An inference question about a study asks what conclusion follows from results under different conditions. Start by naming each condition and what the researchers measured in it. Then compare what changed between the conditions, keeping the direction of each change clear. Use any extra fact about the process to explain how those changes could be linked, and predict only what the results support. Wrong choices often turn a change around or claim something the researchers didn’t measure.
Hints
- Hint 1
Compare the periods of steady winds with the periods when those winds weakened. Track upward flow and surface temperature together.
- Hint 2
Look at the deep-water temperature. How could that water affect the surface as upward flow changes?
Step-by-step
Compare the conditions, then explain the link
Step 1Read the steady-wind result
The team measured wind speed, water movement, and temperature, and the blank asks what those readings suggest. What happened during steady winds blowing water offshore? The instruments recorded stronger upward flow from below and lower surface temperatures near the coast, so more deep water rose as the surface cooled.
- Step 2
Check the weaker-wind condition
Does that link hold when the winds weaken? The passage says the upward flow slowed and the surface water became warmer, so less upward flow went with warmer surface water. We still need to explain why bringing water up would change the surface temperature.
- Step 3
Use the deep-water temperature
The deeper water was colder than the water near the surface. How does that explain the cooling during steady offshore winds? Those winds increased upwelling, the rise of deep water toward the surface, so more cold water reached the surface and could cool it. The choice beginning steady winds that push water offshore makes this link, and can avoids claiming it always happens. Choice A.