Degree of continentality

The degree of continentality is used to measure the continentality of different locations.

A distinction is made between different formulas for calculating the degree of continentality, whereby these are empirically determined equations which are used to determine the continentality.

Degree of continentality according to Schrepfer (1925)

A simple formula that assigns Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands the value 0 ( maritime climate ) and Verkhoyansk the value 100 ( continental climate ) was drawn up in 1925 by the German geographer Hans Schrepfer :

${\displaystyle K={\frac {800}{7}}\cdot {\frac {A}{\varphi }}-14}$

A is the annual temperature amplitude of the location, i.e. the difference between the highest and lowest average temperature, is the geographical latitude . The formula works well for Europe, but becomes unusable near the equator as the values ​​tend towards infinity. ${\displaystyle \varphi }$

Degree of continentality according to Gorczynski (1920) and Conrad and Pollak (1950)

Another formula was given by Wladislaw Gorczynski a few years earlier . Your sine is used here instead of the geographical latitude :

${\displaystyle K=1{,}6\cdot {\frac {A}{\sin \varphi }}-14}$

A is again the annual amplitude of the temperature of the place, its geographical latitude. Here, too, the value at the equator is infinite, for Tórshavn the value is negative. In order to avoid both, Victor Conrad and Leo Wenzel Pollak's formula was modified in 1950: ${\displaystyle \varphi }$

${\displaystyle K=1{,}7\cdot {\frac {A}{\sin(\varphi +10)}}-14}$

Simplified continental index according to Ivanov (1956)

A particularly simple formula comes from N. Ivanov:

${\displaystyle K=260\cdot {\frac {A}{\varphi }}}$

Here, too, A is the annual temperature amplitude of the location, its geographical latitude. In contrast to the other indices, the values ​​here are not between 0 and 100, but are interpreted as follows: ${\displaystyle \varphi }$

• K <100: oceanic or maritime
• 100 <K <200: continental
• K> 200: highly continental

Improved continentality index according to Ivanov (1959)

The following somewhat more complicated formula also comes from N. Ivanov:

${\displaystyle K={\frac {A_{J}+A_{T}+0{,}25D_{F}}{0{,}36\varphi +14}}\cdot 100}$

In this formula, the annual amplitude of the temperature of the location means the daily amplitude of the temperature, which is a more meaningful parameter than the small annual amplitude, especially in the tropics, stands for the saturation deficit . As with the simplified formula, 100 stands for a neither pronounced maritime nor continental climate. The extremes are reached at 37 in Macquarie Island south of New Zealand and at 250 to 260 in Central Asia and the central Sahara . is the latitude of the place as above. ${\displaystyle A_{J}}$ ${\displaystyle A_{T}}$ ${\displaystyle D_{F}}$ ${\displaystyle \varphi }$

Web links

• The temperate climate zone

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Weather and Climate: A General Climatology , Ernst Heyer, Springer-Verlag 2013
2. ↑ ^{a b} General Climate Geography , Joachim Blüthgen, de Gruyter, 1980