Tropical rainforest climate explained

A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States, and Okinawa, Japan that fall into the tropical rainforest climate category. They experience high mean annual temperatures, small temperature ranges, and rain that falls throughout the year. Regions with this climate are typically designated Af by the Köppen climate classification. A tropical rainforest climate is typically hot, very humid, and wet with no dry season has trees.

Description

Tropical rainforests have a type of tropical climate (at least 18 C or 64.4 F in their coldest month) in which there is no dry season—all months have an average precipitation value of at least 60mm. There are no distinct wet or dry seasons as rainfall is high throughout the months. One day in a tropical rainforest climate can be very similar to the next, while the change in temperature between day and night may be larger than the average change in temperature during the year.[1]

Equatorial climates and tropical trade-wind climates

When tropical rainforest climates are more dominated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) than the trade winds (and with no or rare cyclones), so usually located near the equator, they are also called equatorial climates. Otherwise, when they are more dominated by the trade winds than the ITCZ, they are called tropical trade-wind climates. In pure equatorial climates, the atmospheric pressure is almost constantly low so the horizontal pressure gradient is low. Consequently, the winds are rare and usually weak (except sea and land breezes in coastal areas) while in tropical trade-wind climates, often located at higher latitudes than the equatorial climates, the wind is almost permanent which incidentally explains why rainforest formations are impoverished compared to those of equatorial climates due to their necessary resistance to strong winds accompanying tropical disturbances.[2] [3]

Cities with tropical rainforest climates

Asia

Oceania

Africa

Americas

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: McKnight. Tom L. Hess. Darrel. 2000. Climate Zones and Types. Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation. 205–8. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall. 978-0-13-020263-5. https://archive.org/details/physicalgeographmckn/page/205.
  2. Climatologie Pierre Estienne Alain Godard, pages 309 and 316
  3. Seidel. Dian J.. Fu. Qiang. Randel. William J.. Reichler. Thomas J.. January 2008. Widening of the tropical belt in a changing climate. Nature Geoscience. en. 1. 1. 21–24. 10.1038/ngeo.2007.38. 2008NatGe...1...21S. 1752-0908.

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