipitation-sized However, it was not able to detect the motion of the par­
objec ts (such as raindrops. hailstones, or even insects) and ticle s. Doppler radar was developed shortly a fte r the incep­
travel back to the antennae. The larger the size of the object, tion of the WSR- 57. With Doppl er radar, the signal is
the stronger the return echo, or refilm . It is wo rth noting one shilled acco rding to the Doppler effect as it return s. The
shortcoming of radar, which is that cloud droplets, or crys­ amo unt of the signal shill depends on the speed of the
tals, which are hundreds of times smaller than raindrops, target, which is a seg ment of the atmosphere with its
cannot be detected by radar. For all larger objec ts, the return accompanying weather eve nt (Figure 2. 1). As with con­
signals may be eva luated and plotted on a display screen so ventio nal radar, beams o f radi o (as indicated by the ra in
that the spatial patterns and characteristics can be analyzed. radar) waves are sent out. When any of these beams strikes
The spatial detection attributes of radar enable both vertical a raindro p. part of this particular beam will be reflected
and horizontal analysis of weather elements, or obtaining of back to the radar antenna. The antenna then rece ives the
a three-dimensional view of the atmosphere. When the fourth reflected beam and ca lculates the distance away, the inten­
dimension, time, is factored in the equation, then the predic­ sity, the direction it is moving, and the wind velocity. The
tion that a particul ar meteorological event will occur at a radar then translates the distance and intensity and velocity
particular location at a specific time becomes possible. on display (Biedler, 2008) .

./
lx'
Consta nt eleva tion angle Variable elevation angle

~ ~ ..
tfe-­
Radar site Radar site

Figure 2.1 Types of Radars Used in Meteorology and Scan Images of Those Radars: Plan Position Indicator (PPI) (Left). Range
Height Indicator (RHI) (Cente r), and Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator (CA PPI) (Rig ht)
SOU RCES : Natio nal Oceanic and Atmos pheric Admi nist ration . Eart h System Researc h Labo ratory. Physical Sciences Divis ion . http ://www .ctl. noa a.go v/
ct2/proj ccts/vlmx/ img/PPU ntcrp.jpg (n.d.) and http://w \\w .ctl.noaa.gov/ct2/proj ccl s/vtm x/i mg/rhi_ intcrp.jp g (n.d. ): an d Env ironme nt Ca nada. http://
up load. wikimcd ia.org/w ikipcd ia/co mmo ns/8/8c/ Radar -C A I' I' 1_ cxarnpleI .g i r (n.d.).
 Meteorology: Forecasting the Future ofWeatherPrediction • 15

Dep ending on method o f scanning , rad ar can be divid ed

into thr ee main ca tego ries: Plan Posit ion Indi cat or ( PPI),
Ran ge He ight Indi cat or ( RH I), and C o nstant A ltitude Plan
Positi on Indic ator (CA PP I; Doviak & Z rnic, 1993 ). T he
PPI , the most co m mo n typ e of radar, is a pol ar coordi na te
d isplay of the a rea surro und ing the radar plat form , since
the PPI uses a radi al swee p pivoting abo ut the ce nter of
the present ati on . Th e sweep is co m mo n ly prese nted on
tel evisio n an d other medi a weather rep ort s and weat her
forecas ts . The PPI sweeps the atmos phere w ith a va riable
az im uth a ng le but a co nsta nt e levat ion a ng le of a nte nna.
T he CA PPI is an a lte rna tive to a s ing le PPI d isplay. It is
constr uc ted in a co m p ute r fr om a se ries of c irc ular (azi­
muthal ) swee ps at differ ent e leva tion ang les. Wh en sc an­
nin g at mos phe re in RI-I I mod e , the rad ar hold s its az im uth
ang le co ns tant, but va ries its e levatio n ang le. A n RH I d is­
play sho ws a ve rtica l patt ern th rou gh the atmo sphere . T hu s,
it is use ful to obse rve the ve rtical extent o f preci pit at ion
e leme nts wi thin a c lo ud sys te m and ce rta in mic ro ph ys ical
pro pe rties asso c iated w ith them (F ig ure 2.2) .

Doppler Radar

By the 19 80s, the Na tio na l Weath er Se rv ice (N WS) set up

a series o f mod ern weath er surve illa nce syste ms . Weathe r
Surve illa nce Rad ar 88 Doppl er (WS R-88 D) , a lso know n
as NEX RAD (Next-Gene ra tion Rad ar ); WSR -88D ca n
ro ta te 360 degr ees hor izontall y a nd up to 20 degrees verti­
ca lly. T hus. it detect s both movin g and statio na ry ta rgets
a long w ith di st an ce as we ll as showi ng the di ff erence
be twee n two diff erent o bjects at d i ff eren t di stan ces and Figure 2.2 Portable Doppler Radar (Top) and a WSR-ggD
the spee d that the obj ec t is movin g toward or away fro m Doppler Radar (Bottom) With a Strong
th e rada r (rad ial ve loc ity o f the object) . W SR -88D a llows Supercell Thunderstorm (Backgro und)
for the ca lculatio n o f sto rm shear a nd sto rm ve loci ty. Producing Hail and Heavy Rain at New
T hese fe atures ca n be used to find w here a torn ad o , meso­ Underwood, South Dakota, on May 26. 2004
cy clo ne , or g us t front s movin g o ut ahea d o f severe thun ­ SOU RCES : Top : Natio nal Oceani c and Atmospheric Admin istrati on
der st orm s are evi de nt. WSR -88D is mu ch mor e acc ura te in (N O AA) . ( 2006) . Smanrudars. hll p://\\"\\"\\".nssl.noaa .go v/projcc ts/
det ecting severe thunder storm s than are co nve ntio na l rad ar smarlradars/imagcs/SMA RTR.j pg (2 006 ); and 8 011om : NO AA. (2 004). A
strong supercell thunderstorm. hllp ://w\\"\\".ph ol olib.noaa .gov/hon ls/
sys te ms .
wcat) 11 95.hlm.
WSR-88D deli ver s retl ecti vit y images, ve locity im ages,
and precipitation im ages . Base retl ecti vit y sho ws the scan
o f the rada r ran ge and ena bles the det erminati on of the typ e Acco rdin g to NOAA, ther e are 158 W SR- 88D s in use
o f prec ipit ation , sto rm structure, and sca le, both vertica l across the Un ited Sta tes . With NE X RA D's W SR- 88D s
a nd hori zontal. Co m pos ite refl ecti vit y im ages show the o rga nized int o net work s, thi s rada r re volutioni zed th e
intens ity of prec ipit ati on , usin g sca ns fr om a ll e levations weather forecast ing sy ste m an d a llo we d met eor ol ogi st s to
a nd features o f sto rm structure. Base ve loc ity images dis­ bett er predi ct beh avior and struc ture of sto rms and othe r
play the overa ll wind field , spee d o f fro nts, and area s o f typ es o f seve re weather events.
stro ng w ind. Stor m-re lat ive moti on im ages show rad ia l S-ba nd rad ar is the typ e that the Natio na l Weather
ve loc ity o f w ind re lative to a sto rm 's moti on , w hic h is Serv ice ope ra tes. T his rad ar ope rates o n a wavel en gth o f 8
imp ortant w he n ev a luating ro tating sto rms , suc h as supe r­ to 15 ern and a frequen cy of 2 to 4 G hz . Becau se o f its
ce ll thunderstorms. On e-h our precip itati on images displ ay wa vel en gth and fre q ue ncy, S-ba nd radar is useful for c lose
an es tima ted o ne-ho ur acc um ulation amo unt of precip ita­ and lon g-ran ge weather events and is the mo st ideal band
tion . Thi s is imp ort ant when eva lua ting tlood wa rni ngs. to use fo r weather for ecasting .
ra infa ll int en siti es, o r othe r weather events. Sto rm tot al Whil e the Doppler radar is a great tool for meteorolo­
pre cipitati on ima ges show the estimated acc um ulat io n of g ists, it does ha ve so me limitati on s. T he main limitation o f
precipitati on since the last on e-hour break . the Doppl er rad ar is that it cannot detect the ve rtica l ex te nt
16 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

of precipitation. Also, the greater the distance from the pre­ extensive research opportunities in meteorology (Engi­
cipitation source, the less likely that the Doppler radar will neering Research Center for CASA, n.d.).
detect it. The implementation of new lines of radar techniques in
the 21st century, including phased array radar, polarimetric
radar, and CASA radar, will give meteorologists more data
New Generations of Radar about the processes at work in the atmosphere. These data
will represent more precise and accurate measurements of
In the first decade of the 21st century, there were signifi­ weather features and the ways they impact societies.
cant advances in radar imagery, and these advances were
also adapted in meteorology to enhance weather forecast­
ing. Among advances were phased array radar and polari­ Satellites and Meteorology
metric radar.
The phased array radar collects information in one sixth In recent decades, satellite observations have become
the time necessary for similar collections by conventional essential to all aspects of meteorology. Continued develop­
radar. Unlike conventional radar, which has a single beam ments in satellite meteorology help scientists assess our
and requires moving the antenna to send out multiple global climate situation, predict and monitor environmen­
beams, phased array radar has multiple directional beams tal issues, and vastly improve weather forecasting abilities.
sent out all at one time. This allows the radar to focus on With increasing detail, meteorologists can reveal the struc­
one area of interest (e.g., a severe thunderstorm in the tural characteristics of severe weather, determine the inten­
vicinity) rather than having to sweep over many areas that sity, and track the path of forthcoming weather events
have no significance. Thus, phased array radar can produce using satellite imagery (Cobb, 2004; National Aeronautics
more high-impact images faster and more accurately than and Space Administration [NASA], 1999).
conventional radar (NOAA, n.d., a). The temporal and spatial coverage of satellites enable
Polarimetric (or dual polarization) radars transmit wave meteorologists to keep continuous track of target events or
pulses that are both vertical and horizontal in orientation. monitor weather systems that are out of the range of
This pattern of pulse significantly reduces the time neces­ ground- and sea-based radars. Satellites are especially use­
sary to scan an area and permits nearly instant forecasting. ful for monitoring large-scale weather systems, such as
Polarimetric radar can accurately identify types ofprecipi­ hurricanes, that occur over broad expanses of oceans or the
tation, such as differentiating rain from hail, and show lesser populated regions of continents.
storm totals of rainfall (NOAA, n.d., b). The data collection necessary for functional meteorol­
Ground-based radar, especially, but airborne and satel­ ogy relies on the ability to monitor weather information
lite platforms to a certain extent have to contend with both spatially and temporally. Since the launch ofTIROS-1
Earth's curvature. For ground-based radar due to Earth's in 1960, the first satellite designed for meteorology, meteo­
curvature, 72% of the atmosphere in the United States rologists have been able to monitor the atmosphere and
within one kilometer of Earth's surface does not have Earth's surface as a singular unit. With the advent of satel­
coverage. Detecting precipitation and wind structures in lites, meteorologists were able to observe weather and cli­
the lower atmosphere is crucial for weather forecasting, mate conditions and acquire other information more easily
since the greatest impact of severe weather on humans from remote places or regions with harsh environments,
occurs in the atmospheric layer near the surface. Since including oceans, mountains, deserts, and polar regions.
the current NEXRAD scans at higher elevations, lower Satellites allow meteorologists to collect weather data, con­
levels of weather events are not observed by radar and tinuously monitor conditions, model the expected results of
severe weather warnings cannot be accurately issued. An newly observed atmospheric patterns, and verify modeled
engineering research center known as CASA (Collabora­ forecast data relative to the weather patterns that were
tive Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere), a multi sector observed. Infrared images and radar enable meteorologists
partnership among universities, industry, and govern­ to monitor target locations during hours of darkness.
ment, developed the NEXRAD2 system to overcome this Satellites have significantly expanded the study and appli­
issue and enhance weather forecasting. NEXRAD2 uses cations of meteorology (NASA, 1999).
the X-band, which is a shorter wavelength range than
current radar and therefore can achieve higher resolution Types of Satellites Used in Meteorology
images. This allows meteorologists to view and analyze
storm structure. Densely spaced CASA radar networks Satellites are one of the greatest tools for collecting
can produce image updates every 20 seconds. These fre­ meteorological information on a planetary scale. The two
quent updates of high-resolution, low-altitude radar obser­ most common types of satellites used are geostationary
vations allow meteorologists to forecast hazardous satellites and polar orbiting satellites (Figure 2.3).
weather and provide accurate real-time images, often Geostationary satellites orbit Earth in a geosynchronous
referred to as nowcasting,that ranges from minutes to orbit (equatorial plane of Earth) maintaining the same loca­
hours. This network also allows for detailed as well as tion above Earth's equator in space and never leaving its
 Meteorology: Forecasting the Future ofWeather Prediction • 17

fixed position over that part of the equator. Geostationary at which they are used. Five geostationary satellites can
satellites enable meteoro logists to continuously monitor the cove r the entire world with ove rlapping of images from
earth, but they can see only one hemi spher e. Geostationary those satellites. The United States has two Geostationary
satellites are located about 36,000 km above Earth's sur­ Operational Environmental Satellites (GO ES): GOES -West
face. This distance from the ground is high enough to allow and GOES-East, which primar ily cover the western and
a hemispherical view (except for the edges of Earth due to eastern halves of the country.
the curv ature, resulting in coverage of about 40% of Earth's Another way a satellite may circle Earth is in a polar
surface). In addition, this satellite has high temporal resolu­ orbit, thus passing ove r the poles of the earth. As a resu lt
tion (a full view of Earth every 30 minutes) and is very of its polar path, this satellite can cove r higher latitudes
useful for tracking synoptic-scale (- 1,000 krn ) weather includin g both poles. It passes over every part of the earth
systems. However, images from geostationary satellites at the same time every day and shows eve ry location with
have limited spatial resoluti on because of the high altitude the same degree of sunlight. This charac teristic of polar

