Climate, Tropical

Tropical climates are located along the earth's equatorial belt between the latitudinal belts [Page 280]of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. It is over these latitudes where the solar energy from the sun enters the atmosphere more directly than in higher latitudes throughout the year. There is also less of a seasonal shift in the solar energy coming into tropical areas than seasonal shifts that occur over higher latitudes. This means throughout the year, solar energy is high, and both the ocean and land surfaces over tropical latitudes are warm year-round.

Tropical climates, especially over oceans, have the lowest annual range in temperature than any other climate on earth. It is often the case that the diurnal temperature range in tropical climates exceeds ...