Climates/
Hot, Wet Equatorial
Character
Distribiution -
& its Nature
Temperature Uniform throught the year.
Heavy and well distributed throughtout the year.
Precipitation
Evergreen trees: Mahagony, Ebony
Palm trees: Climbing trees like lianas/rattan
Epiphytic and parasitic plants that live on other plants
Vegetation Appears like a thick canopy of foliage.
All plants struggle upwards for sunlight resulting in a peculiar
arrangement.
Since the trees cut out most of the sunlight, the undergrowth is not dense.
Savanna/Sudan
Highest temperatures do not coincide with the period of the highest sun but occur
just before the onset of the rainy season
Hot days and night Frosts are common
This extreme diurnal range of temperature is a characteristic feature of the Sudan type
of climate
In West Africa, the Northeast trades blow Offshore from the Sahara desert and reach the
Guinea as a dry dust Laden wind locally called the harmattan (doctor).
It is characterized by an alternate hot, rainy season and cool, dry season
Tall grass and short trees
The term 'Parkland' or 'bushveld' describe the landscape better
The trees are deciduous shedding their leaves in the cool dry season to prevent
excessive loss of water through transpiration. Ex: acacias
Hot and Mid Latitude Desert
They are rainless because of their interior location, well away from the rain bearing winds
In South America the Atacama or peruvian desert is the driest of all deserts
The patagonian desert is hot due to its rainshadow position on the leeward side of the
lofty Andes than to continentality
Hot : NA(Mohave), SA(Atacama), Africa(Sahara, Kalahari,Namib), Asia(Arabian, Thar),
Aus(Australian)
Mid lattitude : SA(Patagonian), Asia(Turkestan, Gobi).
High temperature
The diurnal range of temperature in the deserts is very high
Precipitation is both scarce and most unreliable
Predominant vegetation is xerophytic or drought resistant scrub
Ex: Bulbous cacti, thorny bushes
Absence of moisture retards the rate of decomposition and desert soils are very
deficient in humus
Most desert shrubs have long roots and are well spaced out to gather moisture.
Plants have few or no leaves
Warm Temperate Western Margin/Mediterranean
The basic cause of this type of climate is the shifting of the wind belts
Feature of the Mediterranean climate is rain in winter whereas in all the other climatic types maximum
rain comes in summer.
It is not luxuriant
The absence of shade is a distinct feature of the Mediterranean lands
Types:
1. Mediterranean evergreen forests - trees are normally low, stunted
2. Evergreen coniferous trees - pines, firs, cedars, and cypresses
3. Mediterranean bushes and shrubs - evergreen shrubs and bushes
4. Grass - conditions here do not suit grass because most of the rain comes in the cool season when growth
is slow
Temperate Continental/Steppe
Bordering the deserts away from the Mediterranean regions and in the interiors of continents are
the temperate grasslands
NA (Praires), SA(Pampas), Asia (Steppes), Aus(Downs)
Annual precipitation is light
Their greatest difference from the tropical Savanna is the that they are practically tree less and
the grasses are much shorter.
Trees are very scarce in the steppes because of the scanty rainfall
Warm Temperate Eastern Margin/China
Uniform rainfall
China type - Occurrence of typhoons, which are intense tropical cyclones.
Gulf type - They are slightly monsoonal
Natal type - Narrowness of the continents and the dominance of maritime influence eliminate the monsoonal
elements
Conditions are well suited to a rich variety of plant life (grass, ferns, lianas, bamboos, palms, Eucalyptus trees,
Parana pain, yerba mate)
Commercial cultivation of wattle trees
Cool Temperate Western/British
Under the prominent influence of the westerlies all round the year
Regions of much cyclonic activity
-
Natural vegetation is deciduous forest.
Trees shed their leaves in the cold season for protecting themselves against the winter snow and
Frost
Common species - oak, elm, birch
Temperate eucalyptus grow in Tasmania
Cool Temperate continental/Siberian
It is experienced only in the Northern hemisphere where the continents have a broad east-west
and absent in Southern hemisphere because of the narrowness of the southern continents in
the high latitude
The extremes of temperature are so great in Siberia that it is often referred to as the cold pole of
the earth
The interiors of The Eurasian continent are so remote from Maritime influence that annual
precipitation cannot be high
Coniferous forest - moderate density, evergreen, conical in shape, leaves are small, thick and
leathery
Four major species - pine, fir, spruce, larch (they are present in pure stands)
Cool Tempaerate Eastern Margin/Laurentian
An intermediate type of climate between the British and the Siberian
It has features of both the maritime and the continental climates.
The region is subjected to aridity rather than continentality.
Winter temperatures may be well below freezing point and summers are as warm as the tropics
Its annual precipitation is so less, that it is a rain Shadow desert
Predominant vegetation is cool temperate forest
The heavy rainfall, warm summers and the damp air from Fogs, all favour the growth of the trees.
Arctic / Polar
Mainly in the form of snow
Convectional rainfall is generally absent because of the lower rate of evaporation and the
lack of moisture in the cold polar air
Tundra vegetation is predominant
The greatest inhibiting factor is the regions deficiency in heat
Drainage in the Tundra is usually poor as the subsoil is permanently frozen
Hardy grasses and reindeer moss
In the brief summer, berry bearing bushes and Arctic flowers bloom. They brighten the
Tundra landscape into Arctic Praries
