QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ, 9 May 2020 – Geography

Solution: c)

All the above factors influence insolation.

Rotation of earth: The rotation of the earth on the inclined axis has a greater influence on the amount of insolation received at different latitudes.

Angle of inclination of sun rays: Since the earth is a geoid resembling a sphere, the sun’s rays strike the surface at different angles at different places. This depends on the latitude of the place. The higher the latitude, the less is the angle they make with the surface of the earth. The area covered by the vertical rays is always less than the slant rays. If more area is covered, the energy gets distributed and the net energy received per unit area decreases. Moreover, the sun’s rays with small angle traverse more of the atmosphere than rays striking at a large angle.

Length of the day: The length of the day determines the duration of sunlight which affects the amount of solar radiation received by the earth’s surface.

Transparency of the atmosphere: Atmosphere is not transparent for all the radiation coming from the sun because of different composition and layers. It is also one of the controlling factors of insolation to reach earth surface.

Earth’s Distance from Sun: The earth is revolving around the sun in an elliptical orbit, resulting continuous change in the distance between sun and the earth on annual basis. It leads to seasonal variation in solar energy received by the earth.  During aphelion the northern hemisphere is facing the sun and therefore receives energy about 7 percent less than the perihelion (southern hemisphere).

Solution: d)

Kaziranga is crisscrossed by four main rivers — Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri and has numerous small water bodies.

Solution: c)

The Boeing 747-436 plane was able to achieve a speed of 1,327 kph as it was aided by a strong jet stream generated due to Storm Ciara.

Jet streams are narrow bands of strong winds that flow over thousands of kilometres from west to east. Major jet streams are found near the upper levels of the atmosphere, around 9 to 16 km from the earth’s surface, and can reach speeds of over 320 kph.

The jet streams shift to the north or south depending on the season. During winters, the wind current is the strongest. They are also closer to the Equator during winter.

The major jet streams are the Polar Front, Subtropical, and Tropical jet streams. In India, the Tropical jet stream influences the formation and duration of the summer monsoon.

Most commercial planes fly at the jet stream level, and a strong jet stream can provide a potent tailwind to a flight travelling from west to east, like the British Airways flight, which flew from New York to London. This helps reduce the travel time for such flights, as their speeds are boosted.

Source

Solution: a)

Equatorial counter-currents are major surface flows that carry water eastward in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

They are located near the equator and are sandwiched between two westward-flowing currents, the North Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Current.

Equatorial counter-currents are unique, in that they flow in the opposite direction of the surface winds. The other major surface currents in the tropics flow in the same direction as the prevailing winds.

Solution: b)

Coffee production in India is dominated in the hill tracts of South Indian states, with Karnataka accounting for 71%, followed by Kerala with 21% and Tamil Nadu.

Coffee is grown in three regions of India with Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu forming the traditional coffee growing region, followed by the new areas developed in the non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa in the eastern coast of the country and with a third region comprising the states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh of Northeastern India.

The two well-known species of coffee grown are the Arabica and Robusta.

Almost 80% of Indian coffee is exported.

India is the 7^th largest coffee producing country in the world. Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer.