The Beginning of the End

Poland’s landscape is a very unique landscape.  In different areas of the country you can find completely different forms of landscape. It has a little bit of every type; it has the Baltic Sea, the Vistula River, and the Tarta Mountains and also contains karsts, lowlands and highlands. The amount of water that is present in and surrounding Poland would classify Poland as having fluvial and costal landscapes. With the Tarta Mountains, rock formations and other mountains in this country Poland can also be looked as being a Karast Landscape.  Looking at just the landscape of Poland you can see how unique and diverse this country really is.

Poland Landscape 1,000 Years from Now

                In 1,000 years from now I think that Poland’s landscape will have changed slightly.  I think that the Yearly ice ages that they have will be intensified.  As of now they experience an ice age every year in the winter time that claims 10-30 lives yearly.  I believe that due to the fact of moisture in the air that has been increasing steadily in the past years that by then the ice ages will be even more severe and claim 30-50 lives.   This will have a major impact on not only the landscape but the overall population and living conditions of Poland.

Poland Landscape 10,000 Years from Now

                In 10,000 years from now I think that Poland’s landscape will have changed a lot. I think that because of the Sea level fluctuations.  As of today in 2013 the sea level line is at 500km which is a relatively low level, and due to that a vast amount of the population lives in these costal lowlands.  With climate changes that are already in the process and the fact that the sea level is anticipated to rise, I see the landscape changing quite a bit.  I think that in 10,000 years the sea level will have risen to no longer be classified as being a low level and with this there will be no more lowlands for the population to live on.  I think that the population will have to move to higher grounds which would probably be more inland, as a result to this I think that the population density may be affected and they might be facing the problem of overpopulation.

Low Sea Level

Poland Landscape 1,000,000 Years from Now

                In 1,000,000 years from now I think that Poland’s landscape will have changed drastically. I think that over these years things such as increasing ice age, sea level fluctuation and the population demographics that are caused by these two and many other issues will have transformed Poland to be something completely different from what it is today.  I believe that with all the changes that are happening it will be such a drastic change that is will not be the same Poland that we see as of today.

Possible Overpopulation

Conclusion

                Overall Poland was a great place to research for my Physical Geography class.  There were so many different aspects that I could look at and examine.  Poland truly has one of the most diverse landscapes I have ever seen and I am glad that I got to see this for myself in this blog. 

References

http://www.poland.travel/en/about-poland/geography/

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2112/07A-0014.1

http://www.rewildingeurope.com/areas/eastern-carpathians/local-situation/

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Landscapes/Fluvial/Fluvial.html

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Landscapes/KarCoast/KarCoast.html

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Landscapes/Glac/Glac.htm

Humidity,Dew Point? WHAT?

Humidity

The relative humidity in Poland ranges from 46% which can be considered comfortable, to 97% which is extremely humid and not comfortable. The humidity in Poland can be very high because of the Atlantic air which collides with the dry air from the Eurasian interior. With that collision of the two different air sources, the weather tends to fluctuate frequently and the seasons may look very different.

Dew Point

The dew point is often a better measure of how comfortable a person rather than the humidity. The dew point will help describe what the weather will be like rather than the humidity will tell us. The lower the dew point is the drier is feels where the higher it is the more humid it feels. In Poland the dew point usually varies from 20°F, which is pretty dry, to 61°F which is a comfortable level.  It rarely goes below 3°F or above 67°F so it pretty much stays in the middle not spike to either negative of too dry or too humid.

The goal of humidity is to create condensation. This happens by reaching the dew point when the relative humidity is 100%. There are many ways this can occur, but in Poland this condensation happens through transpiration. Transpiration is increasing the amount of humidity present until it hits the dew point from the plants. You can see this by the amount of dew that is present on the plants, which can be called horizontal precipitation.

All this humidity talk can be kind of confusing, but more importantly you might be asking yourself what this means in my everyday life. Knowing the humidity can help you plan what to wear, how to still your hair, what activities to do for the day and much more.

