(P. C. Y.)
CLIFTON, a suburb and residential district of Bristol, England, adjoining it on the west; 122 m. W. of London by the Great Western railway. The river Avon (q.v.) here runs in a gorge, followed closely by a railway on either side, and having several quarries, which have in a measure spoiled the beauty of its hanging woods. At a height of 245 ft. above high water Isambard Brunel’s famous suspension bridge bestrides this gorge. It was begun in 1832 and completed in 1864. It has a span of 702 ft., and its total weight is 1500 tons, and it is calculated to bear a burden of 9 tons per sq. in. The long famous hot springs of Clifton, to which, in fact, the town was indebted for its rise, issue from an aperture at the foot of St Vincent’s Rock, in the portion of Clifton known as Hotwells. The water has a temperature of about 76° F. A hydropathic establishment is attached to them. Immediately above the suspension bridge the Clifton Rocks railway ascends from the quays by the river-side to the heights above. The Clifton and Durdham Downs (both on the Gloucestershire side of the river), form the principal pleasure-grounds of Bristol. They lie high above the river, extend for some 5000 acres, and command a beautiful prospect over the city, with its picturesque irregular site and many towers, and over the surrounding well-wooded country.
Three ancient British earthworks bear witness to an early settlement on the spot, and a church was in existence as far back as the time of Henry II., when it was bestowed by William de Clyfton on the abbot of the Austin canons in Bristol; but there are no longer any architectural vestiges of an earlier date than the 18th century. Clifton gives name to a Roman Catholic bishopric. Of the churches the most important are St Andrew’s parish church; All Saints, erected in 1863 after the designs of G. E. Street, and remarkable for the width of its nave and the narrowness of its aisles; and the Roman Catholic pro-cathedral church of the Holy Apostles, with a convent and schools attached. Clifton College, a cluster of buildings in Gothic style, was founded in 1862 by a limited liability company, and takes rank among the principal modern English public schools. Down the river from Clifton is Shirehampton, a favourite resort from Bristol.
CLIM(orClym)OF THE CLOUGH, a legendary English archer, a supposed companion of the Robin Hood band. He is commemorated in the balladAdam Bell, Clym of the Cloughe and Wyllyam of Cloudeslee. The three were outlaws who had many adventures of the Robin Hood type. The oldest printed copy of this ballad is dated 1550.
CLIMACTERIC(from the Gr.κλιμακτήρ, the rung or step of aκλῖμαξor ladder), a critical period in human life; in a medical sense, the period known as the “change of life,” marked in women by the menopause. Certain ages, especially those which are multiples of seven or nine, have been superstitiously regarded as particularly critical; thus the sixty-third and the eighty-first year of life have been called the “grand climacteric.” The word is also used, generally, of any turning-point in the history of a nation, a career or the like.
CLIMATE AND CLIMATOLOGY.The wordclima(from Gr.κλίνειν, to lean or incline; whence also the English “clime,” now a poetical term for this or that region of the earth, regarded as characterized by climate), as used by the Greeks, probably referred originally either to the supposed slope of the earth towards the pole, or to the inclination of the earth’s axis. It was an astronomical or a mathematical term, not associated with any idea of physical climate. A change ofclimathen meant a change of latitude. The latter was gradually seen to mean a change in atmospheric conditions as well as in length of day, andclimathus came to have its present meaning. “Climate” is the average condition of the atmosphere. “Weather” denotes a single occurrence, or event, in the series of conditions which make up climate. The climate of a place is thus in a sense its average weather. Climatology is the study or science of climates.
Relation of Meteorology and Climatology.—Meteorology and climatology are interdependent. It is impossible to distinguish sharply between them. In a strict sense, meteorology deals with the physics of the atmosphere. It considers the various atmospheric phenomena individually, and seeks to determine their physical causes and relations. Its view is largely theoretical. When meteorology (q.v.) is considered in its broadest meaning, climatology is a subdivision of it. Climatology is largely descriptive. It aims at giving a clear picture of the interaction of the various atmospheric phenomena at any place on the earth’s surface. Climatology may almost be defined as geographical meteorology. Its main object is to be of practical service to man. Its method of treatment lays most emphasis on the elements which are most important to life. Climate and crops, climate and industry, climate and health, are subjects of vital interest to man.
The Climatic Elements and their Treatment.—Climatology hasto deal with the same groups of atmospheric conditions as those with which meteorology is concerned, viz. temperature (including radiation); moisture (including humidity, precipitation and cloudiness); wind (including storms); pressure; evaporation, and also, but of less importance, the composition and chemical, optical and electrical phenomena of the atmosphere. The characteristics of each of these so-calledclimatic elementsare set forth in a standard series of numerical values, based on careful, systematic, and long-continued meteorological records, corrected and compared by well-known methods. Various forms of graphic presentation are employed to emphasize and simplify the numerical results. In Hann’sHandbuch der Klimatologie, vol i., will be found a general discussion of the methods of presenting the different climatic elements. The most complete guide in the numerical, mathematical and graphic treatment of meteorological data for climatological purposes is Hugo Meyer’sAnleitung zur Bearbeitung meteorologischer Beobachtungen für die Klimatologie(Berlin, 1891).
Climate deals first of all withaverageconditions, but a satisfactory presentation of a climate must include more than mere averages. It must take account, also, of regular and irregular daily, monthly and annual changes, and of the departures, mean and extreme, from the average conditions which may occur at the same place in the course of time. The mean minimum and maximum temperatures or rainfalls of a month or a season are important data. Further, a determination of the frequency of occurrence of a given condition, or of certain values of that condition, is important, for periods of a day, month or year, as for example the frequency of winds according to direction or velocity; or of different amounts of cloudiness; or of temperature changes of a certain number of degrees; the number of days with and without rain or snow in any month, or year, or with rain of a certain amount, &c. The probability of occurrence of any condition, as of rain in a certain month; or of a temperature of 32°, for example, is also a useful thing to know.
Solar Climate.—Climate, in so far as it is controlled solely by the amount of solar radiation which any place receives by reason of its latitude, is calledsolar climate. Solar climate alone would prevail if the earth had a homogeneous land surface, and if there were no atmosphere. For under these conditions, without air or ocean currents, the distribution of temperature at any place would depend solely on the amount of energy received from the sun and upon the loss of heat by radiation. And these two factors would have the same value at all points on the same latitude circle.
The relative amounts of insolation received at different latitudes and at different times have been carefully determined. The values all refer to conditions at the upper limit of the earth’s atmosphere,i.e.without the effect of absorption by the atmosphere. The accompanying figure (fig. 1), after Davis, shows the distribution of insolation in both hemispheres at different latitudes and at different times in the year. The latitudes are given at the left margin and the time of year at the right margin. The values of insolation are shown by the vertical distance above the plane of the two margins.
