Which of the following is NOT a major climate control of a place?

Correct — A. Latitude, altitude and ocean currents each act on the air above a place. The interior of the earth does not, so option (a) is the odd one out.

Latitude fixes the angle at which the sun's rays strike the ground, and so how concentrated the incoming radiation is. It is the first control on any place's temperature.

Altitude works through the lapse rate: in the troposphere temperature falls with height, by about 6.5°C per kilometre on average, which is why hill stations are cool at tropical latitudes.

Ocean currents carry warmth or cold along the coasts they wash, so a coast bathed by a warm current is milder than its latitude alone would suggest.

Heat leaking outward from the earth's interior reaches the surface, but it is negligible beside incoming solar radiation and does not shape the climate of a place.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Ocean currents — Ocean currents are a recognised control. The warm North Atlantic Drift keeps north-western European ports ice-free in winter, well beyond the latitude at which that would otherwise be expected.
• (c)
  Latitude — Latitude is the primary control of all, because it governs the angle of the sun's rays and the length of daylight, and with them the insolation a place receives through the year.
• (d)
  Altitude — Altitude is a control: air thins and cools with height, so two places on the same latitude can differ by many degrees if one stands on a plateau and the other at sea level.

The climate of a place is set by how much solar energy reaches it and what happens to that energy once it arrives.

Latitude answers the first half. Altitude, distance from the sea, prevailing pressure and wind systems, ocean currents and relief answer the second.

Every item on that list either changes the energy received or changes how heat and moisture are held and moved after it arrives. The earth's internal heat does neither at any scale that matters at the surface.

This is a NOT question, so three options will be textbook controls and one will be an intruder that merely sounds geographical.

Key facts

• Latitude governs the angle of incoming solar rays and so the insolation a place receives.
• Temperature in the troposphere falls with height at an average of about 6.5°C per kilometre.
• Warm and cold ocean currents modify the temperature and moisture of the coasts they flow past.
• Distance from the sea, relief and the pressure and wind systems are also recognised controls of climate.

Common traps

• Missing the NOT and picking latitude or altitude, which are the two most familiar controls of the four.
• Treating volcanic eruptions as proof that the interior controls climate, when their effect is episodic rather than standing.
• Confusing the interior's role in raising relief through tectonics with a direct control on the atmosphere.

No directly related past PYQ was found.