00:00:19
The Amazon rainforest, the African Savannah,
the sands of the Sahara, the prairies of North
00:00:27
America , the forests of Siberia, the ice
sheet of Antarctica.
00:00:35
It can be easy living in cities, as most of
us do
00:00:38
to neglect how much land is on this planet.
00:00:42
The continents and islands of Earth cover
almost thirty percent of the globe, and most
00:00:47
of that fraction is empty wilderness.
00:00:51
What determines how these areas look is a
combination of topography, and climate.
00:00:56
We’ll now focus on the effect that climate
has on these areas, and rank each climate
00:01:01
zone by size, in this, the latest episode
in my Climate Casebook.
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If you’ve watched any of my other videos
00:01:26
then you should be familiar with the Koppen
climate system, which breaks down the world
00:01:30
into zones of climate types based on temperature
and rainfall patterns.
00:01:34
If you haven’t, then I recommend you check
out my Secrets of World Climate series in
00:01:38
my channel, or for a quick overview, the video
linked top right.
00:01:41
There are 29 Koppen zones in total, but I’ve
grouped most of these into the twelve more
00:01:47
distinct categories that formed each episode
in my Secrets of World Climate series.
00:01:52
So with that out the way, let’s get right
into which climate zones are the smallest
00:01:56
and the largest, in ascending order.
00:02:00
At number twelve the smallest of the world’s
climate types is the Subtropical Highlands
00:02:04
– located in the tropics, but experiencing
mild temperatures year round thanks to the
00:02:08
cooling effect of altitude.
00:02:10
These areas are distributed relatively equally
across Latin America, Africa and around the
00:02:15
Himalayas in Asia.
00:02:17
The monsoon variety of this climate, featuring
wet and dry seasons dominates over the year-round
00:02:22
variant, with the higher altitude cool summer
variant extremely rare.
00:02:26
At number eleven, we have the next largest
zone – that of the Oceanic – the mild,
00:02:32
wet climate found on the west coasts of the
continents at temperate latitudes.
00:02:37
Most of the land area is found in North-West
Europe, with a significant proportion in Oceania.
00:02:42
The main variant of warm summers dominates,
with the cool summer Subpolar variant restrict
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to rocky coasts in the far north and south.
00:02:50
At number ten, we have the Oceanic’s southern
neighbour, the Mediterranean climate of dry
00:02:56
summers along the west coasts of the temperate
latitudes.
00:03:00
The country with the largest single land area
here is, interestingly the United States,
00:03:04
whose long west coast is almost exclusively
of this type.
00:03:08
Australia and Chile have some areas here,
but the vast majority is given over to the
00:03:12
countries around the sea to which this climate
owes its name.
00:03:16
The relative land areas of the hot and warm
variants of this climate are pretty even,
00:03:20
with Csa being slightly more widespread.
00:03:24
The next largest climate type, at number nine,
is the Tropical Rainforest, covering selected
00:03:29
parts of the equatorial regions of our planet
where rain is constant year round.
00:03:34
Almost half of this area is within Brazil
and Indonesia, with the remaining countries
00:03:37
scattered across South America, Africa and
SE Asia.
00:03:43
Moving onto number eight now, and we switch
to the opposite end of the Earth and opposite
00:03:47
temperatures, with the frigid wastes of the
Tundra.
00:03:50
Most of this land is in the Arctic, with over
half of it in just two countries – Russia
00:03:54
and Canada.
00:03:57
You might be wondering what China’s contribution
is all about here – well that’s the extensive
00:04:01
Tibetan plateau, which, being at an altitude
of over 20,000 feet
00:04:06
is predominantly alpine tundra.
00:04:08
The United States fraction is almost all from
one state – Alaska.
00:04:14
Onto number seven in our climate land areas
list, and we have the climate zone that has
00:04:18
the largest population of any other, the Humid
Subtropical of hot summers and cool winters
00:04:23
mixed with plenty of rain, occurring on the
eastern fringes of each continent.
00:04:28
Almost half of the global land area of this
type occurs in just two countries, the United
00:04:31
States and China, with the rest scattered
across other continents.
00:04:36
The year-round rain variant is the larger
of the two, with the smaller being the monsoon
00:04:40
form with dry winters.
00:04:43
Into the final six now and we have the Continental
climate types, which stretch across the vast
00:04:48
plains of North America and Eurasia at the
mid latitudes, characterised by warm to hot
00:04:52
summers and cold winters, but with adequate
rain to support large populations.
00:04:57
This climate type forms the heartlands of
three countries – Russia, the United States
00:05:02
and Canada, which together make up over half
of all global area for this climate.
