Page 743 - Geosystems An Introduction to Physical Geography 4th Canadian Edition

Index I-9
Moon, 15, 45, 53, 96, 499–500 Moraines, 542, 547–550 More-developed countries (MDCs), 10,
308–309
Mountain breezes, 162–163, 164 Mountain Hemlock ecozone, 276 Mountains. See also Glaciers; Volcanoes
air pressure and, 66–67, 144 alluvial fans, 474, 476
atmospheric stability and, 193–194 climate of, 293
crust deformation, 391–392
fog and, 198
geomorphic belts and exotic terranes,
370–371
highland climates, 282
lenticular clouds, 196
orogenesis (mountain building), 394–401 orographic lifting, 211–212
pollution, effect on, 81
rain shadow, 237
record rainfalls, 215
relief and topography, 384–386 temperature patterns, 123
as topographic region, 385–386
water resources, 241
Mountaintop removal mining, 446–447 Mount Everest, 30, 67, 70, 385, 386 Mount Pinatubo, 15, 19, 73, 97, 144, 320,
415–416, 613
Mount St. Helens, Washington, 31, 410–411,
414–415, 417, 625–626 Mudflows, 441–447
Mud pots, 371, 378 Mudstone, 359 Munsell, Albert, 575 Mutualism, 620
N
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
atmosphere exploration, 65
Blue Marble program, 139
Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System
(CERES), 124
energy budget research, 112
Global Hawk aircraft, 76
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 122 GRACE satellites, 256, 269
Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), 223 ocean circulation, 172
Operation IceBridge, 306
ozone mapping, 75
World Wind software, 36
National Academy of Sciences, 135, 333 National Center for Earth Surface
Dynamics, 467
National Center for Photovoltaics, 109 National Climatic Data Center (NCDC),
134–135, 252
National Council for Geographic Education, 6 National Defence Stations, 220
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction
Program, 408
National Forest Inventory, 667 National Geophysical Data Center, 507 National Hurricane Centre, 226, 231 National Institute for Standards
and Technology (NIST), 25 National Interagency Fire Center, 624 National Ocean Service, 492 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), 33, 134 National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP), 33 National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL), 109
National Research Council, 408
National Research Council of Canada, 25 National Research Council, United States, 135 National Severe Storms Laboratory and Storm
Prediction Centre, 221
National Snow and Ice Data Center, 91 National Topographic System (NTS), 30 National Water Research Institute, 266 National Weather Service, U.S., 111, 118,
220, 221
Natural gas, 69, 264–265, 308–310, 332–333,
405, 408
Natural levees, 473, 475
Natural selection, 628–634
Natural systems, example of, 12
Nazca plate, 367, 368, 407
Neap tide, 500
Needleleaf forests, 644, 655–657
Negative feedback, 12–13
Neogene, 349
Net primary productivity, 609–610
Net radiation (NET R), 51, 105
Nevadan orogeny, 349, 396
New Orleans, United States, 233–234, 235 Newton, Sir Isaac, 7, 19, 149
Niagara escarpment, 472–473, 474 Nickpoints, 472–473, 474
Nile River, 269, 475, 477, 478
Nitrogen (N2)
air pollution, 77, 78–79, 82–83 atmosphere composition, 68
Clean Air Act and, 81
climate change, causes of, 328–335, 330 elemental cycles, 610–613
greenhouse effect, 98–101
groundwater pollution, 263–264 Nonfoliated rock, 361, 362
Normal fault, 392, 393
Normal lapse rate, 71, 86, 122–123, 191 North American Plate, 368, 403
North Atlantic Drift, 165–168
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), 171, 318–319 Northeast trade winds, 153, 155
Northern hemisphere. See also Atmospheric
circulation; Ocean circulation cold and warm fronts, 212–216 Coriolis force, 148–150
cyclonic systems, 216–220 temperature patterns, 130–134 water distribution, 243–244
North Magnetic Pole (NMP), 347, 353–355 North Pole
Arctic Oscillation (AO), 171 climate, 295
Earth’s rotational speed, 55
energy budget, 50–51, 102–103, 106 latitude, 20–21
ozone hole, 74–75
sea ice melt, 91, 112
seasonal changes, 55–59, 132–133 tropopause, 71
No-till agriculture, 580
Nuée ardente, 413, 414–415, 417 Numerical age, defined, 348 Nutrients
aquatic environments, 626–627 elemental cycles, 610–613
food chains and webs, 613, 616–619
O
Obsidian, 355, 356
Occluded front, 217, 218
Occluded stage, midlatitude cyclone, 217, 218 Ocean circulation. See also Atmospheric
circulation
Coriolis force, wind, 148–150
Earth’s climate system, 278, 280–281 Human Denominator, 172
land-water heating differences, 126–129 marine debris, 163–164, 165
models of, 335–337
natural oscillations in, 168–171
surface currents, 163–165
thermohaline circulation, deep currents,
165–168
wind, overview of, 144–151
Oceanic crust, 351, 352 Oceans
acidification, 321, 515
air pollution sources, 73
basalt, 356
as carbon sink, 321, 322–323, 324 climate change, evidence for, 325
coastal deposition, 507–516
coastal erosion, 505–507, 508
coastal system components, 495–498 coastlines, changes in, 491
continental crust formation, 388–389 currents, energy flow for, 103
dead zones, 614–615
elemental cycles, 611–613
Human Denominator, 526
hydrothermal vents, 360
icebergs and, 184
land-water heating differences, 124–129 net primary productivity, 609–610
net radiation values, 106
ocean floor map, 382
orogenesis (mountain building), 397–399 overview of, 385, 492–495
ozone loss, effects of, 74–75
relief and topography, 384–386
role in energy balance, 112
seafloor spreading, 363–366, 367
sea ice melting, 325–326, 327
sea level rise, 326, 327, 336–337 subduction zones, 366–367
temperature of, 119, 325
tides, 498, 499–501
water distribution on Earth, 243–244 waves, 501–505
wind processes, 516–525
Ocean sediment cores, 311–313 Oil
carbon emissions, 69
climate change and, 308–310 extraction of, 143, 353, 423–424 fracking, 264–265, 405, 408
oil spills, 495, 496–497 pipelines, 553, 555
Oil sands, 423–424. See also Athabasca oil sand
Oligocene Epoch, 349
Oligotrophic, 626–627
Omineca Belt, 370–371
Open pit mining, 446–447
Open stage, midlatitude cyclones, 217, 218 Ordovician Period, 349
Organic order, soils, 585, 588, 594, 599 Orogens, defined, 394
Orographic lifting, 209, 211–212, 214,
297, 298
Orographic precipitation, 211–212, 213 Outgassing, 66, 243, 320
Outlet glacier, 538
Outwash plain, 548
Overthrust fault, 393–394
Overturned anticline, 391
Oxbow lake, 468–471
Oxidation, 434–435
Oxygen (O2)
atmosphere composition, 68–69 Earth’s core, 351