Test: Solar Radiation, Heat Balance & Temperature - 1 - UPSC MCQ

There is a surplus of net radiation balance between 40 degrees north and south and the regions near the poles have a deficit. The surplus heat energy from the tropics is redistributed pole wards and as a result the tropics do not get progressively heated up due to the accumulation of excess heat or the high latitudes get permanently frozen due to excess deficit.

The effects of absorption by the atmosphere are eliminated by finding the value of the solar constant at various altitudes of the sun on the same day.

This energy heats up the atmosphere from below.

In summer (March to September), in the northern hemisphere, as we move northwards, the length of the day increases. But in winter (September to March) the length of the night increases as we move northwards. since Chandigarh is northernmost among the options

The energy received by the earth is known as incoming solar radiation, which in short is termed as insolation.

Atmosphere is a mixture of different gases and it envelopes the earth all round. It contains life-giving gases like oxygen for humans and animals and carbon dioxide for plants.

Pressure differences cause winds.

The sun can be directly overhead on June 21st when it is at the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23.5 degrees north of the equator. Similarly, the sun is only directly overhead at the winters solstice for locations on the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south of the equator. On the euqinoxes, both spring and autumn, the sun is only directly overhead at the equator.

Sub-tropical deserts receive maximum amount of insolation because cloudiness is the least there.

Isotherms are the lines joining places of equal temperature.