terrain

Also known as land relief, relief, topographical relief

thumb|Present-day altimetry and [[bathymetry. Data from the National Geophysical Data Center's TerrainBase Digital Terrain Model.]] thumb|Relief map of Sierra Nevada (Spain)|Sierra Nevada, Spain upright|thumb|A shaded and colored image (i.e. terrain is enhanced) of varied terrain from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. This shows an elevation model of New Zealand's [[Alpine Fault, running about long. The escarpment is flanked by a vast chain of hills between the fault and the mountains of the Southern Alps. Northeast is towards the top.]]

AI overview

Terrain refers to the physical features and elevation patterns of Earth's land surface, including mountains, valleys, hills, and other variations in height. Understanding terrain matters because it influences where people live, how water flows, what can be built, and many other aspects of how we interact with the landscape.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

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Commons category: Landforms

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~6 min read

Article

9 sections

Contents

Importance
Relief
Geomorphology
Digital terrain model
See also
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of a land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain affects surface water flow and distribution. Over a large area, it can affect weather and climate patterns. Bathymetry is the study of underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level.