Complex Climatology

climate as expressed in various types of weather, a trend in climatology in which weather is taken to mean a complex of interrelated and interdependent meteorological elements and phenomena. Complex climatology examines the effect of weather on man, on many objects of his activity, and on the animal world.

Since climate means the long-term weather regime, its effect on man is exerted only through a specific type of weather. Climate in complex climatology is analyzed by means of weather catalogs or punch cards, with the concept of “weather on a specific day” and “weather at a specific moment” serving as a unit. In a comparative study of climate, all the diversity of the weather during a 24-hour period is analyzed by means of a classification based on morphology. Such a classification includes several classes of weather. A number of classes form the frost-free weather group, some form types of weather in which the air temperatures pass through 0°C, and others form frosty types of weather. Each class is characterized by specific numerical indexes. The distinctive climatic features of a locality are evaluated by calculating the frequency of weather classes by months of the year and constructing charts of climate structure (see Figure 1), with data on the regime of individual meteorological elements used for this purpose.

The patterns of the geographic distribution of weather on plains are analyzed by compiling frequency charts for a particular weather class. Charts showing the structure of the climate along river valleys and of altitudinal zones are used in mountainous regions where this method is difficult to apply. Analysis of the long-term weather regime in complex climatology reveals the stability in time of a given weather class, degree of contrast between the types of weather on successive days, nature of the relationship between the weather developing in different places at the same time, and so forth. Complex climatology has been developing in the USSR since 1927 (works by E. E. Fedorov and his followers la. I. Fel’dman and L. A. Chubukov, among others).

REFERENCES

Fedorov, E. E., and A. I. Baranov. Klimat ravniny Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR v pogodakh. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Figure 1. Structure of the climate in various weather (as illustrated by some natural zones of the northern hemisphere)
Chubukov, L. A. Kompleksnaia klimatologiia. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Voprosy kompleksnoi klimatologii. Moscow, 1963.
Karta struktur klimata kurortov i lechebnykh mestnostei SSSR. Moscow, 1962.