The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough to melt snow , but no month with an average temperature in excess of . If the climate occurs at high elevations, it is known as alpine climate.
Despite the potential diversity of climates in the ET category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided. Rainfall and snowfall are generally slight due to the low vapor pressure of water in the chilly atmosphere, but as a rule potential evapotranspiration is extremely low, allowing soggy terrain of swamps and bogs even in places that get precipitation typical of deserts of lower and middle latitudes. The amount of native tundra biomass depends more on the local temperature than the amount of precipitation.
Tundra climates are the second coldest Köppen climate type on Earth, though extreme subarctic climates (Dfd/Dwd/Dsd) can experience significantly colder winters. There is also an oceanic variety of the tundra climate with cool to mild winters (the coldest month averaging around 0°C) which borders the subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) and is found in parts of Iceland, the Aleutian Islands and most predominantly on subantarctic islands. __TOC__ Climate charts
Places featuring a tundra climate
Alpine tundra Apartaderos, Venezuela Ben Nevis, Scotland, United Kingdom Cairn Gorm, United Kingdom Cerro de Pasco, Peru Coranzuli, Argentina Dingboche, Nepal Finse, Norway Gavia Pass, Italy Valerio Giacomini, La Tundra del Gavia, Publication out of commerce for Stelvio National Park authority, 1975 High Tatras, Slovakia Juf, Switzerland Kasprowy Wierch, Poland La Rinconada, Peru Mauna Loa, Hawaii, United States Mount Apo, Philippines Mount Aragats (slopes), Armenia Mount Fuji, Japan Mount Rainier (slopes), Washington, United States Mount Washington, New Hampshire, United States Mount Wellington, Australia Murghob, Tajikistan Musala, Bulgaria Nevado de Toluca, Mexico Phari, China Puno, Peru Putre, Chile Sêrxü, China Sněžka, Czechia Tanggulashan, Qinghai, China Trepalle, Italy Vârful Omu, Romania Vetas, Colombia Yu Shan, Taiwan Zugspitze, Bavaria, Germany
Polar tundra Alert, Nunavut, Canada Campbell Island, New Zealand Crozet Islands Dikson Island, Russia Esperanza Base, Antarctica Grytviken, South Georgia (United Kingdom) Hooper Bay, United States Hveravellir, Iceland Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada Jan Mayen, Norway Kerguelen Islands, French Southern Lands (France) Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway Macquarie Island, Australia Mykines, Faroe Islands (Denmark) Novaya Zemyla, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia Nuuk, Greenland (Denmark) Provideniya, Russia ETs (dry summer) Puerto Williams, Chile Tiksi, Sakha Republic, Russia Tolhuin, Argentina Ushuaia, Argentina Utqiagvik, Alaska, United States Yamal Peninsula, Russia Wainwright, Alaska can be classified ETw (dry winter)
See also Polar climate Alpine tundra
References