Like history, geology is
concerned with explaining past events, this time from a physical
perspective. While geology and geography
both involve studying the earth, there are three key differences that
distinguish them from each other. One is
that geographers only study the surface.
Geologists mostly look at data about the interior of the earth and infer
what processes have taken place, while geographers only infer what has taken
place on the surface. Sometimes their
studies overlap, such as when mapping continental drift, or evaluating how a landscape
evolved, better known as geomorphology.
Another difference is that geographers
study human and earth processes while geologists are limited to only studying some
earth processes. The ability to study
human behavior offers a plethora of sources from which the geographer can
gather data, such as on population, agriculture, economics, migration, and
ethnicity. Geologists don’t study any of
these human traits and behaviors.
Instead, they are only concerned with earth processes that help explain
solid earth structures and materials, including earthquakes and volcanoes. Earth processes they don’t typically research
are meteorology and oceanography, but the geographer does because they
significantly influence regional climate.
A third and final difference is that
geographic research is more about evaluating spatial relationships than events shaping
earth processes. Mapping is a key
element of geographic research that geologists would only need if they were
describing changes on a long enough time scale.
This limitation prevents geology from describing present conditions the
way a geographer does, making it more of a study about the past.
The article Glacier Remote Sensing
Using Sentinel-2… is more about geography than geology. The researchers utilized remote sensing to
map glacier retreat, as global warming is melting them at an historical
rate. Remote sensing is a geographic
tool that scans the earth’s surface for data in real time. In addition to glacial extent, it can be used
to map a variety of environmental factors like vegetation and flooding- all
surface features. And while geologists
do interpret data about the surface, it is mainly from an historical
perspective and not necessarily what’s happening in the present.
Considering this, glacial retreat is
more of a contemporary environmental issue.
It is not about the past because it relates to the impact of drought on
human conditions. Around the globe,
glacial melt provides much of the water for local rivers that farmers rely on
to irrigate crops. Measuring their
retreat is of fundamental importance when it comes to monitoring environmental
changes that impact agriculture. It also
impacts local biodiversity, which humans may depend on for a diverse crop
yield. And to a lesser extent, glacial
retreat can impact transportation, as rivers and lakes receiving supply from
glaciers may no longer cover enough area to support shipments over long
distances.
Another reason this article is more
about geography than geology is the use of maps to communicate results. The maps compare bands from different
satellites to help geographers decide the best parameters to use when mapping
glaciers. For example, one of the
measures indicated a difference in performance when ice was detected under shadows
(Winsvold et al, 12). Comparisons
between satellites generating two different data sets about the same areas
being mapped more applies to the spatial analysis of glaciers and not any
geologic dynamic.
Satellites are an important resource
for geographers using multiple remote sensing tools, and for the detection and
monitoring of glacial retreat in sensitive areas that rely on seasonal melt. Though they can infer processes about Earth’s
past, particularly when it comes Ice Age cycles, most of the data retrieved is
used for a contemporary analysis of human-related issues. Because they reveal patterns on the surface
that impact human behavior, like glacial retreat, they are more relevant to the
study of geography than geology.
Paul, F., Winsvold, S. H., Kaeaeb, A., Nagler, T., &
Schwaizer, G. (2016). Glacier Remote Sensing Using Sentinel-2.
Part II: Mapping Glacier Extents and Surface Facies, and Comparison to Landsat
8. Remote Sensing (Basel, Switzerland), 8(7),
575-575. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8070575
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