Geo skills

1. List the main reasons for water scaricity.
Answer:
-Hot places like deserts have low rainfall.
-Land degradation
-The variations in climate
-Population growth
-Water pollution
-Arid areas have average rainfall below 300mm each year.

2. What is a drought? What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethiopia?
Answer:
Drought is when there is less precipitation than usual. Droughts can cause many death to people due to thirst.

3. How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?
Answer:
If the land is paved off or damaged, this can cause problems for the groundwater storage under the ground which is all drinkable. Therefore, the ground won't be able to absorb much of the heavy rainfalls and there will be a lack of groundwater storage.

4.
(a) What is El Nino?
Answer:
A warming that happens in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru. El Nino happens every 3-5 years or so.

(b) Why does El nino often cause drought in Australia?
Answer:
During El Nino, the moist blows to the pacific ocean reverse their direction. This process is accompanied by a reversal air pressure from across the pacific, resulting in high pressure systems over Autralia. This prevents the moist tropical air masses reaching Australia.

5. Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982~83.
(a) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?
Answer:
El Nino creates a heavy rainfall that might lead to serious floods. When floods occur, these effect the availability of fresh water because the water gets polluted and therefore there is a very little amount of fresh water left.

(b) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall cause by El Nino.
Answer:
-Australia: Serious droughts.
-Africa: Reduced corn crop growing.
-Indonesia: High pollution level in the air due to forest fires.
-China: Land in threat due to droughts and floods.
-Papua New Guinea: Unable to grow crops because of droughts.
-Peru: Flood. Lower catch of fishing as anchovy and pacific sardline move offshore.
-Colombia: 20% decrease in catching fish.
-United States: Average rainfall exceeds. (Double the historical averages)