Africa Climate and Vegetation

1. Africa Climate and Vegetation

2. Climate • equator runs straight through the middle of Africa, high temperatures • both Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn –the Tropics—hot and wet or hot and dry • climate is mild the farthest from the equator—N and S tips

4. Elevation • as elevation increases, temperatures decrease • some mountain peaks with snow never melt even though on the equator

5. Rainfall • Africa as whole gets plenty—it is just unevenly distributed • Cairo=1 inch a year • Nairobi, Kenya=38 inches a year • rain comes and goes, seasons, huge uncertainty

6. drought—period of time with little or no rainfall • rainforest—rain every day • savanna—rain is seasonal

7. Rainforest • along equator, high temps and tons of rain • complex ecosystem, plants living on plants, many levels

8. soil is not fertile –too much rain washes away nutrients—leaching • main areas are western and central Africa • rainforests are threatened because of farming, logging, roads and mining

9. Savanna • large open areas of grassland with few trees and bush • largest areas south of Sahara • warm temps and rainfall in the summer

10. baobab trees—tall and spindly branches • great deal of wildlife, large animals

11. Sahel • semiarid land just south of Sahara, dry grasslands • a transition zone between Savanna and Desert, desertification—fires, erosion, animals • hot temps, a little rain that is seasonal and sometimes not at all

12. Deserts • -north and south of the equator • Sahara in the north, Namib and Kalahari in the south • all incredibly hot and dry, contain mountains

13. Sahara=largest in world, sand, rock, gravel • equal to the continental US, all elevations