Starter quiz
- What is a cold environment?
- Any place with high temperatures
- A region with low temperatures, ice, and permafrost ✓
- A tropical rainforest
- A desert with high temperatures
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- Which of the following is a cold environment?
- The Amazon Rainforest
- The Sahara Desert
- The Arctic ✓
- The Mediterranean
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- What is permafrost?
- A type of snowfall
- Melted ice on a glacier
- A seasonal lake
- Permanently frozen ground ✓
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- What is a key characteristic of the tundra biome?
- Dense forests
- High temperatures
- Low biodiversity and frozen ground ✓
- Heavy rainfall
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- What type of precipitation is common in cold environments?
- Heavy rainfall
- Warm monsoons
- Drizzle
- Hail and snow ✓
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- What is an ice cap?
- A type of plant
- A permanent layer of ice covering land ✓
- A small snowstorm
- A glacier that melts every summer
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Exit quiz
- What are the main physical characteristics of polar regions?
- Warm summers and heavy rainfall
- Lush forests and grasslands
- Ice sheets, extremely low temperatures, and strong winds ✓
- High biodiversity
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- Cold environments are biomes found at high ______ and/or high altitudes. They include polar, tundra and alpine biomes.
- 'latitudes' ✓
- Which two continents contain large cold environments?
- Africa and Australia
- North America and Antarctica ✓
- South America and Europe
- Asia and South America
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- How much precipitation do cold environments typically receive?
- High amounts, similar to tropical rainforests
- Moderate amounts, like temperate regions
- Low amounts, often less than deserts ✓
- Heavy rainfall throughout the year
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Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Cold environments (polar and tundra) and located at high latitudes close to the poles.
- Cold environments have distinctive physical characteristics.
- The climate influences other physical characteristics of cold environments.
Common misconception
Cold environments receive a lot of precipitation (in this case snowfall).
While some areas of coastal tundra does receive a substantial quantity of precipitation, in reality most cold environment regions are extremely dry, with some areas receiving less than 250 mm of precipitation per year - defining them as deserts.
Keywords
Cold environments - environments found at higher latitudes and higher altitudes; they include polar, tundra and alpine biomes
Biome - a global land area that is characterised by its plants, animals and climate
Latitude - the angular distance of a place north or south of Earth's Equator
Tundra - a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region where vegetation growth is hindered by extreme low temperatures and short growing seasons
Climate - the average weather conditions of a place over a long period of time, typically 30 years or more