Asia Climate

Asia is largely located North of the Tropic of Cancer, to the S of which it pushes the great peninsulas bathed by the Indian Ocean; only part of the Indonesian archipelagos are found in the southern hemisphere. This boreal extension of the Asian lands, which to the North close the Arctic Ocean, is extremely important in explaining the climate of the continent, which with its breadth and the imposing mountain ranges breaks the normal patterns of the terrestrial atmospheric circulation. In fact, Asia interposes all the vastness of its lands to the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and partly also the Atlantic Ocean. Continentality reaches its most exalted manifestations in Asia; on the other hand, oceanic influences are limited, especially to the N, where the Arctic Ocean stretches, which remains frozen for a large part of the year, and to the SW, where the Asia joins Africa, which acts as a big screen. From a thermal point of view, continentality records its greatest excesses precisely on these two sides: in the eastern Siberian region there is the “cold pole”, with absolute minimums even below –70 ºC, January averages equal to –48 ºC and summer temperatures just over 10 ºC; in western Asia, on the other hand, there are opposite excesses with absolute maximums of 55 ºC (Lut desert), with summer averages, in July, of 35 ºC (Persian Gulf) and January averages of 10 ºC. These extreme values ​​are attenuated in the intermediate zones, where however seasonal and daily excursions can be strong, and in the areas most exposed to oceanic influences, where even the excursions fade. Balanced values ​​are found, for example, throughout the southernmost part facing the Indian Ocean, and especially in Indonesia. The strong continentality is at the origin of the stable air masses that are formed in winter when low temperatures cause conditions of high pressures and therefore anticyclonic situations that repel influences from the outside, that is, air masses of oceanic origin. These continental masses reach the peripheral regions and are particularly affected by the climates of the extreme western regions (and Europe itself), China and Japan, while their action in South Asia, protected by the great mountain bulwarks, is insensitive. that only in their gates leave the circulation open (this is what happens, for example, between Central Asia and Sīstān, where a characteristic and strong wind blows, the sad-u-bist ruz). This situation is removed with the seasonal invasions, between spring and autumn, of air masses of maritime origin, both tropical and polar. The former are connected to the so-called monsoon circulation, that is to the “sea monsoons” (as opposed to the “land monsoons” that occur in winter), periodic winds that affect the entire southern face of the continent, the Indian and Indochinese peninsulas and the Southern China. The monsoon are substantially the trade winds that the jet stream diverted from the Himalayas tends to shift towards the S in winter, thus giving seasonal alternation to the winds themselves. They occur from June to September with invasions of cyclonic air masses from the SW, sometimes notably violent, bringing abundant rainfall. Typhoons enter the cyclonic circulation from the SE, manifestations typical of the tropical maritime environment, which violently and disastrously hit the coasts of southern Japan, the Philippines, etc. The polar sea air masses invest only the northeastern section on the Pacific side, all the northwestern part, across the European plains, on the Atlantic side. Finally, the small Mediterranean section of Asia is subjected to the tropical sea masses of Atlantic origin. Even maritime influences, like continental ones, are hindered by the major mountain ranges, which explains among other things the great arid belt of Asia that goes from the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia and Mongolia; in western Asia, however, aridity is due to the fact that the region is excluded from the circulation of sea ​​air due to the presence of Africa and the direction of the periodic winds. On the basis of this general scheme it is possible to understand the excesses, strictly Asian, also in the distribution of precipitation. The wettest areas are the monsoonal ones, although the rainfall here is tropical, with two seasons: in the Bay of Bengal, well exposed to the breath of the monsoon, annual rainfall is recorded which touches Chittagong the 8000 mm; but the average rainfall in the monsoon area is 1500 mm. Higher values ​​are recorded in the equatorial region of Insulindia, which has a rainy regime, with rains almost every season. Precipitation up to 2000 mm also occurs in the subtropical environment exposed to the Pacific (southern China); they lessen in the temperate belt, except in Japan which has an oceanic climate. In northern China, the Great Wall, which runs on the 380 mm isoieta, marks the limit of the humid temperate area; further inland, one enters the area with arid or semi-arid continental climates, which affects just under 2/3 of the whole of Asia. In fact, the aridity is not only typical of the belt of deserts and predeserts that goes from the Arabian Peninsula to Mongolia, but of the whole Siberian region, where rainfall never exceeds 500 mm per year and falls, on the Arctic facade, unless of 200 mm. Broadly speaking we can indicate different climatic regions in Asia: tropical and subtropical arid Asia, which includes the so-called hot deserts and which goes from Arabia to Caspian central Asia; the more inland arid Asia, which includes the so-called cold deserts and the vast steppes that reach as far as Mongolia; monsoon Asia, tropical wetland that receives abundant seasonal rainfall; there. equatorial with a rainy climate, which affects Insulindia; more humid subtropical Asia, which corresponds to southern China and the Asian Mediterranean countries; temperate Asia, more or less humid depending on whether one passes from the eastern ocean front (China and Japan) to the western one; cold and subarctic continental Asia, which includes the great Siberian region. A cold mountain climate is finally found on the plateau of more or less humid depending on whether you pass from the eastern ocean front (China and Japan) to the western one; cold and subarctic continental Asia, which includes the great Siberian region. A cold mountain climate is finally found on the plateau of more or less humid depending on whether you pass from the eastern ocean front (China and Japan) to the western one; cold and subarctic continental Asia, which includes the great Siberian region. A cold mountain climate is finally found on the plateau of Tibet, while in the high ranges the glacial environment dominates.

Middle East

Middle East, the southwestern part of Asia. According to COUNTRYAAH, Middle East includes the Asian part of Turkey, Cyprus, Arabia, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Iran.