ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates climates in the southern hemisphere. A tropical climate is found where the noonday Sun is inclined high in the sky. Alexsander Voeikov classified climates in 1874 according to the seasonal incidence of rain, leading to a world map in 1884, identifying areas of various degrees of wetness. Natural vegetation reflects the climate as a whole, and has been used as an indicator of it. The climate of a location is the aggregate of the kinds of weather that prevail. Classifying climates has several of the problems common to the whole science of classification, taxonomy. Climates in South America are conveniently explained in terms of the winds, which in turn depend on the patterns of pressure. Trade winds occur in summer as far south as the tip of South Africa, making fronts less common there and bringing warm moist air all along the east coast.
