Tropical

TROPICAL CLIMATE Michael L


 * Location**: Our Earth has many different climates in various different regions. one of Earth's most beautiful climates are The Tropics. The Tropics locations are limited to a certain range of space, and have several different traits about them. The Tropical Regions are located around the Earth's equator and are limited to specific zones, not below or above the two different lines of the tropics. These lines are: The Tropic Of Cancer, located 23°,26' North of the equator, and the other line is The Tropic Of Capricorn, located 23°,26' South of the equator. These lines are the range that the Tropical region of Earth constantly is. The tropics include a wide ranges of places such as Central America, South America, Africa, and parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Australia/Oceania


 * Tropical Traits**: The Tropics are places where the sun reaches a point directly overhead and directly underneath. these area's have a wide variety of climates and individual temperature. Also, the various areas of the tropics have many different types of terrains, because of their regional location. South America's Tropical Rain forest, located in the tropics, is a massive jungle, home of millions of species of plants and animals. All of these kinds of organisms are accommodated by the jungles weather, depending on where they are. Each environment is home to many different plants and animals. The rain forest has easily the highest biodiversity on earth, home to hundreds of species, such as monkeys, wild cats, birds, insects and tons of other animals, like many species of fish and reptile The environment that these animals live in are various, depending on the location. Some have torrential rain, whereas other places are cool or muggy. In contrast, however, the African savanna is home to many different species of animals, such as elephants, lions, giraffes, and many types of birds and fish. the climate here though is far different from the South American rain forest. The savanna is for more dry and arid in most parts of its regions. But despite the environment, each tropical place provides a wonderful amount of biodiversity and climates, ranging from close to lush and green paradise, to a dry barren wasteland.


 * Climate**: Seasons and climates within the tropics are interdependent on whats known as the Tropical Rain Belt, or Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. This weather system dictates the weather in the different regions of the tropics, because it varies from place to place. Though some places in the tropics are nice and comfortable,such as the amazon rain forest, other places can be extreme and unpleasant like the African Savanna, which has an extremely hot climate and severe droughts.


 * Weather Systems**: The Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, known also as the ITCZ, is the main concentration point for showers and thunderstorms in the tropics. This is because northeasterly trade winds to the north of the ITCZ meet southeasterly trade winds from the south. The gathering of air near the surface due to the mixed winds forces the warm, humid air over the tropical oceans to rise. As the air rises, it cools and water vapor condenses into clouds and rain. If conditions are right, some clusters of thunderstorms that form along the ITCZ can grow into hurricanes. However, certain places only have hot weather, like the savanna, because the winds dont push the condensed air far enough over the bodies of land before the heat evaporates the moisture in the clouds The ITCZ's position changes during the different seasons.

http://www.google.com/images/tropics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropics http://www.usatoday.com/weather/witcz.htm
 * Sources**: http://blue.utb.edu/paullgj/geog3320/lectures/imagee.gif