Sources

http://weatherspark.com/averages/28907/Warsaw-Mazowieckie-Poland

http://www.about-poland.com/polish-climate.html 

Images Top to Bottom

http://weatherspark.com/averages/28907/Warsaw-Mazowieckie-Poland

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycleevapotranspiration.html

http://www.organiccolorsystems.com/is-the-hair-curly-straight-or-wavy/

http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2009/02/18/causes-and-remedies-for-frizzy-hair/

Vistula Water Level

The Vistula is the longest and largest river in Poland being 1,047km long and is known to be the largest source of water for Poland.  The sources of its water are the Barania Gora and the Silesian Beskids,and its mouth is the Baltic Sea and the Gdansk Bay.  The Vistula is also known for the drastic variations in water levels in different sections of the river and also due to the climate change.

The red line on the map is the Vistula River and as you can see it runs throughout Poland is the longest river.

 

The Vistula is broken up into three sections the upper which averages12 feet, the middle which averages 25 feet, and the lower which averages 33 feet, as mentioned the climate has a major impact on the water level as well.  In the late summer to the spring there are low-water periods, due to the colder climate that usually create ice forms on the surface of the Vistula rather than increasing the water level and volume.  With these low water levels many things are affected, such as the way of life for surrounding citizens and a disruption in the navigation system. 

This is the Vistula River at an extremely low water level, due to this severity Poland was put in a drought.

 

As expected if the climate can cause a lack of water it could also cause an increase of water.  Flash floods are a major problem that is present in the spring time.  With this knowledge drainage density aspects have been put into place.  The river contains storage reservoirs that are located in the valleys of the mountain range it runs through, with the main goal of storing the excessive water flow to prevent flooding, and recently even larger storage basins have been built.  These floods are caused by melting snow and ice that had been built up over the winter in the drainage areas.  Also with these floods heavy rains have also been known to occur in the spring.  This could affect many people with the overwhelming amount of surplus in water, in many ways but most commonly of flooding surrounding environments.

This is a house located near the Vistula that is clearly flooded by the run off of melting snow and ice in the spring time.

 

 

SOURCES

 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/630787/Vistula-River/34488/Hydrology

 http://www.icid.org/v_poland.pdf

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Battle/Destroy/Hydrology/HydrologyBasics.html

IMAGE SOURCES

http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-55182/Vistula-River

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/poland/100524/vistula-river-flood-natural-disaster-news

TATRA MOUNTAINS

The Tatra Mountains are located in the southern region of Poland with the highest point, Carpathian Arch at 1200km and the main crest stretching from the northwest to the south east.  The Tartas are surrounded on the north side with valleys, in one valley you can find the mountain resort and tourist attraction of Zakopane.

 The Mountain resort area of Zakopane.

The Tatra Mountains are made of two different types of rocks.  The first is igneous rocks such as crystalline granitoids and can be found in the High Tatra.  These rocks are classified as igneous because they were formed by solidified magma from the Palaeozoic Era.

 

An example of an igneous rocks such as crystalline granitoids.

The second type of rock found in the Tatra Mountains is sedimentary rocks such as gneisses which can be found in the Western Tatras are much younger rocks that were formed in the Mesozoic Era.  These rocks can be classified as sedimentary rocks because they can be broken down very easily and with the certain amount of heat can be transformed back into its original state of magma.

 

 An example of sedimentary rocks such as gneisses.

The Tatra Mountains were formed due to plate tectonics, in the middle of the Tertiary Era.  The collision of the African and Eurasian plates which created the Alps, also created the Tatra Mountains.  With the African and Eurasian plates coming together the sedimentary rocks in the north were also affected.  The crystalline core migrated further north and began to fold and form the range of hills, which now lie in the north range in Poland.

 

Map of the plates, the African and Eurasian plates colliding formed the Tatras.

Source of Information 

http://www.peaklist.org/WWlists/euro600/tatra/tatraintro.html

Pictures from Top to Bottom

http://www.zakopane-life.com/media/pics/zakopane-poland.jpg

http://www.beg.utexas.edu/mainweb/publications/graphics/granite-400.jpg

http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geogres/maps/physgif/eurasplt.gif