Wikibooks: Basic Geography/Climate/Global Climate

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Argentina; Tundra
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Basic_Geography/Climate/Global_Climate

= Global Climate Zones = Different forests of the world experience different climatic conditions. A forests climate influences the types of vegetation and animals that live there. It is therefore possible to divide the world into a number of climatic zones each with its own characteristic climate vegetation and wildlife. Tropical forests are found near the equator in Central America parts Africa and Asia. They are very hot and humid and contain a huge variety of plants and animals round half of all the world s species. Trees are mostly hardwood. Temperate deciduous forests contain trees that lose their leaves and are found across Europe and USA. Coniferous forests contain pine trees are found further north than deciduous forests in Scandinavia Russia and Canada. Desert is the driest of areas. The largest expanse of desert is found in North Africa. Areas of scrubland that border the desert are called desert scrub. Savannas or tropical grasslands are hot and dry dominated by grass scrub and occasional trees. They have two distinct seasons a dry season when much of the vegetation dies back and a rainy season when it grows rapidly. Savannas are found in central Africa (Kenya Zambia Tanzania) northern Australia and central South America (Venezuela and Brazil). Temperate grasslands are areas dominated by grass where trees and large bushes are scarce. The weather is less harsh than the savannas. Famous grasslands include the Puszta in Hungary Veldts in South Africa Pampas in Argentina and Prairies in USA. Mediterranean is a pleasant climate not too hot or cold. As the name suggests it is found around the Mediterranean Sea and to a lesser extent elsewhere. Tundra surrounds the poles. It has an extremely cold climate with limited numbers of plants and animals. Mountain areas can be very cold at night and during winter. The growing season is short and at higher levels trees will not grow. =Climate Types= The above climatic zones can be grouped into the following types Tropical Monsoon Dry Warm Cool Cold One of the easiest ...