NewsTracker Answers for week of Dec. 09, 2019

Q: As nearby wildfires raged out of control last week, Australian officials canceled outdoor events and warned residents to avoid the choking clouds of smoke enveloping the city of Sydney. Where is Australia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Sydney is Australia’s . . .

A. Capital

B. Driest city

C. Largest city

D. All of the above

C. With a population of more than 5 million people, Sydney is Australia’s largest city and oldest European settlement. Canberra is the nation’s capital. While Sydney has been suffering a drought like the rest of the continent, its location on the coast is wetter than the deserts in the interior Australian Outback.

Q: Australia’s long drought is tied to a climate phenomenon in what ocean east of the continent?

A. Atlantic

B. Indian

C. Pacific

D. Southern

B. In the Indian Ocean Diopole effect, sea surface temperatures near Australia are much cooler than warmer waters at the eastern end of the ocean along the coast of Africa. Cooler ocean temperatures bring less rain and drought to Australia while warmer seas bring more rain and flooding to Africa. Scientists say climate change could make diopoles more extreme and frequent.

Q: The wildfires were out of control last week, and firefighters worried it could get worse this week when temperatures near Sydney were expected to top 100 degrees. What season is it in Australia?

A. Late spring

B. Late summer

C. Late fall

D. Late winter

A. Australian meteorologists expect the nation's summer, which starts next week, to be dry and see above-average heat. Those conditions would fuel the conditions which have caused blazes across Australia.

Q: Australia’s fires can be seen from space and have even turned glaciers red more than a thousand miles southwest in . . .

A. Antarctica

B. Argentina

C. Chile

D. New Zealand

D. The islands of New Zealand and its Southern Alps lie about 1,200 miles from Australia across the Tasman Sea in the South Pacific. New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and Chile all claim territories in the cold desert continent of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean.