The Physical Environment- Quiz Yourself

I was sitting in my office looking at a globe (a common activity for me in Lubbock-- always planning my next trip) and I decided that I should test your learning so far. After you have gone through all of the reading material and thought about the factors that influence global patterns in you should be able to answer these questions. These questions are intended purely as a vehicle for making you think about the material a bit more, to allow you to test your understanding, and to hopefully stimulate some interaction. Your answers will not be graded in any way. If you like you can just answer them to yourself at home or you could post your answers as comments on the blog so that you can get feedback from your fellow classmates and me and so you can see how other students answered the questions (I hope you will choose this option).

Here are a few questions in honor of standardized multiple choice tests. (you should be able to write out a sentence or two to justify your answers)

1. What is the predominant direction that the winds blow in Adelaide, Australia (approximately 37 deegrees South latitude)?
a) north
b) south
c) east
d) west

2. What is the predominant direction that the winds blow in Runaway Bay, Jamaica (approximately 19 degrees North latitude)?
a) north
b) south
c) east
d) west

3. What is the predominant direction that the winds blow in Reykyvic, Iceland (approximately 64 degrees North latitude)?
a) north
b) south
c) east
d) west

4. Peru is located on the west coast of South America. What is the predominant direction of ocean currents along Peru?
a) north to south
b) south to north
c) east to west
d) west to east

5. Portland, Oregon and Pierre, South Dakota are located at approximately the same latitude (about 45 degrees north) but they have very different climates. Use your understanding of the the factors that affect climate of a region to discuss how and why the climate varies between these two regions.

6. Finally, we have spent a lot of time trying to understand the factors that determine global patterns of temperature and precipitation. What would you tell your students to explain to them why it is so imporant to know what the temperature and precipitation of an area is if you want to understand the biology of an area?