Climate Classification Systems Questions and Answers

Q: The Trewartha modification of Koppen was introduced mainly to

Correct answer: correct the extent of the temperate groupTrewartha’s principal complaint was that Koppen’s C group was far too broad, sweeping together climates from the Mediterranean to the humid subtropics to the cool oceanic. His modification narrowed it and introduced a separate subtropical group, using the number of months above 10 degrees as the criterion. The dry group survives, and the system remains empirical.

Q: The main practical value of a climate classification is that it

Correct answer: allows distant regions to be comparedA classification is a common language: it lets a place in Chile be recognised as climatically equivalent to one in California or the Cape, so that agricultural, ecological and engineering experience can be transferred between them. It forecasts nothing, replaces no observations, and does not determine soil, though climate is one of the factors that forms soil.

Q: Consider the following statements comparing Koppen and Thornthwaite.1. Koppen uses vegetation related thresholds on temperature and rainfall.2. Thornthwaite uses a computed water balance.3. The two give identical maps of the world.

Correct answer: 1 and 2 onlyStatements 1 and 2 correctly separate the two approaches: Koppen uses vegetation-related thresholds on temperature and rainfall, Thornthwaite a computed water balance. Statement 3 is wrong - because they measure different things, the maps differ appreciably, particularly at the margins of the dry regions where Thornthwaite’s evapotranspiration calculation and Koppen’s aridity threshold disagree.

21.

The Trewartha modification of Koppen was introduced mainly to

A.correct the extent of the temperate group
B.add a sixth major group to the scheme
C.remove the dry group from it entirely
D.base the whole system on the circulation

Answer: A

Correct answer: correct the extent of the temperate group

Trewartha’s principal complaint was that Koppen’s C group was far too broad, sweeping together climates from the Mediterranean to the humid subtropics to the cool oceanic. His modification narrowed it and introduced a separate subtropical group, using the number of months above 10 degrees as the criterion. The dry group survives, and the system remains empirical.

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22.

Consider the following statements about the limitations of climate classification.
1. Any scheme imposes discrete categories on continuous variation.
2. The choice of thresholds is to some degree arbitrary.
3. A good classification removes the need to look at the underlying data.

A.All of them
B.1 and 2 only
C.3 only
D.1 only

Answer: B

The first two are correct and are inherent to the exercise. The third is quite wrong, since a classification is a summary and a summary is never a substitute for the record it summarises. Thresholds are chosen, not discovered.

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23.

A station has monthly means of which the coldest is 2 degrees and the warmest 18 degrees. Which Koppen group does it fall in?

A.D, continental
B.E, polar
C.C, temperate
D.A, tropical

Answer: C

The coldest month lies between minus three and eighteen degrees, which is the temperate criterion. Below minus three it would be continental and above eighteen tropical. The coldest month decides it. Two thresholds bracket the temperate group.

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24.

Arrange the Koppen groups in order from the equator polewards in a typical continental sequence.
1. temperate
2. tropical
3. polar
4. dry

A.3 - 1 - 4 - 2
B.4 - 2 - 1 - 3
C.2 - 1 - 4 - 3
D.2 - 4 - 1 - 3

Answer: D

The sequence follows the general circulation, with the dry belt beneath the subtropical highs between the tropical and temperate zones. Continental and polar types follow at higher latitudes. The circulation explains the sequence.

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25.

Highland climates are often given a separate category because

A.altitude packs climates into a small area
B.they are always cold at every season
C.no vegetation of any kind grows there at all
D.they receive no rainfall whatever

Answer: A

A single mountain can span several Koppen types from base to summit, which no lowland classification handles well. The category is an admission that the scheme does not cope with steep terrain. One mountain may span several types.

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26.

Assertion (A): Mountain regions are often shown as a single undifferentiated category on a climate map.
Reason (R): The climate changes over horizontal distances too small for the map to resolve.

A.A is false but R is true
B.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
C.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
D.A is true but R is false

Answer: B

Both are true and the reason gives the practical difficulty, and it means a highland label conveys much less information than any of the other categories. Map scale is the limiting factor. Highland is the least informative label of all.

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27.

State whether the following is true or false.
Climate classification boundaries have shifted measurably in recent decades.

A.True only at large scales
B.False only at small scales
C.True
D.False

Answer: C

Warming has moved the temperate and continental boundaries polewards and expanded the arid group in places. Mapping the shift is one way of showing climate change in terms people recognise. Boundaries are not fixed for ever.

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28.

The main practical value of a climate classification is that it

A.predicts individual weather events ahead
B.replaces any need for observations
C.determines the soil type of a region
D.allows distant regions to be compared

Answer: D

Correct answer: allows distant regions to be compared

A classification is a common language: it lets a place in Chile be recognised as climatically equivalent to one in California or the Cape, so that agricultural, ecological and engineering experience can be transferred between them. It forecasts nothing, replaces no observations, and does not determine soil, though climate is one of the factors that forms soil.

Discuss in Forum

29.

Consider the following statements comparing Koppen and Thornthwaite.
1. Koppen uses vegetation related thresholds on temperature and rainfall.
2. Thornthwaite uses a computed water balance.
3. The two give identical maps of the world.

A.1 and 2 only
B.3 only
C.1 only
D.All of them

Answer: A

Correct answer: 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 correctly separate the two approaches: Koppen uses vegetation-related thresholds on temperature and rainfall, Thornthwaite a computed water balance. Statement 3 is wrong - because they measure different things, the maps differ appreciably, particularly at the margins of the dry regions where Thornthwaite’s evapotranspiration calculation and Koppen’s aridity threshold disagree.

Discuss in Forum

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