Figure 2.3 (Top) Geostationary and Polar Orbiting Satellites for Weather Observation and (Bottom) Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellite (GOES)
SOU RCE S: (Top) World Meteo ro log ical Orga nization. (May 10, 2007). Images. hllp://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/ imagesiGO S/ Figure% 201l-I 0%20
Satellites.j pg: and (Bottom) National Aeronautics and Space Administra tion. (April 14. 2( 11 ). Gallerv ofEarth-observing satelli tes. http ://scijinks.nasa
.gov/sa tcllitcs-ga llcry.
18 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

orbiting satellites allows long-te rm comparisons. A polar amount of solar radiati on reflected from the atmosphere
orbiting satellite offers a better spatial resolution than geo­ and Earth. Visible images primarily show the cloud cover,
stationary satellite since its orbits are nearer to the earth land, lakes, and oceans. Brighter images indicate thicker
(about 800 km above ground). Figure 2.4 shows a major clouds. Shadows in the visible images help to analyze
weather system in the south central United States that was cloud types and height, which can be important clues to
tracked by satellite. detect severe weather. Since visible images use shorter
In summary, geostationary orbiting covers a greater wavelengths, they provide images with higher spatial reso­
extent of ground whereas polar orbiting provides better qual­ lution . However, these images are available only by day­
ity of image. Thus, geostationary and polar orbiting satellites light and do not allow diurnal studies.
can be used in a multitude of different ways because of their Infrared images arc used to measure the amount of
diffe rences in makeup. They are both important assets to infrared energy ( 10.0- 12.5 urn) emitted by Earth and the
studies of meteorology and climatology. features located on the surface. Models are also available
to estimate the height of cloud tops, which is important lo r
Satellite Images Used in Meteorology determining the energy within air masses that affect
weather. For example, the GOES satellites use a measure
With greatly enhanced and more accurate sensors, satel­ of brightness temperature from infrared imaging with a
lites can now measure and detect more things at the surface weather prediction model to obtain height estimates. The
and in the atmosphere than ever before. With these sen­ resulting infrared image provides data about the thermal
sors, satellites have improved weather prediction and properties of the location being observed on Earth and the
expanded their applications in meteorology. Sate llite atmosphere above that location for computer analysis of
images commonly used in meteorology are visible, infra­ the spatial patterns.
red, and water vapor images (Figure 2.4). These images Visible infrared images may also be used to estimate
show different aspects of the atmosphere and surface cloud heights. The images are inverse in gray scale, and
(Bader, Forbes, Grant, & Lilley, 1996; Conway, 1997; areas with lower temperatures are in white or light gray
Kidder & Vonder Haar, 1995). tones, while areas with higher temperatures are in black or
Visible images show what Earth would look like from dark gray colors. Because of this characteristic of inverse
the human eye, since it detects the visible portion of sun­ images, clouds appear white, but the warmer ground or
light (0.4- 0.7 micrometers, or um). They indicate the ocean surface appears darker than clouds on visible images.

Figure 2.4 Geo stati ona ry Operati onal Environment al Sa te llites (GOE S) Images at 1430Z on March 3 1, :W08: (U pper Left )
In frared Image. (Upper Right) Enhanced Infrared Image. (Bottom Len) Visible Image. and (Bottom Right) Water
Vapor Image .

SO U RCE : Natio na l Weather Se rvice . hllp :!!www.wcat hcLun isys.com .

NOTE: Four teen tor nad oes we re report ed on that da y : 12 in Missou ri and 2 in O klahoma. Th ey we re most ly 1'1 and 1'0 torn ad oes, w ith o nly o ne tornado
reac hing 1'2 status,
 Meteorology:Forecastingthe Future ofWeatherPrediction. 19

Visually,the infrared images are useful for discerning cloud retrieval algorithms. The Internet has dramatically expanded
height where colder, bright cloud tops usually indicate a the availability and application of satellite data by allowing
higher altitude. If the visible imagery is also showing a real-time access to the latest satellite imagery. Another con­
bright (thick) cloud cover, then the region is likely produc­ sequence of satellite image availability has been a major
ing stormy weather. The primary strength of infrared increase in the interest in meteorology by the general pub­
images is their nighttime coverage of Earth's atmosphere at lic. Weather forecasting and atmospheric conditions are a
the different altitudes. widely expressed public interest.
Water vapor in the atmosphere is sensed by satellite Geostationary satellite images are available through the
instruments to record moisture content in the middle to National Weather Service (NWS). Using a customized
upper troposphere. Unlike visible and infrared images, viewer for meteorological use, such as Integrated Data
which use atmospheric window channels of electromag­ Viewer (IDV), users can select different layers of images
netic spectrum, water vapor images use absorption chan­ (satellite, radar, and surface observations) and different
nels (typically around 6.7 urn). Water vapor images provide time frames, as well as determine display properties of
data about moisture content and motion in the atmosphere. these layers and integrate satellite images with other
In the images, bright areas indicate areas with higher mois­ remotely sensed data, such as radar images.
ture content and possible storm development, whereas In recent years, combining satellite and radar imagery
dark areas show regions with lower water vapor content with geospatial technology, such as GIS, has expanded
and sinking air motion. Thus, water vapor images are valu­ the scope of meteorology. GIS has expanded the ability to
able for weather analysis and prediction. Since all air has integrate remotely sensed data. Georeferencing processes
some water vapor, the images permit meteorologists to of geospatial technology allow meteorologists to com­
observe large-scale circulation patterns and to detect water bine remote sensing images with both surface and upper­
vapor motion even in a cloud-free atmosphere through the level in situ atmospheric measurements to further analyze
use of looping (animation). weather progression. Using georeferencing programs,
Microwave imagery has also been actively adopted in meteorologists can import satellite images into GIS pro­
meteorology research and forecasting. Microwave images grams and analyze weather in detail along with surface
use radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum at 6 to and upper-air observations. This is extremely helpful in
300 GHz. These images are useful for detecting a multitude tracking and forecasting severe weather systems, such as
of atmosphere and surface properties, such as cloud water, hurricanes, and monitoring global scale phenomena, such
atmospheric temperature, soil moisture, surface wind speed, as EI Nino and La Nina. Furthermore, GIS makes precise
and other conditions. These satellites help with monitoring ground truthing of satellite images possible and enables
not only weather on Earth but also nonweather events such meteorologists to improve the accuracy of weather pre­
as wildfires, glaciers, effects of pollution, and other fea­ diction. Meteorology and geography are demonstrably
tures. Limitations of microwave images include the rela­ linked through numerous GIS applications (Jasani &
tively large footprint and the low Earth orbits not suitable Stein, 2002; Vadlapudi, 2003).
for most of the operational strategies (Levizzani, 2003).
The most commonly used microwave imageries are taken Data Centers for Satellite Imagery
by the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the
Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) car­ The Center for Satellite Applications and Research
ried aboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (STAR), a subdivision of the National Environment
(DMSP) satellites. Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), a branch
of NOAA, manages and maintains the nation's operational
Satellite, Radar, Meteorology, and Technology environmental satellites as well as operating NOAA's
national data centers including National Climatic Data
As satellite technology has improved, satellite weather Center (NCDC). STAR also develops and enhances the use
data have become increasingly important to all sectors of of satellites in meteorological and climatological applica­
meteorology. However, impacts on meteorology by satel­ tions (STAR, n.d.).
lites have significantly increased with advances in other Joint efforts by NASA and the NOAA Joint Center for
technology, such as computers, the Internet, global posi­ Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) have both accelerated
tioning systems (GPS), and geographic information sys­ and improved quantitative research and operational satel­
tems (GIS). lite data procurement in weather and/or climate analysis
Computers and the Internet have significantly increased and prediction models. Furthermore, recent efforts of civil­
the number of ways for meteorologists to use satellite and military-operated satellite systems have significantly
images. They enable meteorologists to create enhanced enhanced the capacity of meteorological satellites in
images through the highlighting of spatial patterns of inter­ observation of weather data by supplying high-quality
ests such as heavy rainfall or possible severe thunderstorms weather images. These efforts also enable meteorologists
and to derive further information from the images by using to improve weather forecasting through the new satellites
20 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