At the equator, where the day is always twelve hours long, there are two maxima of insolation at the equinoxes, when the sun is vertical at noon, and two minima at the solstices when the sun is farthest off the equator. The values do not vary much through the year because the sun is never very far from the zenith, and day and night are always equal. As latitude increases, the angle of insolation becomes more oblique and the intensity decreases, but at the same time the length of day rapidly increases during the summer, and towards the pole of the hemisphere which is having its summer the gain in insolation from the latter cause more than compensates for the loss by the former. The double period of insolation above noted for the equator prevails as far as about lat. 12° N. and S.; at lat. 15° the two maxima have united in one, and the same is true of the minima. At the pole there is one maximum at the summer solstice, and no insolation at all while the sun is below the horizon. On the 21st of June the equator has a day twelve hours long, but the sun does not reach the zenith, and the amount of insolation is therefore less than at the equinox. On the northern tropic, however, the sun is vertical at noon, and the day is more than twelve hours long. Hence the amount of insolation received at this latitude is greater than that received on the equinox at the equator. From the tropic to the pole the sun stands lower and lower at noon, and the value of insolation would steadily decrease with latitude if it were not for the increase in the length of day. Going polewards from the northern tropic on the 21st of June, the value of insolation increases for a time, because, although the sun is lower, the number of hours during which it shines is greater. A maximum value is reached at about lat. 43½° N. The decreasing altitude of the sun then more than compensates for the increasing length of day, and the value of insolation diminishes, a minimum being reached at about lat. 62°. Then the rapidly increasing length of day towards the pole again brings about an increase in the value of insolation, until a maximum is reached at the pole which is greater than the value received at the equator at any time. The length of day is the same on the Arctic circle as at the pole itself, but while the altitude of the sun varies during the day on the former, the altitude at the pole remains 23½° throughout the 24 hours. The result is to give the pole a maximum. On the 21st of June there are therefore two maxima of insolation, one at lat. 43½° and one at the north pole. From lat. 43½° N., insolation decreases to zero on the Antarctic circle, for sunshine falls more and more obliquely, and the day becomes shorter and shorter. Beyond lat. 66½° S. the night lasts 24 hours. On the 21st of December the conditions in southern latitudes are similar to those in the northern hemisphere on the 21st of June, but the southern latitudes have higher values of insolation because the earth is then nearer the sun.
At the equinox the days are equal everywhere, but the noon sun is lower and lower with increasing latitude in both hemispheres until the rays are tangent to the earth’s surface at the poles (except for the effect of refraction). Therefore, the values of insolation diminish from a maximum at the equator to a minimum at both poles.
The effect of the earth’s atmosphere is to weaken the sun’s rays. The more nearly vertical the sun, the less the thickness of atmosphere traversed by the rays. The values of insolation at the earth’s surface, after passage through the atmosphere, have been calculated. They vary much with the condition of the air as to dust, clouds, water vapour, &c. As a rule, even when the sky is clear, about one-half of the solar radiation is lost during the day by atmospheric absorption. The great weakening of insolation at the pole, where the sun is very low, is especially noticeable. The following table (after Angot) shows the effect of the earth’s atmosphere (coefficient of transmission 0.7) upon the value of insolation received at sea-level.
Values of Daily Insolation at the Upper Limit of the Earth’s Atmosphere and at Sea-Level.
The following table gives, according to W. Zenker, the relative thickness of the atmosphere at different altitudes of the sun, and also the amount of transmitted insolation:
Relative Distances traversed by Solar Rays through the Atmosphere, and Intensities of Radiation per Unit Areas.
Physical Climate.—The distribution of insolation explains many of the large facts of temperature distribution, for example, the decrease of temperature from equator to poles; the double maximum of temperature on and near the equator; the increasing seasonal contrasts with increasing latitude, &c. But the regular distribution of solar climate between equator and poles which would exist on a homogeneous earth, whereby similar conditions prevail along each latitude circle, is very much modified by the unequal distribution of land and water; by differences of altitude; by air and ocean currents, by varying conditions of cloudiness, and so on. Hence the climates met with along the same latitude circle are no longer alike. Solar climate is greatly modified by atmospheric conditions and by the surface features of the earth. The uniform arrangement of solar climatic belts, arranged latitudinally, is interfered with, and what is known asphysical climateresults. According to the dominant control we have solar, continental and marine, and mountain climates. In the first-named, latitude is the essential; in the second and third, the influence of land or water; in the fourth, the effect of altitude.
Classification of the Zones by Latitude Circles.—It is customary to classify climates roughly into certain broad belts. These are the climatic zones. The five zones with which we are most familiar are the so-called torrid, the two temperate, and the two frigid zones. The torrid, or better, the tropical zone, naming it by its boundaries, is limited on the north and south by the two tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the equator dividing the zone into two equal parts. The temperate zones are limited towards the equator by the tropics, and towards the poles by the Arctic and Antarctic circles. The two polar zones are caps covering both polar regions, and bounded on the side towards the equator by the Arctic and Antarctic circles.
These five zones are classified on purely astronomical grounds. They are really zones of solar climate. The tropical zone has the least annual variation of insolation. It has the maximum annual amount of insolation. Its annual range of temperature is very slight. It is the summer zone. Beyond the tropics the contrasts between the seasons rapidly become more marked. The polar zones have the greatest variation in insolation between summer and winter. They also have the minimum amount of insolation for the whole year. They may well be called the winter zones, for their summer is so short and cool that the heat is insufficient for most forms of vegetation, especially for trees. The temperate zones are intermediate between the tropical and the polar in the matter of annual amount and of annual variation of insolation. Temperate conditions do not characterize these zones as a whole. They are rather the seasonal belts of the world.
Temperature Zones.—The classification of the zones on the basis of the distribution of sunshine serves very well for purposes of simple description, but a glance at any isothermal chart shows that the isotherms do not coincide with the latitude lines. In fact, in the higher latitudes, the former sometimes follow the meridians more closely than they do the parallels of latitude. Hence it has been suggested that the zones be limited by isotherms rather than by parallels of latitude, and that a closer approach be thus made to the actual conditions of climate. Supan1(see fig. 2) has suggested limiting the hot belt, which corresponds to, but is slightly greater than, the old torrid zone, by the two mean annual isotherms of 68°—a temperature which approximately coincides with the polar limit of the trade-winds and with the polar limit of palms. The hot belt widens somewhat over the continents, chiefly because of the mobility of the ocean waters, whereby there is a tendency towards an equalization of the temperature between equator and poles in the oceans, while the stable lands acquire a temperature suitable to their own latitude. Furthermore, the unsymmetrical distribution of land in the low latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres results in an unsymmetrical position of the hot belt with reference to the equator, the belt extending farther north than south of the equator. The polar limits of the temperate zones are fixed by the isotherm of 50° for the warmest month. Summer heat is more important for vegetation than winter cold, and where the warmest month has a temperature below 50°, cereals and forest trees do not grow, and man has to adjust himself to the peculiar climatic conditions in a very special way. The two polar caps are not symmetrical as regards the latitudes which they occupy. The presence of extended land masses in the high northern latitudes carries the temperature of 50° in the warmest month farther poleward there than is the case in the corresponding latitudes occupied by the oceans of the southern hemisphere, which warm less easily and are constantly in motion. Hence the southern cold cap, which has its equatorial limits at about lat. 50° S., is of much greater extent than the northern polar cap. The northern temperate belt, in which the great land areas lie, is much broader than the southern, especially over the continents. These temperature zones emphasize the natural conditions of climate more than is the case in any subdivision by latitude circles, and they bear a fairly close resemblance to the old zonal classification of the Greeks.
