CLIMATE AND NATURAL REGIONS

Prepared by
Sir. MAGIGE:
0710587827
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 CLIMATE
• Is the average weather condition of an area
recorded for a long period of time, usually
thirty(30) years or more.
• The world climate is neither uniform nor
static.
• Climate of an area is largely identified by two
major factors; TEMPERATURE and RAINFALL

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 NATURAL CLIMATIC REGIONS
• Refer to the areas with specific temperature,
rainfall, relief, natural vegetation, soil type and
cultural environment conditions which are more or
less similar.
• Natural climatic regions are Homogenous
ecosystems
 Animals
 Plants
Nb. Human activities shape natural climatic region.
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 TYPES OF WORLD CLIMATE AND THEIR
CHARACTERISTICS
The world climate is classified by various
systems in the world.
The most preferred classification is köppen
climate classification system.
Was developed by Vladmir Köppen in 1900s

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 According to Köppen classification system. There are five major world climate

1. Tropical climate
2. Dry climate
3. Cold climate
4. Temperate climate
5. Polar climate
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 TROPICAL CLIMATE
• It is non-arid climate in which mean temperature
is above 18°c throughout the year.
• Experiencing within 23.5°S and 23.5°N of the
equator.
• CHARACTERISTICS
• High average temperature
• Heavy rainfall
• Temperature are between 21°c and 32°c
throughout the year.
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 Characteristics………
• Characterised by two seasons namely dry
season and wet season.
• Annual rainfall is around 762mm.
• Areas Central Africa, some parts of South
America as well as Northern and Eastern
Australia.
• Biomes include Rainforests and savannah

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 DRY CLIMATE
• This is a type of climate experiencing very little rainfall and have no
permanent source of streams.
• CHARACTERISTICS
i. Daily temperature ranging from 32°c to 35°c.
ii. Divided into semi-arid and arid zones
iii. Very low precipitation
iv. High evaporation rates that typically exceed precipitation
v. Found mostly between 15°N and 35°S of the equator and large
continental region of the mid-latitudes,
vi. North America, southern part of south America, Australia , central
and southern Africa and middle Asia.
vii. The lowest rainfall is about 150mm occurring in arid or desert areas
where the precipitation average is less than 35mmper annum
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 Continue…
• No ground moisture due to low average
rainfall and rapid evaporation.
• Also they found in some part of Central
Tanzania.

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 TEMPERATE CLIMATE
Is also known as mesothermal or middle latitude climate.
It is also found between 30°N and 60°S.
CHARACTERISTICS
 Summers tend to be quite warm with little rainfall of about
610mm a year.
 Winter are moderately wet.
 Temperate biomes includes
Sub-tropical region
Mediterranean areas
Marine or maritime regions
Wide temperature range between 17°c and 24°c.
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Factors affecting temperate climate
1. Latitudinal positions
2. Sea or ocean currents
3. Prevailing wind direction.
4. Continentality (how large a landmass is).
5. Altitude.