and products. Global environmental data and information It is important to know about numerical models in
services from satellites and other sources can be freely meteorology and how they work, the history of numerical
downloaded from NOAA Comprehensive Large Array­ weather prediction (NWP), and how these computer-based
Data Stewardship System (CLASS; STAR, n.d.). forecasts have improved over time. Models that operate on
a prediction timescale are widely used in meteorology. It is
the model that is familiar to most people and incorporates
Satellite, Radar, and Our Daily Lives
a synopticscale, which is a forecast of one to several days
Both satellite and radar applications to meteorology have for regions at least the size of Europe or the United States
been very beneficial to daily lives of people. These highly (areas greater than 106 knr'). Advances in the 21st century
effective instruments assist meteorologists to collect weather will further clarify and resolve problems that are experi­
data and to determine and warn about impending severe enced in using the paradigm ofNWP. Those problems will
weather. For example, satellite and radar enable meteorolo­ likely be resolved with future technological and theoretical
gists to determine if flood prone regions are likely to be advances.
affected by a weather event. They may also be used to deter­
mine expected water levels in flooding or flooded areas,
since these instruments can measure the distribution and
How Numerical Models Work
intensity ofprecipitation at a relatively wide spatial coverage Step 1: AnalysisandAssimilation
and provide frequent updates. Furthermore, the complemen­
tary combination of satellite and radar imagery has greatly Numerical models playa central role in NWP, but they
increased weather forecasting confidence in many ways are just one part of a multistep process used in producing
by greatly improving the accuracy of data (American a computer-based weather forecast. For the computer to
Meteorological Society, 1993; Doviak & Zrnic, 2006). use the numerical model properly, a current picture, or
In recent years, advances in computer and Internet tech­ analysis of conditions in the atmosphere, must be obtained.
nology and partnering with software modeling applications This information is provided by thousands of measure­
have made both satellite and radar weather information ments taken across the globe by surface observing net­
available to people who are interested in the physical pro­ works (such as Automated Surface Observing Systems, or
cesses that lead to particular weather events. The benefits ASOSs), and upper-air observations taken by radiosondes
of using satellites and radar are evident in weather forecast­ (balloon-lifted instruments), satellite, radar, and aircraft
ing and other aspects of the economy and societal concerns, data (Figure 2.5, left side).
including soil moisture estimates, ground temperature, These measurements include the key physical variables
vegetation greening, and water pollution, to name just a (e.g., temperature, pressure, wind, and humidity) needed to
few. However, the most widely recognized and perhaps the describe the current state of the atmosphere. The numerical
most important aspect of satellite and radar usage are the model is constructed to predict weather conditions (numer­
humanitarian and advanced warnings of atmospheric, land ical values ofkey variables) at regularly spaced intervals on
surface, and ocean hazard events, such as volcanic activity, a grid. Figure 2.5 (right side) also shows an example ofgrid
flooding, and tsunami watches. points that are 50 kilometers apart in a domain that covers
most of North America. When compared to observation
points, it is apparent that the measurements taken are not on
Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) a uniform grid, but are irregularly spaced. In addition, there
are errors that can occur in these measurements (and in the
Whether a forecast is for chances ofrain tomorrow or likeli­ transfer of the measurement data) that, if left unchecked,
hood of coastal flooding in 50 years, the science of weather would adversely impact the numerical model's ability to
and climate prediction is ultimately tied to the performance predict future conditions accurately. Data assimilation, or
of numericalmodels:computer software designed to predict smooth incorporation of meteorological observations into a
changes in the future state of the earth-atmosphere-ocean numerical model, is a highly complex process designed to
system. These computer programs start with the beginning deal with such problems.
state, or initial conditions, of the system, and then use a A simplified description of the data assimilation pro­
complex set of mathematical relationships based on known cess is illustrated in Figure 2.6. After the observations are
physical principles to deduce a future state of the system, or taken and all the data are gathered and checked for major
a forecast. Predictions can be made over a range of spatial errors, the data are spatially interpolated to the grid points
scales and timescales, depending on the type of model. of the model. These data are then checked against values
Some models predict the evolution of a severe thunder­ predicted by the model from the previous model forecast.
storm: These have spatial scales on the order of a few kilo­ This is done to eliminate more subtle errors in the mea­
meters or less and timescales on the order of a few minutes surement data. This blend of "real" data and "forecast" data
or less. On the other end of the spectrum, global climate are then checked to make sure it is mathematically consis­
modelshave spatial scales covering the entire planet (thou­ tent with the physical principles built into the model.
sands of kilometers), and they attempt to predict certain Finally, these data are used to initialize the new model
conditions that will arise several centuries into the future. forecast simulation, or "model run."
 Meteorology: Forecasting the Future of Weather Prediction • 2 \

-,.. ...
, ' ~ . ,I
... ~k '
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
ASOS SITES
' :1T " "
.' - ~

Figure 2.5 (a ) ASOS Site Spatia l Distributi o n Across the United States; (b) G lo ba l Rad iosond e Network. Example of Grid Po ints
O ver a Mode l Dom ain : 50 Kilom eter Hor izo ntal Reso lutio n
SOU RCES: National Weat her Serv ice (NWS). (20 11 ). Management Inf ormation Retrieval System. http://www.\Veather.gov/mirs/index.hlm; and National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adm inistration (NOAA) . (20 I0). Sate/lite and lnformation Servi ce. http://noaasis.noaa.govINOAA SIS/.

