Question.
Define ‘climatic region’. What is the basis of Koeppen’s classification?
(Chapter-4 Climate, Class 11 NCERT geography "India Physical Environment")
Answer.
A climatic region is a geographical area where almost the same climate is found. For example, the whole of India has a monsoon type of climate.
Vladimir Köppen was a German-Russian climatologist who first introduced climate classification in 1918 and revised it several times. The Köppen climate classification method is one of the most widely accepted climate classifications.
The main bases of Koppen's classification;
There are two main bases of classification of Koppen's classification.
- Mean monthly value of temperature
- Mean monthly values of rainfall.
On the basis of monthly values of temperature and rainfall, Köppen identified five major climate types in the world-
- Tropical Climate (A)
- Dry climate (B)
- Warm temperate climate (C)
- Cool temperate climate or Snow Climate (D)
- Snowy ( Polar) climate (E)
Tropical Climate (A):
Tropical climates (A) are geographical regions where the average monthly temperature exceeds 18 °C throughout the year. This is the region near the equator.
Dry climate (B);
Dry climates are those climatic regions where evaporation is greater than rainfall. The region with less aridity is called semi-arid (S) and the region with more aridity is called an arid (W) region.
Warm temperate climate (C);
It is such a climatic region where the average temperature of the coldest month is between 18 to minus 3 degrees centigrade.
Cool temperate climate (D);
A climate region where the average temperature of the warmest month is more than 10 °C and the average temperature of the coldest month is less than minus 3 °C.
Snowy climate (E);
Where the average temperature of the hottest month is less than 10 degrees centigrade.
On the basis of the Köppen climate, the Indian monsoon climate can be divided into eight climatic zones.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon