General Flashcards

• A hazard is a potential threat to human life and property caused by an event.
• Hazards can be human caused or occur naturally (natural hazards).
• An event will only become a hazard when it is a threat to people.
• Human intervention to protect the forest from wildfires has inadvertently made it more vulnerable, which raises the concern of whether it is a better choice to let fires burn.
• Due to no fires eradicating diseases or harmful insects, the Mountain Pine Beetle has taken over the forest, which has severely affected the ecosystem and caused many trees to die.
• Forest in Jaspar has died back, as the beetle has affected 93,000 hectares.
• Eventually, the species will cause the forest to be destroyed and then naturally regrow, which would have happened by natural wildfires anyway.
• Hazards should not be confused with natural disasters.
• A disaster will only occur when a vulnerable population (one that will be significantly disrupted and damaged) is exposed to a hazard.
• Degg’s model is a good representation of this concept.
• If the population is not vulnerable, the hazard will not have a significant effect, thus the event will not be disastrous.
• There are three major types of geographical hazard: Geophysical hazards caused by land processes, Atmospheric hazards caused by atmospheric processes, and Hydrological hazards caused by water bodies and movement.
• Hazards can also be classified as a mixture of these geographical processes.
• Hazards can be responded to in a passive way (making no effort to lessen a hazard) or in an active way.
• Fatalism is a passive response to a hazard.
• Flooding from storm surges and heavy rain can cause river flooding, which can send more floodwater to other places, causing areas outside of the tropical storm’s path to flood also.
• El Niño (warm phase) and La Niña (cold phase) are also climatic events that are thought to affect wildfire prevalence.
• Landslides occur due to soil becoming heavy when wet with high levels of rain.
• Many climatic events can make wildfires grow more intense and extend wildfire seasons.
• The closer the hurricane gets, the easier it is to predict.
• Wildfires can occur anywhere in the world, but the most common areas wildfires occur in are located on this map (from 2010).
• The effects of these phenomena vary throughout the world, but in California El Niño is thought to provide warmer, wetter seasons to grow vegetation, and La Niña’s dryer seasons create more wildfires.
• Storm surges are a large rise in sea levels caused by low pressure and high winds, pushing water towards the coast.
• Scientists have predicted how many years it will take for a tropical storm to hit certain areas.
• Wildfire: A large, uncontrolled fire that quickly spreads through vegetation.
• The Santa Ana Winds and Diablo Winds in California, for example, cause more wildfire damage.
• From past storms and climatic trends, the probability of a storm hitting an area can also be predicted.
• Storm surges can also be predicted based on the pressure and intensity of the storm.
• Wildfires occur in a climate that has enough rainfall to have sufficient plant growth, but considerable dry spells and droughts to dry out the fuel.
• The first picture tracks 5 days in advance, the second picture is the day after.
• Hurricane winds are strong enough to blow a house down, and also blow heavy debris at high speeds, which can obviously cause damage and injure anyone who comes into contact.
• Areas with dry seasons such as California allow for intense wildfires.
• Conditions favouring intense wildfires include thick, close together vegetation that allows fires to spread quickly and easily, trees and thick bushes that lead to more intense wildfires, and vegetation with flammable oils that cause more intense fires.
• Wind also causes fires to spread quicker.
• The projected path of Hurricane Florence estimates the hour when the hurricane will hit.
• In areas of risk, campaigns teach people the dangers of leaving fires burning in forest areas through barbeques or cigarettes.
• Human causes of wildfires can be lit cigarettes, barbeques, agriculture, train lines and more.
• Political effects of wildfires include environmental pollution, loss of businesses, loss of government buildings, and risk of losing tourism sector.
• Public awareness can prevent the ignition of wildfires and prepare people for wildfires.
• Recent temperature increases have caused an increase in the number of wildfires and an increase the length of wildfire seasons.