Category: Geography In the News

Geography In the News

Geography of a Tragedy: Finding a Plane in the Middle of the Atlantic

OB-DU029_AirFra_NS_20090601084611.gifYesterday, an Air France passenger plane traveling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France disappeared in a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean in what will likely soon be confirmed as the deadliest airliner tragedy in a decade.

As you stay apace of the breaking news coverage over the next hours, here are a couple articles I’ve come across that highlight some of the more geographic aspects of the crash and recovery efforts.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has an excellently produced feature complete with video and multimedia interactives. Be sure to check out the Air France flight map and historical timeline of airplane crashes in the Atlantic.

The article also offers some insights into the meteorological factors that may have contributed to the plane’s failing and the technological capabilities of modern aircraft to detect and monitor weather conditions.

Were thunderstorms to blame for the crash?
 
The area approximately 700 miles off the coast of Brazil where the plane disappeared is part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) near the equator where maritime winds from the Northern and Southern hemispheres meet to produce thunder clouds and rainstorms; the ITCZ is also responsible for distinct wet and dry seasons in the region. The exact cause of the crash is still under debate: all planes and the pilots who fly them are well-equipped to deal with both thunder and lightning, and it is rare for significant complications to result from these forces alone.
 
Should planes be better equipped with more sophisticated radar technology?

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Geography In the News

For the Glory of Geography

 

 



geobee_homepage-logo.gifThis morning, the finals of the National Geographic Bee were held at NG headquarters here in Washington, D.C., as once again, the capital city became the site of a middle school brain drain. So, am I smarter than a 10-yr-old (the youngest age of the Bee finalists)? Well, let’s find out. The final question was: Timiş County
shares its name with a tributary of the Danube
and is located in the western part of which European country? My answer: No clue! Well okay, I could make an educated guess. Hungary? The correct response: Romania. Looks like this college grad’s knowledge of world geography pales in comparison to the arsenal those whiz kids are packin’!

 

The Bee was entertaining and enlightening, as any event hosted by quiz show legend Alex Trebek is destined to be. For instance, when questioned as to why he failed to qualify for the 2008 finals following a berth in 2007, Kennen Sparks of Utah matter-of-factly replied to Trebek–whose greatest accomplishment of the morning was pronouncing the contestants’ names correctly, mind you–“I got nervous.” Good answer!

 

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Geography In the News

Demystifying the Swine Flu Pandemic…with Geography!

GeoNews_SwineFlu_Resize.jpgCitizens around the world are concerned about the swine flu (H1N1) virus, which has been most insidious in Mexico but is also affecting travelers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and a growing number of nations. As of May 11, 3 U.S. deaths and upwards of 4,700 cases had been confirmed, with hundreds more suspected; as shown on Google

and Rhiza Lab’s Swine Flu incidence map.

Amid all the hype, assessing the real risks posed by the global spread of the disease can be daunting. Terms like “outbreak,” “epidemic,” and “pandemic” are often used liberally and interchangeably, infecting listeners with fear and confusion. Luckily, My Wonderful World is here to the rescue! The distinctions among these terms, and their implications, are–you guessed it–geographic.

Here’s a quick primer: An outbreak occurs when the reported cases of a disease are greater than the levels predicted for a given area or period of time. That means that if one person is predicted to get the flu in your town, and two become ill, it’s an outbreak! Outbreaks are usually, but not always, limited in geographic scale. The current swine influenza was considered to have reached outbreak status in April as a result of growing numbers of cases in Mexico.

Technically, the term epidemic can be used synonymously with outbreak, but it typically refers to a larger-scale incident affecting greater numbers of people in a more expansive geographic area. Confirmed reports of swine flu in the United States and Canada signaled an epidemic. 

A pandemic is an epidemic that has reached global proportions. The World Health Organization recognizes six stages or “phases” in the development of pandemic flu (these stages largely replace use of the terms outbreak and epidemic). The phases are categorized according to several factors including (1) virus presence in animals and/or humans, (2) rate of transmission, (3) geographic extent of the disease and (4) response recommendations.

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Classroom Ideas, Geography In the News

Lessons in Empathy

kumbaya-con-chickas1.jpg

An article in the New York Times Friday described how one
middle school in Scarsdale,
New York, is incorporating
lessons about empathy across the curriculum:

 English classes discuss whether
Friar Laurence was empathetic to Romeo and Juliet. Research projects involve
interviews with octogenarians and a survey of local wheelchair ramps to help
students identify with the elderly and the disabled. A new club invites
students to share snacks and board games after school with four autistic classmates
who are in separate classes during the day (Hu, NY Times).

Principal Michael McDermott provided context for Scarsdale’s efforts, saying, “As a school, we’ve done
a lot of work with human rights. But you can’t have kids saving Darfur and isolating a peer in the lunchroom. It all has
to go together.”

McDermott’s remarks reminded me of a post we did this February on the
“Every Human Has Rights” campaign and companion book. Produced by National Geographic, “Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids” puts this counsel into practice by compelling
students to engage with and apply the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of
Human Rights to their everyday lives.

Some argue that “soft skills” like empathy are better
cultivated at home and in religious and other extracurricular contexts. But others,
like educational experts Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, consider empathy a core
component of academic learning and comprehension. The folks at the Partnership
for 21st Century Skills attest that exclusion of such “life and
career skills” from the classroom is a chronic oversight with detrimental
consequences for students–and for the U.S. workforce. They point to
surveys of employers who cite skills like professionalism, teamwork, oral
communication, ethics and social responsibility among the most paramount
competencies for the workplace.

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Geography In the News, Take Action

Join the GLOBE at Night Campaign March 16-28, 2009!

Thanks to MWW reader Connie Walker for sharing this information about the GLOBE at Night Campaign, which is currently underway. My Wonderful World is an ardent supporter of citizen science initiatives like GLOBE, which we featured during last year’s inventory here on the blog. So get out and get stargazing–tonight!

GaN2008Map.gif

Map of 2008 observations courtesy GLOBE at Night

SHED LIGHT ON LIGHT POLLUTION!

Be part of the “GLOBE at Night” citizen-science campaign and
make a world of difference! The GLOBE at Night campaign runs March 16-28, 2009.
Help preserve our natural heritage for generations to come.

More than one-fifth of the world population, two-thirds of
the United States
population and one half of the European Union population are unable to see the
stars in our Milky Way galaxy arch across a pristinely dark sky. With half the
world’s population now living in cities, this problem is only getting worse.
Yet you can easily be part of a local solution to a global problem.

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