Climatic classification

The purpose of the climatic classification is the identification and naming of climatic
conditions found in various regions in the world. One or more common criteria are used in
this exercise.
The earliest attempt to classify climates has been made by the Greeks. They have done it on
the basis of the differences in temperature found in various regions of the world. In these
attempts they have not used temperature values but the sensitive temperature.
In 384 B, C. Aristotle, divided the Earth into three broad zones (Warm, Temperate and Cold)
based on the temperature differences.
Aristotle believed that each if the earth/s hemispheres (Northern and Southern Hemispheres)
could be divided into 3 zones. The torrid, temperate and frigid and the earth’s that earth’s
five circles of latitude the Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, tropical of Capricorn and Antarctica
divided one from another. Aristotle’s 3 climate zones are still used today when generalizing
the overall weather and climate of a large swath of latitudes.
Torrid Zone – Aristotle beloved the regions centered around the equator were too
hot to be inhabited , he named them the torrid zones. We know them today as the tropics.
Bothe share the equator as one of their boundaries, in addition, the northern torrid zone
extends to the Tropic of Cancer and the southern , to the Tropic of Capricorn.
The Frigid zone- these zones are the coldest regions on the earth. There are
summerless and generally covered with ice and snow.
The Temperate zone – in between torrid and frigid zones lie the temperate zones,
which have features of both of The other two. In the northern hemisphere, the temperate
zone is bound by the tropic of cancer and the arctic circle. In the Southern Hemisphere, it
extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic circle. Known for its four seasons –
winter, spring, summer and fall-it is considered to be the climate of the middle latitude.

More recent attempts have been made by Strahler, US Air Force Aeronautical Service (1954),
Austin Miller (1936/1948), Thornthwaite, Flohn, Oliver and Koppen.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
 Koppen’s climatic classification

Vladimir Koppen, is a Russian German climatologist and a plant scientist presented a concise
classification in1918 initially to be reformulated in 1948. In 1953, it was again reformulated
by Geiger.
This is the climatic classification most widely used in almost all countries of the world even at
present.
Criteria used in Koppen’s climatic classification are based on the annual and monthly averages
of temperature and precipitation.
The Köppen system recognizes five major climatic types; each type is designated by a capital
letter

These major types have been divided into sub-climatic types. Major climatic types have been
named as A, B, C, D and E. As mentioned above they have been classified into sub-types:

A -Tropical Climates
Mean temperature is above 180C. No winter season. Annual rainfall is high and it exceeds the
amount of annual evaporation. This type has been divided into three (3) sub-types.
B- Dry Climate / Desert Climate
Potential evaporation is higher than the average rainfall. No water surplus.
Average annual rainfall is less than 70mm. This type has been divided into four (4) sub-types.
C- Warm Temperate Climates
Temperature in the coldest month is less than 180C but does not decrease beyond -30C. clear
summer season and a clear winter season can be seen.
This has been divided into eight (8) sub-types.
D- Cold Climates
Temperature in the coldest month is less than -30C. Winter season is long.
Land is covered with snow at least for few months. This type has been divided in to twelve
(12) sub-types.
E- Polar Climates
No summer season. Temperature in the warmest month is less than 100C.
This type has been divided into two (2) sub-types.

Tropical climate / A type climate

Tropical climates exist between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.

The sun being overhead throughout the year and the presence of Inter Tropical Convergence
Zone (ITCZ) make the climate hot and humid.

Annual range of temperature is very low and annual rainfall is high.

The tropical group is divided into three types, namely

Af- Tropical wet climate

Am – Tropical monsoon climate
Aw- Tropical wet and dry climate

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Af climate / Tropical Wet Climate
Also known as ‘The Hot, Wet Equatorial Climate’, ‘Equatorial Rainforest Climate’.
Distribution
Mostly between 5° N and S of Equator.
Amazon Basin
Congo Basin
East Indies Islands
Western Colombia
Eastern Madagascar
Eastern Brazil
Guinea