Analyses : maps of
Global observations: Initialization data:
"current" data for
e.g., ASO S, satellite , in it ial conditions
public/private
radar , radiosonde for model simulat ion
consumption

1
Output from
previous model run: Numerical mOde!
(projects data

/
" first guess" at
into the future)
initial cond itions

1
Model output Output from mode l:
statistics (MOS) forecast data fields

1
Post-processing
Forecast graph ics
(quality contro l,
and text for public/
graph ics and text
privat e consumption
formatt ing)

Figure 2.6 Simp lified Flowchart of the Data As simi lation and Numerica l Weathe r Predic tion Process
SOU RCE: Marcus L. BUker.
22 • PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY

Step 2: The Simulation The Origins of NWP and the

"Synoptic Paradigm"
Once the model is initialized, there are starting values
to enter into the mathematical equations that represent the The term synopticmeteorologydescribes the depiction
physical properties ofthe atmosphere. Many of these equa­ and study of atmospheric phenomenon with horizontal
tions relate how one variable changes in time to how one spatial scales on the order of 1,000 kilometers and time­
or more variables change across space. One clear (and scales on the order of a few days. Since its infancy, numer­
simplified) example of this is the equation that governs ical weather prediction has always made the assumption
temperature changes due to advection (Figure 2.7). It is that synoptic-scale measurements would provide a reliable
intuitive that if the wind is blowing from a warmer place "snapshot" of the current state of the atmosphere. This
(A) to a colder place (B), then the colder place will get a "synoptic paradigm" began with Vilhelm Bjerknes (1904),
bit warmer over time. Since the temperature and wind are who was the first to propose a rational means for weather
known at both locations at the current time, then one can prediction based on quantitative principles derived from
calculate temperature change over time for location B. physics. He also recognized the need for a comprehensive
Other physical relationships, such as Newton's second law weather observation network (kite-based observations
(force = mass x acceleration), solar heating, energy trans­ were his initial choice for upper-level atmospheric data,
fer, phase changes of water, and many others are all woven before weather balloon-based soundings were developed
together to form the set of equations that, after many cal­ around that same time). These data would provide the ini­
culations are completed, will provide a new set of meteo­ tial conditions for a mathematical representation of the
rological values for each grid point. This process com­ atmosphere and its evolution in time. However, at the time,
pletes one time step of the model. These values are then fed such an endeavor was unrealistic, both in terms of compu­
back into the model, and all the calculations are performed tational speed and a lack of an organized observation net­
again, and a second time step is complete. This process is work. The first attempt at a numerical simulation was
repeated over many time steps until the latest desired fore­ conducted by Lewis Richardson (1922), where he treated
cast time is reached, and the computer-based simulation of the computation as an initial value problem. He attempted
the atmosphere ends. a 6-hour forecast and performed all the calculations by
hand. Of course, to complete hundreds of these compli­
Step 3: ForecastProductsfor Consumption cated calculations, it took him considerably longer than 6
hours (it was more like 6 weeks). In addition, because the
Once the simulation is complete, the prediction data are observations he included for his initialization were irregu­
quality checked. These data can then be interpolated to larly spaced and not assimilated correctly, his calculated
places of interest (e.g., cities, national parks, rural regions) "forecast" was, simply put, grossly inaccurate. His calcula­
in the form of model output statistics (MaS). An example tions predicted a massive hurricane-like vortex! However,
of MaS would be the high and low temperature at a par­ the particular method that he developed is still in use
ticular location. The raw data may also be used by fore­ today. Without knowledge of computers, Richardson tried
casters in the public and private sectors who can further to envision how his method could actually produce a
refine the forecast, provide interpretations of the data, and timely forecast. This vision involved an arena of forecast­
produce more detailed and customized forecast products ers, with each quickly making calculations for one grid
for consumers. point on Earth, and passing that information to the nearest
"grid point representative" (Figure 2.8). It
was not until the invention of the com­
,i Temperature T @ time 2 - T @ time 1
puter that such speedy calculations became
Time
,i time 2 - time 1 feasible. In 1950, Jule Charney became
. d drl,i Temperature the first person to produce a realistic
-(Win spee / x . =
,i distance computer-based forecast and in doing so
-(wind speed) x T @ B - T @ A ushered in the modem era ofNWP.
distance (A to B)
NWP Statistics and
Performance Trends
The performance of NWP has been
strongly dependent on available computa­
tional resources. Why? The magnitude of
calculations necessary to produce a
Figure 2.7 Example of the Calculation ofAdvection, Causing Temperature
24-hour forecast is on the order of 1012
to Rise With Time at Point B
(1 trillion)! Here is a simplified example
SOURCE: Marcus L. Buker. showing why so many calculations are
 Meteorology: Forecastingthe Future ofWeather Prediction • 23

