World Climates

In Environmental Management we are studying world climates, to start we had to look for information about each climate considering location, temperature, precipitation, seasonal variation and special features of each. After doing the research we had to divide them with Vladimir Koppen’s classification of world climates and do a summary of each climate.

The regions with equatorial climate are regions close to the equator, the Amazon Basin (South America), the Congo Basin (Africa), Malaysia, Indonesia and some areas in northern Australia. Temperatures are high all year round (26-28 degrees Celsius), the annual temperature range is very small, the diurnal or daily temperature range is generally higher and the humidity is very high. Another characteristic of this type of climate is rainfall being high for most of the year. According to Vladimir Koppen’s classification of climates this is a type A climate.

The savannah climate is present in regions such as Africa, Asia, northern South America, sections of Central America, northern Australia and southern North America. This type of climate has very distinct wet and dry (in winter) seasons. The temperature range is of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, the temperature does not change a lot. When it does, its very gradual and not drastic. The annual precipitation is 100 to 150 cm of rain. From December to February there is almost no rain at all. According to Vladimir Koppen’s classification of climates this is a type A climate.

The monsoon climate is found along the coastal regions of southwest India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, South-western Africa, French Guiana, and northeast and south-eastern Brazil. The tropical monsoon climate experiences abundant rainfall but it is concentrated in the high-sun season. Being located near the equator, it experiences warm temperatures throughout the year, the average annual temperature is 27 degrees Celsius but it only has an annual temperature range of 3.6 degrees Celsius. Monsoon precipitation is concentrated into the high-sun season, while the low-sun season is characterized by a short drought season. According to Vladimir Koppen’s classification of climates this is a type A climate.

Dry desert climate is located between 30 degrees south and 30 degrees north latitude. This climate covers about 1/5 of the earth, including the world's great deserts: Sahara, Sonora, Thar, Kalahari and the Great Australian. Maximum temperatures of over 40 °C are common in summer and can even reach over 45 °C in the hottest regions, during colder periods of the year, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing, very rarely do temperatures drop far below freezing. Approximately 2.5 cm of rain falls in dry deserts per year. According to Vladimir Koppen’s classification of climates this is a type B climate.

The tundra climate is the coldest in the world. The temperature rarely gets above -8 degrees Celsius. In fall the sun disappears and there is no light, due to this lack of sun, temperatures can fall to -70 degrees Celsius. The ground remains frozen, apart from a few centimetres of thaw in the summer. The precipitation is gentle, mainly falling as snow. The winds can be very strong. Characteristically the subsoil to tundra is usually Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, it can be from less than one metre to up to 1,000 metres thick. According to Vladimir Koppen’s classification of climates this is a type E climate.