Title: DK Earth: Climate Zones
Headings: DK Earth: Climate Zones
DK Earth: Climate Zones
CLIMATE ZONE CLASSIFICATION
POLAR AND TUNDRA
BOREAL FOREST
MOUNTAIN
TEMPERATE FOREST
MEDITERRANEAN
DESERT
DRY GRASSLAND
TROPICAL GRASSLAND
TROPICAL RAINFOREST
WHAT IS A MICROCLIMATE?
HAS THE EARTH?S CLIMATE CHANGED OVER TIME?
WILL EARTH?S CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE FUTURE?
BIOGRAPHY: LOUIS AGASSIZ Swiss, 1807?1873
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Content: The temperature in cities may be around 11F (6C) warmer than the surrounding countryside because buildings and paved streets hold the Sun?s heat longer than vegetation. Artificial heating in buildings also contributes to higher city temperatures. HAS THE EARTH?S CLIMATE CHANGED OVER TIME? Over the past two million years, Earth?s climate has slowly changed. Long, cold periods called ice ages, or glacials, have been interspersed with warmer periods. The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. At its height, all of northern Europe and parts of North America, Siberia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and the southernmost tip of South America were covered by ice sheets up to 3,300 ft (1,000 m) thick. WILL EARTH?S CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE FUTURE? Some scientists believe that Earth will enter another ice age in a few thousand years. However, almost all scientists believe that pollution caused by human activities is slowly causing the planet to grow warmer?a phenomenon called global warming.