kil omet er s tod ay. Thi s is im porta nt, as mo re det ail ed

str uc ture in the at mo sphere ca n be reso lve d w he n g rid
spac ing is sma lle r. just as o ne sees a c lea rer pi cture w ith
a hi gh er resolut ion tel evi s ion or ca mera . T he incorpo ra­
tion of mor e coverage a nd ty pes of observed wea the r
dat a, in cluding th e rad ar a nd sa te llite da ta . is pro v id ing
th e nu meri cal mod el s mor e acc urate (h ig hly reso lved)
in itia l co nd itio ns o n w hic h to base calc ula tio ns. T he
tren d in fo re cast sk ill has bee n dr am a tic. Fig ure 2.9
show s forecas t sk ill for 500 mill iba r hei ght a nd hurri­
ca ne track e rror fo r operationa l forecas ters over the past
40 to 50 years. T hey sho w th at a 3-day (72 -ho ur) foreca st
in 20 10 has th e sa me acc uracy as a 1.5- day (36- ho ur)
fo recas t tw o decades ea rl ier.
G iven this tre nd. o ne co uld co nc lude th at these
impro ve men ts wo uld co nti nue . Unti' rece ntly . the suc ­
ce ss of the syno ptic par ad igm has been respo ns ible fo r
Figure 2.11 An Illustration of Richardson's Vision of a th is stea dy im proveme nt in NW P skill. O ther fac to rs
Forecasting Arena include bet ter for m ulatio ns of ph ysi cs and ana logs for
SOURCE: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ph ysi cal prop e rt ies o f th e at mo sphere wi th in th e mod el s
(2007). NOAA Celebrates 21111 Years: Foundations. hup.z/cclcbrating a nd bett er data ass imi la tion tec hniq ue s. Ho weve r, th e
20(lyears.lloaa.gov/llllllldatiolls/lltllllerical_wx p rcd/thcatcr.luml. ass umptions th at a re held in th e syno ptic paradi gm have
been ca lled in to q ue stion in rece nt years . Th e ga ins th at
ha ve be e n ma de in the pa st fe w decad es ha ve s how n
needed. Imagin e the gri ds of the dom a in shown ea rlier in signs of sta lling . The next tw o sectio ns wi II loo k at th e
Fig ure 2.5. T his is a spa tial area 0 1'5.000 x 5.000 km . If the wea knesse s of th e sy noptic par ad igm. th e imp lica tions
hori zont al g rid spaci ng we re a bit high er ( 10 km betwee n a nd c ha lle nges fo r NW P, a nd th e cha nge s in NW P tha t
po ints). thi s dom ain wo uld include 500 g rid poin ts in eac h may occ ur in the future .
horizont al d irec tio n : 500 x 500 = 250.000 po ints. Now. the
atmos phe re is not flat ; it is three-di me nsional. Us ua lly,
Cracks in the Paradigm: Chaos and Irony
around 50 points are need ed to spa n the vertica l dep th of
the tro posphe re a nd lowe r stra tos phere (abo ut 20 km As ea rly as the 1960s, it wa s known that there were
de pth) : 250.000 hori zont al points x 50 ve rtica l level s = limit s to how far into the future NW P co uld perform .
12.500.00 0 total points. Now each of these po ints has at Edwa rd Loren z ( 1963). famo us for the term butterfly effect.
least 20 atmos phe ric varia bles attac hed to it (e .g.. pres­ ob served tha t his nume rica l s imulatio ns we re sen s itive to
sure. temper atu re, humid ity. c lo ud water. and wi nd) : the init ial co ndi tio ns. Fo r exa mp le, c ha nges of less than
12.500.000 x 20 = 250 ,000.000 va lue s that need to be ca l­ 0.0 I % in so me of the va lues in temperatu re (e .g., 34 .8432
c ulated for ea ch tim e se ries step in developin g a forecast. degrees ve rsus 34.8433 degr ees) wo uld result in co m­
Typi call y. for a sim ulat io n like th is. the len gth of a time pletel y di fferent weather patt ern s across the g lobe a fe w
step is aro und 10 seco nds. T here are 86 ,400 seconds in a day days later, as predi cted in the si mu latio n. Studies o f c haos
(24 hours ). so 8.640 tim e steps are need ed for a 24- ho ur theor y now show th at there is a funda me nta l limit o f abo ut
forecas t: 250,000 ,000 va lues x 8.6 40 tim e steps = 2. 16 tri l­ 2 weeks for pre d icta bility in th e atmos phe re, no matt er
lion calc ulatio ns! ( It wo uld take a ll the foreca sters in the ho w fine ly detail ed a nd acc ura te a re th e data for the initial
Nat io na l Wea ther Se rvice. eac h arme d w ith a ca lculator. co nd itions . S ince th ere is a stro ng se ns itivity of N W P to
more than 10 yea rs to mak e one 24-ho ur Ioreca stl) As the initi al co ndi tio ns, an y error in the obse rva tiona l data ca n
g rid resolu tion increases (o r space w ithin eac h g rid ce ll dramaticall y a lter the co m puter mod el forecast. As a result,
decreases ), the amo unt of computati on al ex pe nse increases there is co ns idera ble effort given to the ass im ilation co m­
great ly. In acco mmo da ting eve r mo re detail ed reso lut io n pon cnt o f the N W P process.
necessary to for ecast in g rea te r detail , it also res ults in Th is is o ne of the main reasons the sy no ptic paradi gm
g rea tly increa sed co mputing requ irem ent s. has reached its limits. A s one ca n obse rve in Fig ure 2.5.
With inc reas ing computation al po wer a nd a n ever­ the re are man y places o n the pla net where there are lim ited
den ser net work of meteo rol ogi cal o bse rva tio ns. it is not o bse rva tio na l data av ailable. If large areas (e.g., over th e
s urpris ing that numeri cal mod el fo recast acc uracy has central Pacifi c Ocean) are not bein g ob ser ved accuratel y or
greatly impro ved ove r th e pa st few dec ad es. C o m pa re d in adeq uate deta il o r both , th en thi s ca n lead to signi fica nt
to th e first o pe ratio na l num eri cal wea the r predi ction errors in th e initia l co nd itions for the numeri cal mod el.
s im ulatio ns, th e ho ri zontal g rid spaci ng has shrunk fro m Eve n for a reas th at have rea son abl e co verage, such as over
seve ra l hundred k ilo me te rs in th e 195 0s to ne ar tell much of th e United States and Euro pe, the resoluti on o f
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kind to, though of less intensity than, that which has been described
as covering the Scandinavian ice-sheet. This anticyclone maintains
on its southern edges a belt of easterly winds, and these winds enter
into the general circulation of the earth. Their effect is to push
southward the permanent storm-centres normally situated near
Iceland and the Aleutian Islands, and it is these storm-centres which
play a large part in causing the rainy weather of northern and
central Europe. But occasionally—as in the remarkable spring and
summer of 1921—these conditions break down. The Arctic Ocean
becomes unusually ice-free and warm, the pressure falls, and in
consequence the storm-centres move northward. Europe comes
under the influence of the permanent anticyclones of sub-tropical
latitudes, rain-bearing storms pass far to the northward, and we
have a dry warm summer of the Mediterranean type.
This is presumably what happened during the long warm Mindel-
Riss interglacial. For some reason, possibly connected with a
temporary widening and deepening of the Bering Strait, the waters
of the Arctic Ocean became warmer and the amount of floating ice
less. Pressure became lower in the polar basin and therefore higher
over the Atlantic and Europe, and fine warm conditions prevailed in
Europe as the normal climate instead of only as an occasional event.
This warm interval was finally brought to a close by the renewed
elevation of Scandinavia, and the ice-sheets began to develop again,
heralded by a period of dry steppe climate. This time, however, the
conditions were different; the elevation was not so great, and was
more local. Hence the resulting glaciation was less intense; it filled
the Baltic basin and extended some distance on to the North
German plain and into Holland. It failed to reach the coast of Britain,
but that it extended some way across the North Sea plain is
indicated by the peculiar distribution of the Newer Drift of Britain, to
be referred to later. In the north of Norway the slope of the ice
towards the sea was very steep, so that many of the coastal hills
extended above it as nunataks. The ice extended into the channel
between the mainland and the Lofoten Islands (then a peninsula),
but according to Ahlmann these islands were an independent centre
of local glaciation, as the British Isles had been during the preceding
period, and the local ice met the main ice-sheet in the fiords. On the
coast of Nordland sufficient land lay bare to harbour a small Arctic
flora, and Vaero, the southernmost island of Lofoten, had only small
hanging snow-banks.
The interpretation of the British glacial deposits is still very much
under discussion, but it seems probable that the Scottish highlands
formed a subsidiary centre which glaciated the whole of Scotland
and north-east England, sending a stream south-eastward, which
was prevented from spreading across the North Sea plain by the
presence of Scandinavian ice to the east and impinged on the coast
of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, just reaching the northern extremity of
Norfolk. Many British geologists regard this development as the
concluding phase of a single glaciation of Britain, but the differences
in the amount of weathering undergone are against such an
interpretation. At the same time there were local glaciers in
Cumberland, Wales and Ireland.
In England limits of this glaciation are characterized by a well-
marked series of end-moraines, which indicate that the ice carried
much surface detritus, and probably ended in a steep cliff. In
Scandinavia, on the other hand, the centre of glaciation again lay
over the low ground well to the east of the mountains, and the ice
which reached Germany and Denmark was still largely free of
