Practice AP Environmental Science questions on climate patterns, ocean moderation, mountain rain shadows, ocean currents, urban heat islands, and land distribution.
Discuss how global climate patterns are affected by the relative amount of land mass in each hemisphere.
Maximum 1 point for correctly describing how global climate patterns are affected by the relative amount of
land mass in each of Earth's hemispheres.
The combined effects of oceanic and atmospheric circulation redistribute the Earth's heat and moisture
across the planet. Furthermore, as the relative amount of land mass in the Northern Hemisphere is more
concentrated than in the Southern Hemisphere (e.g., the Southern Hemisphere contains more islands that are
spread out), the Earth's seasons in the Northern Hemisphere have a greater temperature range than in the
Southern Hemisphere, primarily because of the difference in the specific heat capacity of land vs. water. In
the Southern Hemisphere, however, where the larger land masses are located closer to the equator and the
majority of the surface area is covered by water, climates are influenced more by the presence and absence
of precipitation than they are by changes in air temperature.