Classifications of climates: types, methods and principles of division, the purpose of zoning

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Climate has a huge impact on the life of every person. Almost everything depends on it - from the he alth of a single individual to the economic situation of the entire state. The importance of this phenomenon is also evidenced by the presence of several classifications of the Earth's climates, created at different times by the most prominent scientists in the world. Let's look at each of them and determine on what basis the systematization took place.

What is climate

From time immemorial, people began to notice that each locality has its own characteristic weather regime, repeating year after year, century after century. This phenomenon is called "climate". And the science involved in its study, accordingly, became known as climatology.

One of the first attempts to study it dates back to the year three thousand BC. Interest in this phenomenon cannot be called idle. He pursuedvery practical goals. After all, having more thoroughly understood the peculiarities of the climate of different territories, people learned to choose more favorable climatic conditions for life and work (the duration of winter, temperature regime, amount and typology of precipitation, etc.). They directly determined:

• what plants and when to grow in a certain region;
• periods in which it is appropriate to engage in hunting, construction, animal husbandry;
• what crafts are best developed in this area.

Even military campaigns were planned taking into account the climatic features of a certain area.

With the development of science, humanity began to study the features of weather conditions in different areas more closely and discovered a lot of new things. It turned out that they affect not only what type of crop should be grown in a given region (bananas or radishes), but also on a person’s well-being. Air temperature, atmospheric pressure and other climatic factors directly affect blood circulation in the skin, cardiovascular, respiratory and other systems. Guided by this knowledge, even today many medical institutions began to be located precisely in those areas where the weather regime had the most beneficial effect on the well-being of patients.

Realizing the importance of this phenomenon for the planet as a whole and for humanity in particular, scientists tried to identify the main types of climate, to systematize them. Indeed, coupled with modern technologies, this made it possible not only to choose the most favorable places for life, butand plan for agriculture, mining, etc. on a global scale.

However, how many minds - so many opinions. Therefore, in different periods of history, various ways were proposed to form a typology of weather regimes. Throughout history, there are more than a dozen different classifications of the Earth's climates. Such a large scatter is explained by different principles on the basis of which certain varieties were distinguished. What are they?

Basic principles of climate classification

Classification of climates made by any scientist is absolutely always based on a certain property of weather regimes. It is these characteristics that become the principle that helps to create a complete system.

Because different climatologists have prioritized different properties of the weather regime (or combinations thereof), there are different criteria for classifications. Here are the main ones:

• Temperature.
• Humidity.
• Proximity to rivers, seas (oceans).
• Height above sea level (relief).
• Precipitation frequency.
• Radiation balance.
• Typology of plants growing in a certain area.

A bit of the history of climatology

For all the millennia of studying the weather regimes in certain areas of the planet, many ways have been invented to systematize them. However, at the moment, most of these theories are already the lot of history. And yet they have contributed to the creation of modern classifications.

First trystreamline data on weather patterns dates back to 1872. It was made by the German researcher Heinrich August Rudolf Grisebach. His classification of climates was based on botanical characteristics (plant typology).

Another system, formulated by the Austrian August Zupan in 1884, became more widespread in the scientific community. He divided the entire globe into thirty-five climatic provinces. Based on this system, eight years later, another climatologist from Finland, R. Hult, made a more extensive classification, already consisting of one hundred and three elements. All provinces in it were named according to the type of vegetation or the name of the area.

It is worth noting that such classifications of climates were only descriptive. Their creators did not set themselves the goal of a practical study of the issue. The merit of these scientists was that they most fully collected data on observations of weather patterns throughout the planet and systematized them. However, an analogy between similar climates in different provinces has not been drawn.

In parallel with these scientists, in 1874, the Swiss researcher Alphonse Louis Pierre Piramus Decandol developed his own principles by which it is possible to streamline weather patterns. Drawing attention to the geographical zonality of vegetation, he singled out only five types of climate. Compared to other systems, this was a very modest amount.

In addition to the above scientists, other climatologists also created their typologies. Moreover, as a fundamental principle, they used different factors. Here are the most famousthem:

1. Landscape-geographical zones of the planet (systems of V. V. Dokuchaev and L. S. Berg).
2. Classification of rivers (theories of A. I. Voeikov, A. Penk, M. I. Lvovich).
3. The level of humidity of the territory (systems of A. A. Kaminsky, M. M. Ivanov, M. I. Budyko).