Classification of the Zones by Wind Belts.—The heat zones however, emphasize the temperature to the exclusion of suchimportant elements as wind and rainfall. So distinctive are the larger climatic features of the great wind belts of the world, that a classification of climates according to wind systems has been suggested.2As the rain-belts of the world are closely associated with these wind systems, a classification of the zones by winds also emphasizes the conditions of rainfall. In such a scheme the tropical zone is bounded on the north and south by the margins of the trade-wind belts, and is therefore larger than the classic torrid zone. This trade-wind zone is somewhat wider on the eastern side of the oceans, and properly includes within its limits the equable marine climates of the eastern margins of the ocean basins, even as far north as latitude 30° or 35°. Most of the eastern coasts of China and of the United States are thus left in the more rigorous and more variable conditions of the north temperate zone. Through the middle of the trade-wind zone extends the sub-equatorial belt, with its migrating calms, rains and monsoons. On the polar margins of the trade-wind zone lie the sub-tropical belts, of alternating trades and westerlies. The temperate zones embrace the latitudes of the stormy westerly winds, having on their equator-ward margins the sub-tropical belts, and being somewhat narrower than the classic temperate zones. Towards the poles there is no obvious limit to the temperate zones, for the prevailing westerlies extend beyond the polar circles. These circles may, however, serve fairly well as boundaries, because of their importance from the point of view of insolation. The polar zones in the wind classification, therefore, remain just as in the older scheme.
Need of a Classification of Climates.—A broad division of the earth’s surface into zones is necessary as a first step in any systematic study of climate, but it is not satisfactory when a more detailed discussion is undertaken. The reaction of the physical features of the earth’s surface upon the atmosphere complicates the climatic conditions found in each of the zones, and makes further subdivision desirable. The usual method is to separate thecontinental(near sea-level) and themarine. An extreme variety of the continental is thedesert; a modified form, thelittoral; while altitude is so important a control thatmountainandplateauclimates are always grouped by themselves.
Marine or Oceanic Climate.—Land and water differ greatly in their behaviour regarding absorption and radiation. The former warms and cools readily, and to a considerable degree; the latter, slowly and but little. The slow changes in temperature of the ocean waters involve a retardation in the times of occurrence of the maxima and minima, and a marine climate, therefore, has a cool spring and a warm autumn, the seasonal changes being but slight. Characteristic, also, of marine climates is a prevailingly higher relative humidity, a larger amount of cloudiness, and a heavier rainfall than is found over continental interiors. All of these features have their explanation in the abundant evaporation from the ocean surfaces. In the middle latitudes the oceans have distinctly rainy winters, while over the continental interiors the colder months have a minimum of precipitation. Ocean air is cleaner and purer than land air, and is generally in more active motion.
Continental Climate.—Continental climate is severe. The annual temperature ranges increase, as a whole, with increasing distance from the oceans. The coldest and warmest months are usually January and July, the times of maximum and minimum temperatures being less retarded than in the case of marine climates. The greater seasonal contrasts in temperature over the continents than over the oceans are furthered by the less cloudiness over the former. Diurnal and annual changes of nearly all the elements of climate are greater over continents than over oceans; and this holds true of irregular as well as of regular variations. Fig. 3 illustrates the annual march of temperature in marine and continental climates. Bagdad, in Asia Minor (Bd.), and Funchal on the island of Madeira (M.) are representative continental and marine stations for a low latitude. Nerchinsk in eastern Siberia (N.) and Valentia in south-western Ireland (V.) are good examples of continental and marine climates of higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere. The data for these and the following curves were taken from Hann’sLehrbuch der Meteorologie(1901).
Owing to the distance from the chief source of supply of water vapour—the oceans—the air over the larger land areas is naturally drier and dustier than that over the oceans. Yet even in the arid continental interiors in summer the absolute vapour content is surprisingly large, and in the hottest months the percentages of relative humidity may reach 20% or 30%. At the low temperatures which prevail in the winter of the higher latitudes the absolute humidity is very low, but, owing to the cold, the air is often damp. Cloudiness, as a rule, decreases inland, and with this lower relative humidity, more abundant sunshine and higher temperature, the evaporating power of a continental climate is much greater than that of the more humid, cloudier and cooler marine climate. Both amount and frequency of rainfall, as a rule, decrease inland, but the conditions are very largely controlled by local topography and by the prevailing winds. Winds average somewhat lower in velocity, and calms are more frequent, over continents than over oceans. The seasonal changes of pressure over the former give rise to systems of inflowing and outflowing, so-called continental, winds, sometimes so well developed as to become true monsoons. The extreme termperature changes which occur over the continents are the more easily borne because of the dryness of the air; because the minimum temperatures of winter occur when there is little or no wind, and because during the warmer hours of the summer there is the most air-movement.
Desert Climate.—An extreme type of continental climate is found in deserts. Desert air is notably free from micro-organisms. The large diurnal temperature ranges of inland regions, which are most marked where there is little or no vegetation, give rise to active convectional currents during the warmer hours of the day. Hence high winds are common by day, while the nights are apt to be calm and relatively cool. Travelling by day is unpleasant under such conditions. Diurnal cumulus clouds, often absent because of the excessive dryness of the air, are replaced by clouds of blowing dust and sand. Many geological phenomena, and special physiographic types of varied kinds, are associated with the peculiar conditions of desert climate. The excessive diurnal ranges of temperature cause rocks to split and break up. Wind-driven sand erodes and polishes the rocks. When the separate fragments become small enough they, in their turn, are transported by the winds and further eroded by friction during their journey. Curious conditions of drainage result from the deficiency in rainfall. Rivers “wither” away, or end in sinks or brackish lakes.