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 COLD CLIMATE
 It is lie between 40°N and 65°S of the equator and the poles.
 It includes the Arctic and Antarctic such as part of Russia and
Alaska.
 Mountain tops have their own cold climate no matter where
they are located.
 It is known as snow, micro thermal or continental climate.
 Have moderate rainfall of about 231mm and high seasonal
variation in temperature.
 Found in central regions of landmasses and average
temperature of 10°c in their warmest months.
 In winter, the coldest month has an average temperature of
below -3°c
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 POLAR CLIMATE
• Is found across the continentas that border the arctic
ocean, Greenland and Antarctica.
• Has year-round cold climate.
CHARACTERISTICS
• Lack of true summer
• Areas northern Canada, Siberia, and Antarctica.,
• Very cold weather for most of the year
• Land is covered by thick sheet of ice.
• Large blocks of permanent ice and tundra are what
make these regions distinctive.
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 Cont………
• During the winter, the regions are entirely dark and
extremely cold.
• During the summer, days are long but receive a little
amount of insolation which makes summer cools as well.
• Annual temperature ranges between -40°c and 0°c.
• The region is dry with less than 25mm of precipitation
annually.
• Most precipitations occur during summer.
• Polar climate regions experience only four months of
temperature above the freezing point.
• They have also months of little daylight.
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 GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS AFFECTING
CLIMATE
1. Latitude
2. Altitude
3. Distance from the sea
4. Prevailing winds
5. Ocean currents
6. Aspect
7. Vegetation
8. Soils
9. Human influence
10. Atmospheric pressure
11. Temperature
12. rainfall
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 latitude
Is the angular distance measured North and
South of the equator.
Latitude affecting climate due to earth
inclination.
Temperature at the equator is high tend to
decrease once goes away from the equator like
in polar region.
The more the area hit by sunray the more the
temperature received.
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 ALTITUTDE
Refer to the height of a point above mean sea
level.
The temperature decreases as the altitude
increases from the sea level at the rate of
o.6°c per 100m of height. This process is
known as lapse rate.
Hence, lowland areas temperature is high and
high land areas temperature is low.

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 Distance from the sea
• Areas near ocean or sea tends to be warm
while away from the ocean or sea tend to be
cool due to the land surface heats and cools
fast than water surface.
• Also onshore winds bring warm air during the
winter.
• During the summer land surface is warmth
than water surface, for that reason coastal
region is cooler than inland regions
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 Prevailing winds
 Are winds that blowing consistently in a given direction over a
particular region on earth.
 It is caused by uneven heating and earth’s rotation.
 Wind tends to transfer heat and moist over the land surface.
 If wind are warm and blow from hot area will raise temperature,
 while when winds blow from cold area will lower the
temperature of local area
 Example of local winds are ; SIROCCO and MISTRAL.
• Wind blowing during the day is different from that blowing during
the night.
 Land breeze
 Sea breeze
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 wind
• LAND BREEZE • SEA BREEZE
Wind that blow from the Wind that blow from the
land to the sea during sea to the land during
the night the day

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 Ocean currents
Is the continuous and directed movement of sea
water generated by a number of forces acting
upon the water.
• FACTORS AFFECTING OCEAN CURRENT
Winds
Temperature of the sea or ocean
The shape of coastline
Salinity
Density differences of the sea or ocean.
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 Types of ocean current
• Warm ocean current
• Cold ocean current
 warm ocean current=raise temperature
example Brazil warm current
 cold ocean current =lower the temperature
example Benguela cold current.

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 ASPECT
• Is a direction in which a slope faces the sun.
• In Northern Hemisphere, southward facing
slopes are warmer than northward facing
slopes because northward never receive direct
sunshine and never get overhead sun.
• In Southern hemisphere, northern face receive
sunlight than south face.
• NB. Area facing direction of sun have high
moist, temperature and sunlight.
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 Cont….
• Area pointing direction of sun have
 Abundant sunlight
 Little moisture in soil due to intense heat.
 Good crops
 Human settlements
Area away from the sun does not receive sunlight
 No sunlight
 No crops
 Dry wind
 No rainfall
 No settlement 24
 VEGETATION
Area with dense forest cover like Congo and
Amazon basin receive less insolation towards
the earth’s surface.
Hence, vegetated area is cooler than open
space.

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 SOILS
• Light soils reflect more heat than dark soils
which are better heat absorbers.
• Dry soils are sensible to temperature change,
whereas wet soils such as clay retain much
moisture and tend to warm up or cool more
slowly.

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 HUMAN ACTIVITIES
• Human activities such as agriculture,
settlements, industries, constructions of dams
influence climate changes as people tend to
clear forests, drain water and cultivate
wetlands.

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 TEMPERATURE
Is the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or
intensity of heat present in a substance or
object.
Temperature is measured by thermometer.
Places near the equator experience high
temperaturethroughout the yearwhereas
places near the poles experience cold
temperature throughout the year.