Characterestics
Dominated by Maritime Tropical air masses.
Temperature
Temperature is uniform throughout the year.
The mean monthly temperatures are always above 18° C with very little variation.
There is no winter.
Cloudiness and heavy precipitation moderate the daily temperature.
The diurnal range of temperature is small, and so is the annual range.
Precipitation
Precipitation is heavy and well distributed throughout the year.
Annual average is always above 150 cm. In some regions the annual average may be as high
as 250 – 300 cm.
There is no month without rain (distinct dry season is absent). The monthly average is above
6 cm most of the times.
There are two periods of maximum rainfall, April and October. [shortly after the equinox].
Least rain fall occurs in June and December [solstice].
There is much evaporation and convectional air currents are set up, followed by heavy
thunderstorms in the afternoons.
Rainfall exceeds evaporation.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Life and Economy / human activities
Agriculture
The forests are sparsely populated.
In the forests most primitive people live as hunter gatherers and the more advanced ones
practice shifting cultivation.
Food is abundantly available. People generally don’t stock food for the next day.
Commercial
In the Amazon basin the Indian tribes collect wild rubber, in the Congo Basin the Pygmies
gather nuts and in the jungles of Malaysia the Orang Asli make all sorts of cane products and
sell them to people in villages and towns.
Shifting Cultivation or Slash and Burn Cultivation.
This type of cultivation is followed in many parts of the world where dense forests are
common.
Tribes cut the trees in a plot, burn them and cultivate the plot till the fertility is exhausted.
Once the fertility is exhausted, the clearing is abandoned and they move on to a new plot.
Such farming practices are becoming more and more widespread among tribes.
In the clearings for shifting cultivation, crops like manioc, maize, bananas and groundnuts are
grown.
Plantation Boom in Rainforests

With the coming of the Europeans, many large plantations have been established, especially
in Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, West Africa and Central America.
The climate is very Favourable for the cultivation of certain crops that are highly valued in the
industrial West. The most important is natural rubber.
Malaysia and Indonesia are the leading producers. The home country, Brazil exports no
natural rubber.
Cocoa is another important crop which is cultivated in West Africa, bordering the Gulf of
Guinea. The two most important producers are Ghana and Nigeria. All the cocoa here goes
into American and European chocolate industry.
From the same area another crop, oil palm, has done equally well and many countries like
Indonesia have now taken to its cultivation.
Other important crops include coconuts, sugar, coffee (Brazil), tea, tobacco, spices, etc.
The plantations resulted in the destruction of nearly half of equatorial forests.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Mineral resources
Gold, copper, diamonds, and other precious metals and gemstones are important resources
that are found in rainforests around the world.
Extracting these natural resources is a destructive activity that damages the rainforest
ecosystem.
Examples are gold mining in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon, rare earth mining in the
Congo, and gold and copper mining in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Some of the world’s most promising oil and gas deposits lie deep in tropical rainforests. Oil
and gas development often takes a heavy toll on the environment and local people (This
happens in Ecuador).
More than 70 percent of the Peruvian Amazon is now under concession for oil and gas.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Am Climate / Tropical Monsoon climate

Unlike Af climate, monsoon climate is characterized by distinct wet and dry seasons
associated with seasonal winds.

Floods in wet season and droughts in dry season are common.

Distribution

Occur within 5° to 30° N and S of the equator.

South west and coastal regions in India

Wet Zone in Sri Lanka

Western promontory in New Guinea

Borneo Island of Indonesia

Sierra Leone and Liberia in Africa

Characteristics

The basic cause of monsoon climates is the difference in the rate of heating and cooling of
land and sea.
In the summer, when the sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, a low pressure is created in
Central Asia.
The seas, which warm up much slower, remain comparatively at high pressure. At the same
time, the southern hemisphere experiences winter, and a region of high pressure is set up in
the continental interior of Australia.
Winds blow outwards as the South-East Monsoon, to Java, and after crossing the equator are
drawn towards the continental low pressure area reaching the Indian sub-continent as the
South-West Monsoon. In the winter, conditions are reversed.

Temperature

Monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C.

Temperatures range from 30-45° C in summer. Mean summer temperature is about 30°C.
In winters, temperature range is 15-30° C with mean temperature around 20-25° C.

