Köppen climate classification

Why does one region of a place differ from another? Why are some places rainy and wet and others are hot and dry? The reason is climate. Climate is the long-term weather of an area (usually more than thirty years). Climate is the region's pattern of weather conditions, such as seasons and weather extremes like monsoons or droughts. The most important part of calculating an area's climate is precipitation and temperature. There are four basic climate zones and ten subclimate zones. Each climate is described as a biome. The Köppen Climate Classification system was developed in 1900 by the Russian–German climatologist Wladimir Köppen, who introduced a mathematical system of classification. Each of the five climate types was assigned a mathematical value based on temperature and precipitation. The Köppen Climate Classification system was a significant development in the science of climatology. It is the most widely used system for classifying world climates.

Brief History

Wladamir Köppen was a climatologist, botanist, and meteorologist. His parents were Germans in the service of the Russian emperor, and his father was also a scientist. Köppen was born in Russia and attended school there. As a child in school he was first attracted to the study of plants and the climates they grew in. He graduated from the University in Germany in 1870 having studied the effects of temperature on plant growth. After graduating he worked for the Russian meteorological service and later for the German division of marine meteorology. Having systematically studied the climate and experimented with balloons to get data from high altitudes, Köppen published the first version of a map of climate zones in 1884. This was a plotted map of seasonal temperature ranges that led to the development of the Köppen climate classification system in 1900. He continued modifying and improving the system for the rest of his life. Köppen worked closely with another scientist, Alfred Wegener, and eventually married Wegener’s daughter. Best known for his theory of continental drift, Wegener published The Origin of the Continents and Oceans in 1915, and Köppen and Wegener copublished The Climates of the Geological Past in 1924, which includes a discussion of the causes of climate change, a topic of great importance to scientists of the twenty-first century

Overview

The Köppen Climate Classification system, or K system, is the method most used by scientists to study the world's climates. Most systems used today are based on the K system, which is organized into five major climate types based on annual and monthly averages of temperature and rainfall. Each type is designated by a capital letter. Moist tropical climates (A) have high temperatures and large amounts of rainfall year round. Dry climates (B) have little rain and a daily temperature range that varies widely. There are two B climate subgroups: semiarid or steppe (S) and arid or desert (W). Continental climates (D) are located in the interior of large land masses; seasons vary widely and rainfall is low. Cold climates (E) have areas of permanent ice and tundra (ice thaws) and four months out of the year have above-freezing temperatures. More subgroups exist which are designated by a second, lowercase letter to indicate seasonal differences. The subgroup f indicates moist with fair rainfall in all months and no dry season. This letter is usually seen in A, C, and D climates. The subgroup m is a rainforest climate in spite of short dry season during the monsoon cycle. This subgroup applies only to A climates. The subgroup s indicates there is a dry season in the summer of the respective hemisphere. Subgroup w indicates there is a dry season in the winter of the respective hemisphere.

A biome is a naturally occurring community of flora and fauna which composes a habitat, for example, a rainforest or a grassy plain. Everything within the environment is closely related. Change one part of an environment and it will cause a change in other parts of the environment. The earth is composed of many different living and nonliving things that are interrelated. The well-being of one biome and everything in it is dependent on ecological forces around the world. For instance, a volcano which erupts on an island in the Pacific Ocean can change the temperature of the entire globe for a few years.

There are two categories of biomes: terrestrial and aquatic. There are four Aquatic biomes: fresh water, oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries. In contrast, terrestrial biomes are identified by the dominant type of vegetation. The first terrestrial biome is tundra. Tundra is the coldest biome and is located at the Arctic and Antarctic Poles (North and South poles, respectively). Tundra has flora close to the ground and a layer of permafrost is present. Another biome is taiga, or boreal forest, and is located south of the Arctic tundra. Flora there includes coniferous evergreen trees. The next biome is temperate deciduous forests. The deciduous biome has hot summers and cold winters; broadleaf trees, shrubs, and mosses are present. Deciduous trees, such as oak and maple, lose their leaves during the winter. New England, the Great Lakes region, and South Central Canada are examples of this biome. Temperate rainforest biomes have year round rainfall (more than 60 inches per year). There are many kinds of vegetation, such as ferns, trees, and mosses. This biome is present on all continents but in very small areas. Temperate grassland biomes are mostly grasses where there are few or no shrubs or trees. The temperature is similar to the temperate deciduous forest with less rainfall. This biome is found on all continents except Antarctica. Chaparral is a biome that is hot and dry in the summer and cool and moist in the winter. It is composed mostly of shrubs, and fires are common. This biome occurs in only a few areas, such as in California and Australia. The remaining terrestrial biomes include desert, savannah, and tropical rainforest.

Bibliography

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Błażejczyk, Krzysztof, et al. "Regional features of the Bioclimate of Central and Southern Europe Against the Background of the Köppen-Geiger climate Classification." Geographia Polonica 88.3 (2015): 439–53. Print.

Hollar, Sherman, ed. Pioneers in the World of Weather and Climatology. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, 2013. Print.

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Larson, Paul R., and C. Frederick Lohrengel. "An Addendum to ‘A New Tool for Climatic Analysis Using Köppen Climate Classification.’" Journal of Geography 113.1 (2014): 35–38. Print.

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