Day 1: Climate

Words

The basics about climate can be gleaned from two online publications: a general one from the National Geographic Society, and then the Köppen categorization of the of the world’s climates as described by PhysicalGeography.net (which has an enormous amount of resources for all aspects of geography).

Reading: “All About Climate (Nat Geo)”

Reading: “Climate Classification and Climatic Regions of the World (Physical Geography – Pidwirny 2006)”

Of course, an important topic today is how the climate is changing, and our own human role in this. The United States Global Change Research Program put together a paper that provides information about climate change: 

Reading: “Climate Literacy – Essential Principles of Climate Science (Global Change)”

Works

What we feel when we go outside is not climate per se, but weather. But be aware of your climatic zone and general features of temperature, humidity, and precipitation in your region of the world as you make observations. What organisms and landforms are typical of your climate? How do the things you are observing indicate your regional climate?