World Geography Quiz | Intermediate Climate, River Systems and Basins

Hot all year with no clear dry season fits the tropical rainforest climate Af. Am has a short dry season and Aw a more pronounced one, so the seasonality of the rainfall differs.

A hot climate with a marked wet season and a short dry season fits Am. Af has no dry season and Aw usually has a longer, more pronounced one.

Hot all year with a clear dry season in winter is the classic signature of Aw. In the southern hemisphere June to August is winter, so the month names must not be read with northern-hemisphere seasons in mind.

Tundra vegetation during a short thaw is ET. EF is dominated by permanent snow and ice all year and does not fit a thaw in which herbaceous plants grow.

Permanent snow and ice mean the ice cap climate EF. In ET part of the surface can melt in the warmest period and tundra vegetation can establish, so it is warmer than the case described here.

Mild, with no dry season and rain all year, fits Cfb. A Mediterranean climate has a clear summer drought, which differs from rainfall spread through the year.

A large annual range with hot summers and cold winters fits Dfa. Csa can also have hot summers, but its winters are milder and summer drought is the decisive criterion.

Severe winters with a short cool summer in which forest can establish is Dfc. In ET even the warmest month does not reach the warmth needed for forest.

In mountains the fall in temperature with height and the difference in rainfall by aspect are large. Climate varies even at the same latitude, so longitude or administrative boundaries cannot explain it.

Aridity is a balance between rainfall and evapotranspiration, which depends on temperature and other factors. Applying one fixed rainfall figure everywhere fails to capture the dryness of hot regions.

The Nile flows north through Sudan and Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean through its delta. The Red Sea on Egypt's eastern side invites confusion, but the mouth is on the northern coast.

The Mississippi flows south through central North America into the Gulf of Mexico. Hudson Bay is in north-eastern Canada and the Gulf of California on the west coast, in different basins.

The great river reaching the East China Sea near Shanghai is the Yangtze. The Yellow River reaches the Bohai Sea further north, and the Pearl River flows to the Guangzhou area in southern China.

The Ganges and Brahmaputra system forms one of the world's great deltas and empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Indus does reach the Arabian Sea, but it does not join the Mekong.

The Rhine flows out to the North Sea through the delta region of the Netherlands. The Danube heads for the Black Sea; their headwaters are relatively close but their lower courses run in different directions.

The Volga empties into the Caspian Sea, so it belongs to an endorheic basin. The Sea of Azov and the Baltic connect to the open ocean through other waters, but the Caspian is a closed inland body of water.

The water of the Great Lakes flows to the Atlantic by way of the St Lawrence. Their position in central North America invites confusion with the Mississippi system, but the main natural outlet is a different one.

Inflow to the Aral Sea fell as use of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya expanded, and it shrank greatly. What matters is its link with large-scale irrigation, not mere natural seasonal variation.

The Okavango Delta in north-western Botswana is an inland delta with no outflow to the sea; the water spreads into the sands of the Kalahari Basin. The other options are deltas formed on a coast.

The Niger runs inland from its headwaters, curves sharply near the inland delta in Mali and heads for the Gulf of Guinea. It is not a river confined to the country called Niger.