NCERT Notes on Koppen’s Group C Climate Classification is an integral topic of Geography subject for the UPSC IAS exam. The classification is a vegetation-based and an empirical climate classification system that was developed by German botanist-climatologist Wladimir Koppen.

• His ultimate motto was to devise formulas which would define the boundaries of the climate corresponding to those vegetation zones that are the biomes and were being mapped for the first time during his lifetime.
• In 1900, Koppen published his first scheme and in 1918 a revised version came in. Until his death, in 1940, he continued to revise his classification system.

In this article we will be covering all aspects of Koppen’s Group C Climate Classification. Read ahead to prepare this topic well enough for the  UPSC IAS exam

Koppen’s Group C Climate Classification (UPSC Geography) NCERT Notes: Download PDF Here!

Koppen’s Climate Classification

• In 1884 this classification of the climate scheme was developed by Wladimir Peter Koppen.
• He recognized a very close relationship that was between the distribution of climate and vegetation.
• The categories which we are discussing are based on the data of annual and monthly averages of precipitation and temperature.
• The climate classification of the Koppen system recognizes five major climatic types and each type is designated by a capital letter- A, B, C, D, E, and H.
• The seasons that are of dryness are indicated by the small case letters: that are f, m, w, and s.
  • The f -no dry season
  • The m – Monsoon climate
  • The w- Winter dry season
  • The s – Summer dry season
• The small letters that are a, b, c, and d refer to the sensitivity degree of temperature.

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The Koppen’s Climate Classification System

• The climate classification of the Koppen’s is based on a subdivision of terrestrial climates which are into five major types. These are represented by the uppercase letters A, B, C, D, and E.
• Each of these climate types which we have discussed except for B is defined by the criteria of temperature.
• The climate which is type B designates climates in which the controlling factor is dryness on vegetation that is rather than coldness.
• Aridity is not a lone matter of precipitation but is defined by the relationship which is between the input precipitation to the soil in which the plants evaporative and grow losses.
• Since the process of evaporation is difficult to evaluate and is not a measure which is conventional measurement at meteorological stations. 
• Koppen was later forced to substitute a formula that identifies aridity in terms of a precipitation and temperature index. That is, we can say that the process of evaporation is assumed to be controlled by temperature.
• The climates which are Dry are divided into arid denoted by BW and semiarid denoted by BS subtypes. And both of them may be differentiated further by adding a third code which are the h for and k for warm and cold respectively.

You might also like: Koppen’s Group A Climates- NCERT notes

Climate Group and Types According to Koppen

You can check detailed NCERT notes on Koppen’s Climate Classification here.

Koppen’s Climate Type C and D

Though there is a major portion of the high as well as the middle latitudes that is mostly from 25° to 70° N and S. There lies a group of classified climates within the scream of Koppen as C and D types. Most of these regions usually lie beneath the upper-level and the mid-latitude westerlies throughout the year. And it is in the variations which are seasonal in intensity and location of these winds and their associated features that the explanation of their character of the climate that must be sought. During the seasons of summer the front polar and its jet stream move poleward and the air is the tropical masses that origin are able to extend to high latitudes. 

The frequency which is the relative frequency of these air masses of different origins varies gradually from low latitude to high latitude and is largely responsible for the temperature change that is observed across the belt which is most marked in winter seasons.

Study the NCERT Notes Geography on Extra Tropical Cyclones for UPSC exam.

Frontal systems, which are typically seen embedded within the moving cyclones that exist beneath the polar-front jet stream, are where air masses interact. Convergence into these low-pressure cells, as well as uplift at fronts, cause precipitation, with the main position shifting with the seasonal circulation cycle.

Convection, particularly in tropical air, and forced uplift near mountain barriers are two more key causes of precipitation. The subtropical anticyclone has a role in explaining climate on the western sides of the continents in the subtropics, but monsoon impacts modify this overall pattern.

Koppen’s classification give us six C climates and eight D climates as mentioned below:

1. Humid subtropical climate (Cfa, Cwa)
2. Mediterranean climate (Csa, Csb)
3. Marine west coast climate (Cfb, Cfc)
4. Humid continental climate (Dfa, Dfb, Dwa, Dwb)
5. Continental subarctic climate (Dfc, Dfd, Dwc, Dwd)

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