The Geographer’s Toolkit Focus Points
GT.1 Welcome to Physical Geography!
Geography: Geography emphasizes spatial relationships to gain insight into cultural and physical phenomena.
Physical geography: Physical geography employs a range of spatial and temporal scales to explore Earth’s physical systems and human influences on those systems.
Scale: Different spatial and temporal scales provide varied perspectives on physical phenomena.
GT.2 The Physical Earth
Earth systems: Earth’s four major physical systems are the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.
Solar energy: Solar energy flows through the atmosphere and biosphere. The Sun evaporates water, which precipitates on land and erodes the land surface as it flows.
Geothermal energy: Geothermal energy builds Earth’s surface relief through the process of plate tectonics.
GT.3 Mapping Earth
Latitude zones: The major zones of latitude are the tropics, midlatitudes, and high latitudes.
Maps and map scale: Maps portray spatial information efficiently. How much Earth’s surface has been reduced on a map is shown by the map scale.
Map elements: Maps should have a title, scale, legend, north arrow, and the date of publication.
GT.4 Imaging Earth
Remote sensing: Remote sensing provides important information about Earth’s changing physical systems. Satellite sensors, Doppler radar, and sonar are important remote sensing technologies.
GT.5 Geographic Perspectives: The Scientific Method and Easter Island
Scientific method: The scientific method is a procedural framework that improves our understanding of the natural world.
Theory: A theory is constructed from many hypotheses that have been tested and supported by data.