The Earth as a Rotating Planet

Textbook:
Chapter 3
 The Earth as a Rotating Planet

• Examine the rotation and revolution of the

Earth
• Identify basic features of maps and introduce
GIS and GPS
• Explain system of standard time
• Describe the processes responsible for
seasons
•Earth’s rotation locates the Geographic
North & South Poles and Equator
• remember the Earth rotates Eastwards
 Rotation Definitions

• Rotation - the slow spin of our planet, one

complete rotation is a solar day
• Axis - imaginary straight line through the
Earth’s center, connecting the North and
South Poles
• Explain system of standard time
• Describe the processes responsible for
seasons
 Importance of Earth’s rotation

• Earth’s axis provides the frame of reference

with which to develop geographic coordinate
systems (latitude and longitude)
• Temporal framework with which to measure
the passage of time
• Physical and biological processes are
impacted in important ways
 Impact of Earth’s rotation

• Diurnal rhythm in light, temperature,

humidity, wind
• Coriolis effect formed due to differential flow
of air masses with respect to Earth’s rotation,
impacts wind direction, speed and oceanic
currents
• Tidal movement from gravitational impacts of
the Moon create high and low tides, ebb/flow
• Equator - Earth’s longest parallel of latitude,
located midway between the Poles
• Geographic grid – Network of interacting
parallels and meridians
• Great & small circles – Two types of circles
formed from parallels and meridians
Great circles –
Created when a
plane passes
through Earth’s
center, bisecting
the globe into equal
halves
Small circles – A
smaller plane
intersects with the
surface but doesn’t
pass through the
center
Longitude is the Latitude is the angle
angular distance between a point on a
east or west of parallel and the centre
the Prime of the Earth and a point
Meridian on the equator

Meridians Parallels are also

connect lines of known as lines of
equal longitude latitude
 Latitude
(Parallels)
• 1 degree latitude =
a constant 111 km

Longitude
(Meridians)
• e.g. location of Winnipeg • 1 degree of
49 degrees 53 minutes N longitude = 111 km
47 degrees 10 minutes W at the equator and 0
at the poles
Latitude and Longitude angles
• Latitude indicates
how far north or
south of the equator
a parallel is
• Longitude is a
measure of a
meridian eastward
or westward from
the reference, or
prime, meridian
• Earth is an oblate ellipsoid (flattened at the
poles), so cannot be divided into rectangular
portions
• divided up by degrees, i.e. 360, which is
subdivided up to 60 minutes and 60 seconds.
• provides a “grid” of imaginary lines
 Latitude and Longitude angles
• Minutes & seconds
– used for
measurements in
less than full-
degree increments
• Minutes = 1/60 of a
degree
• Seconds – 1/60 of a
minute, or 1/3600
of a degree
 Cartography
• The art and science of making maps
• Art – Making a map that is appealing, useful,
and understandable
• Science – Translating the curvature of the
Earth into a 2-D map; using numerical
measurements to create interpretations of the
planet that convey accurate information
Mercator World Map - 1569
 Map Projections
• In order to convert the spherical planet into a
flat surface map without distorting the
information, a projection needs to be used
• Scale fraction – ratio relating distance in map
to distance on Earth’s surface
– 1:50,000 means that one unit of distance on the
map is equivalent to 50,000 units of distance on
the Earth’s surface
 Map Projections
• In the past, map projections were created
using rays from a central light source
 Polar Projection

• Centered on
either North or
South Pole
•Meridians are
radiating straight
lines
• Parallels are
concentric circles
• Scale fraction
increases outward
from the pole
 Polar Projection

• Usually cut off showing one hemisphere at a

time
•Intersections of parallels with meridians always
form true right angles – allowing for the true
shape of small areas to be displayed
 Mercator Projection

• Rectangular grid of
meridians and
parallels
•Meridians evenly
spaced while parallels
increase at higher
latitudes