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 Concepts used in temperature
 Daily mean temperature.
 Mean monthly temperature.
 Mean annual temperature.
 Annual range of temperature.
 Diurnal range of temperature.

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 Continue
• Daily mean temperature
 Is the average of the maximum temperature and minimum temperature
recorded during a day.
• Mean monthly temperature
 Is the average of temperature of a month obtained by taking the sum of
daily temperature of a calendar month divided by the number of days
in a month.
• Mean annual temperature
 Is the average of maximum and minimum temperature of a year. It is
average between the coldest and hottest months in a year.
• Annual range of temperature
 Is the different between the temperature of the hottest month and that
of the coldest month in a year.
• Diurnal range of temperature
 Is the different between the hottest and coldest parts of the day. i.e.
maximum day and minimum night temperatures. 30
 ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
• Is the pressure within the atmosphere
• Is the force exerted on a surface by the air
above it as the gravity pulls it to the earth

• CONCEPTS RELATED TO ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE.

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 DEPRESSION OR CYCLONE
Is the large scale air mass that rotates around a
strong centre of low atmospheric pressure (L)
in anti-clockwise direction north of the
equator and clockwise to the south.
They move nearly across all regions of the earth
except the Equatorial belt and are generally
associated with rain or snow.
Are characterized by inward spiraling winds that
rotate about a zone of low pressure.
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cyclone

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 Anticyclone
• Is the system of wind that rotates clockwise
about the centre of hogh atmospheric
pressure (H) in the Northern Hemisphere and
anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
• As air sinks, no clouds or rain are formed.
• When air sinks it becomes warm and can not
hold more water.
• They cause clear sky and high temperature.

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figure

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 INTER-TROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE
• Is the low pressure belt, which is found between two trade
wind systems.
• The ITCZ is known as sailors, doldrums or the calm zone.
• It is windless weather.
• Is the area where southeast and northeast trade winds
converge.
• The area is characterized with
 Heavy rainfall accompanied with lightning and
thunderstorms.
• They move northward and southward following the apparent
movement of the sun.
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ITCZ

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 RAINFALL
Is the water droplets falling from the atmosphere after
condensation.
• When water vapour rises it cools at a high altitude
until dew point.
• Dew point → is the temperature rate at which the
atmosphere is saturated with water vapour.
• When dew point reaches, condensation takes place
to form clouds
• Moist air contains small particles called nuclei that
are made up of dust, salt, ice and soot.
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 TYPES OF RAINFALL
There are three types of rainfall.
1) Convectional rainfall
2) Relief or topographical rainfall
3) Cyclonic or depression or frontal rainfall

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video

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 CONVECTIONAL RAINFALL
Is the rainfall formed due to differential heating
of the earth’s surface that causes warm moist
air current to rise.
As air rises to higher altitude it cools and
condenses to form clouds from which rain
falls.
It is common in tropical areas.

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DIAGRAM

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RELIEF OR OROGRAPHIC RAINFALL.
This is rainfall formed when moist winds from the ocean are forced to rise over a
high mountain.
When reaches to higher altitude condenses and form clouds that form droplets
eventually fall as rain.
• Here the mountain contain two parts
a. Windward side.
b. Leeward side.
WINDWARD SIDE
=Is the side of mountain facing the direction of wind and receives more rainfall.
• There is moist winds here
LEEWARD SIDE
=is the side of mountain which faces away from the direction of wind. It
sometimes called RAIN SHADOW AREA.
There is dry winds here.

