20th May Static Quiz 2021 (Geography)

Solution: C
Justification: The horse latitudes are located at about 30 degrees north and south of the equator. It is common in this region of the subtropics for winds to diverge and either flow toward the poles (known as the prevailing westerlies) or toward the equator (known as the trade winds). These diverging winds are the result of an area of high pressure, which is characterized by calm winds, sunny skies, and little or no precipitation. According to legend, the term comes from ships sailing to the New World that would often become stalled for
days or even weeks when they encountered areas of high pressure and calm winds. Many of these ships carried horses to the Americas as part of their cargo. Unable to sail and resupply due to lack of wind, crews often ran out of drinking water.

Solution: A
Justification: The chinook, a native word meaning “snow eater,” belongs to a family of winds experienced in many parts of the world where long mountain chains lie more or less at right angles to the prevailing wind. It is a warm and dry westerly wind that blows down the Rocky Mountains into the mountains’ eastern slopes and the western prairies. The Chinook wind provides a welcome respite from the long winter chill.

Solution: A
Justification: Statement 3: The excess or absence of Landmass does not seem to have a bearing on the windlessness of this region which is more dependent on the culmination of trade winds. Statement 1: Known to sailors around the world as the doldrums, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, (ITCZ), is a belt around the Earth extending appro imately five degrees north and south of the equator. Here,
the prevailing trade winds of the northern hemisphere blow to the southwest and collide with the southern hemisphere’s driving northeast trade winds. Due to intense solar heating near the equator, the warm, moist air is forced up into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon. As the air rises, it cools, causing persistent bands of showers and storms around the Earth’s midsection. The rising air mass finally subsides in what is known as the horse latitudes, where the air moves downward toward Earth’s surface. Because the air circulates in an upward direction, there is often little surface wind in the ITCZ. That is why sailors well know that the area can becalm sailing ships for weeks. And that’s why they call it the doldrums.

Solution: B
Justification: Statement 1: Low-pressure systems attract wind from high-pressure areas nearby, sometimes even forming cyclonic depressions.

South-East trade Winds blow in the Southern Hemisphere. North-east trade winds flow in Northern Hemisphere. The surface air that flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis Effect. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. Because winds are named for the direction from which the wind is blowing, these winds are called the north-easterly trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere and the south-easterly trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds of both hemispheres meet at the doldrums.