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Welcome to this month's eco-queez! If you think you know your environment, try these questions. All correct entries would get a surprise gift along with a mention of their name here next month. So what are you waiting for? Get into the quizzing zone!

There were no winners for the August Eco-Queez

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Answers to August 2002 Quiz
1. This is an effect caused by the warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, near the coast of Peru and Ecuador. What is it called? (HINT: Since this is asked in this quiz, there has to be some connection with rain)
Ans: El Nino effect
2. Depressions are low-pressure zones in which winds blow very fast around a centre. Most monsoon rains in India are caused due to such depressions. What is the centre of the depression known as?
Ans: Vortex
3. H F Blandford made this fantastic discovery about the Indian monsoons about 100 years ago and another meteorologist named A D Vernekar used a COLA to confirm this. (a) What is a COLA? (b) What is the discovery they made? (HINT: Snow!)
Ans: (a) COLA stands for Centre for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere interactions.
(b) According to the meteorologists, snow cover in Eurasia affects Indian monsoons. When snow cover in Eurasia is heavy, there is less rise in temperature in that area, more difference in land and sea temperatures, and hence a stronger breeze, and thus a weaker monsoon!
4. There is an association between the Indian monsoon and the southern oscillation. Who pointed this association out?
Ans: Gilbert Walker
5. Who introduced the term "acid rain"?
Ans: The term was first used over 100 years ago by British chemist Robert Angus Smith.
6. Do you say the umbrella originated in China? I say it originated in Egypt and Babylon 3,400 years ago. The origins might be confusing but it is certain that the umbrella was invented originally for protection from the sun, not the rain. ('Umbra' means shadow in Latin). Who first used rainproof umbrellas?
Ans: Roman women were the first to oil paper sunshades to waterproof them. Umbrellas made of wood and oilcloth became popular in the 1700s. In 1852, the first collapsible model with steel ribbing appeared.
7. Dark clouds bring us rain. But why are dark clouds dark?
Ans: Dark clouds are storm clouds. They appear dark because they have high ice crystal content, and light has trouble passing through them. These crystals eventually become so heavy that they fall to earth as either snow (when the air is cold) or rain (when the air is warm).
8. If rainwater were harvested, how much would 100 mm of rainfall falling on a one hectare plot yield?
Ans. Believe it or not, up to 1 million litres of water
9. Tankas, johads, ahars and zings are traditional water harvesting methods used in India. Can you name the states where they are popularly practiced?
Ans: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar and Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir)
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July, 2002
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December, 2001
October, 2001
August, 2001