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 CYCLONIC OR FRONTAL RAINFALL
 Is rainfall formed when a large mass of warm and moist air meets a
mass of cool and dry air whereby, warm, moist and light air rise up
over cool, dry and denser air.
 Warm air cools and condense to form clouds and eventually rainfall.
 Cyclonic rainfall is caused by three types of winds namely;
SIROCCO WINDS
=are hot winds with clouds of desert dust blowing from the Saharan desert
northwards across Mediterranean sea into Italy. They are so humid,
unpleasant, irritating heat and dryness.
MISTRAL WINDS
= cold air which blows southwards from the Alps and central Massif across
Mediterranean sea into Northern Africa.
HARMATTAN WINDS
= is the dust-laden winds blowing southwards to the coast of west Africa from
the Sahara Desert.
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 NATURAL CLIMATIC REGIONS OF THE WORLD
 Is the part of the earth with relatively similar climate, vegetation, geology,
animal species and human activities.
 There are fourteen(14) natural climatic regions.
1. Equatorial region.
2. Tropical grassland(Savannah).
3. Tropical maritime.
4. Tropical (hot) desert.
5. Tropical monsoon.
6. Mediterranean region.
7. Warm temperate eastern margin (china type).
8. Warm temperate eastern interior (steppe type).
9. Cool temperate western coast margin (British type).
10. Cool temperate eastern margin (Laurentian type).
11. Cool temperate continental (Siberian type).
12. Cool temperate interior.
13. Polar (tundra climate and Ice cap climate).
14. Mountainous region 47
 EQUATORIAL CLIMATE REGION
• It extends from 0° to 5°N &S of the equator.
• To some parts of the world it extends up to 10°.
Congo basins(central Africa).
Amazon basin (south America)
East Africa highlands like lake Victoria northern
region in Pemba (Zanzibar) at Ngezi forest.
Coast gulf of Guinea.
Younde.Cameroon
South ivory coast.
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Characteristics of equatorial region
i. Uniformity temperature throughout the year.
ii. Mean monthly temperatures are always 24°c to 27°c.
iii. There is no winter because of length of day and night
almost the same.
iv. Small diurnal and annual range of temperature are
small approximately to 3°c
v. Heavy rainfall throughout the year normally
convectional rainfall ranging from 1500mm to
2500mm.
vi. Receives double rainfall peaks.

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 Vegetation and animals in equatorial
region
• Luxuriant vegetation and tropical rainforest.
• Evergreen trees contain tropical hardwoods like Mahagony, ebony,
greenheart, rosewood, cabinet wood, dywoods,lianas, epiphytic and
parastic plants.
• Plants spiecies in this climate mostly have the following layers
 Emergent layer
 Main canopy layer
 Under canopy layer
 Shrub layer.
• Animals mostly found in equatorial climate region are
 Tree dwellers like; gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys
 River dwellers like; crocodiles and hippopotamus
 Open space dwellers like; lions, hyenas, zebras, tigers and elephants.
 Birds and insects of various kinds.
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 HUMAN ACTIVITIES
 Agriculture especially rubber, cocoa, oil palms, sugarcane,
maize, groundnuts, yams, bananas etc.
 Lumbering due to presence of valuable trees such as Mahagony,
ebony, and rosewood.
 Fishing and water transport due to the presence of large rivers
like Congo and Amazon rivers and their tributaries.
 Hunting and food collection especially by forest dwellers like
pygmies of Congo basin.
They obtain traditional medicine, fruits, firewoods, honey, roots
and meats.
 Tourism due to attractive environment like forests and wild
animals.
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Problems caused by equatorial regions
• Poor communication network due to difficultness
to introduce lines for communication.
• Rapid and vegetation growth hinder settlement.
• Heavy rainfall throughout the year lead to loss of
soil nutrients
• Presence of pests and insects increase diseases
example tsetse flies cause sleeping
sickness(trypanosomiasis) for human .and
Nagana (animal trypanosomiasis).
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 Climatic data of equatorial climate
mon J F M A M J J A S O N D
th

Rainfa 249 231 262 221 170 84 58 38 46 107 142 203

Temp 28 28 28 27 28 28 28 28 29 29 29 28
°c

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

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300

250

200

150
RAINFALL (MM)
TEMPERATURE
100

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0
RY R Y C H R IL A Y NE LY UST BER BER BER BER
U
UA RUA AR AP M JU J G O
N M U E M CT V E M CE M
JA FEB A PT O
SE NO DE 54
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