00:05:06
China’s densely populated north-eastern
part features also – with the remainder
00:05:11
being in Eastern Europe and NE Asia.
00:05:14
There are many subtypes to this climate, varying
by summer temperatures,
00:05:17
and annual rainfall distribution.
00:05:19
A single type dominates, that with year round
precipitation – rain in summer, snow in
00:05:25
winter, together with a warm summer.
00:05:28
The fifth largest climate zone is the Cool
Desert, stretching across the rain-starved
00:05:32
continental interiors, where large temperature
ranges in combination make for a tough existence.
00:05:38
Most of this area is covered by the countries
of Central Asia – with most of western China
00:05:42
in this category.
00:05:44
Similarly, most of the western half of the
United States is
00:05:47
comprised of this climate zone.
00:05:49
The remainder are scattered across the other
continents.
00:05:52
The true desert and semi-arid forms of this
climate are equally matched in prevalence.
00:05:58
Onto number four, and no it has not been forgotten,
it’s the most forbidding of all climate
00:06:03
zones – the Icecap.
00:06:05
Almost the entirety of the large continent
of Antarctica is covered in ice year round,
00:06:10
and this continent alone makes up the vast
majority of the land area of this climate
00:06:14
type, with the remainder being in Greenland,
and a comparatively tiny scrap as glaciers
00:06:19
across the highest mountains in the rest of
Earth.
00:06:22
As we move to number three, and we have the
climate zone with the next coldest winters,
00:06:26
the vast boreal forests of the Subarctic that
00:06:30
cover twelve percent of the entire land area of Earth.
00:06:33
Dominating the northern continental interiors
of North America and Eurasia, it is no surprise
00:06:37
that two countries make up the vast majority
of this land area – Russia and Canada.
00:06:44
The variant with cold winters and year-round
precipitation dominates this climate type,
00:06:48
with monsoon and very cold winter forms comparatively
isolated.
00:06:54
Onto number two in our climate land areas
list, and we are back in the tropics with
00:06:58
the wet and dry seasonal climates – the
Tropical Monsoon and Savannah.
00:07:03
These lands dominate the tropics, making up
almost 75% of land area in this region of
00:07:08
earth, with the Tropical Rainforest making
up most of the remainder.
00:07:13
Although the vast savannah of Brazil makes
up almost a quarter of this climate’s land
00:07:17
area, the remainder is distributed across
very large number of countries across Central
00:07:21
and South America, Africa and SE Asia.
00:07:25
The Savannah variant of more pronounced dry
seasons
00:07:27
dominates over the wetter Monsoon form.
00:07:32
And so we come to the world’s largest climate
zone.
00:07:35
By a process of elimination you might have
guessed what it is.
00:07:37
And it’s a fact that might bring you some
concern, with all the talk of climate change.
00:07:42
Because the most extensive climate regions
on Earth are the Hot Deserts.
00:07:47
Making up a full fifth of all continental
areas, the Sahara itself being half of it,
00:07:52
the scorching arid lands of the subtropical
regions of our planet can appear deceptively
00:07:57
smaller than the subarctic regions on a map
because of the errors in projection that cause
00:08:01
more polar regions to appear larger.
00:08:04
When looking at the distribution of these
lands, it’s not surprising to find the countries
00:08:08
adjoining the Sahara dominating, although
the single largest contributor is the land
00:08:12
down under, whose continental bulk is made
up predominantly of desert.
00:08:18
The true hot desert dominates over its slightly
wetter semi-arid form as this chart shows.
00:08:23
So, with our list complete, let’s now make
a comparison of our twelve grouped zones,
00:08:28
in our final graphic.
00:08:30
There are two notable patterns here.
00:08:32
The first is that almost half of the land
on earth is practically unusable by humans,
00:08:38
in the form of arid desert, ice-sheets or
tundra.
00:08:43
The second is that the three smallest zones
combined are barely bigger than the next largest,
00:08:47
and yet these zones contribute enormously
to global agriculture
00:08:51
So if you’re from one of these regions,
like I am, don’t feel bad.
00:08:55
Remember, small is beautiful!
00:08:59
So I hope you enjoyed this tour of Earth in
respect to climate and land area.
00:09:03
Once again I’d like to thank Richard Torres
for compiling the data on Koppen climate areas
00:09:07
by country.
00:09:09
Please like and share this video if you found
it useful, and don’t forget to subscribe
00:09:12
to my channel, so you get notified about future
videos.
00:09:16
And if you fancy supporting the channel, please
check out my Patreon page, the link to which
00:09:19
you can find in the description.
00:09:22
Let me know in the comments any thoughts you
might have on what you’ve seen.
00:09:25
Thanks again for watching, and I’ll see
you in the next episode of the Climate Casebook.