• Cylindrical projections usually oriented so the equator

forms the standard parallel
• low latitudes are displayed the most accurately.
• A compass line drawn in this projection will allow for
determination of bearing, or direction angle of the line
•Useful for mapping temperature, wind and air pressure
 Goode Projection
• 2 sets of mathematical curves to form meridians
– Since curves between 40th parallels
– Ellipses towards the poles
 Goode Projection
• “Interrupted projection” – necessary due to how
shapes of areas, particularly at higher latitudes and
at the far left/right margins become distorted
• Map split into smaller, separate sectors
• Each sector centered on a different vertical
meridian, then assembled at the equator
• Greatly reduces shape distortion, yet separates
portions of maps that actually lie right next to each
other at the surface
 Goode Projection
• Indicates true sizes of areas of Earth’s surface
• Goode maps show geographical features of
surface areas: climate, soils, vegetation etc.
 Modern Cartography and GIS
GIS = Geographic Information System
• it is a computer-based system that allows
maps, diagrams, satellite images and aerial
photographs to be stored and manipulated
• it uses geographically referenced data (e.g.
projections)
• spatially-referenced data can therefore be
used to solve complex planning problems.
• Spatial objects (vector) are geographic areas to
which some sort of information is attached
– Point
– Line
– Curved Line
– Directed Line
– Intersecting Lines
– Polygon
• 5 key elements of a GIS
– Data Acquisition – maps, tabular data etc.
– Preprocessing – data converted into forms usable in GIS
software, or places them into the same projection or
coordinate system
– Data Management – creates, stores, retrieves and
modifies data layers and spatial objects
– Data Manipulation and Analysis – ask and answer
questions about spatial data and creates new data from
analyses
– Product Generation – Maps, graphics, tabulations,
statistical reports
Geographic
Information
Systems:

Note that for

each map layer,
the geographic
location of a
point on the
Earth’s surface
must coincide
(georeferencing)
 A first GIS was a map
created by John Snow in
1854 that compared
incidents of cholera with
public water pumps. This
was instrumental in
lessening the severity of the
outbreak and preventing
future disease
 Global Positioning System (GPS)
• 24 satellites that orbit the
earth every 12 hours
• To determine location a
receiver listens
simultaneously from
signals of 4 or more
satellites
• Each satellite and receiver
have clocks
• Triangulation determines
location in lat/long
Time
 Time

• based on the east-west position of the Sun

• a solar day is where the Sun makes one
apparent circuit
• a solar noon is the highest point the Sun
reaches in the sky
• Local time differs in every place standard time
• Created a system of Standard Time
• the time is calculated by the position of the
Sun at selected meridians
 Time

•Earth rotates fully once every 23 hours, 56

minutes
•Use of 24-hour day based on this
•Time across planet differs
•Solar noon can take place at the same time at
places of the same longitude, but only one
meridian can be at solar noon at one time
(Mobile, Alabama and Chicago, Illinois)
The Earth rotates
15 degrees per
hour so time
zones differ by 1
hour.
The earth rotates
360 degrees in 24
hours:
360/24 = 15
Standard Time

Standard time system –

developed to coordinate
global timekeeping

Standard meridian –
meridians used to
establish time zone
changes, generally 15
degrees apart
 International dateline
(180th meridian)

The point where a different day is

observed on different sides of the
“line”
Doesn’t follow 180th meridian
exactly
 If you cross it from the west to the east) e.g.
Tokyo to San Francisco) = 1 day earlier (in
other words you will experience one day (e.g. a
Wednesday) twice

Tokyo San Francisco

N
Revolution of the Earth and Moon
Revolution
• one complete circling around the Sun
• from above north pole in counter clockwise
direction
• the path is not circular but is elliptical
• orbits on the plane of the ecliptic

SUN
Sun is not in the middle of the plane of ecliptic

Aphelion - the Earth Perihelion - the Earth

furthest away from Sun closest to Sun
(July 4) (January 3)

E SUN E

variation in distance of 3%
Equinox
Conditions

Circle of
Illumination

Subsolar point
Equinoxes
when the Sun’s noontime rays strike vertically
at the equator. It occurs halfway between the
two solstices
In the Northern Hemisphere:
• Spring (vernal) equinox - March 21
• Fall (autumnal) equinox - September 23
• 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night on
these dates
Rotation
The earth’s
axis is tilted
66.5°
to the plane of
the ecliptic
or from the
perpendicular
by 23.5°
As the Earth’s axis points same way it remains
parallel (parallelism)
Seasons
• as the axis is tilted different parts of the Earth face
the sun at different times
• maximum tilt of north around June 22
• maximum tilt of south around December 22
• = SOLSTICES
Solstice Conditions
 The Earth as a Rotating Planet
• Rotation and Revolution
• Latitude, Longitude, Meridians, Parallels
• Great and small circles
• Equator, Tropics and Arctic/Antarctic circles
• Map projections
• Solstices and Equinoxes
• Standard Time and time zones