Climatic regionalisation of continental Chile

Abstract

The updated Koppen-Geiger climate classification for continental Chile is a cartographic product of great interest for climate research in the South American context. This study included 200 weather stations and climate surfaces at a scale of 1:1,500,000. The results indicate that the climates of continental Chile are essentially arid (B), temperate (C) and polar (E), the latter due to the elevation of the Andes. The predominant climates are high tundra (ET) and mediterranean (Cs). We have concluded that the use of climate surfaces enables the development of new classifications and indices as a function of scale. With respect to latitude, the climates of northern Chile are arid due to the Atacama Desert, and those of southern Chile are temperate, ranging from mediterranean to marine west coast.