Geography Paper 3 WASSCE (SC), 2018

Question 6

  1. Contrast the characteristics of Equatorial climate with Tundra climate.

This question was not popular among the candidates and their performance in the question was poor. The following are contrasting characteristics of the Equatorial climate with the Tundra climate:

  • Equatorial climate is located  near the Equator while the Tundra climate is located near the poles
  • Tundra climate is located around latitudes  60o-90o north and south of the Equator while the Equatorial climate is located around latitudes 5o north and south of the Equator
  • Equatorial climates can be found in the Amazon Basin of South America, Zaire of Central Africa and the Coasts of West Africa while the Tundra climate can be found in the coastal strip of Greenland, Eurasia and Antarctica, northern Canada and Alaska
  • Equatorial climate has high temperatures all year round while Tundra has low temperatures all year round.
  • Equatorial mean temperatures is as high as 27oC while Tundra temperature is as low as 

-29oC

  • Equatorial climate has higher precipitation of  2000mm and above while the Tundra has low precipitation of 250mm and below
  • Rainfall occurs throughout the year in Equatorial climate (no marked dry season) while in Tundra climate rainfall occurs only in summer
  • Equatorial climatic areas are usually hot and wet (moist) while Tundra climatic areas are cold and moist with snow and frost (winter)
  • Equatorial climate experience small annual range of temperature of about 1o to 3oC while the Tundra has high annual temperature range of 40oC – 50oC
  • Equatorial climate experiences very little differences between length of day and night while Tundra experiences several weeks of continuous night in winter and several weeks of continuous day in summer
  • Equatorial climate has high humidity throughout the year while Tundra has low humidity throughout the year
  • Rainfall occurs in Equatorial climatic areas while snow occurs in the Tundra climatic areas
  • There is high incidence of frost in Tundra while there is none in Equatorial areas
  • Thunderstorms are experienced in the Equatorial climatic areas while blizzards are experienced in the Tundra climatic areas
  • Trade winds are found in the Equatorial climatic areas while Polar Easterlies are found in Tundra climatic areas
  •  Equatorial climatic areas experience unstable convective clouds while the Tundra climatic areas experience stable Stratiform clouds
  • Equatorial climate has double maximum rainfall while Tundra has single maximum rainfall.

-     The rays of the sun are vertical in the Equatorial areas while they are incline in
Tundra regions