How many kinds of climate are there?
Changes in the weather, both on a day-to day and seasonal basis have puzzled man for ages. Climate is the average weather experienced in a region over a period of years. Climate depends on many factors such as the average temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, wind directions, location, height above sea level and latitude of the place.
Different kinds of climate are found in different parts of the world. Various instruments like the thermometer, barometer, rain gauge, etc. are used to study the climate, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and directions, rainfall, clouds, humidity, etc.
After much study, the world has been divided into 12 major climatic regions. For convenience, these climatic regions have been grouped into three on the basis of their latitudinal positions and extent. These are the low latitude climatic zone, the mid-latitude climatic zone and the high latitude climatic zone.
Low Latitude Climatic Zone: This zone lies close to the equator, generally between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. It includes the humid tropical region, trade wind coastal region, tropical desert and steppe, tropical monsoon and savannah regions. The temperature in this region is very is high. The annual rainfall is heavy over most of the region, especially in the tropical areas.
Mid-Latitude Climatic Zone: This includes china type, west European type, Mediterranean , mid-latitude desert and the steppe region. The summers are not very hot, but the winters are very cold.
High Latitude Climatic Zone: It includes Taiga type, Tundra type, ice cap and high mountain type regions. In these places, temperatures are very low during the winter and frigid even during the summer. They generally lie beyond the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle .
The 12 major subdivisions of climate within the zones given above are---
1. Tropical wet
2. Tropical wet and dry
3. Highlands
4. Desert
5. Steppe
6. Subtropical
7. Subtropical moist
8. Oceanic moist
9. Continental moist
10. Sub-arctic
11. Polar
12. Ice cap
Climate affects the type of houses we live in, the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the type of transportation we use. In short, it has a major effect on our lives.
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