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1. What is temperature?
Temperature refers to the degree of heat in the atmosphere of a place. Temperature of a place is greatly affected by latitude or the distance from the equator.
2. How is temperature measured?
Temperature is measured with an instrument called a thermometer. Thermometers contain a liquid such as alcohol in a small reservoir at the bottom of a narrow tube. When the liquid absorbs energy from its surrounding, it expands upward into the tube. This indicates an increase in temperature. When the liquid cools, it contracts and registers a lower temperature.
3. What are the factors affect the temperature of a place?
The variation in atmospheric temperature is due to the combined effect of a number of factors. The important factors affect the temperature of a place are :
1. The latitude of a place
2. The altitude of a place
3. The distance from the sea
4. The prevailing winds
5. The ocean currents
6. The slope of the land
7. The distribution of land and water
4. What are ocean currents?
Ocean currents are large masses of surface water that circulate in regular patterns around the oceans. The ocean currents are also known as the 'rivers of sea'. It is because they are streams of water and flow from one side to another on the surface of oceans the same way as rivers flow on the surface of Earth.
5. Difference between warm currents and cold currents.
| Warm currents | Cold currents |
| Warm currents come from equatorial regions. | Cold currents come from the polar regions. |
| Warm current temperature remains a couple of degrees higher than the temperature of the neighboring water. | Cold current temperature is lower by a few degree than the surrounding waters temperature. |
| Warm currents help navigation in a great way,as they melt the iceberg. | As cold currents form icebergs,they hinder navigation. |
| Warm currents keep the ports even in the polar regions free from ice. | The ports even of lower latitudes become ice bound by cold currents. |
6. What do you mean by the diurnal range of temperature?
The difference between the maximum and minimum temperature on any one day is termed as diurnal range of temperature. Starting from sunrise, the temperature shows a gradual increase until mid-day and then remains fairly constant for a couple of hours before beginning to fall again.
7. What do you mean by the mean monthly temperature?
The mean monthly temperature is the average of mean temperatures of all the days in the month. In the Climate Data, the mean monthly temperature is calculated on the basis of average values of mean temperature of the days for each month.
8. What do you mean by the mean annual range of temperature?
Mean annual range of temperature is the seasonal difference in temperature or the difference between the mean temperature of the hottest month and the mean temperature of the coldest month.
9. What are the process of heating of the atmosphere?
The atmosphere does not get heated directly by the Sun's rays. The atmosphere absorbs very little of the solar radiation which passes through the layers of air. Thus, the Earth's surface gets heated directly by the solar radiation. From the ground surface, the atmosphere gets heated in the following process.
10. What are Isotherms?
Isotherms are the lines connecting the places receiving equal amounts of temperature. The distribution of temperature on a map with the help of lines which join the places having the same temperature, reduced to mean level.
Practice in Related Chapters |
| Elements of Climate |
| Temperature |
| Solar Energy and Insolation |
| The Oceans |
| Movements of the Earth's Crust |
| The Major Natural Regions of the World |
