Observation

This question was not popular among the candidates and the performance of the few candidates who attempted it was poor. The main climatic groups of Koppen’s classification system include:
A - Tropical rainy climate
B – Dry climate
C - Warm temperate rainy climate
D - Snowy and cold climate
E – Polar climate
The Areas covered by Af climate are:
-           5o north and south of the equator
-           Amazon Basin
-           Zaire basin/Congo basin
-           Coast of west Africa
-           Indonesia
-           Malaysia
-           Thailand
The Characteristics of Af climatic regions are:
-           warm temperature all year round
-           abundant rainfall
-           no month with less than 254mm of rainfall
-           annual rainfall is over 2000mm
-           rainfall accompanied by thunder and lightening
-           no winter
-           no month with average temperature less than 18oC
-           average temperature of about 26⁰C
-           double peak/maxima rainfall
-           no month without rain
-           rainfall is heavy and convectional
-           zone of trade winds
-           ITCZ prevails
-           low range of temperature
-           temperature range about 2- 4 ⁰C
The Benefits of Af climate include:
-           Conducive for human habitation
-           help stabilize the world’s climate
-           home for many animals which are hunted for food
-           maintain the carbon cycle
-           good for growing plantation tree crops e.g. cocoa, rubber, etc
-           provide a home to many plant species
-           maintain the water cycle
-           protect against flood, drought, and erosion;
-           are a source for medicines
-           climatic zone is a source of foods
-           support tribal people e.g. pygmies
-           many big rivers in the zone provide fish for food
-           are an interesting place to visit/tourist sites
-           zone provides employment opportunities for hunters, lumberjacks, fishermen, etc
-           good for cultivation of special crops like sugarcane, coffee, tea, spices, tobacco, bananas, etc
-           zone provides fuel wood
-           big rivers with potentials for HEP