The most famous climate classifications

Although all of the above ways to systematize weather patterns were quite reasonable and very progressive, they never caught on. They have become part of history. This is largely due to the impossibility in those days to quickly collect climate data around the world. Only with the development of progress and the emergence of new methods and technologies for studying weather regimes, it began to be possible to collect real data on time. On their basis, more relevant theories emerged, which are used today.

It is worth noting that there is still no single classification of climate types, which would be equally recognized by all scientists in any country in the world. The reason is simple: different regions use different systems. The most famous and used ones are listed below:

1. Genetic classification of climates by B. P. Alisov.
2. L. S. Berg system.
3. Köppen-Geiger classification.
4. Travers system.
5. Classification of life zones by Leslie Holdridge.

Alice genetic classification

This system is better known in the post-Soviet states, where it was most widely used, continuing to be used today, when most other countries give backpreference for the Köppen-Geiger system.

This division is due to political reasons. The fact is that during the years of the existence of the Soviet Union, the "Iron Curtain" separated the inhabitants of this state from the whole world, not only in economic and cultural terms, but also in scientific terms. And while Western scientists were adherents of the Köppen-Geiger method of systematizing weather regimes, Soviet scientists preferred the classification of climates according to B. P. Alisov.

By the way, the same "iron curtain" did not allow this, albeit complex, but very relevant system to spread beyond the borders of the countries of the Soviet camp.

According to Alisov's classification, the systematization of weather regimes relies on already identified geographical zones. In honor of them, the scientist gave the name to all climatic zones - both basic and transitional.

This concept was first formulated in 1936 and refined over the next twenty years.

The principle that Boris Petrovich was guided by when creating his system is division according to the conditions of circulation of air masses.

Thus, the climatologist B. P. Alisov developed a classification of climates, consisting of seven basic zones plus six transitional ones.

The basic "seven" is:

• pair of polar zones;
• moderate couple;
• one equatorial;
• tropical couple.

Such a division was justified by the fact that the climate throughout the yearformed by the dominant influence of the same type of air masses: Antarctic/Arctic (depending on the hemisphere), temperate (polar), tropical, and equatorial.

In addition to the above seven, Alisov's genetic classification of climates also includes the "six" transition zones - three in each hemisphere. They are characterized by a seasonal change in the dominant air masses. These include:

• Two subequatorial (tropical monsoon zones). In summer, equatorial air prevails, in winter - tropical air.
• Two subtropical zones (tropical air dominates in summer, temperate air prevails in winter).
• Subarctic (Arctic air masses).
• Subantarctic (Antarctic).

According to Alisov's classification of climates, their distribution zones are delimited according to the average position of climatological fronts. For example, the zone of the tropics is located between the areas of domination of two fronts. In summer - tropical, in winter - polar. For this reason, throughout the year it is mainly located in the zone of influence of tropical air masses.

In turn, the transitional subtropics lie between the winter and summer positions of the polar and tropical fronts. It turns out that in winter it is under the predominant influence of polar air, in summer - tropical air. The same principle is typical for other climates in Alisov's classification.

Summing up all of the above, in general, we can distinguish such zones, or belts:

• arctic;
• subarctic;
• moderate;
• subtropical;
• tropical;
• equatorial;
• subequatorial;
• Subantarctic;
• Antarctic.

There seem to be nine of them. However, in reality - twelve, due to the existence of paired polar, temperate and tropical zones.

In his genetic classification of climate, Alisov also highlights an additional feature. Namely, the division of weather regimes according to the degree of continentality (dependence on proximity to the mainland or the ocean). According to this criterion, the following types of climate are distinguished:

• sharp continental;
• temperate continental;
• maritime;
• monsoon.

Although the merit of the development and scientific justification of just such a system belongs to Boris Petrovich Alisov, he was not the first to come up with the idea of ordering temperature regimes according to geographical zones.

Berg's landscape-botanical classification

In fairness, it is important to note that another Soviet scientist - Lev Semenovich Berg - was the first to use the principle of distribution by geographical zones to systematize weather patterns. And he did this nine years earlier than the climatologist Alisov developed a classification of the Earth's climates. It was in 1925 that L. B. Berg voiced his own system. According to it, all types of climate are divided into two large groups.

