The tropical climate
The tropical climate dominates in most of the insular Southeast Asia. The region’s vast size and range of latitudes, combined with its maritime exposure, produce a great diversity of climatic types. The climate is complex, however, and cannot be classified simply according to temperature and precipitation. Six distinct climate zones can be identified in Southeast Asia (many of them further subdivided): the equatorial zone, the monsoonal zone, the tropical rainforest zone, the tropical savanna zone, the subtropical zone, and the temperate zone.
What is the tropical climate?
The tropical climate is characterized by warm to hot temperatures year-round. This climate is typically found within 10 degrees latitude of the equator, extending north and south to about 30 degrees latitude. The tropical climate is influenced by the large amount of sunlight that the region receives throughout the year as well as the humid conditions that are produced by the near constant presence of water in the form of either oceans or rainforests. Tropical climates are further divided into two types: tropical wet and tropical wet-and-dry.
What are the characteristics of the tropical climate?
The tropical climate is characterized by high temperatures and high humidity. The average temperature in the tropics is about 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit), but it can vary from place to place. The temperature doesn’t vary much from season to season, but there is a wet season and a dry season. The wet season is usually from May to October, and the dry season is from November to April.
The tropical climate is found in two different belts around the Earth. One belt is near the equator, and the other belt is between about 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator. Most of Southeast Asia falls into the latter category. The tropical climate dominates in most of insular Southeast Asia—the region that includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, and the Philippines—as well as in parts of mainland Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
What type of climate dominates in most of insular southeast asia?
Most of insular southeast asia has a tropical climate, with hot, humid weather year-round. The region experiences two seasons: a wet season from May to October, and a dry season from November to April. The wet season is dominated by the southwest monsoon, while the dry season is influenced by the northeast monsoon.
The subtropical climate
The subtropical climate is a climate characterised by long, hot, humid summers and short, mild winters. These climates lie on the downwind sides of the world’s subtropical high-pressure belts, roughly between latitudes 25° N and 40° S. Under the Köppen climate classification, subtropical climates are often referred to as Cfa and Cfb. Subtropical climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature. In summer, they are typically hotter than tropical climates and very occasionally exceed 30 °C (86 °F) in latitude. In winter, they are typically cooler than temperate climates within their latitude range but not always by a significant margin; some areas bordering on warm-summer Mediterranean climates (such as parts of California) may have subtropical winters with an average coldest month only slightly below 10 °C (50 °F).
The main cause of the increased temperature between winter and summer is due to varying amounts of insolation (sunlight) received by different regions of the Earth. Areas closer to the equator receive more insolation than areas further away from it because these areas lie within the Earth’s Tropical zone which is bathed in more direct sunlight year-round. This results in warmer temperatures year-round Subtropical areas often have abundant rainfall caused by convective thunderstorms driven by moist air masses from over the oceans. This can lead to problems with waterlogging and flooding if drainage is poor.
What is the subtropical climate?
The subtropical climate is a climate characterised by warm to hot summers and cool to mild winters. It is found on the large land masses which are located in the temperate zones, typically between the latitudes of 23.5° and 35°, both north and south of the equator. A large portion of the world’s human population lives in areas with this type of climate, especially in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central America, parts of Africa, and coastal Brazil.
What are the characteristics of the subtropical climate?
The subtropical climate is characterized by hot, humid summers and cool to mild winters. This climate is found on the eastern side of continents, usually between 20° and 35° latitude. The Southeast United States, Mexico, parts of Brazil, and coastal China are all examples of regions with a subtropical climate.
The subtropics are generally wetter than the tropics, but there is considerable variation within both groups. The wettest subtropical regions are found along the southeastern coasts of Asia and North America, where moist ocean air brings heavy rains. The driest subtropical areas are in the lee of high mountain ranges, such as the Atacama Desert in South America and the western United States.
There are two types of subtropical climates: rainy and dry. Rainy subtropical climates tend to have hot summers with heavy rainfall, while dry subtropical climates are characterized by hot summers and mild to little winter precipitation.
The monsoon climate
The monsoon climate of Southeast Asia is characterized by distinct wet and dry seasons. The wet season, or summer monsoon, occurs when the southeastern trade winds strengthen and shift northward, bringing moist air from the Indian Ocean over the region. This typically happens between May and October. The dry season, or winter monsoon, is caused by a shift in wind patterns that brings drier air from central Asia over Southeast Asia. This usually happens between November and April.
There is a great deal of variation in the amount of rainfall received during the wet season from one year to the next. This can cause considerable hardship for farmers who rely on the rains for their crops. Droughts are not uncommon, and they can have a devastating impact on agriculture.
Flooding is also a problem in some areas during the wet season. The heavy rains can cause rivers to overflow their banks, leading to serious flooding.
What is the monsoon climate?
The monsoon climate dominates in most of insular Southeast Asia—an area that includes Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. This region experiences two different seasons every year: a wet season corresponding with the arrival of the monsoon winds from May to October, and a dry season from November to February.
What are the characteristics of the monsoon climate?
The monsoon climate is a tropical wet and dry climate that typically features uniform temperatures throughout the year, with a moist summer “monsoon” period of heavy rainfall followed by a drier winter season.
This climate type is found in the regions of the world that lie within the so-called monsoon belt, which encircles the globe near the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Monsoon climates typically experiences hot and humid conditions during the summer monsoon period, with average rainfall levels of 100 centimeters (39 inches) or more per month. During the dry winter season, rainfall totals typically drop to 50 centimeters (20 inches) or less.
There are two main types of monsoon climate: tropical wet and tropical dry. The tropical wet type is characterized by heavy rains during the summer monsoon period, while the tropical dry type features light rains or no rains at all during this time.
Both types of monsoon climate are influenced by large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns known as subtropical high-pressure belts. These belts tend to stabilize over particular regions of the globe during specific seasons, which in turn helps to determine when and where the wet and dry periods will occur within a given year.