The climates of the Earth
Each colour is a type of climate according to the Köppen-Geiger classification. Choose a period to see how the climate zones have shifted from 1901 to today and how they might shift by the end of the century.
Climates: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. Map: © Protomaps, © OpenStreetMap.
Click a point on the map to see its climate in every period.
The climates, group by group
Tropical
Hot all year: even the coldest month is above 18 °C.
- Af tropical rainforest
- Am tropical monsoon
- Aw tropical savanna
Arid
Dry: less rain falls than the air could evaporate.
- BWh hot desert
- BWk cold desert
- BSh hot steppe
- BSk cold steppe
Temperate
The coldest month is between 0 and 18 °C, the warmest above 10 °C.
- Csa Mediterranean, hot summer
- Csb Mediterranean, warm summer
- Csc Mediterranean, cool summer
- Cwa temperate, dry winter, hot summer
- Cwb temperate, dry winter, warm summer
- Cwc temperate, dry winter, cool summer
- Cfa humid temperate, hot summer
- Cfb oceanic, warm summer
- Cfc oceanic, cool summer
Continental
Cold winters (the coldest month below 0 °C) and summers with at least one month above 10 °C.
- Dsa continental, dry hot summer
- Dsb continental, dry warm summer
- Dsc continental, dry cool summer
- Dsd continental, dry summer, very cold winter
- Dwa continental, dry winter, hot summer
- Dwb continental, dry winter, warm summer
- Dwc continental, dry winter, cool summer
- Dwd continental, dry and very cold winter
- Dfa humid continental, hot summer
- Dfb humid continental, warm summer
- Dfc subarctic (boreal)
- Dfd subarctic, very cold winter
Polar
Even the warmest month stays below 10 °C.
- ET tundra
- EF ice cap
How the climate zones change
How much of the land has a climate of each group, period by period.
| Period | Tropical | Arid | Temperate | Continental | Polar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901–1930 | 19.4% | 28.3% | 12.5% | 24.7% | 15.2% |
| 1961–1990 | 19.6% | 28.4% | 12.2% | 24.8% | 15.0% |
| 1991–2020 | 20.1% | 29.1% | 12.2% | 24.5% | 14.1% |
| 2041–2070 (intermediate scenario) | 21.4% | 29.7% | 11.8% | 24.5% | 12.6% |
| 2071–2099 (intermediate scenario) | 21.8% | 30.2% | 11.8% | 24.1% | 12.1% |
| 2071–2099 (high scenario) | 22.6% | 31.6% | 12.1% | 22.6% | 11.1% |
Shares calculated by GeoScope on the 1 km maps of Beck et al. (2023), taking into account the true area of each pixel; Antarctica is included.
The Köppen-Geiger classification
The climatologist Wladimir Köppen proposed it at the end of the 19th century, noting that vegetation follows climate; Rudolf Geiger revised it in the 20th century. It uses only two measurements, monthly temperature and precipitation, and divides climates into five main groups, each with a capital letter: A tropical, B arid, C temperate, D continental, E polar.
What the letters mean
The second letter says when it rains: f no dry season, s dry summer, w dry winter, m monsoon; in arid climates W means desert and S steppe, in polar climates T tundra and F ice cap. The third letter says how warm the summer is: a hot (warmest month above 22 °C), b warm, c cool, d very cold winter; in arid climates h hot and k cold. Cfb, for example, is a temperate climate with no dry season and a warm summer.
The scenarios for the future
The future maps come from climate models run with different IPCC emission scenarios. The intermediate scenario (SSP2-4.5) assumes emissions staying close to today's until mid-century and then falling; the high one (SSP5-8.5) emissions that keep growing. They are not forecasts but hypotheses: what happens also depends on how much emissions are cut.
Source: Beck, H. E. et al., High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections, Scientific Data 10, 724 (2023), CC BY 4.0.