Desert plants protect themselves against the attacks of animals by means of thorns, and against evaporation by means of hard surfaces and by a diminished leaf surface. The life of man in the desert is likewise strikingly controlled by the climatic peculiarities of strong sunshine, of heat, and of dust.
Plate I
Plate II
Coast or Littoral Climate.—Between the pure marine and the pure continental types the coasts furnish almost every grade of transition. Prevailing winds are here important controls. When these blow from the ocean, the climates are marine in character, but when they are off-shore, a somewhat modified type of continental climate prevails, even up to the immediate sea-coast. Hence the former have a smaller range of temperature; their summers are more moderate and their winters milder; extreme temperatures are rare; the air is damp, and there is much cloud. All these marine features diminish with increasing distance from the ocean, especially when there are mountain ranges near the coast. In the tropics, windward coasts are usually well supplied with rainfall, and the temperatures are modified by sea breezes. Leeward coasts in the trade-wind belts offer special conditions. Here the deserts often reach the sea, as on the western coasts of South America, Africa and Australia. Cold ocean currents, with prevailing winds along-shore rather than on-shore, are here hostile to rainfall, although the lower air is often damp, and fog and cloud are not uncommon.
Monsoon Climate.—Exceptions to the general rule of rainier eastern coasts in trade-wind latitudes are found in the monsoon regions, as in India, for example, where the western coast of the peninsula is abundantly watered by the wet south-west monsoon. As monsoons often sweep over large districts, not only coast but interior, a separate group of monsoon climates is desirable. In India there are really three seasons—one cold, during the winter monsoon; one hot, in the transition season; and one wet, during the summer monsoon. Little precipitation occurs in winter, and that chiefly in the northern provinces. In low latitudes, monsoon and non-monsoon climates differ but little, for summer monsoons and regular trade-winds may both give rains, and wind direction has slight effect upon temperature.
The winter monsoon is off-shore and the summer monsoon on-shore under typical conditions, as in India. But exceptional cases are found where the opposite is true. In higher latitudes the seasonal changes of the winds, although not truly monsoonal, involve differences in temperature and in other climatic elements. The only well-developed monsoons on the coast of the continents of higher latitudes are those of eastern Asia. These are off-shore during the winter, giving dry, clear and cold weather; while the on-shore movement in summer gives cool, damp and cloudy weather.
Mountain and Plateau Climate.—Both by reason of their actual height and because of their obstructive effects, mountains influence climate similarly in all the zones. Mountains as contrasted with lowlands are characterized by a decrease in pressure, temperature and absolute humidity; an increased intensity of insolation and radiation; usually a greater frequency of, and up to a certain altitude more, precipitation. At an altitude of 16,000 ft., more or less, pressure is reduced to about one-half of its sea-level value. The highest human habitations are found under these conditions. On high mountains and plateaus the pressure is lower in winter than in summer, owing to the fact that the atmosphere is compressed to lower levels in the winter and is expanded upwards in summer.
The intensity of insolation and of radiation both increase aloft in the cleaner, purer, drier and thinner air of mountain climates. The great intensity of the sun’s rays attracts the attention of mountain-climbers at great altitudes. The vertical decrease of temperature, which is also much affected by local conditions, is especially rapid during the warmer months and hours; mountains are then cooler than lowlands. The inversions of temperature characteristic of the colder months, and of the night, give mountains the advantage of a higher temperature then—a fact of importance in connexion with the use of mountains as winter resorts. At such times the cold air flows down the mountain sides and collects in the valleys below, being replaced by warmer air aloft. Hence diurnal and annual ranges of temperature on the mountain tops of middle and higher latitudes are lessened, and the climate in this respect resembles a marine condition. The times of occurrence of the maximum and minimum temperature are also much influenced by local conditions. Elevated enclosed valleys, with strong sunshine, often resemble continental conditions of large temperature range, and plateaus, as compared with mountains at the same altitude, have relatively higher temperatures and larger temperature ranges. Altitude tempers the heat of the low latitudes. High mountain peaks, even on the equator, can remain snow-covered all the year round.
No general law governs the variations of relative humidity with altitude, but on the mountains of Europe the winter is the driest season, and the summer the dampest. At well-exposed stations there is a rapid increase in the vapour content soon after noon, especially in summer. The same is true of cloudiness, which is often greater on mountains than at lower levels, and is usually at a maximum in summer, while the opposite is true of the lowlands in the temperate latitudes. One of the great advantages of the higher Alpine valleys in winter is their small amount of cloud. This, combined with their low wind velocity and strong insolation, makes them desirable winter health resorts. Latitude, altitude, topography and winds are the determining factors in controlling the cloudiness on mountains. In the rare, often dry, air of mountains and plateaus evaporation is rapid, the skin dries and cracks, and thirst is increased.
Rainfall usually increases with increasing altitude up to a certain point, beyond which, owing to the loss of water vapour, this increase stops. The zone of maximum rainfall averages about 6000 to 7000 ft. in altitude, more or less, in intermediate latitudes, being lower in winter and higher in summer. Mountains usually have a rainy and a drier side; the contrast between the two is greatest when a prevailing damp wind crosses the mountain, or when one slope faces seaward and the other landward. Mountains often provoke rainfall, and local “islands,” or better, “lakes,” of heavier precipitation result.
Mountains resemble marine climates in having higher wind velocities than continental lowlands. Mountain summits have a nocturnal maximum of wind velocity, while plateaus usually have a diurnal maximum. Mountains both modify the general, and give rise to local winds. Among the latter the well-known mountain and valley winds are often of considerable hygienic importance in their control of the diurnal period of humidity, cloudiness and rainfall, the ascending wind of daytime tending to give clouds and rain aloft, while the opposite conditions prevail at night.
Supan’s Climatic Provinces.—The broad classification of climates into the three general groups of marine, continental and mountain, with the subordinate divisions of desert, littoral and monsoon, is convenient for purposes of summarizing the interaction of the climatic elements under the controls of land, water and altitude. But in any detailed study some scheme of classification is needed in which similar climates in different parts of the world are grouped together, and in which their geographic distribution receives particular consideration. An almost infinite number of classifications might be proposed; or we may take as the basis of subdivision either the special conditions of one climatic element, or similar conditions of a combination of two or more elements. Or we may take a botanical or a zoological basis. Of the various classifications which have been suggested, that of Supan gives a very rational, simple and satisfactory scheme of grouping. In this scheme there are thirty-five so-called climatic provinces.3It emphasizes the essentials of each climate, and serves to impress these essentials upon the mind by means of a compact, well-considered verbal summary in the case of each province described. Obviously, no classification of climates which is at all complete can approach the simplicity of the ordinary classification of the zones.
The Characteristics of the Torrid Zone.
