Geography 100 - Introduction to Geography
(Physical Geography)
Instructor: David E. Wilkins dwilkins@boisestate.edu
last updated 08/08/2002
Welcome to Geography 100!
This web page provides access to the course syllabus, some class handouts, as well as links to websites of interest that supplement the lecture. This page will be updated as time permits, and will hopefully improve with time.
Please note that the primary source for course documents (syllabus, maps, and lecture notes) and announcements will be the Blackboard site (http://blackboard.boisestate.edu). Instructions for logging in to Blackboard can be downloaded by clicking here:
Instructions (Acrobat .pdf format)
Instructions (Word .doc format)
Syllabus Click here for an MS Word file of the course syllabus, or here for an Acrobat file.
Textbook Companion Website. This is the website that provides very basic summaries of each chapter, as well as quizzes and exercises that you can take to test your comprehension level. A very good resource!
World Map. This is a blank map of the world, Robinson's projection, with parallels and meridians marked at 20° increments. This map is very useful for developing your own mental map of the distribution of phenomena across the globe, and should be brought to class. It is approx. 11" x 8.5", and is best downloaded and printed full viewing. Click here to download a copy in Word format.
Student Opportunities. These are opportunities and links to temporary jobs for undergraduates. They include internships and summer jobs. If the links do not work, there should be a contact person for each organization or notice that you should get in touch with. I can't guarantee that these will all work, although I will do my best to only post working websites.
- ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratories internships. Typically one semester research internship appointments for undergraduates.
- SCA. Student Conservation Association. These are temporary student opportunities with the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife, BLM, Forest Service, and other agencies. There are jobs posted across the nation. This is something I wish they'd had back when I was your age. These jobs add points to your application when or if you seek permanent employment with a federal agency.
Web Links
These are websites that I have found useful in preparing lectures, in understanding processes and principles, and just to keep up with the news.
Weather and Climate
- weather.unisys.com. Unisys Weather (formerly the Purdue Weather Processor). This page links to what I've found to be the most complete set of North American and US weather charts. These include surface and upper air maps, meteograms, skew-T diagrams, and weather maps.
- www.wunderground.com. Weather Underground. This page provides forecasts and links to current condition sites of the National Weather Service and cooperative stations. It also has a link to tropical weather conditions, provides sunrise, sunset and moon phase information, and allows a user to keep track of their favorite places. Want to know what the weather is like back home? Link to this site.
- www.wrh.noaa.gov/Boise. National Weather Service, Boise Field Office. The NWS is the primary source of all local weather observations and data used to make forecasts published in the media. Often, the forecast on TV is nearly verbatim what the weather service publishes. Good links to weather, forecasts (text), and climate data.
- weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KBOI.html. Current Weather Observations. If you know the three-letter designation of your local airport, you can look up the most recent hourly weather observation and the 24-hour history. Boise's FAA designation is BOI, so the weather station is KBOI. Dallas-Ft. Worth is DFW (KDFW), Salt Lake City is SLC (KSLC), and so forth.
- http://www.boi.noaa.gov/New/boinwscams.htm. National Weather Service webcams at their office near the Boise International Airport. Provides two views of the weather and physical enviroments near Boise.
- http://www.bogusbasin.com/webcam.htm. These provide a look from the webcams at Bogus Basin ski area north of Boise. Take a peek at the weather and physical environments a few miles from Boise. What controls the differences in physical environments between Boise and Bogus Basin?
- http://www.wrcc.sage.dri.edu/summary/climsmid.html. Idaho Climate Summaries. This page, compiled and supported by the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, has all climate records and summaries by month for 152 reporting stations in Idaho.
- www.wrcc.sage.dri.edu.Western Regional Climate Center, Reno. Great source for climate data for all other western states. This page also has links to the National Climate Data Center.
- http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/water/climate.National Resources Conservation Service climate data website. This site has an interactive map linking users with maps of individual states and county climate data for each state. For each county, if available, you can view temperature and precipitation (TAPS) and frost free dates.
- www.osei.noaa.gov. Operational Significant Event Imagery. This NOAA supported site provides a great archive of satellite imagery from the NOAA GOES and POES satellites and from European and Asian satellites. The images are catalogued by type of event, and range from severe weather to fires (they have some great shots from this summer) to snow cover to dust storms and volcanic eruptions. You can subscribe to their daily newsletter that notifies you of the most recent cool images.
- cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/wxcam.html. University of Michigan Weather Cams. Watch the weather around the country from the comfort of your desk.
Biomes and Soils
- http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/ecosystems.htm. Links to discussions, photos, and overviews of the major biomes of the world. Each biome page linked to here has other related links to follow.
- http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Laboratory/Biome. NASA has constructed a page that discusses the biomes, their weather and climate, and resulting vegetation and animal associations.
- http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/photogal/. A collection of photos of examples of the 12 major soil orders, on their formation, and characteristics used in identification. There are also photos of other soil profiles and landscapes. Provided by the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service National Soil Survey Center at the University of Iowa.
- http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/. A collection of the descriptions, maps, and photos of the twelve major soil orders. Provided by the Soils Science Division at the University of Idaho.
- http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/photogal/statesoils/id_soil.htm. This is the photo and description of the Threebear Series, the state soil of Idaho.
Digital Atlases and Internet Map Servers
- http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/index.html. National Geographic's Interactive Atlas. You can create printable maps of a number of physical and human geographic phenomena, including climate, weather, biogeographic regions, etc... If you wish to use these maps in a presentation, you can link to the printable version, and save the image to disk.
- http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasvue.html. The Digital National Atlas of the United States of America. Interactively build maps from different layers of digital data.
- http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/. The Digital Atlas of Idaho. This website, partially underconstruction, offers digital tours of select portions of Idaho's geography. From this page, select either the PC or Mac version. Modules include geology, biology, hydrology, historical geography, climate, and teaching aids.
- http://wildfire.usgs.gov/website/fireinfo/viewer.htm?Title=Wildfire%20Information. The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination Group (GeoMAC). As described by the authors "GeoMAC is an internet based mapping application, originally designed for firefighting coordination centers and incident command teams to access online maps of current fire locations and perimeters using standard web browsers such as Netscape Communicator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. However, with the growing concern of the western wildland fires, we are offering the application to the general public. We hope that you find this important information both timely and helpful."
Geomorphology and Remote Sensing (where do I start?)
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/quiz.pl. Another NASA site. Think you know your geography? How about identifying places from several hundred miles above the earth? Good resource for viewing geomorphic processes from a shuttle's perspective.
http://geogweb.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/Wells/wells.html. Lisa Wells' images illustrating principles of geomorphology. There are some great shots from South America, good arid lands geomorph pics.
www.usgs.gov. The USGS homepage. Maps and data are accessible through here, as well as links to other USGS programs such as:
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/. Volcanoes Hazards Program.
http://water.usgs.gov/dwc/. USGS Daily Streamflow Conditions. If you want to find the current streamflow parameters for any of several thousand stream gaging stations in the US, this is the place.
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/. Earthquake information center.
Professional Organizations. Early on in your academic career, students should begin to get involved with professional organizations in their fields and interests. You shouldn't wait until you are a senior or graduate student to start networking. These organizations typically have greatly reduced membership fees for students.
- GSA. Geological Society of America
- AGU. American Geophysical Union. Probably the best deal out there. Student membership is about $7 per year, and you get a biweekly newsletter, EOS, and Physics Today
- AAG. Association of American Geographers.
- NAGT. National Association of Geoscience Teachers.
- NSTA. National Science Teachers Association.
- AMQUA. American Quaternary Association.