Precipitation

Annual mean rainfall ranges from 200-250 cm. In some regions it is around 350 cm.
Places like Cherrapunji & Mawsynram receive an annual rainfall of about 1000 cm. [They lie
on the windward side of the Meghalaya hills, so the resulting orographic lift (orographic
rainfall) enhances precipitation.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Human activities

Monsoon climatic regions support high population density.

Income levels are low as most of these regions are underdeveloped or developing.

Subsistence farming is the main occupation. (crops grown with an intention to secure food
for the season. The crops are not sold as the production is very low).

Intensive cultivation is common in regions with irrigational facilities.

Shifting cultivation is followed in North-East India and South-East countries.

Major crops include rice, sugar, cotton, jute, spices, etc..

Cattle and sheep rearing is carried out for domestic and commercial purposes. Livestock
industry is not as profitable as in temperate regions.

Agricultural Development in the Monsoon Lands

Much of the monsoon forest has been cleared for agriculture to support the very dense
population. Subsistence agriculture is the major occupation.

Farms are small and the people are forever ‘land hungry.’ Industrialization make things worse.

Tropical agriculture dependent on natural rainfall and a large labour force, reaches its
greatest magnitude in the monsoon lands.

Farming is the dominant occupation of the Indian sub-continent, China, South- East Asia,
eastern Brazil and the West Indies. The following types of agriculture are recognizable.

Crops

Rice is the most important staple crop.

Irrigation water from rivers, canals, dams or wells is extensively used in the major rice
producing countries.

Other food crops like maize, millet, sorghum, wheat, gram and beans are of subsidiary
importance. They are cultivated in the drier or cooler areas where rice cannot be grown.

Lowland cash crops

The most important crop in this category is cane sugar.

As much as two-thirds of world’s sugar production comes from tropical countries.

Some of the major producers include India, Java, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados.

Jute is confined almost entirely to the Ganges – Brahmaputra delta, in India and Bangladesh.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Other crops include cotton, a major commercial crop of the Indian sub-continent.

Highland plantation crops

The colonization of tropical lands by Europeans gave rise to a new form of cultivated
landscape in the cooler monsoonal highlands.

Thousands of acres of tropical upland forests were cleared to make way for plantation
agriculture in which tea and coffee are the most important crops.

Coffee

Coffee originated in Ethiopia and Arabia. But Brazil accounts for almost half the world’s
production of coffee. It is mainly grown on the eastern slopes of the Brazilian plateau.

The crop is also cultivated on the highland slopes in the Central American states, India and
eastern Java.

Tea

It requires moderate temperatures (about 15° C), heavy rainfall (over 150 cm) and well
drained highland slopes.

It thrives well in the tropical monsoon zone (highlands).

The best regions are thus the Himalayan foothills of India and Bangladesh, the central
highlands of Sri Lanka and western Java, from all of which it is exported.

In China tea is grown mostly for local consumption.

Lumbering

Most of the forests yield valuable timber, and are prized for their durable hardwood.

Lumbering is undertaken in the more accessible areas. This is particularly important in

continental South-East Asia.

Of the tropical deciduous trees, teak, of which Burma is the leading producer. It is valuable
on account of its great durability, strength, immunity to shrinkage, fungus attack and insects.

Other kinds of timber include Neem, Banyan, Mango, Teak, Sal, Acacia, Eucalyptus

Together with the forests are bamboo thickets, which often grow to great heights.

Teak

Burma alone accounts for as much as three – quarters of the world’s production.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
It is such a durable timber that it is extensively used for ship building, furniture and other
constructional purposes.

Shifting Cultivation

This most primitive form of farming is widely practiced.

Instead of rotating the crops in the same field to preserve fertility, the tribesmen move to a
new clearing when their first field is exhausted.

Maize, sweet potatoes and some beans are the most common crops.

Farming is entirely for subsistence, i.e. everything is consumed by the farmer’s family, it is not
traded or sold.

As tropical soils are rapidly leached and easily exhausted, the first crop may be bountiful but
the subsequent harvests deteriorate.

Shifting cultivation is so widely practiced amongst indigenous peoples that different local
names are used in different countries.