General: Climate and Weather.—The dominant characteristic of the torrid zone is the simplicity and uniformity of its climatic features. The tropics lack the proverbial uncertainty and changeableness of the weather of higher latitudes. Weather and climate are essentially synonymous terms. Periodic phenomena, depending upon the daily and annual march of the sun, are dominant. Non-periodic weather changes are wholly subordinate. In special regions only, and at special seasons, is the regular sequence of weather temporarily interrupted by an occasional tropical cyclone. These cyclones, although comparatively infrequent, are notable features of the climate of the areas in which they occur, generally bringing very heavy rains. The devastation produced by one of these storms often affects the economic condition of the people in the district of its occurrence for many years.
Temperature.—The mean temperature is high, and very uniform over the whole zone. There is little variation during the year. The mean annual isotherm of 68° is a rational limit at the polar margins of the zone, and the mean annual isotherm of 80° encloses the greater portion of the land areas, as well as much of the tropical oceans. The warmest latitude circle for the year is not the equator, but latitude 10° N. The highest mean annual temperatures, shown by the isotherm of 85°, are in Central Africa, in India, the north of Australia and Central America, but, with the exception of the first, these areas are small. The temperatures average highest where there is little rain. In June, July and August there are large districts in the south of Asia and north of Africa with temperatures over 90°.
Over nearly all of the zone the mean annual range of temperature is less than 10°, and over much of it, especially on the oceans, it is less than 5°. Even near the margins of the zone the ranges are less than 25°, as at Calcutta, Hong-Kong, Río de Janeiro and Khartum. The mean daily range is usually larger than the mean annual. It has been well said that “night is the winter of the tropics.” Over an area covering parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from Arabia to the Caroline Islands and from Zanzibar to New Guinea, as well as on the Guiana coast, the minimum temperatures do not normally fall below 68°. Towards the margins of the zone, however, the minima on the continents fall to or even below 32°. Maxima of 115° and even over 120° occur over the deserts of northern Africa. A district where the mean maxima exceed 113° extends from the western Sahara to north-western India, and over Central Australia. Near the equator the maxima are therefore not as high as those in many so-called “temperate” climates. The tropical oceans show remarkably small variations in temperature. The “Challenger” results on the equator showed a daily range of hardly 0.7° in the surface water temperature, and P. G. Schott determined the annual range as 4.1° on the equator, 4.3° at latitude 10°, and 6.5° at latitude 20°.
The Seasons.—In a true tropical climate the seasons are not classified according to temperature, but depend on rainfall and the prevailing winds. The life of animals and plants in the tropics, and of man himself, is regulated very largely, in some cases almost wholly, by rainfall. Although the tropical rainy season is characteristically associated with a vertical sun, that season is not necessarily the hottest time of the year. It often goes by the name of winter for this reason. Towards the margins of the zone, with increasing annual ranges of temperature, seasons in the extra-tropical sense gradually appear.
Physiological Effects of Heat and Humidity.—Tropical heat is associated with high relative humidity except over deserts and in dry seasons. The air is therefore muggy and oppressive. The high temperatures are disagreeable and hard to bear. The “hot-house air” has an enervating effect. Energetic physical and mental action are often difficult or even impossible. The tonic effect of a cold winter is lacking. The most humid districts in the tropics are the least desirable for persons from higher latitudes; the driest are the healthiest. The most energetic natives are the desert-dwellers. The monotonously enervating heat of the humid tropics makes man sensitive to slight temperature changes. The intensity of direct insolation, as well as of radiation from the earth’s surface, may produce heat prostration and sunstroke. “Beware of the sun” is a good rule in the tropics.
Pressure.—The uniform temperature distribution in the tropics involves uniform pressure distribution. Pressure gradients are weak. The annual fluctuations are slight, even on the continents. The diurnal variation of the barometer is so regular and so marked that, as von Humboldt said, the time of day can be told within about twenty minutes if the reading of the barometer be known.
Winds and Rainfall.—Along the barometric equator, where the pressure gradients are weakest, is the equatorial belt of calms, variable winds and rains—the doldrums. This belt offers exceptionally favourable conditions for abundant rainfall, and is one of the rainiest regions of the world, averaging probably about 100 in. Here the sky is prevailingly cloudy; the air is hot and oppressive; heavy showers and thunderstorms are frequent, chiefly in the afternoon and evening. Here are the dense tropical forests of the Amazon and of equatorial Africa. This belt of calms and rains shifts north and south of the equator after the sun. In striking contrast are the easterly trade winds, blowing between the tropical high pressure belts and the equatorial belt of low pressure. Of great regularity, and contributing largely to the uniformity of tropical climates, the trades have long been favourite sailing routes because of the steadiness of the wind, the infrequency of storms, the brightness of the skies and the freshness of the air. The trades are subject to many variations. Their northern and southern margins shift north and south after the sun; at certain seasons they are interrupted, often over wide areas near their equatorward margins, by the migrating belt of equatorial rains and by monsoons; near lands they are often interfered with by land and sea breezes; in certain regions they are invaded by violent cyclonic storms. The trades, except where they blow on to windward coasts or over mountains, are drying winds. They cause the deserts of northern Africa and of the adjacent portions of Asia; of Australia, South Africa and southern South America. The monsoons on the southern and eastern coasts of Asia are the best known winds of their class. In the northern summer the south-west monsoon, warm and sultry, blows over the latitudes from about 10° N. to and beyond the northern tropic, between Africa and the Philippines, giving rains over India, the East Indian archipelago and the eastern coasts of China. In winter, the north-east monsoon, the normal cold-season outflow from Asia combined with the north-east trade, and generally cool and dry, covers the same district, extending as far north as latitude 30°. Crossing the equator, these winds reach northern Australia and the western islands of the South Pacific as a north-west rainy monsoon, while this region in the opposite season has the normal south-east trade. Other monsoons are found in the Gulf of Guinea and in equatorial Africa. Wherever they occur, they control the seasonal changes.
Tropical rains are in the main summer rains, coming when the normal trade gives way to the equatorial belt of rains, or when the summer monsoon sets in. There are, however, many cases of a rainy season when the sun is low, expecially on windward coasts in the trades. Tropical rains come usually in the form of heavy downpours and with a well-marked diurnal period, the maximum varying with the locality between noon and midnight. Local influences are, however, very important, and in many places night rainfall maxima are found.
Land and Sea Breezes.—The sea breeze is an important climatic feature on many tropical coasts. With its regular occurrence, and its cool, clean air, it serves to make many districts habitable for white settlers, and has deservedly won the name of “the doctor.” On not a few coasts, the sea breeze is a true prevailing wind. The location of dwellings is often determined by the exposure of a site to the sea breeze.
