Concepts

Koppen Climate Classification

KUR-pen

Also Known As Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Koppen Climate Classification." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/koppen-climate-classification.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Koppen Climate Classification. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/koppen-climate-classification

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-koppen-climate-classification,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Koppen Climate Classification},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-earth.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/koppen-climate-classification},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The most widely used climate classification scheme, dividing Earth's climates into five main groups, tropical, arid, temperate, continental and polar, subdivided by seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns into letter codes such as Af for a tropical rainforest climate. Koppen designed it from his experience as a botanist, so the main groups represent a classification by vegetation type, which keeps the system useful for analyzing ecosystems and predicting changes of plant life within a region.

Facts

Origin Year

1884 1

First published by Wladimir Koppen in 1884, with notable revisions by Koppen in 1918 and 1936; Rudolf Geiger's later changes of 1954 and 1961 give the system its alternate name Koppen-Geiger.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Rudolf Geiger

Geiger's revisions of 1954 and 1961 added finer precipitation and temperature subdivisions to Koppen's system, which is why it is often called the Koppen-Geiger classification.

Source Koppen Climate Classification (Wikipedia)