surface detritus, and so did not form marked end-moraines. There
was a difference, however. On this occasion, owing to the local
nature of the elevation in Scandinavia, the ice-sheet did not extend
its borders so far to the eastward, and the glaciation of Asia, as
described in Chapter VII, was slight. Europe came more under the
influence of cold north-easterly and northerly winds, and life on the
ice-borders was not so easy as during the preceding glaciation. Man
could still live near the ice, but he took to making his home in caves,
and to clothing himself in skins for warmth.
After the ice had reached its Rissian maximum of glaciation the
climate improved somewhat. The ice-edge retreated, leaving
Denmark and the German coast, and vacating the Baltic basin, but
not disappearing altogether from Scandinavia. At Rixdorf, near
Berlin, there is a bed of gravel deposited in this “interglacial,”
containing numerous and well-preserved bones of the mammoth,
woolly rhinoceros, aurochs, bison, horse, reindeer, red deer and
other species of Cervus, musk ox and wolf—a cold temperate to sub-
arctic fauna. In south Germany fresh-water mollusca indicate that
the summers in that district were almost as warm as at present, but
the winters were probably severe. As described in the preceding
chapter this “interglacial” was the time of loess formation par
excellence, with a continental climate and steppe conditions over
much of central Europe.
Investigations at Skærumhede in Denmark show that this
recession of the ice was accompanied by, and presumably due to, a
fall in the level of the land relatively to that of the sea, for at the
beginning of the oscillation the land lay about 350 feet above its
present level, sinking gradually to only 30 feet above present. Even
at its best during this interglacial the climate was almost sub-arctic
in Denmark. In northern Finland, on the eastern edge of the ice-
sheet, there was also an “interglacial,” with a slight improvement in
the climate accompanying a temporary submergence. But in
Scandinavia there are no traces of any interglacial deposits of this
period, and considering the cold climates which prevailed in
Denmark and North Germany, it seems probable that Scandinavia
continued to be glaciated during the whole period.
The mode of life among Mousterian men, who lived during this
“interglacial,” also points to a severe climate. For at this time man
did not live in the open, but in caves and rock-shelters, and the
practice of wearing the fur skins of animals as a protection against
the cold, begun in the preceding Rissian glacial period, was not
discontinued.
After the temporary subsidence had ceased, elevation again set in,
causing a readvance of the ice-sheets and glaciers. The limits fell
short of those of the preceding maximum, and the climate was not
so severe, but in its general character it resembled that of the
preceding maximum, but was much stormier, and there were
probably frequent blizzards of the Antarctic type, carrying drift-snow.
The new ice-sheet carried more surface detritus than its
predecessors, presumably because all the high ground was not
covered, and it formed high terminal moraines. The close association
of cold ice and irregular masses of bare sand and stones, strongly
heated by the summer sun, set up a belt of powerful convection very
favourable for the development of blizzards; possibly there was
something in the nature of an ice-cliff down which the cold winds
could blow with great strength. At any rate, man found the near
neighbourhood of the ice unpleasant, and went, so that there are no
contemporaneous human implements near the moraines. The limits
of the Scandinavian ice-sheet ran from the Norwegian coast across
Denmark from north to south, through North Germany and northern
Russia, and included Finland. The ice probably did not extend far
across the North Sea plain, and in the British Isles there was no ice-
sheet, but the high mountains of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and
Cumberland bore small local glaciers, which were long enough to
reach the sea in the Scottish highlands. The Alps bore considerable
glaciers, indicating a depression of the snow-line of about 3500 feet,
corresponding to a temperature 11° F. lower than the present.
After this ice-development had reached its maximum limits and
remained there for perhaps a thousand years, retreat set in, and the
Scandinavian ice once more withdrew from Germany and Denmark
to the Baltic basin. But its edge was never far from the German
coast, and occasionally readvanced across it, for numerous
fossiliferous deposits are intercalated in boulder-clay. The fauna and
flora, which are well known, point to an arctic climate. At its best the
mean temperature of July rose to about 50° F., and there was a
vegetation period of three or four months with an average
temperature of about 40° F., but these relatively mild conditions
lasted at most for a few decades or perhaps a century at a time, and
the winters were severe throughout. The duration of the whole of
this “Baltic Interstadial” was from one to two thousand years.
 Next followed the final readvance of the ice forming the great
“Baltic” moraines which fringe the Baltic coast of Germany, turning
northward in the west into Denmark and in the east into Finland.
There was a corresponding re-development of glaciers in the Alps
(Bühl stage) and in the mountains of Ireland and Scotland, though
these probably failed to reach the sea even in Scotland. This period
gave us a repetition of the climate of the preceding maxima. In this
case we have definite evidence of the presence of a belt of easterly
winds on the southern side of the ice-sheet, in a series of “barkans”
or fossil dunes in Holland, Germany and Galicia. These dunes were
formed of fine ice-deposited material, and they are crescent-shaped,
with their convexities to the east, indicating that they were built by
strong easterly winds. A moment’s consideration will show the truth
of the latter statement. Suppose there is an isolated round hillock of
sand exposed to strong easterly winds. The sand grains will travel up
the easterly windward slope of the hillock and roll down the westerly
leeward side. In this way the whole hillock will advance very slowly
westwards. But in the centre, where the hillock reaches its greatest
height, the grains will take longer to reach the highest point than
near the edges, where they have not to rise so high. At the edges a
strong gust will carry some of the heavier grains right over the dune,
while nearer the centre they will be left half-way, and when the gust
ceases will perhaps roll back to their original position. In this way
the margins of the dune will advance westward more rapidly than
the centre, producing the crescent shape with the convex side to the
east. At the time of their formation these dunes must have had their
steepest side to the westward, but the westerly winds which have
prevailed during the last few thousand years have succeeded in
modifying that detail, without destroying the general shape of the
dunes, and the steepest slopes are now on the eastern side. The
preservation of the original shape, in spite of the subsequent
development of westerly winds, is due in part to the coating of
vegetation, which protected the dunes as soon as more favourable
conditions occurred, and probably in part to the lesser velocity of the
westerlies. If the period of east winds and dune formation had been
long enough, we might have had another deposit of loess, but it was
short, and vegetation, which is necessary to the genesis of true
loess, had no time to establish itself before the climate changed
again with the final retreat of the ice. The climate of this period in
Rumania has been ably described by G. Murgoci: “In general the
prevailing climate of the time of the formation of loessoid soils and
blown sands must have been that which is named by E. de Martonne
the aralian climate, a dry climate with some rain in spring to call
forth a poor and transient vegetation and to maintain the flowing
water in rivers and lakes. The temperature with great extremes, in
summer up to 120° F. and in winter below 20° F., was the
characteristic of this climate; the atmosphere was very dry in the hot
season, but in the rest of the year there was some humidity in the
air and moisture in the soil, the water of the subsoil being not very
deep. The atmospheric precipitation in this region was caused by the
south-west wind just as at present; but the dominant wind giving
the character of a dry continental climate was the north-east wind
(Crivat) which has left its traces in the fossil dunes of the Baragan.”
A history of the changes of climate in Europe which followed the
maximum of the last readvance of the ice-sheet must be left to later
chapters.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brooks, C. E. P. “The correlation of the Quaternary deposits of the British Isles with
those of the continent of Europe.” Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1917, pp.
277-375. [Full list of references.]
Penck, A., and Brückner, E. “Die Alpen in Eiszeitalter.” 3 Vols. Leipzig, 1901-9.
Gagel, C. “Die Beweise für eine mehrfache Vereisung Norddeutschlands in
diluvialer Zeit.” Geol. Rundschau, 4, 1913, p. 39.
Wahnschaffe, F. “Die Oberflächengestaltung des norddeutschen Flachlandes.”
Stuttgart, 1910.
Svastos, R. “Le postglaciare dans l’Europe centrale du nord et orientale.” Ann. Sci.
Univ. Jassy, 4, 1908, p. 48.
 CHAPTER VI

