Learn Climate Science: 40 Flashcards on Köppen, Climate Normals and Ice Ages
Learn climate science with 40 real flashcards: Köppen and Thornthwaite, climate normals, albedo, ice ages, climate models, plus the biome grid to add.
Studying. But it's also a video game. 🎮
Flashcards, quizzes and games that make you actually remember.
Posted by
FLIP IT TeamRelated reading
Learn Deserts by Cause: 30 Flashcards from the Sahara to Antarctica
Learn the world's deserts by cause: Hadley cell, rain shadow, cold currents. 30 flashcards on Sahara, Atacama, Namib, Gobi, ergs, wadis and the missing Arctic.
Master the World's Largest Islands: 50 Flashcards and the Missing Ranks 11-20
Learn the 10 largest islands, regional records and Arctic giants with 50 real flashcards, plus how to rebuild ranks 11-20 and fix four duplicate cards.
Learn Oceanography Fast: 50 Ocean Flashcards on Depth Zones, Tides and Records
Study 50 ocean flashcards: the five oceans, Challenger Deep, pelagic and benthic depth zones, thermocline, tides and salinity, with three cards to fix first.
Climate Zones & Biomes (deck CQ3713, 40 cards) is really a deck about climate science: how climate is defined, measured, classified and modeled, and why it changes. Biomes get exactly one card (22), and none of the Köppen zones is spelled out. That is fine if you know it going in: master the framework here, then add the zones yourself.
Study this deck: Climate Zones & Biomes
1 / 10What is climate?
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| What is climate? | The long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years |
| Most widely used climate classification scheme | The Köppen climate classification (first developed 1899) |
| What is the Thornthwaite system? | A classification in use since 1948 that adds evapotranspiration to temperature and precipitation |
| How are classification methods divided? | Genetic (causes of climate) vs empiric (effects of climate) |
| What are proxy variables in paleoclimatology? | Sediments, ice cores, tree rings, coral |
| What is surface albedo? | Reflectivity; more snow and ice reflect more solar energy into space |
| What corresponds to a 3 °C change in mean annual temperature? | An isotherm shift of ~300-400 km in latitude or 500 m in elevation |
| What is a biome? | A large natural community of flora and fauna, often matching climate classes |
Notions covered
Climate vs weather, the WMO 30-year averaging period, the five components of the climate system (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, biosphere), Köppen, Thornthwaite (microthermal, mesothermal, megathermal), Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification (air masses), paleoclimatology, climate normals, thermohaline circulation, greenhouse gases, climate variability and noise, Milanković cycles, ice ages and interglacials, Earth's Energy Imbalance, climate model resolution and energy balance (shortwave in, longwave out), coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice models, global warming.
Three cards to update
- Card 17 says 1961-1990 is the current baseline. Since 2021 the WMO standard normal is 1991-2020; 1961-1990 is kept only as the reference for long-term change. Rewrite the back with both.
- Card 30 says four major ice ages. Most sources now list five: Huronian, Cryogenian, Andean-Saharan, Karoo and the current Quaternary.
- Card 35 (1.5 °C passed over Feb 2023-Jan 2024) is correct, but add the follow-up: Copernicus confirmed 2024 as the first calendar year above 1.5 °C.
Tip: build the zone grid the deck leaves out
Write the Köppen letters as a five-row grid and tie each row to its biome: A tropical (rainforest, savanna), B dry (desert, steppe), C temperate (Mediterranean, temperate forest), D continental (taiga, cold forest), E polar (tundra, ice cap). Then use card 33 as your mental ruler: climbing 500 m is roughly like driving 300-400 km poleward, which is why tundra appears on mountain tops near the equator. Ten new cards, one per zone and one per biome, turn this deck into what its title promises.
Related guides
Ocean currents drive card 19's thermohaline warming of the North Atlantic, so continue with our Oceans & Seas flashcards, and see volcanism as an ice-age trigger in Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics.
Ready to learn faster? 🚀
Join FLIP IT for free and turn studying into a game.