Thunderstorms.—Local thunderstorms are frequent in the humid portions of the tropics. They have a marked diurnal periodicity, find their best opportunity in the equatorial beltof weak pressure gradients and high temperature, and are commonly associated with the rainy season, being most common at the beginning and end of the regular rains. In many places, thunderstorms occur daily throughout their season, with extraordinary regularity and great intensity.
Cloudiness.—Taken as a whole, the tropics are not favoured with such clear skies as is often supposed. Cloudiness varies about as does the rainfall. The maximum is in the equatorial belt of calms and rains, where the sky is always more or less cloudy. The minimum is in the trade latitudes, where fair skies as a whole prevail. The equatorial cloud belt moves north and south after the sun. Wholly clear days are very rare in the tropics generally, especially near the equator, and during the rainy season heavy clouds usually cover the sky. Wholly overcast, dull days, such as are common in the winter of the temperate zone, occur frequently only on tropical coasts in the vicinity of cold ocean currents, as on the coast of Peru and on parts of the west coast of Africa.
Intensity of Sky-Light and Twilight.—The light from tropical skies by day is trying, and the intense insolation, together with the reflection from the ground, increases the general dazzling glare under a tropical sun. During much of the time smoke from forest and prairie fires (in the dry season), dust (in deserts), and water-vapour give the sky a pale whitish appearance. In the heart of the trade-wind belts at sea the sky is of a deeper blue. Twilight within the tropics is shorter than in higher latitudes, but the coming on of night is less sudden than is generally assumed.
Climatic Subdivisions.—The rational basis for a classification of the larger climatic provinces of the torrid zone is found in the general wind systems, and in their control over rainfall. Following this scheme there are: (1) the equatorial belt; (2) the trade-wind belts; (3) the monsoon belts. In each of these subdivisions there are modifications due to marine and continental influences. In general, both seasonal and diurnal phenomena are more marked in continental interiors than on the oceans, islands and windward coasts. Further, the effect of altitude is so important that another group should be added to include (4) mountain climates.
1.The Equatorial Belt.—Within a few degrees of the equator, and when not interfered with by other controls, the annual curve of temperature has two maxima following the two zenithal positions of the sun, and two minima at about the time of the solstices. Thisequatorialtype of annual march of temperature is illustrated in the three curves for the interior of Africa, Batavia and Jaluit (fig. 4). The greatest range is shown in the curve for the interior of Africa; the curve for Batavia illustrates insular conditions with less range, and the oceanic type for Jaluit, Marshall Islands, gives the least range. This double maximum is not a universal phenomenon, there being many cases where but a single maximum occurs.
As the belt of rains swings back and forth across the equator after the sun, there should be two rainy seasons with the sun vertical, and two dry seasons when the sun is farthest from the zenith, and while the trades blow. These conditions prevail on the equator, and as far north and south of the equator (about 10°-12°) as sufficient time elapses between the two zenithal positions of the sun for the two rainy seasons to be distinguished from one another. In this belt, under normal conditions, there is therefore no dry season of any considerable duration. The double rainy season is clearly seen in equatorial Africa and in parts of equatorial South America. The maxima lag somewhat behind the vertical sun, coming in April and November, and are unsymmetrically developed, the first maximum being the principal one. The minima are also unsymmetrically developed, and the so-called “dry seasons” are seldom wholly rainless. This rainfall type with double maxima and minima has been called theequatorialtype, and is illustrated in the following curves for South Africa and Quito (fig. 5). The monthly rainfalls are given in thousandths of the annual mean. The mean annual rainfall at Quito is 42.12 in. These double rainy and dry seasons are easily modified by other conditions, as by the monsoons of the Indo-Australian area, so that there is no rigid belt ofequatorial rainsextending around the world. In South America, east of the Andes, the distinction between rainy and dry seasons is often much confused. In this equatorial belt the cloudiness is high throughout the year, averaging .7 to .8, with a relatively small annual period. The curve following, E (fig. 6), is fairly typical, but the annual period varies greatly under local controls.
At greater distances from the equator than about 10° or 12° the sun is still vertical twice a year within the tropics, but the interval between these two dates is so short that the two rainy seasons merge into one, in summer, and there is also but one dry season, in winter. This is the so-calledtropical typeof rainfall, and is found where the trade belts are encroached upon by the equatorial rains during the migration of these rains into each hemisphere. It is illustrated in the curves for São Paulo, Brazil, and for the city of Mexico (fig. 5). The mean annual rainfall at São Paulo is 54.13 in. and at Mexico 22.99 in. The districts of tropical rains of this type lie along the equatorial margins of the torrid zone, outside of the latitudes of theequatorialtype of rainfall. The rainy season becomes shorter with increasing distance from the equator. The weather of the opposite seasons is strongly contrasted. The single dry season lasts longer than either dry season in the equatorial belt, reaching eight months in typical cases, with the wet season lasting four months. The lowlands often become dry and parched during the long dry trade-wind season (winter)and vegetation withers away, while grass and flowers grow in great abundance and all life takes on new activity during the time when the equatorial rainy belt with its calms, variable winds and heavy rains is over them (summer). The Sudan lies between the Sahara and the equatorial forests of Africa. It receives rains, and its vegetation grows actively, when the doldrum belt is north of the equator (May-August). But when the trades blow (December-March) the ground is parched and dusty. The Venezuelanllanoshave a dry season in the northern winter, when the trade blows. The rains come in May-October. Thecamposof Brazil, south of the equator, have their rains in October-April, and are dry the remainder of the year. The Nile overflow results from the rainfall on the mountains of Abyssinia during the northward migration of the belt of equatorial rains.
The so-calledtropicaltype of temperature variation, with one maximum and one minimum, is illustrated in the accompanying curves for Wadi Halfa, in upper Egypt; Alice Springs, Australia; Nagpur, India; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Jamestown, St Helena (fig. 7). The effect of the rainy season is often shown in a displacement of the time of maximum temperature to an earlier month than the usual one.
2.Trade-Wind Belts.—The trade belts near sea-level are characterized by fair weather, steady winds, infrequent light rains or even an almost complete absence of rain, very regular, although slight, annual and diurnal ranges of temperature, and a constancy and regularity of weather. The climate of the ocean areas in the trade-wind belts is indeed the simplest and most equable in the world, the greatest extremes over these oceans being found to leeward of the larger lands. On the lowlands swept over by the trades, beyond the polar limits of the equatorial rain belt (roughly between lats. 20° and 30°), are most of the great deserts of the world. These deserts extend directly to the water’s edge on the leeward western coasts of Australia, South Africa and South America.
The ranges and extremes of temperature are much greater over the continental interiors than over the oceans of the trade-wind belts. Minima of 32° or less occur during clear, quiet nights, and daily ranges of over 50° are common. The midsummer mean temperature rises above 90°, with noon maxima of 110° or more in the non-cloudy, dry air of a desert day. The days, with high, dry winds, carrying dust and sand, with extreme heat, accentuated by the absence of vegetation, are disagreeable, but the calmer nights, with active radiation under clear skies, are much more comfortable. The nocturnal temperatures are even not seldom too low for comfort in the cooler season, when thin sheets of ice may form.
While the trades are drying winds as long as they blow strongly over the oceans, or over lowlands, they readily become rainy if they are cooled by ascent over a mountain or highland. Hence the windward (eastern) sides of mountains or bold coasts in the trade-wind belts are well watered, while the leeward sides, or interiors, are dry. Mountainous islands in the trades, like the Hawaiian islands, many of the East and West Indies, the Philippines, Borneo, Ceylon, Madagascar, Teneriffe, &c., show marked differences of this sort. The eastern coasts of Guiana, Central America, south-eastern Brazil, south-eastern Africa, and eastern Australia are well watered, while the interiors are dry. The eastern highland of Australia constitutes a more effective barrier than that in South Africa; hence the Australian interior has a more extended desert. South America in the south-east trade belt is not well enclosed on the east, and the most arid portion is an interior district close to the eastern base of the Andes where the land is low. Even far inland the Andes again provoke precipitation along their eastern base, and the narrow Pacific coastal strip, to leeward of the Andes, is a very pronounced desert from near the equator to about lat. 30° S. The cold ocean waters, with prevailing southerly (drying) winds alongshore, are additional factors causing this aridity. Highlands in the trade belts are therefore moist on their windward slopes, and become oases of luxuriant plant growth, while close at hand, on the leeward sides, dry savannas or deserts may be found. The damp, rainy and forested windward side of Central America was from the earliest days of European occupation left to the natives, while the centre of civilization was naturally established on the more open and sunny south-western side.
The rainfall associated with the conditions just described is known as thetrade type. These rains have a maximum in winter, when the trades are most active. In cases where the trade blows steadily throughout the year against mountains or bold coasts, as on the Atlantic coast of Central America, there is no real dry season. The curve for Hilo (mean annual rainfall 145.24 in.) on the windward side of the Hawaiian Islands, shows typical conditions (see fig. 5). The trade type of rainfall is often much complicated by the combination with it of thetropicaltype and of themonsoontype. In the Malay archipelago there are also complications of equatorial and trade rains; likewise in the West Indies.
3.Monsoon Belts.—In a typical monsoon region the rains follow the vertical sun, and therefore have a simple annual period much like that of the tropical type above described. This monsoon type of rainfall is well illustrated in the curve for Port Darwin (mean annual rainfall 62.72 in.), in Australia (see fig. 5). This summer monsoon rainfall results from the inflow of a body of warm, moist air from the sea upon a land area; there is a consequent retardation of the velocity of the air currents, as the result of friction, and an ascent of the air, the rainfall being particularly heavy where the winds have to climb over high lands. In India, the precipitation is heaviest at the head of the Bay of Bengal (where Cherrapunji, at the height of 4455 ft. in the Khasi Hills, has a mean annual rainfall of between 400 and 500 in.), along the southern base of the Himalayas (60 to 160 in.), on the bold western coast of the peninsula (80 to 120 in. and over), and on the mountains of Burma, (up to 160 in.). In the rain-shadow of the Western Ghats, the Deccan often suffers from drought and famine unless the monsoon rains are abundant and well distributed. The prevailing direction of the rainy monsoon wind in India is south-west; on the Pacific coast of Asia, it is south-east. This monsoon district is very large, including the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and adjoining continental areas; the Pacific coast of China, the Yellow and Japan seas, and numerous islands from Borneo to Sakhalin on the north and to the Ladrone Islands on the east. A typical temperature curve for a monsoondistrict is that for Nagpur, in the Indian Deccan (fig. 7), and a typical monsoon cloudiness curve is given in fig. 6, the maximum coming near the time of the vertical sun, in the rainy season, and the minimum in the dry season.
In the Australian monsoon region, which reaches across New Guinea and the Sunda Islands, and west of Australia, in the Indian Ocean, over latitudes 0°-10° S., the monsoon rains come with north-west winds in the period between November and March or April.
The general rule that eastern coasts in the tropics are the rainiest finds exceptions in the case of the rainy western coasts in India and other districts with similar monsoon rains. On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, for example, there is a small rainy monsoon area during the summer; heavy rains fall on the seaward slopes of the Cameroon Mountains. Gorée, lat. 15° N., on the coast of Senegambia, gives a fine example of a rainy (summer) and a dry (winter) monsoon. Numerous combinations of equatorial, trade and monsoon rainfalls are found, often creating great complexity. The islands of the East Indian archipelago furnish many examples of such curious complications.
4.Mountain Climate.—In the torrid zone altitude is chiefly important because of its effect in tempering the heat of the lowlands, especially at night. If tropical mountains are high enough, they carry snow all the year round, even on the equator, and the zones of vegetation may range from the densest tropical forest at their base to the snow on their summits. The highlands and mountains within the tropics are thus often sharply contrasted with the lowlands, and offer more agreeable and more healthy conditions for white settlement. They are thus often sought by residents from colder latitudes as the most attractive resorts. In India, the hill stations are crowded during the hot months by civilian and military officials. The climate of many tropical plateaus and mountains has the reputation of being a “perpetual spring.” Thus on the interior plateau of the tropical Cordilleras of South America, and on the plateaus of tropical Africa, the heat is tempered by the altitude, while the lowlands and coasts are very hot. The rainfall on tropical mountains and highlands often differs considerably in amount from that on the lowlands, and other features common to mountain climates the world over are also noted.
The Characteristics of the Temperate Zones.
General.—As a whole, the “temperate zones” aretemperateonly in that their mean temperatures and their physiological effects are intermediate between those of the tropics and those of the polar zones. A marked changeableness of the weather is a striking characteristic of these zones. Apparently irregular and haphazard, these continual weather changes, although they are essentially non-periodic, nevertheless run through a fairly systematic series. Climate and weather are by no means synonymous over most of the extra-tropical latitudes.
Temperature.—The mean annual temperatures at the margins of the north temperate zone differ by more than 70°. The ranges between the mean temperatures of hottest and coldest months reach 120° at their maximum in north-eastern Siberia, and 80° in North America. A January mean of -60° and a July mean of 95°, and maxima of over 120° and minima of -90°, occur in the same zone. Such great ranges characterize the extreme land climates. Under the influence of the oceans, the windward coasts have much smaller ranges. The annual ranges in middle and higher latitudes exceed the diurnal, the conditions of much of the torrid zone thus being exactly reversed. Over much of the oceans of the temperate zones the annual range is less than 10°. In the south temperate zone there are no extreme ranges, the maxima, slightly over 30°, being near the margin of the zone in the interior of South America, South Africa and Australia. In these same localities the diurnal ranges rival those of the north temperate zone.
The north-eastern Atlantic and north-western Europe are about 35° too warm for their latitude in January, while north-eastern Siberia is 30° too cold. The lands north of Hudson Bay are 25° too cold, and the waters of the Alaskan Bay 20° too warm. In July, and in the southern hemisphere, the anomalies are small. The lands which are the centre of civilization in Europe average too warm for their latitudes. The diurnal variability of temperature is greater in the north temperate zone than elsewhere in the world, and the same month may differ greatly in its character in different years. The annual temperature curve has one maximum and one minimum. In the continental type the times of maximum and minimum are about one month behind the dates of maximum and minimum insolation. In the marine type the retardation may amount to nearly two months. Coasts and islands have a tendency to a cool spring and warm autumn; continents, to similar temperatures in both spring and fall.
Pressure and Winds.—The prevailing winds are the “westerlies,” which are much less regular than the trades. They vary greatly in velocity in different regions and in different seasons, and are stronger in winter than in summer. They are much interfered with, especially in the higher northern latitudes, by seasonal changes of temperature and pressure over the continents, whereby the latter establish, more or less successfully, a system of obliquely outflowing winds in winter and of obliquely inflowing winds in summer. In summer, when the lands have low pressure, the northern oceans are dominated by great oval areas of high pressure, with outflowing spiral eddies, while in winter, when the northern lands have high pressure, the northern portions of the oceans develop cyclonic systems of inflowing winds over their warm waters. All these great continental and oceanic systems of spiralling winds are important climatic controls.
The westerlies are also much confused and interrupted by storms, whence their designation ofstormy westerlies. So common are such interruptions that the prevailing westerly wind direction is often difficult to discern without careful observation. Cyclonic storms are most numerous and best developed in winter. Although greatly interfered with near sea-level by continental changes of pressure, by cyclonic and anticyclonic whirls, and by local inequalities of the surface, the eastward movement of the atmosphere remains very constant aloft. The south temperate zone being chiefly water, the westerlies are but little disturbed there by continental effects. Between latitudes 40° and 60° S. the “brave west winds” blow with a constancy and velocity found in the northern hemisphere only on the oceans, and then in a modified form. Storms, frequent and severe, characterize these southern hemisphere westerlies, and easterly wind directions are temporarily noted during their passage. Voyages to the west around Cape Horn against head gales, and in cold wet weather, are much dreaded. South of Africa and Australia, also, the westerlies are remarkably steady and strong. The winter in these latitudes is stormier than the summer, but the seasonal difference is less than north of the equator.
Rainfall.—Rainfall is fairly abundant over the oceans and also over a considerable part of the lands (30-80 in. and more). It comes chiefly in connexion with the usual cyclonic storms, or in thunderstorms. So great are the differences, geographic and periodic, in rainfall produced by differences in temperature, topography, cyclonic conditions, &c., that only the most general rules can be laid down. The equatorward margin of the temperate zone rains is clearly defined on the west coasts, at the points where the coast deserts are replaced by belts of light or moderate rainfall. Bold west coasts, on the polar side of lat. 40°, are very rainy (100 in. and more a year in the most favourable situations). The hearts of the continents, far from the sea, and especially when well enclosed by mountains, or when blown over by cool ocean winds which warm while crossing the land, have light rainfall (less than 10-20 in.). East coasts are wetter than interiors, but drier than west coasts. Winter is the season of maximum rainfall over oceans, islands and west coasts, for the westerlies are then most active, cyclonic storms are most numerous and best developed, and the cold lands chill the inflowing damp air. At this season, however, the low temperatures, high pressures, and tendency to outflowing winds over the continents are unfavourable to rainfall, and the interior land areas as a rulethen have their minimum. The warmer months bring the maximum rainfall over the continents. Conditions are then favourable for inflowing damp winds from the adjacent oceans; there is the best opportunity for convection; thunder-showers readily develop on the hot afternoons; the capacity of the air for water vapour is greatest. The marine type of rainfall, with a winter maximum, extends in over the western borders of the continents, and is also found in the winter rainfall of the sub-tropical belts. Rainfalls are heaviest along the tracks of most frequent cyclonic storms.
For continental stations the typical daily march of rainfall shows a chief maximum in the afternoon, and a secondary maximum in the night or early morning. The chief minimum comes between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. Coast stations generally have a night maximum and a minimum between 10 A.M. and 4 P.M.
Humidity and Cloudiness.—S.A. Arrhenius gives the mean cloudiness for different latitudes as follows:—
The higher latitudes of the temperate zones thus have a mean cloudiness which equals and even exceeds that of the equatorial belt. The amounts are greater over the oceans and coasts than inland. The belts of minimum cloudiness are at about lat. 30° N. and S. Over the continental interiors the cloudiest season is summer, but the amount is never very large. Otherwise, winter is generally the cloudiest season and with a fairly high mean annual amount.
The absolute humidity as a whole decreases as the temperature falls. The relative humidity averages 90%, more or less, over the oceans, and is high under the clouds and rain of cyclonic storms, but depends, on land, upon the wind direction, winds from an ocean or from a lower latitude being damper, and those from a continent or from a colder latitude being drier.
Seasons.—Seasons in the temperate zones are classified according to temperature; not, as in the tropics, by rainfall. The four seasons are important characteristics, especially of the middle latitudes of the north temperate zone. Towards the equatorial margins of the zones the difference in temperature between summer and winter becomes smaller, and the transition seasons weaken and even disappear. At the polar margins the change from winter to summer, and vice versa, is so sudden that there also the transition seasons disappear.
These seasonal changes are of the greatest importance in the life of man. The monotonous heat of the tropics and the continued cold of the polar zones are both depressing. Their tendency is to operate against man’s highest development. The seasonal changes of the temperate zones stimulate man to activity. They develop him, physically and mentally. They encourage higher civilization. A cold, stormy winter necessitates forethought in the preparation during the summer of clothing, food and shelter. Development must result from such conditions. In the warm, moist tropics life is too easy; in the cold polar zones it is too hard. Near the poles, the growing season is too short; in the moist tropics it is so long that there is little inducement to labour at any special time. The regularity, and the need, of outdoor work during a part of the year are important factors in the development of man in the temperate zones.
Weather.—An extreme changeableness of the weather, depending on the succession of cyclones and anticyclones, is another characteristic. For most of the year, and most of the zone, settled weather is unknown. The changes are most rapid in the northern portion of the north temperate zone, especially on the continents, where the cyclones travel fastest. The nature of these changes depends on the degree of development, the velocity of progression, the track, and other conditions of the disturbance which produces them. The particular weather types resulting from this control give the climates their distinctive character.