| A | B |
|---|
| arid | climate that is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life |
| tundra | an area where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons |
| desert climate | a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation |
| dry climate | an arid climate |
| evapotranspiration | the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the earth's land surface to atmosphere |
| highland climate | climate that generally have colder winters and milder summers |
| icecap climate | a climate that has no monthly means above freezing and supports no vegetative cover except in a few scattered high mountain areas |
| ITCZ | a belt of low pressure girdling Earth at the equator |
| Koppen climate | one of the most widely used climate classification systems |
| Mediterranean climate | the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin |
| monsoon | a seasonal prevailing wind which lasts for several months |
| permafrost | soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years |
| polar climate | climates with a lack of warm summers |
| savanna | a tropical or subtropical woodland ecosystem |
| steppe | a grassland plain without trees |
| subarctic climate | climates of long, usually very cold winters, and brief, warm summers |
| taiga | a biome characterized by coniferous forests |
| tropical rainforest | rainforests generally found near the equator |
| continental climate | a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer |
