Planet Earth.
Our home
Among all the worlds in the universe
it's the only one we know that harbours life.
A spinning globe of blue, green, gold and white.
A thing of beauty.
But for many of us, a thing of questions.
Many of these concern that thing which impacts us every day of our lives
the weather
In this global age, so many of us have travelled beyond our own borders
to lands that were hotter, colder, drier or wetter than our own.
Or perhaps we've even gone halfway around the world and yet experienced weather very similar to the country of our origin.
And perhaps some of us have asked the question, "Why is this so?"
Well all these questions have been answered and they all come under one subject...
That of climate.
Climate is defined as...
While in one region it might rain one day and be sunny the next or cool one week and hot the next
It's the long-term pattern of rainfall and temperature day after day
which will determine how that region will look
Whether it will become a desert
or support grasslands
or even forests in their many different forms.
And more importantly in our human-centered world
these patterns of moisture and temperature
will determine what crops can be grown
or what livestock can be supported to feed ourselves
It has shaped the rise and fall of Empires in history
And last but not least
climate has shaped
even the way we look
ourselves
as humans.
The secret code of our planet's various climates
was cracked long ago by the founder of modern climatology
Wladimir Köppen
He developed a system based around observation of vegetation in different parts of the world
and how the rainfall and temperature varied in these regions throughout the year
And he broke them down into five broad categories of climate
which roughly started at the equator
and moved out toward the poles
These run like this
With later refinements these broad categories were further subdivided
based upon distribution of rainfall and temperature through a full year
Together these give us the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system of today
In this series we're going to be looking at each of these different climate types
showing you real places in the world where they exist
why they are that way
and revealing the exact climate type that each and every major world city lies in
So if you want to know what to wear on your next holiday
or you really do want to learn more about our world
then this series is for you
Please click the like button, share it, with your friends and subscribe to this channel now
And if you're as passionate about this world as I am then please become a Patreon
to support the production of the series.
Thanks for watching this introduction
and I'll see you in the first of the climate videos
from the tropical rainforest.