ABSTRACT
The microclimate is the climate at or near the ground, in the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Microclimates are also associated with buildings, other human-made surfaces and features, and to such unordinary natural environments as caves and animal burrows. They occupy the vegetation canopy, the urban canopy, the soil layer, and buildings. They display horizontal differences over a few centimetres to a hundred metres or so (in clearings). Their vertical dimension is about 1 m in grassland and low crops, to 30 m in forests, and hundreds of metres in some parts of cities and natural landscapes. Microclimates may depend upon several factors. It may be the nature of the substrate (rock, building material, vegetation), the juxtaposition of differing substrates (lakes for instance have a cooling effect on the surrounding land), aspect, and shade effects.
