Climate Classification Systems Questions and Answers

Q: Three of the following are empirical classifications. Which is the odd one out?

Correct answer: an air mass based classificationAn air mass classification is genetic: it groups climates by the circulation and the air masses that produce them, explaining why a place has the climate it has. Koppen, Thornthwaite and Trewartha are all empirical, deriving their classes from measured temperature, rainfall or water balance without reference to cause.

Q: State whether the following is true or false.Boundaries between climate types on a map represent sharp transitions on the ground.

Correct answer: FalseA boundary on a climate map is a line drawn where a numerical threshold happens to be crossed, and the climate itself changes gradually across a wide transitional zone. The line also moves as the averaging period changes, so a boundary mapped from one thirty-year normal will not lie where one mapped from the next does - which is how shifting climate zones are detected in the first place.

Q: All of the following are reasons for classifying climates EXCEPT

Correct answer: predicting the weather for the coming weekClimate is the statistics of the atmosphere over decades and weather is its state on a particular day, so no classification of the first can forecast the second. The three genuine purposes are all here: organising data into comprehensible types, allowing distant regions to be compared, and indicating what vegetation or crops a place will support.

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.

11.

Consider the following statements about the Thornthwaite approach.
1. It computes potential evapotranspiration from temperature and daylength.
2. It identifies periods of water surplus and deficit through the year.
3. It requires no precipitation data at all.

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

Answer: C

The first two are correct. The third is impossible, since a water balance needs both the supply and the demand and precipitation is the supply. Both halves of the balance are needed. Temperature and daylength give the demand.

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12.

A genetic classification of climate is one based on

A.the effects of climate on the vegetation
B.genetic differences between organisms
C.measured temperature thresholds alone
D.the causes of climate, such as air masses

Answer: D

Strahler's air mass classification is the standard example, grouping climates by the air masses that dominate them. It explains why a climate is as it is rather than merely describing it. Air masses are the usual basis.

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13.

Three of the following are empirical classifications. Which is the odd one out?

A.an air mass based classification
B.the Koppen system
C.the Thornthwaite system
D.the Trewartha modification of Koppen

Answer: A

Correct answer: an air mass based classification

An air mass classification is genetic: it groups climates by the circulation and the air masses that produce them, explaining why a place has the climate it has. Koppen, Thornthwaite and Trewartha are all empirical, deriving their classes from measured temperature, rainfall or water balance without reference to cause.

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14.

State whether the following is true or false.
Boundaries between climate types on a map represent sharp transitions on the ground.

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

Answer: B

Correct answer: False

A boundary on a climate map is a line drawn where a numerical threshold happens to be crossed, and the climate itself changes gradually across a wide transitional zone. The line also moves as the averaging period changes, so a boundary mapped from one thirty-year normal will not lie where one mapped from the next does - which is how shifting climate zones are detected in the first place.

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15.

Assertion (A): A climate classification boundary should not be read as a sharp division in the landscape.
Reason (R): The underlying climatic variables change continuously across it.

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

Answer: C

Both are true and the reason gives the caution, and it applies with particular force where a boundary shifts from decade to decade as the climate itself changes. Variation across the line is gradual. Nothing changes abruptly at the boundary itself.

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16.

All of the following are reasons for classifying climates EXCEPT

A.organising a mass of data into comprehensible types
B.comparing distant regions on a common basis
C.suggesting which crops or vegetation may suit a place
D.predicting the weather for the coming week

Answer: D

Correct answer: predicting the weather for the coming week

Climate is the statistics of the atmosphere over decades and weather is its state on a particular day, so no classification of the first can forecast the second. The three genuine purposes are all here: organising data into comprehensible types, allowing distant regions to be compared, and indicating what vegetation or crops a place will support.

Discuss in Forum

17.

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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18.

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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19.

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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20.

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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