Global thermal climates

The thermal climates represent major latitudinal climatic zones. They were obtained through classifying monthly temperatures corrected to sea level (with an assumed lapse rate: 0.55°C/100m). The latitudinal thermal climates distinguished in global AEZ are the following: tropics, subtropics with summer rainfall, subtropics with winter rainfall, temperate, boreal and polar/arctic. The temperate and boreal belts have been further subdivided according to continentality into three classes, namely: oceanic, sub-continental and continental.

Data derived from analysis over 37 years.

Date (Creation): 2000-05-01

Edition: First edition.

Presentation form: Digital map

Purpose: The AEZ methodology for land productivity assessments follows an environmental approach; it provides a framework for establishing a spatial inventory and database of land resources and crop production potentials. This land resources inventory is used to assess, for specified management conditions and levels of inputs, the suitability of crops/LUTs in relation to both rain-fed and irrigated conditions, and to quantify expected production of cropping activities relevant in the specific agro-ecological context.

Status: On going

Originator

FAO-UN - AGLL (ex-FAO Land and Water Division) - ( )

Originator

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) - ( )

Keywords

temperature
Tag_LUS
Tag_land

Keywords

climate

Keywords

Agroecological zones
Agro-ecological Zoning Database
AEZ

Place

World

Spatial representation type: Grid

Metadata language: eng

Character set: UTF8

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 2000-05-01

Supplemental Information: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the collaboration of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), has developed a system that enables rational land-use planning on the basis of an inventory of land resources and evaluation of biophysical limitations and potentials. This is referred to as the Agro-ecological Zones (AEZ) methodology.