Köppen's climate classification was first published
by Russian German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884. German climatologist
Rudolf Geiger (1954, 1961) collaborated with Köppen on changes to the
classification system, which is sometimes called the Köppen?Geiger system.
Köppen was the father in law of Alfred Wegener, who
developed the theory of continental drift. Much of Wegener's evidence lay in
paleoclimates and the past distribution of plants and animals, perhaps
reflecting Köppen's influence.
The Köppen climate classification scheme divides
climates into five main climate groups: A (tropical), B (dry), C (temperate), D
(continental), and E (polar). The second letter indicates the seasonal
precipitation type, while the third letter indicates the level of heat. The
A-B-D-E and categories correspond closely with latitude, with minor adjustments
for ocean moderation and elevation, while the B climates can occur over a range
of latitudes where there is insufficient rainfall to support vegetation.
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This is actually stored as a point database, but the values are on a ½º by ½º grid with the Koppen climate class at
each point on land, for the time period 1976 to 2000. The data comes from
The Institute for
Veterinary Public Health, University of Vienna; they have additional
periods for the entire 20th century, since climate does not appear to be static,
and projections for the 21st century. Storage as a table allows the color and category names to be included. It also keeps the grid from trying to interpolate values. This is not an equal area projection, but using the variable size of a ½º by ½º which changes with latitude, you could compute the area covered by each category. |
MICRODEM Koppen Classification
Koppen Classification algorithm used in MICRODEM.
Last revised 9/10/2019