Geography SS 2 Curriculum Guides – Classification of Climate (Greek and Koppen) | Advantages and Disadvantages of the Classification Types

GEOGRAPHY

THEME – ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES

TOPIC – CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION

CLASS – SS 2

LEARNING AREAS – Classification of Climate (Greek and Koppen) | Advantages and Disadvantages of the Classification Types 

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

1. Atlas

2. Maps

3. Slides/Power point

4. Drawing paper

5. Sketches and diagrams

6. Colour pencils

7. Tracing paper

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. describe the two climatic major classification system;

2 identify and explain the major and sub categories of Koppen’s classification system;

3. plot combined temperature and rainfall graphs of the classification system;

4. group and locate major climates of the world using the two classification system;

5. state the advantages and disadvantages of the two classification  systems.

CONTENTS OF THE LESSON

FOCUS LESSONS 

CLASSIFICATION OF CLIMATE

Classification of climate is a conscious attempt at grouping different climates with similar characteristics together.

This is because climate varies from place to place. The common systems of classification of climate include the Greeks and Koppen’s classifications.

GREEK SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLIMATE

This is one of the earliest, ordinary, simple and rough climatic classifications put forward by the Greek people.

The basis for the Greek classification is temperature and it divides the world into three climatic zones which include –

1. Torrid zone

2. Temperate zone

3. Frigid zone

These zones were divided by lines of the tropics and the polar circles.

TORRID ZONE

LOCATION – This zone is found within the tropics (i.e. between the Tropic of cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn).

FEATURES/CHARACTERISTICS

I. The sun’s rays are vertical throughout the year.

II. The zone is very hot.

III. It has temperature throughout the year.

TEMPERATE ZONE 

LOCATION – This zone is found between the torrid and frigid zone.

FEATURES/CHARACTERISTICS

I. The zone is also called the middle latitudes.

II. The sun is never overhead in this zone.

III. The altitude of the midday sun varies throughout the year.

IV. It has mild or moderate temperatures.

V. It has seasonal contrasts in temperature.

FRIGID ZONE

LOCATION – This zone is found in the Polar Regions (arctic and Antarctic regions).

FEATURES/CHARACTERISTICS

I. The zone is generally cold with low temperatures throughout the year.

II. It has lots of ice-caps in the greater part of the year.

ADVANTAGES OF GREEK CLASSIFICATION 

1. It is very simple to understand.

2. It is still in use today with some modification where necessary.

CRITICISM OF GREEK CLASSIFICATION

1. It was based only on temperature, leaving out other climatic elements.

2. It was too simple.

3. It ignores the influence of latitude and altitude, presence of vegetation and wind system.

4. It fails to recognize climates such as those of the humid and the desert regions.

KOPPEN SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLIMATE 

The best known system of climatic classification was the one devised by Dr. Vladimir koppen of the University of Graz (Austria) in 1918.

The basis for Koppen’s classification is temperature and rainfall (precipitation).

THE MAIN FEATURES OF KOPPEN’S CLASSIFICATION 

He identified five major climatic groups which correspond with the five principal vegetation groups.

They are represented by capital letters as follows:

1. A type – Tropical rainy climate

2. B Type – Dry climates

3. C Type – Warm temperature rainy climates (Humid geothermal climates)

4. D Type – Snowy and cold climates (Cold snow forest climate)

5. E Type – Polar climates (Ice climate)

A TYPE – TROPICAL RAINY CLIMATE

1. This is a moist and hot climate.

2. It has average monthly temperature above 18oC.

3. It has heavy rainfall throughout the year which exceeds annual evaporation. B type- Dry climates

B TYPE – DRY CLIMATES

1. The annual evaporation exceeds annual rainfall.

2. It lacks surplus water and aridity is pronounced.

3. No river flows permanently in this region.

C TYPE – WARM TEMPERATURE RAINY CLIMATES (HUMID GEOTHERMAL CLIMATES)

1. The average temperature of the coldest month is below 18oC but above -3oC.

2. The average temperature of the warmest month is over 10oC.

3. It has both summer and winter seasons.

D TYPE – SNOWY AND COLD CLIMATES (COLD SNOW FOREST CLIMATE)

1. The average temperature of the coldest month is below 30C.

2. The average warmest month is above 100C.

3. It has frozen ground and snow cover for several months duration.

E TYPE – POLAR CLIMATES (ICE CLIMATE)

1. The average temperature of the warmest month is below 100C.

2. There is lack of warm season.

3. Precipitation is in the form of snow.

KOPPEN’S CLASSIFICATION

I. MAJOR CATEGORIES OF 

3/4A – Tropical

3/4B – Dry climate

3/4C – Humid Meso-thermal

3/4D – Humid Micro-thermal

3/4E – Polar climates

II. SUB-CATEGORIES OF 

3/4A – AF, AM and AW

3/4B – BS and BW

3/4C – CW, CS, and CF

3/4D – DF and DW

3/4E – ET and EF

ADVANTAGES of KOPPEN’S CLASSIFICATION

The Koppen’s system of classification is widely acceptable over other systems because,

1. It is very simple to understand.

2. It is objective.

3. It is quantitative because numerical values are used for defining boundaries of climatic groups.

4. It is commonly used in teaching at various levels of educational institutions.

DISADVANTAGES OF KOPPEN’S CLASSIFICATION 

1. It did not consider the climate of highlands.

2. Letters used are too many and confusing.

3. There is no clear distinction of one climate from another.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GREEK AND KOPPEN’S SYSTEM OF CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION

1. Greek’s climate classification is based solely on temperature while Koppen’s is based on climate and vegetation.

2. Greek’s classification has three major belts while Koppen’s classification has five major climatic types.

3. Koppen’s employs quantitative approach in the classification while, Greek’s employs descriptive approach.

4. Greek’s classification does not recognize sub-groups, whereas recognizes various sub-groups.

LESSON PRESENTATION

TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES

The teacher,

1. uses maps, the globe, sketches and diagrams to guide students to identify and classify climatic regions using the Greek and Koppen’s classification systems.

2. guides discussions on:

I. Greek climatic classification system.

II. interpretation and characteristics of Koppen’s classification categories.

III. geographic distribution of climatic regions in the classification series.

III. advantages and disadvantages of each classification system.

3. supervises the students as they plot temperature/rainfall graphs.

4. summarizes the highlights of the lesson  on the board.

 

 

STUDENT’S ACTIVITIES

The students,

1. listen to the teacher, ask and answer questions, take down notes.

2. participate in class discussions.

3. draw map of the world showing Greek climatic classification system.

4, plot graphs to illustrate each type of climate.

5. draw map of the world and insert the climatic regions based on Koppen’s classification.

6. plot temperature/rain fall graphs to illustrate the types of each  category.

 

LESSON EVALUATION

Teacher asks students to,

1. describe with appropriate graphs and illustrations the Greek and Koppen’s climate classification;

2. interpret the codes of Koppen’s climatic classifications;

3. plot a graph of given climatic data and identify the climatic type;

4. insert climatic regions on a world map based on the Greek and Koppen’s classification system;

5. list the advantages and disadvantages of each classification  system.