Climatic Hazards and Change...

Start of a new unit today...

For those of you whose copies of the spec have mysteriously disappeared from your folders, a reminder that you can download it from the AQA website - pages 19-20 are the ones you need for the content of the physical part of the AS course.

We talked about the definitions of weather (atmospheric conditions on a short-term basis) and climate (average weather conditions over an extended period of time) - make sure that you are clear about the difference between the two - and extreme weather events (tropical revolving storms, tornadoes, floods, storm surges, etc.).

We also had a look at the ways in which weather and climate affect our lives - economically, socially, environmentally...

Finally, we started to look at the vertical stratification of the atmosphere:

http://www.visionlearning.com/

It is well worth you having look at The Atmosphere on the Met Office website - lots of other useful bits and pieces on there as well.

Three Gorges Dam

Thanks to Anna for another useful Three Gorges Dam site (though of course, by now, being the organised people you are, you will all have finished your essays and will have seen the site already!)

The Three Gorges Dam Project

Hope you're all having a good holiday...

Anywhere is Possible!

Thanks GeoDave!

If you could be anywhere now, where would it be?

Three Gorges Dam

A reminder of the FT Three Gorges Dam Special that I told you about this afternoon...

And a handful of other interesting articles/links...

Sold down the river

Yangtze River Dolphin driven to extinction

Three Fragile Gorges

Visions of China - Three Gorges Dam CNN Special

China Three Gorges Project website

This is just a start... there are LOTS more! Let me know if you find anything particularly good... And don't forget to have a look at a map as well.

Work to finish!

A reminder, as there seemed to be some confusion today, about the work that I need in from you by Wednesday:

- Boscastle question - you now have the OS map and colour versions of the photos, so no excuses! (I've had one so far...)
- Flooding in LEDW - your report on Mozambique or Bangladesh from last Friday's lesson (I've had one so far...)
- Bewdley work from today - how the flood defence scheme in Bewdley works (with specific detail about the different areas, etc.) and an evaluation of its effectiveness (I've had two so far...)

If you need some help let me know BEFORE Wednesday!!

Also, don't forget to make sure you have your results from Tuesday's Swanwick fieldwork with you as we will be writing that up on Tuesday morning.

Bewdley...

Information from the Environment Agency about trials of flood defences in the Severn Valley.

Excellent set of photographs of the Bewdley flood defences.

Also remember the resources on the GA website.

Wales...

A few of you have been asking about the Wales trip... There will be lots more information coming soon but in the meantime...

We will be leaving school on Monday 29th September and returning on Friday 3rd October, and we will be staying at Beechwood Court, which is just outside the town of Conwy.

The main purpose of the trip is for you to develop some of the skills that you will need for your coursework project, to give you some ideas about what you might want to do for your coursework project, and for me to remind myself how to use an OHP! It is highly likely that some of what we do will be different this year, but the itinerary in the past has been something like this:

Monday
Leave Swanwick at 9am. Arrive at Beechwood Court at about 2pm and allocate rooms, etc. Head to Conwy Morfa to examine the beach profile, longshore drift, and sorting along the spit. Dinner at 6ish, and then work/planning/preparation from 7.30-9.30ish.

Tuesday
Breakfast at 8ish. Walk up Conwy Mountain to look at the view, do some field sketching, etc.. Set off to Llandudno at 11am - working as a group in the morning to delimit the CBD, and then some smaller investigations in the afternoon, looking at accessibility, streetscapes, land-use, etc. Dinner and work!

Wednesday
Breakfast. Off to Snowdonia... Llyn Ogwen, Nant-Ffrancon, Cwm Idwal... looking at glaciation. Dinner and work! Looking at some past A level projects and planning a "pilot study".

Thursday
Breakfast. Off in small groups to various different places to carry out "pilot studies" - river studies, land use in Llandudno, traffic and transport in Conwy, saltmarsh study, accessibility, environmental impact assessments, and of course, the infamous scree slopes! Dinner and work.

Friday
Pack, load minibus, breakfast. Comparison of Trefriw and Betws-y-Coed as tourist destinations. Return to Swanwick by 4pm.

Check out the photos on Share from the past few years!!