Climates and Ecosystems of the Planet
Climate zones, biomes, and their distribution across the world.
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An exploration of how atmospheric and oceanic circulation, from global wind belts to regional monsoons, shape the world's weather patterns and climate zones.
An exploration of how climate and latitude shape the great biomes of the planet, from rainforests to tundra, and of the human pressures now threatening them.
An exploration of how altitude and isolation shape distinctive ecological zones and biodiversity in the world's highland regions, from vertical climate belts to the sky islands and water towers that sustain life far beyond the peaks themselves.
A closer look at the climatic mechanisms behind the world's arid zones and the specialized ecosystems that survive within them.
An exploration of the tropics as a climatic and ecological zone, where the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the great monsoon wind systems sustain some of the planet's richest and most productive ecosystems.
A survey of the mid-latitude and high-latitude climates that shape the seasonal ecosystems of the temperate world and the poles, from the four-season continental interiors and summer-dry Mediterranean coasts to the taiga, tundra, and polar desert of the far north and south.