Paper 1 · climatology
Continental interiors such as parts of Asia show strong negative temperature anomalies in January compared with the oceans. Which human activity is a way of raising local temperatures, as distinct from this large-scale continental cooling pattern?
AReduced solar radiation reaching the poles due to the tilt of the Earth's axis
BLower heat capacity of oceans compared to land during the winter months
CIncreased Coriolis deflection of winds blowing across continental interiors
DUrbanisation, where concrete and asphalt surfaces store and release extra heat
Explanation: Urbanisation raises local temperatures because concrete, asphalt and other built surfaces absorb and store heat by day and release it slowly at night, producing an urban heat island; this is a human-scale process, unlike the continental-scale cooling driven by land's low heat capacity relative to the ocean's much higher heat capacity.
Derived from ZIMSEC Geography Paper 1, June 2004, Q3
