1. 17.2 world climates

2. Learning Targets • Describe the relationship between the climate zones and the factors that influence climate • Discuss the relationship between climate zones and biomes • Discuss the different biomes based on a general description

3. Climate Zones and Biomes • Climate zone: areas with similar temperatures, humidity, precipitation, and seasons • Vegetation reflects particular climate zone • Biome: climate zone plus native plants and animals • Found in bands of similar latitude N or S • 30° deserts; 90-75°polar tundra

4. Climate Zones • Tropic Moist (tropical moist) • Dry (Arid) • Moist Subtropical (Humid) mid-latitude • Continental • Cold • Sub-polar • Polar

6. Tropical Moist Climates • ~25° N to 25° S (near equator) • High temperatures and lots of rainfall • Tropical wet • Tropical monsoon • Both are Tropical Rainforest Biome • Tropical wet dry • Biome - Savanna

9. Arid (Dry) Climates • ~25-35° N and S • Hadley convection cell drops cool dry air • Hot days, cold nights; very little precipitation • Deserts • Biome - Steppe

12. Moist Subtropical Mid-latitude • ~30-40° N and S • Higher along the coast • 4 separate seasons; plenty of precipitation • Mediterranean • Humid subtropical (Southeast US) • Marine West Coast

15. Continental • ~40-70° N • No continental climates in Southern Hemisphere; land is too narrow • Humid but colder than humid mid-latitude • Not warmed by ocean currents • Cold winters; hot summers • Affected by surrounding land – low specific heat

18. Cold • 70-90° N and S • Very little precipitation • Subpolar • Taiga; many coniferous forests; meltwater streams • Polar Tundra • Mosses and ferns; frozen most of the year • Permafrost - Permanently frozen ground • Ice Cap

22. Microclimate • When climate conditions in a small area are different from those of the surroundings, the climate of the small area