Unit 2: World Climate Patterns Understanding Climate Zones
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World Climates Map found in your textbook on page 75.
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Earths Climatic Regions The Earth is divided up into a series
of climatic regions where different places around the world share a
similar climate even though they are on opposite sides of the
globe. A climatic region is determined by a set of characteristics.
They include things like: temperature range precipitation levels
patterns of sun and cloud wind conditions length of seasons the way
its seasons vary.
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Earths Climatic Regions There are 6 separate climate regions
and each of these are further broken down into smaller categories.
Tropical Dry Temperate Mild Winter Temperate Cold Winter Polar
Highland
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A. Tropical Climates: 2 Sub-regions 1. Tropical Wet These
regions typically lie on or near the equator. They are very wet and
experience heavy rains almost every day. They are not the hottest
places on earth because of the constant cloud cover. They do have
warm nights and are very humid. They also dont really have seasons
as the weather is basically the same every day. 2. Tropical Wet and
Dry These regions are in the tropics. They experience a rainy
season; a time of year when there are intense rains and another
time when rainfall is only slight. Summers are hot and wet and
winters are hot and dry.
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French Guiana: Tropical Wet Cambodia: Tropical Wet and Dry
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B. Dry Climates: 2 Sub-regions 1. Arid or Desert Found in
latitudes 10 N to 30 N and 10 S to 30 S, mainly on West Coasts of
continents and on leeward sides of mountains. Typically have very
high day time temperatures and very low nighttime temperatures.
They have extremely low amounts of precipitation and therefore
rivers cannot form, there is very little vegetation and usually
very high winds. 2. Semi-Arid or Steppe This is a transitional zone
between Tropical Wet and Dry and Arid or Desert. These areas have
hot day time and cold night time temperatures all year long. These
areas are influenced by shifting wind systems so they do receive
moderate levels of precipitation in the summer. There is usually
enough precipitation to support grasslands in the summer.
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Saskatchewan, Canada: Semi-Arid or Steppe Libya: Arid or
Desert
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C: Temperate Mild Winter Climates: 3 Sub-regions 1.
Mediterranean Found mainly in the Mediterranean but also in small
west coast areas of California, Chile, South Africa and Australia.
The summers are warm to hot, sunny and dry, while winters are mild
with moderate precipitation. Temperatures are never cold, and snow
rarely falls. 2. Subtropical Similar to Mediterranean except found
on east coasts. It differs from the mediterranean subregion in
having hotter summers, cooler winters and more precipitation in
summer and winter. 3. Marine West Coast Similar to Mediterranean,
except found at high latitudes. These higher latitudes are
influenced by particular ocean currents that moderate winter
temperatures. Winter fog and rain are more common than snow. High
precipitation in summer and winter.
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Greece: Mediterranean Florida: Subtropical St. Malo, France:
Marine West Coast
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D: Temperate Cold Winter Climates 3 Sub-regions 1. Continental,
Warm Summer 2. Continental, Cool Summer Continental climates are
found where there are large land masses occupying the middle
latitudes. There is a large range between summer and winter
temperatures the further inland you go. Summer days are extremely
hot in the interiors. Summer temperatures decrease the further
north you go. Summer is generally the season of highest
precipitation and the amount tends to decrease the further north
the location is. 3. Subarctic The main difference for this
sub-region is that winters are very long and extremely cold.
Therefore, what snow that does fall in winter stays on the ground
through the winter.
E: Polar Climates: 2 Sub-regions 1. Tundra Found on the
northern edge of North America, Europe and Asia and throughout
Antarctica. Tundra regions are relatively close to oceans and
therefore benefit from their moderating effects. The summers are
extremely short and the temperature never rises above 10 C. 2.
Icecap Found further inland than Tundra regions, these areas are
even colder due to continentality *Regardless of distance from the
ocean, both sub- regions have Earths coldest, driest and darkest
winters, in which the sun may not shine for months at a time.
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Summit Camp, Greenland Icecap Baffin Island, Canada:
Tundra
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F: Highland Climates These regions are chiefly characterized by
the colder conditions caused by high elevation (above 1000m). This
is the only feature shared by all Highland regions; otherwise, a
Highland locations climate depends on its latitude, distance from
the sea and pressure systems.