THE MEDITERRANEAN REGIONS DURING THE GLACIAL PERIOD

Our knowledge of the history of the Mediterranean basin during the

Glacial period is not nearly so complete as is that of the more
northern regions, chiefly for the reason that during most of the
period the land lay above its present level, and except for local
glaciers in the mountain regions there was no ice to leave us a
record of the changing climates. Most of what we do know relates to
the relatively brief periods of submergence.
At the beginning of the Glacial period the sea lay some 500 feet
above its present level, and we can trace the first appearance of a
northern marine fauna. This stage is known as the Calabrian; it is
divided into two horizons—a lower, in which northern forms are still
rare, and an upper, in which they are becoming abundant. The most
typical species are two mollusca whose present habitat is the coast
of Iceland—Chlamys (Pecten) islandicus and Cyprina islandica.
The Calabrian beach is not found on the coast of Spain or at
Gibraltar, and in Algeria it probably occurs at a lower level. This
suggests that the subsidence at this period was local, and the
western lands stood up as a barrier against the Atlantic. There must
have been a channel of some sort, however, on the site of the
present Straits of Gibraltar, to provide an inlet for the immigrating
northern mollusca. In the Maritime Alps, and again in the eastern
Mediterranean, the Calabrian beaches are at a much greater height
owing to local elevation.
After the formation of the Calabrian beach the whole
Mediterranean region was elevated above its present level. This
elevation must be contemporaneous with the period of maximum
elevation in north-west Europe associated with the great Mindelian
glaciation. It is suggested that the “sill” of the outlet channel at
Gibraltar was raised above the level of the Atlantic, and the
Mediterranean became, first a closed salt lake, and then a pair of
lakes, the eastern fresh draining into the western, which was salt,
the two being separated by a ridge of land between Italy and Tunis.
This period of elevation was long enough for a great deal of
denudation to take place. Even in the Mediterranean this was a time
of severe climate. On the eastern side of Gibraltar there are breccias,
known as the “Older Limestone Agglomerate,” which reach a
thickness of 100 feet in places, and are now much weathered.
Similar agglomerates are found in Malta. These resemble the “head”
of the south of England, and appear to be due to frost action in a
severe climate. In Corsica there are traces of four periods of
mountain glaciation, and the two oldest of these are provisionally
correlated with the Gunzian and Mindelian of the Alps. In the Balkan
highlands there are traces of two distinct glaciations: the older,
which was the more general and reached the greater intensity,
probably corresponding to the Mindelian. In the Atlas Mountains
there are great boulder moraines which seem to belong to three
distinct glaciations, the oldest extending to about 2000 feet above
sea-level, and the second terminating at about 4000 feet, while the
third glaciation consisted of small valley glaciers only.
Towards the close of the Mindelian glacial period the land sank or
the ocean rose again, and the waters of the Atlantic poured in,
bringing with them a great number of high northern and Arctic
mollusca. The theory has been put forward that this influx was in the
nature of a debacle and carved out a deep gorge through the
present Straits of Gibraltar. The beaches deposited by this sea lie at
a height of 250 to 330 feet above the present sea-level. The fauna
resembles that inhabiting the northernmost parts of Europe at the
present day, and the waters must have been several degrees colder
than at present. This stage is termed the Sicilian.
 As the climate improved the land gradually rose again, and the
next general raised beach lies at a height of only about 100 feet in
southern Italy (except where it has been elevated by local earth-
movements). Further west it lies still nearer the present sea-level—
twenty feet in the Balearic Islands and only seven feet on the coast
of Spain. On the coast of Algeria and Tunis this beach is found at a
height of about forty-five feet.
The beach contains no trace of the northern fauna found in the
Sicilian stage; instead it is marked by an assemblage of mollusca of
a sub-tropical aspect, including Strombus bubonius, Mytilus
senegalensis and Cardita senegalensis. The bones of large mammals
are also found, including the hippopotamus and southern forms of
elephant (E. antiquus) and rhinoceros (Rh. merckii). This warm
stage corresponds to the Chellean interglacial fauna of northern
Europe, though so far as I am aware no Chellean implements have
been found associated with it.
About this time the Older Limestone Agglomerate of Gibraltar had
been worn into caves, in which are found the bones of ibex, wild
boar, leopard, spotted hyena, Rhinocerus leptorhinus, Elephas
meridionalis, lion, southern lynx, bear, wolf, stag, horse, etc., so that
the rock must have been covered by a rich vegetation, and must
have had a greater extent than now, and a connexion with the
continent of Africa. This is said to have been followed by a
submergence of about 700 feet with numerous oscillations. This
submergence, if it is really attributable to the interglacial, must have
been extremely local, and possibly it is much older.
After the warm Chellean period the Mediterranean region rose
again, probably contemporaneously with the rise which caused the
Rissian glaciation of northern Europe. But the climate was nothing
like so severe as in the Sicilian. We have no old beaches containing a
molluscan fauna of this period, but at the Grotte au Prince near
Mentone, investigated by M. Boule, the Strombus beach is overlain
by a bed of cemented pebbles and “hearths” containing Mousterian
implements and bones of a temperate fauna. The Newer Limestone
Agglomerate on the east of Gibraltar may have been formed during
this period. The Mediterranean lands remained above their present
level until the close of the Glacial period.
Each glaciation of northern Europe must have been a time of
greater rainfall as well as of lower temperature in the Mediterranean.
The glacial anticyclone in the north displaced the storms from the
Atlantic, which now mostly either skirt the north-west coast of
Norway or pass across Denmark into the Baltic. These storms had to
take a more southerly course, and entered the Mediterranean basin
either across the south of France or in the neighbourhood of
Gibraltar: tracks which are still occasionally followed in winter. These
storms brought a rainfall much heavier than the present, and of a
different character. The Mediterranean is now a “winter rain region,”
and the north of Africa is entirely rainless for several months in the
summer. But during the “Pluvial periods” it is probable that rain fell
throughout the year, though the winter still had more than the
summer. The winter rains were in the form of steady falls of long
duration, such as we experience now in England, while the summer
rains fell in short, heavy showers, perhaps accompanied by thunder.
The Older Pluvial period, which corresponds to the Mindelian
glaciation, had these conditions in their greatest development.
Depressions cannot live long without a supply of moisture, either
from the sea or from transpiring vegetation, and at present such
winter storms as enter the Mediterranean are almost confined to its
surface, and on the African side rarely penetrate more than one
hundred miles inland. But at the period of greatest elevation the
shrunken Mediterranean offered no such great attraction, and with a
comparatively well-watered Sahara the storms were able to pass
much further south. Consequently, northern Africa possessed a
number of large and permanent rivers which reached the sea. It was
along these rivers and their banks that the fauna still inhabiting the
Saharan oases made its way, to be isolated there by the decrease of
the rainfall, so that crocodiles and many species of fish now live in
isolated pools and in rivers which lose themselves in the sand.