1. Lowlands (subgroups: ocean, land).
2. Highlands (subgroups: climate of plateaus and uplands; mountains and individual mountain systems).

In the weather regimes of the plains, the zones are determined according to the landscape of the same name. Thus, in the classification of climates according to Berg, twelve zones are distinguished (one less than that of Alisov).

When creating a system of weather regimes, it was not enough just to come up with names for them, you also need to prove their real existence. Through many years of observation and recording of weather conditions, L. B. Berg managed to carefully study and describe only the climates of the lowlands and high plateaus.

So, among the lowlands, he singled out the following varieties:

• Tundra climate.
• Steppe.
• Siberian (taiga).
• Forest regime in the temperate zone. Sometimes also known as "oak climate".
• Temperate monsoon climate.
• Mediterranean.
• Subtropical forest climate
• Subtropical desert regime (trade wind region)
• Inland desert climate (temperate zone).
• Savannah mode (forest-steppes in the tropics).
• Tropical rainforest climate

However, further study of the Berg system showed its weak point. It turned out that not all climatic zones fully coincide with the boundaries of vegetation and soil.

Köppen classification: essence and difference from the previous system

The classification of climates according to Berg is partly based on quantitative criteria, which were the first to be used to describe and systematize weather patterns by the German climatologist of Russian origin Vladimir Petrovich Koeppen.

The scientist made basic developments on this topic back in 1900. Later, Alisov and Berg actively used his ideas to create their systems, but it was Koeppen who managed (despite worthy competitors) to create the most popular climate classification.

According to Koeppen, the best diagnostic criterion for any type of weather regime is precisely the plants that appear in a certain area under natural conditions. And as you know, vegetation directly depends on the temperature regime of the area and the amount of precipitation.

According to this classification of climates, there are five basic zones. For convenience, they are denoted by Latin capital letters: A, B, C, D, E. In this case, only A denotes one climatic zone (wet tropics without winter). All other letters - B, C, D, E - are used to mark two types at once:

• B - dry zones, one for each hemisphere.
• С - moderately warm, without regular snow cover.
• D - zones of boreal climate on the continents with brightly defined differences between the weather in winter and summer.
• E - polar regions in a snowy climate.

These zones are separated by isotherms (lines on the map connecting points with the same temperature) of the coldest and warmest months of the year. And besides - by the ratio of the arithmetic mean annual temperature to the annual amount of precipitation (taking into account their frequency).

In addition, the classification of climates according to Köppen and Geiger provides for the presenceadditional zones within A, C and D. This is related to the type of winter, summer and rainfall. Therefore, in order to most accurately describe the climate of a particular zone, the following lowercase letters are used:

• w - dry winter;
• s - dry summer;
• f - uniform humidity throughout the year.

These letters are applicable only to describe climates A, C and D. For example: Af - tropical forest zone, Cf - evenly humidified warm temperate climate, Df - evenly humidified moderately cold climate and others.

For "deprived" B and E, large Latin letters S, W, F, T are used. They are grouped in this way:

• BS - steppe climate;
• BW - desert climate;
• ET - tundra;
• EF - the climate of eternal frost.

In addition to these designations, this classification provides for a division according to twenty-three more features, based on the temperature regime of the area and the frequency of precipitation. They are denoted by lowercase Latin letters (a, b, c, and so on).

Sometimes, with such a letter characteristic, the third and fourth characters are added. These are also ten Latin lowercase letters, which are used only when directly describing the climate of the months (hottest and coldest) of a certain area:

• The third letter indicates the temperature of the hottest month (i, h, a, b, l).
• Fourth - the coldest (k, o, c, d, e).

For example: the climate of the famous Turkish resort city of Antalya will be denoted by such a cipher as Cshk. Hestands for: moderately warm type without snow (C); with dry summer (s); with the highest temperature from plus twenty-eight to thirty-five degrees Celsius (h) and the lowest - from zero to plus ten degrees Celsius (k).

This ciphered record in letters has earned such a strong popularity of this classification all over the world. Its mathematical simplicity saves time when working and is convenient for its brevity when marking climate data on maps.

After Koeppen, who in 1918 and 1936 published work on his system, many other climatologists were engaged in bringing it to perfection. However, the greatest success was achieved by the teachings of Rudolf Geiger. In 1954 and 1961 he made changes to the methodology of his predecessor. In this form, she was taken into service. For this reason, the system is known worldwide under the double name of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification.