Region

Name of Shifting Cultivation

Malaysia Lacking

Burma Taungya

Thailand Tamrai

Philippines Caingin

Java Humah

Sri Lanka Chena

Africa and Central America Milpa

North-east India Jhum

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Aw climate / TROPICAL SAVANAH CLIMATE

This type of climate has alternate wet and dry seasons similar to monsoon climate but has
considerably less annual rainfall. Also, there is no distinct rainy season like in monsoon climate.

Distribution of Savanna Climate

Regions in Africa between 10 – 15 in both Southern

and Northern latitudes

Deccan region in India

Myanmar

Thailand

Northern coastal region of Australia

North-western coast of Madagascar

The Caribbean Islands

It is confined within the tropics and is best developed in Sudan, hence its name the Sudan
Climate.

It is a transitional type of climate found between the equatorial rainforests and hot deserts.

African Savanna

The belt includes West African Sudan, and then curves southwards into East Africa and
southern Africa north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

South American Savanna

There are two distinct regions namely the llanos of the Orinoco basin [north of equator] and
the compos of the Brazilian Highlands [South of equator].

Australian savanna

The Australian savanna is located south of the monsoon strip (northern Australia) running
from west to east north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Indian Savanna

Certain parts across Northern Karnataka, Southern Maharashtra and Telangana exhibit
characteristics of both semi-arid and savanna climate.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Savanna Climate

Dry winter season

Rainfall is lesser than in Af and Am climate types However, rainfall is spread year-round;
rainfall is less than 600mm

Conspicuous dry and wet seasons

Main vegetation type is tropical Savanna

Temperature

Mean annual temperature is greater than 18° C.

The monthly temperature hovers between 20° C and 32° C for lowland stations.

Highest temperatures do not coincide with the period of the highest sun (e.g. June in the
northern hemisphere) but occur just before the onset of the rainy season, i.e. April in
Northern Hemisphere and October in Southern Hemisphere.

Days are hot and nights are cold. This extreme diurnal range of temperature is another
characteristic feature of the Sudan type of climate.

Winds

The prevailing winds of the region are the Trade Winds, which bring rain to the coastal
districts.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Life and Economy in the Savanna

Many tribes live in savanna region. Tribes like the Masai tribes of the East African plateau are
pastoralists whereas Hausa of northern Nigeria are settled cultivators.

The old grazing grounds of Masai tribes in the Kenyan Highlands were taken over by the
immigrant white settlers for plantation agriculture (coffee, tea, cotton) and dairy farming.

The cattle kept by the Masai are kept entirely for the supply of milk. They don’t kill cattle for
meat. Agriculture is barely practiced.

The Hausa are a tribe of settled cultivators who inhabit the savanna lands of the Nigeria. They
are more advanced in their civilization.

They do not practice shifting cultivation. Instead, they clear a piece of land and use it for
several years.

Crops in Savanna

Settlements in central Africa, northern Australia and eastern Brazil have shown that the
savannas have immense agricultural potential for plantation agriculture of cotton, cane sugar,
coffee, oil palm, groundnuts and even tropical fruits.

Tropical Queensland, despite its scarcity of labour force has been very successful in
developing its huge empty land.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi have already taken to large-scale production of cotton.

In West Africa, the commercial cultivation of groundnuts, oil palm and cocoa have been
gradually extended into the savanna lands.

In the cooler highlands, temperate crops have been successfully raised.

Farming

Droughts are long due to unreliable rainfall.

The Sudan Climate, with distinct wet-and-dry periods is also responsible for the rapid
deterioration of soil fertility.

During the rainy season, torrential downpours of heavy rain cause leaching of nitrates,
phosphates and potash.

During the dry season, intense heating and evaporation dry up most of the water.

Many savanna areas therefore have poor lateritic soils which are incapable of supporting
good crops.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya
Cattle rearing

The savanna is said to be the natural cattle country and many of the native people are
pastoralists.

But the quality of grass doesn’t support large scale ranching.

Grasses here are no match to nutritious and soft grasses of temperate grasslands.

The cattle varieties are also poor and yield little meat or milk.

The export of either beef or milk from the tropical grasslands is so far not important.

Few regions progressed with the adaptation of science and technology. Queensland has
become Australia’s largest cattle producing state. Both meat and milk are exported.

Amalka Weragoda B.A sp in Geography- University of Peradeniya

M.A in Geography – University of Peradeniya