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The Köppen climate classification scheme divides climates into five main climate groups: A (tropical), B (arid), C (temperate), D (continental), and E (polar). The second letter indicates the seasonal precipitation type, while the third letter indicates the level of heat.
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- Warm-summer Mediterranean Climate
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- Wladimir Köppen
After Köppen's death in 1940, Geiger continued to work on...
- Trewartha Climate Classification
- Overview
- System
•The Köppen classification subdivides terrestrial climates into five major types, represented by the capital letters A, B, C, D, and E.
•Type B climates are defined by dryness; all others are defined by temperature.
•Type A climates focus on the seasonality of their precipitation.
•Type E climates are separated into tundra (ET) and snow/ice climates (EF).
•The midlatitude C and D climates are given a second letter, f (no dry season), w (winter dry), or s (summer dry), and a third symbol, a, b, c, or d (the last subclass exists only for D climates), indicating summer warmth or winter coldness.
•The H climate (highlands), which Köppen did not use, is sometimes added to other classifications to account for elevations above 1,500 metres (about 4,900 feet).
Köppen’s classification is based on a subdivision of terrestrial climates into five major types, which are represented by the capital letters A, B, C, D, and E. Each of these climate types except for B is defined by temperature criteria. Type B designates climates in which the controlling factor on vegetation is dryness (rather than coldness). Aridity is not a matter of precipitation alone but is defined by the relationship between the precipitation input to the soil in which the plants grow and the evaporative losses. Since evaporation is difficult to evaluate and is not a conventional measurement at meteorological stations, Köppen was forced to substitute a formula that identifies aridity in terms of a temperature-precipitation index (that is, evaporation is assumed to be controlled by temperature). Dry climates are divided into arid (BW) and semiarid (BS) subtypes, and each may be differentiated further by adding a third code, h for warm and k for cold.
As noted above, temperature defines the other four major climate types. These are subdivided, with additional letters again used to designate the various subtypes. Type A climates (the warmest) are differentiated on the basis of the seasonality of precipitation: Af (no dry season), Am (short dry season), or Aw (winter dry season). Type E climates (the coldest) are conventionally separated into tundra (ET) and snow/ice climates (EF). The mid-latitude C and D climates are given a second letter, f (no dry season), w (winter dry), or s (summer dry), and a third symbol (a, b, c, or d [the last subclass exists only for D climates]), indicating the warmth of the summer or the coldness of the winter. Although Köppen’s classification did not consider the uniqueness of highland climate regions, the highland climate category, or H climate, is sometimes added to climate classification systems to account for elevations above 1,500 metres (about 4,900 feet).
The Köppen classification has been criticized on many grounds. It has been argued that extreme events, such as a periodic drought or an unusual cold spell, are just as significant in controlling vegetation distributions as the mean conditions upon which Köppen’s scheme is based. It also has been pointed out that factors other than those used in the classification, such as sunshine and wind, are important to vegetation. Moreover, it has been contended that natural vegetation can respond only slowly to environmental change, so that the vegetation zones observable today are in part adjusted to past climates. Many critics have drawn attention to the rather poor correspondence between the Köppen zones and the observed vegetation distribution in many areas of the world. In spite of these and other limitations, the Köppen system remains the most popular climatic classification in use today.
Britannica Quiz
Oct 19, 2023 · The Köppen climate classification system categorizes climate zones throughout the world based on local vegetation. Wladimir Köppen, a German botanist and climatologist, first developed this system at the end of the 19th century, basing it on the earlier biome research conducted by scientists.
The Köppen classification system recognizes four major climate groups based on temperature values (identified by the capital letters A, C, D, and E), and the fifth based on moisture (identified by the capital letter B), to create global climate patterns.
climate classification, the formalization of systems that recognize, clarify, and simplify climatic similarities and differences between geographic areas in order to enhance the scientific understanding of climates.
Oct 30, 2018 · The Köppen-Geiger system classifies climate into five main classes and 30 sub-types. The classification is based on threshold values and seasonality of monthly air temperature and...
Maps European Alps. Papers by Köppen. Applications. Contact. On this web site we provide global data, world maps and computer animations of our updated Köppen-Geiger climate classification published by Kottek et al. (2006), Rubel and Kottek (2010) and Rubel et al. (2017).
