Static Quiz 09 October 2023 (Geography)

Solution: C
Justification: Option A: Nothing concrete can be said about the pattern here. It depends on the latitude and surrounding terrain. For e.g. for similar altitudes, ladakh and NE states would witness different precipitation. Option B: Coastal areas higher evaporation, moisture and cloud formation than interior areas. Moreover, any moisture-laden winds from ocean will first hit the coastal areas and then interior areas. Moisture would go on reducing as the wind advance further in. So, B is incorrect. Option C: Poles receive lesser solar insolation, have lesser evaporation and rainfall. Reverse is true for equator.

Solution: D
Justification: The color of any object depends on its ability to reflect selected wavelengths of light. Consequently, if the object does not reflect any color, it appears black. The tiny droplets of water in rain clouds scatter the white light of the sun. Red is scattered first, and violet the last. This happens at such a high altitude that no rays of the sun reach the bottom of the cloud. Thus, we do not see the rays of the sun, and this results in a dark effect. As normal clouds have no water, the light is not scattered and thus look white.

Solution: C
Justification: Water vapor capacity increases with temperature increase. At low temperatures, such as in Tundra regions, the air will hold very less moisture as it becomes more compact. So, (d) is wrong. Coastal regions generally have moderate temperatures and the air is already has a lot of moisture. So, (a) can’t be the answer. The case of option (b) is also similar due to high rainfall and not so high temperatures. In, hot sub-tropical deserts, you will notice that evaporation is very fast, as the air can contain a lot of water vapour due to the aridity and high temperature. So, (a) is the answer.

Solution: A
Justification: Statement 1 and 2: EI-Nino is merely an extension of the warm equatorial current which gets replaced temporarily by cold Peruvian current or Humboldt current (locate these currents in your atlas). The system involves oceanic and atmospheric phenomena with the appearance of warm currents off the coast of Peru in the Eastern Pacific and affects weather in many places including India. This current increases the temperature of water on the Peruvian coast by 10°C. This affects the local temperature, and thus ocean currents, wind pattern leading to rainfall changes. It brings drought, floods and other weather extremes to different parts of the world. EI-Nino is used in India for forecasting long range monsoon rainfall. Statement 3: It actually reduces the amount of phytoplankton and also diatoms because of the increase in the sea temperature. Planktons need a more ambient climate to survive.

Solution: A
Justification: They lie in the trade wind belt on the western parts of the continents where Trade winds are off-shore. They are bathed by cold currents which produced a ‘desiccating effect’ so that moisture is not easily condensed into precipitation. Dryness or aridity is the key note. Such deserts are tropical hot deserts or ‘Trade wind deserts’. They include the Great Sahara Desert; Arabian, Iranian and Thar Deserts; Kalahari, Namib, and Atacama Deserts; the Great Australian Deserts and the deserts of the south-west U.S.A, and northern Mexico. In the continental interiors of the mid-latitudes, the deserts such as the Gobi and Turkestan are characterised by extremes of temperatures.