Trevart classification

Köppen's work has become a real revelation for many climate scientists. In addition to Geiger (who brought it to its current state), on the basis of this idea, the system of Glenn Thomas Trewart was created in 1966. Although in fact it is a modernized version of the Koeppen-Geiger classification, it is distinguished by Trevart's attempts to correct the flaws made by Koeppen and Geiger. In particular, he was looking for a way to redefine mid-latitudes in a way that would more closely match vegetation zoning and genetic climate systems. This correction contributed to the approximation of the Koeppen-Geiger system to the realreflection of global climate processes. According to Trevart's modification, the average latitudes were redistributed immediately into three groups:

• С - subtropical climate;
• D - moderate;
• E - boreal.

Because of this, instead of the usual five basic zones, there are seven of them in the classification. Otherwise, the distribution methodology has not received more important changes.

Leslie Holdridge Life Zone System

Let's consider another classification of weather patterns. Scientists are not unanimous about whether it is worth referring it to climatic ones. After all, this system (created by Leslie Holdridge) is used more in biology. At the same time, it directly relates to climatology. The fact is that the purpose of creating this system is the correlation of climate and vegetation.

The debut publication of this classification of life zones was made in 1947 by the American scientist Leslie Holdridge. It took another twenty years to finalize it to a global scale.

The life zone system is based on three indicators:

• average annual biotemperature;
• total annual precipitation;
• ratio of the average annual potential of the total annual rainfall.

It is noteworthy that, unlike other climatologists, when creating his classification, Holdridge did not initially plan to use it for zones around the world. This system was developed only for tropical and subtropical regions in order to describe the typology of local weather patterns. However, later convenience and practicality allowed herbe distributed throughout the world. This is largely due to the fact that the Holdridge system has found wide application in assessing possible changes in the nature of natural vegetation due to global warming. That is, the classification is of practical importance for climate forecasts, which is very important in the modern world. For this reason, it is put on a par with the Alisov, Berg and Koeppen-Geiger systems.

Instead of types, this classification uses climate-based classes:

1. Tundra:

• Polar desert.
• Pripolar dry.
• Subpolar wet.
• Polar wet.
• Polar rain tundra.

2. Arctic:

• Desert.
• Dry scrub.
• Moist forest.
• Wet forest.
• Rain forest.

3. Temperate zone. Types of temperate climate:

• Desert.
• Desert scrub.
• Steppe.
• Moist forest.
• Wet forest.
• Rain forest.

4. Warm climate:

• Desert.
• Desert scrub.
• Prickly scrub.
• Dry forest.
• Moist forest.
• Wet forest.
• Rain forest.

5. Subtropics:

• Desert.
• Desert scrub.
• Prickly woodlands.
• Dry forest.
• Moist forest.
• Wet forest.
• Rain forest.

6. Tropics:

• Desert.
• Desert scrub.
• Prickly woodlands.
• Very dryforest.
• Dry forest.
• Moist forest.
• Wet forest.
• Rain forest.

Zoning and zoning

In conclusion, let's pay attention to such a phenomenon as climatic zoning. This is the name given to the division of the earth's surface in some locality, region, country or around the world into belts, zones or regions according to climatic conditions (for example, according to the characteristics of air circulation, temperature regime, degree of humidity). Although zoning and zoning are very, very close, they are not completely identical. They are distinguished not only by the criteria for drawing boundaries, but also by goals.

In the case of zoning, its main task is to describe the already existing climate situation, as well as record its changes, and make forecasts for the future.

Zoning has a narrower, but at the same time, more practical focus related to life. On the basis of its data, the target distribution of the territories of an individual state or continent takes place. That is, it is decided which part of the land should remain untouched (allotted for nature reserves), and which part can be developed by man and how exactly it is best to do this.

It is worth noting that if climate zoning is studied by scientists from different countries, then Russian scientists directly specialize in zoning. And this is not surprising.

If we consider the classification of Russian climates, we can seethat this state lies in different climatic zones. These are arctic, subarctic, temperate and subtropical (according to the Alisov system). Within one country, this is a large variation not only in temperatures, but also in types of vegetation, landscape, etc. In order to properly dispose of all the diversity of these most valuable natural resources and not harm the ecosystem as a whole, zoning is used. This practical importance is the main reason why this phenomenon is so closely studied in the Russian Federation.