Climate Change: Koeppen’s Scheme of Climate
The type of climate we experience now might be prevailing over the last 10,000 years with minor and occasionally wide fluctuations. The planet earth has witnessed many variations in climate since the beginning.
The most widely used classification of climate is the empirical climate classification scheme developed by V. Koeppen. Its categories are based on the annual and monthly averages of temperature and precipitation. Koeppen identified a close relationship between the distribution of vegetation and climate. He selected certain values of temperature and precipitation and related them to the distribution of vegetation and used these values for classifying the climates. It is an empirical classification based on mean annual and means monthly temperature and precipitation data.
Geological records show alteration of glacial and inter-glacial periods. The geomorphologic features, especially in high altitudes and high latitudes, exhibit traces of advances and retreats of glaciers. The sediment deposits in glacial lakes also reveal the occurrence of warm and cold periods. The rings in the trees provide clues about wet and dry periods. Historical records describe the vagaries of climate. All these evidence indicate that change in climate is a natural and continuous process.
India also witnessed alternate wet and dry periods. Archaeological findings show that the Rajasthan desert experienced wet and cool climate around 8,000 B.C. The period 3,000-1,700 B.C. had higher rainfall. From about 2,000-1,700 B.C., this region was the center of the Harappan civilization. Dry conditions accentuated since then.
In the geological past, the earth was warm some 500-300 million years ago, through the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian periods. During the Pleistocene epoch, glacial and inter-glacial periods occurred, the last major peak glacial period was about 18,000 years ago. The present inter-glacial period started 10,000 years ago.
