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Maps and plots

The plots below show world maps of the Köppen climate classification and time series of the area changes for different climate types. Click on the thumbnails to expand. Individual images can be saved by expanding them and then right click → select “Save Link As”. You can also download all images in a zip file under Downloads.

Long-time average climate (1901–2010)

These maps show the Köppen climate classification for the long-term average climate (1901–2010). The classification is based on a global observation-based dataset by Kenji Matsuura and Cort J. Willmott, which combines data from several sources including GHCN2 interpolated onto a 0.5° longitude × 0.5° latitude grid.

Stable and unstable regions

In the maps below, the Köppen classification was applied on temperature and precipitation averaged over shorter time scales, from interannual to decadal to 30 years. The 30-year averages were calculated with an overlap of 20 years between each sub-period, while the interannual and decadal averages did not have overlapping years. Black regions indicate areas where the major Köppen climate type changed at least once during 1901–2010 for a given time scale. Thus, the black regions are likely to be sensitive to climate variations, while the colored regions identify spatially stable regions.

Changes in areas

Time series for the global areas of all Köppen types were obtained using the 30-year climate classifications. For each time series, the area anomalies were normalized by the mean area for the whole period to yield the relative area change.

Major types

Subtypes

Downloads

See License for more information about permissions to reuse the figures and data.

How to read

The data are saved in tab delimited ASCII text files with CRLF line endings. The first line contains the header, followed by 85,794 lines with centered grid box coordinates and the Köppen climate type for each grid box. Each grid box has a size of 0.5° longitude × 0.5° latitude. For the interannual, decadal, and 30-year time scales, there are multiple columns for the climate types, one column for each average period as indicated by the header.

Here is an example of how the data can be read in Python:

# Example of reading the koppen_1901-2010.tsv file in Python
import numpy as np
koppen = np.genfromtxt("koppen_1901-2010.tsv", dtype=None, names=True)
print("The Koppen type at {} latitude and {} longitude is {}".format(
        koppen['latitude'][2], koppen['longitude'][2], koppen['p1901_2010'][2]))

And here is an example for MATLAB:

% Example of reading the koppen_1901-2010.tsv file in MATLAB
koppen = tdfread('koppen_1901-2010.tsv');
disp(['The Koppen type at ' num2str(koppen.latitude(3)) ' latitude and '
      num2str(koppen.longitude(3)) ' longitude is ' koppen.p1901_2010(3,:)])

Classification

This work used the same criteria for the Köppen climate classification as Kottek et al. (2006) and the tables below are largely based on the tables in their paper. The classification scheme is described in this section.

The Köppen climate classification uses monthly temperature and precipitation for the twelve months, usually averaged over a long period of time (30 years or more). Climate types are represented by a two or three letter combination where the first letter defines the major type. The major types can be further divided into subtypes based on precipitation (second letter, except for the E group) and temperature (second letter for the E group and third letter for the other groups except for the A group).

Subtypes satisfy the criterion of their parent type(s) and are prioritized in the order they appear in the table. For example, if the climate in a region satisfies both Af and Am, it is classified as Af, because Af appears before Am in the table and therefore has higher priority.

Summer is defined as April through September (AMJJAS) and winter as October through March (ONDJFM) for the Northern Hemisphere, and vice versa for the Southern Hemisphere.

First and second letter

Type	Description	Criteria
A	Tropical climate	Not B or E. Coldest month temperature is greater than or equal to +18 °C.
Af	Tropical rain forest	Precipitation in the driest month is greater than or equal to 60 mm.
Am	Tropical monsoons	Precipitation in the driest month is greater than or equal to 100 mm – (annual precipitation in mm)/25.
As	Tropical savanna with dry summer	Precipitation in the driest month in summer is less than 60 mm.
Aw	Tropical savanna with dry winter	Precipitation in the driest month in winter is less than 60 mm.
B	Dry climate	Not E. The annual precipitation is less than 10 times the dryness threshold.
BW	Desert (arid)	The annual precipitation is less than or equal to 5 times the dryness threshold.
BS	Steppe (semi-arid)	The annual precipitation is greater than 5 times the dryness threshold.
C	Mild temperate	Not A, B, or E. Temperature of the coldest month is greater than -3 °C and less than +18 °C.
Cs	Mild temperate with dry summer	Precipitation in the driest month in summer is less than the precipitation in the driest month in winter. Precipitation in the wettest month in winter is more than 3 times the precipitation in the driest month in summer. Precipitation in the driest month in summer is less than 40 mm.
Cw	Mild temperate with dry winter	Precipitation in the driest month in summer is more than 10 times the precipitation in the driest month in winter. Precipitation in the driest month in winter is less than the precipitation in the driest month in summer.
Cf	Mild temperate, fully humid	Not Cs or Cw.
D	Snow	Not A, B, C, or E. Temperature of the coldest month is less than or equal to -3 °C.
Ds	Snow with dry summer	Precipitation in the driest month in summer is less than the precipitation in the driest month in winter. Precipitation in the wettest month in winter is more than 3 times the precipitation in the driest month in summer. Precipitation in the driest month in summer is less than 40 mm.
Dw	Snow with dry winter	Precipitation in the driest month in summer is more than 10 times the precipitation in the driest month in winter. Precipitation in the driest month in winter is less than the precipitation in the driest month in summer.
Df	Snow, fully humid	Not Ds or Dw.
E	Polar	Temperature of the warmest month is less than 10 °C.
ET	Tundra	Temperature of the warmest month is greater than or equal to 0 °C.
EF	Frost	Temperature of the warmest month is less than 0 °C.

Third letter

Type	Description	Criteria
h	Hot arid	Annual mean temperature is greater than or equal to +18 °C.
k	Cold arid	Annual mean temperature is less than +18 °C.
a	Hot summer	Temperature of the warmest month is greater than or equal to +22 °C.
b	Warm summer	Temperature of the warmest month is less than +22 °C. At least 4 months with temperatures greater than or equal to +10 °C.
c	Cool summer	Temperature of the warmest month is less than +22 °C. At least 4 months with temperatures less than +10 °C. Temperature of the coldest month is greater than -38 °C.
d	Cold summer	Temperature of the warmest month is less than +22 °C. At least 4 months with temperatures less than +10 °C. Temperature of the coldest month is less than or equal to -38 °C.

Contact

See also

• Information about air temperature data (archived)
• Information about precipitation data (archived)
• Website for air temperature and precipitation data (archived)
• World maps of Köppen-Geiger climate classification

References