Week 2 - Climate Change & Site Analysis
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This page defines climate zones, climatic patterns and the effects of climate change. |
Where Am I?
There are recurring characteristics in every climate that will affect the land, and what can grow and live there. These recurring characteristics are called climatic patterns. By understanding climatic patterns, you can incorporate the characteristics into your plan, use them to inform your choices and create a more effective permaculture design.
In this course we will focus on Earth's three major climate zones (climate types). There are many more then 3 climate zones; the Earth is an incredibly diverse place with great variability! But for the purposes of the introductory course we will look at the three most general categories: Tropical, Drylands and Temperate zones. Let's take a closer look at these now, and explore the climatic patterns of each one.
Three Major Climate Zones
Tropics - Tropics defined Links to an external site.
Dryland - Drylands defined Links to an external site.
Temperate - Temperate defined Links to an external site.
For greater detail, please see the Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification System. Links to an external site.
The Effects of Climate Change
The climate is changing and weather extremes are increasing throughout the planet. Changing climatic patterns can have an effect on native plants, animals, weather, temperature, agriculture, sea levels, energy use, and much more. A Permaculture design is "permanent" because it is planned around resilience to extreme weather events. A Permaculture designer studies historical and projected weather events, and uses these to inform design choices. Understanding weather and climate are important for the designer to have all the information to make the best design choices.
View the following video and explore the links below to learn more about the projected changes for locations around the globe.
Intro to Permaculture Climate Zones-Climate Change and Permaculture Video Transcript Download Intro to Permaculture Climate Zones-Climate Change and Permaculture Video Transcript
References:
NOAA - U.S.Temperature Extremes and the Polar Jet Stream Links to an external site.
Evidence Linking Arctic Amplification to Extreme Weather in Mid-latitudes Links to an external site.
Explore Climate Change Predictions
Explore climate change predictions by viewing the videos and clicking on the links below.
Videos
Temperature and Precipitation Changes Across the World - NASA (Links to an external site.)
Linking Extreme Weather Events to Climate Change - Weather Underground (Links to an external site.)
Global Warming Changes the Jetstream, Causes More Extreme Weather (Links to an external site.)
Animations
A Breathing Earth - An Annual Pulse of Vegetation and Ice (Links to an external site.)
Animated Jetstream Forecast (Links to an external site.)
Web Pages
21st Century Precipitation Scenarios - NASA (Links to an external site.)
21st Century Temperature Scenarios - NASA (Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Solutions for Climate Change (Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Planning and Planting for Climate Change (Links to an external site.)
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States Links to an external site.
USDA Zone Hardiness Changes Links to an external site.
Interactive Tools
Climate Inspector - University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (Links to an external site.)
Wikipedia
General Circulation Model - Wikipedia (Links to an external site.)
Audio
What will you do?: Ask yourself "What are the major climatic patterns that determine the conditions that I will respond to with my Permaculture designs? How are my design parameters potentially affected as the climate changes?"