UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 80 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Equatorial Climate Description
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicClimatology
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
Each day is more or less the same, the morning is clear and bright with a sea breeze; as the Sun climbs high in the sky, heat mounts up, dark clouds form, then rain comes with thunder and lightning. But rain is soon over.'
Which of the following regions is described in the above passage?
Show answer
Answer: B. Equatorial
Verdict
The answer is equatorial. The passage describes the daily convectional rainfall of the wet equatorial climate.
Analysis
The described pattern, a clear bright morning, mounting heat, dark clouds forming by afternoon, thunder and lightning, and rain that is soon over, is the classic diurnal convectional cycle of the equatorial belt within about twelve degrees of the equator, with consistently high temperature around thirty degrees, very heavy annual precipitation, heavy cloud cover and very little annual temperature variation. The savannah has a marked dry season rather than daily rain. Monsoon rainfall is seasonal and can persist for days, not minutes. The Mediterranean climate has dry summers and winter rain.
Source
Climatological reference material on the wet equatorial climate.
How to crack it
The decisive words in the passage are each day and soon over, which together signal a daily cycle rather than a seasonal one. Sort the four climate types by the timescale of their rainfall: daily is equatorial, seasonal wet and dry is savannah and monsoon, and winter concentrated is Mediterranean. Reading a descriptive passage for its timescale before its content is the fastest route through this question type. The PDF gives no usable source for this row.