Q 01/05

Kobuk Valley National Park lies just north of which line on the map?

A) The Arctic Circle

B) The 70th parallel

C) The 60th parallel

D) The 50th parallel

Answer · why

A) The Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle runs a few dozen miles south of the park, so on the winter solstice the sun clears the horizon there for only about an hour and a ha...

Q 02/05

Which bird reaches Kobuk Valley each spring from Antarctica, the longest migration of any bird?

A) Arctic tern

B) Arctic warbler

C) Tundra swan

D) Sandhill crane

Answer · why

A) Arctic tern

Arctic terns fly from one end of the Earth to the other and back, so they see two summers a year and more daylight than any other creature.

Q 03/05

Which two kinds of bear live in Kobuk Valley National Park?

A) Black and grizzly bears

B) Polar and grizzly bears

C) Polar and black bears

D) Kodiak and polar bears

Answer · why

A) Black and grizzly bears

Black and grizzly bears both roam this inland valley, but it has no polar bears despite the latitude: they stay with the sea ice and the coast.

Q 04/05

NASA has funded study of the Great Kobuk Dunes as an analog for what?

A) Polar sand seas on Mars

B) Regolith on the Moon

C) The plains of Venus

D) Asteroid surfaces

Answer · why

A) Polar sand seas on Mars

NASA funded fieldwork treating the Great Kobuk Dunes as an analog for polar sand seas on Mars: both are cold dune fields shaped by wind, snow and fros...

Q 05/05

What lies beneath Kobuk Valley's soil and keeps snowmelt from draining away?

A) Bedrock

B) Permafrost

C) Clay

D) Volcanic ash

Answer · why

B) Permafrost

Permafrost, ground that stays frozen all year, acts as a barrier, so each summer the trapped meltwater gathers in ponds and wetlands across the valley...