What is the climate ?
The word climate, from the ancient Greek “ klima “, is commonly
understood as the pattern average and variations of weather in a precise
region, for the duration of a relatively long observation period.
To build that image, some parameters are considered, such as
temperature, wind and precipitation.
Such data, collected over a standard period ( not less significant than
30 years, but other periods may be used depending on the purpose ),
allow us to be aware of local meteorological reality and define it
according to precise models. There are in fact a few climate zones,
which are common to several different regions around the planet.
To define the local climate, also statistics other than the average,
such as the magnitudes of day-to-day or year-to-year variations, are
also considered.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (
http://www.ipcc.ch/ ) glossary
definition is :
Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the “ average weather ”,
or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean
and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging
from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period is
30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ).
These quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature,
precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state,
including a statistical description, of the climate system.
What are climate zones ?
As above mentioned, it is possible to recognize the local climate
according to a precise model or standard.
There are a few different ways according which climate types have been
defined so far.
At the present time, climate zones can be defined more generally under
the Köppen climate zones classification, used by geography, climatology
and ecology. When considering such system, keep in mind that there are
usually gradual transitions from zone to zone.
The clime zones were developed in 1900 by a German climatologist,
Wladimir Köppen, and later, in collaboration with Rudolf Geiger, were
improved several times until 1936.
Köppen-Geiger climate zones
Climate zones are limited by parameters such as temperature and rainfall
according to a year round evolution.
To learn more about this subject an to see a global map representing all
this zones, you can fallow this link -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification.
Köppen-Geiger climate classification map according to wild livebearer Cyprinodontiformes geographical distribution :
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