Tierra templada

Tierra templada

Tierra templada (Spanish for temperate land) is a pseudoclimatological term used in Latin America to refer to places within that realm which are either located in the tropics at a moderately high elevation, or are marginally outside the astronomical tropics, producing a somewhat cooler overall climate than that found in the tropical lowlands, the zone of which is known as the tierra caliente.

In countries situated close to the equator, the tierra templada typically commences at an altitude of approximately 750 meters (roughly 2,500 feet), and extends to about 1,850 meters (or 6,000 feet), where the still cooler tierra fria begins.[1][2][3][4] These thresholds become lower as the latitude increases. The Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal used following altitudes:

  • 1,000 m as the border between the Troical Rain forest and the Subtropical Cloud forest
  • 2,300 m as the end of the Subtropical Cloud forest (Yunga fluvial)
  • 3,500 m as the Treeline
  • 4,800 m as the Puna end [5]

Despite the English translation of its name, the tierra templada is not considered "temperate" by climatologists, for most of the areas so designated have average temperatures in their coldest months of above 18°C (64.4°F), thus making them tropical under climate classification schemes such as that of Vladimir Köppen. In the aforementioned scheme, many locations within the tierra templada are sometimes designated Afb or Awb, with the b denoting the fact that the warmest month has an average temperature of below 22°C (71.6°F), meaning that all twelve months of the year have averages of between 18°C and 22°C. Chinchina, Colombia, altitude 1,360 m, is an example of a place which would be labelled Afb, as it has abundant rainfall year-round, while the climate of San José, Costa Rica, altitude 1,161 m, would fall under Awb since the latter city's rainfall regime consists of a wet summer and a dry winter.

In the tierra templada, coffee is grown extensively as a cash crop, with grains such as wheat and corn being cultivated for subsistence purposes - in contrast to the warmer tierra caliente, where tropical fruits predominate.

It is considered to be the most habitable and spring like.

See also

References

  1. ^ Brigitta Schütt (2005); Azonale Böden und Hochgebirgsböden
  2. ^ Zech, W. and Hintermaier-Erhard, G. (2002); Böden der Welt – Ein Bildatlas, Heidelberg, p. 98.
  3. ^ Christopher Salter, Joseph Hobbs, Jesse Wheeler and J. Trenton Kostbade (2005); Essentials of World Regional Geography 2nd Edition. NY: Harcourt Brace. p.464-465.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Pulgar Vidal, Javier: Geografía del Perú; Las Ocho Regiones Naturales del Perú. Edit. Universo S.A., Lima 1979. First Edition (his dissertation of 1940): Las ocho regiones naturales del Perú, Boletín del Museo de historia natural „Javier Prado“, n° especial, Lima, 1941, 17, pp. 145-161.

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  • Tierra templada — Ti|er|ra tem|pla|da* die; <aus span. tierra templada »gemäßigtes Land«, zu templado »gemäßigt« (zu templar »mäßigen«, dies aus lat. temperare)> die mittlere klimatische Höhenstufe in den trop. Gebirgsländern Mittel u. Südamerikas (Geogr.) …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • Tierra templada — Ti|ẹr|ra tem|pla|da, die; [span., eigtl. = gemäßigtes Land, zu: templado = mild, gemäßigt] (Geogr.): mittlere klimatische Höhenstufe in den tropischen Gebirgsländern Mittel u. Südamerikas …   Universal-Lexikon

  • tierra templada — temˈplädə noun (plural tierras templadas) Etymology: Spanish, literally, temperate land : a region or zone of temperate climate; especially : tropical land of usually from 2000 to 6000 foot elevation in which the temperature is modified by the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Tierra helada — (Spanish for frozen land) is a term used in Latin America to refer to the highest places found within the Andes mountains. Tierra helada is for the Montane grasslands and shrublands, Sunis, Punas and Paramos between the Treeline and the Snow line …   Wikipedia

  • Tierra — Tiẹrra   [spanisch »Land«], in den tropischen Gebirgsländern Lateinamerikas (Mexiko bis Bolivien) Bezeichnung für die klimatischen Höhenstufen. Die unterste Stufe, Tierra caliente (»heißes Land«), reicht in Äquatornähe bis 1000 m, in Guatemala… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Tierra caliente — d.h. heißes Land, heißt im span. Amerika der heiße und fast immer ungesunde Küstenstrich im Gegensatz zu t. fria, dem kalten Hochlande, und t. templada, dem gemäßigten Stufenlande …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Pisos térmicos — El relieve constituye el factor modificador del clima de mayor importancia, sobre todo en la zona intertropical, por lo que los distintos tipos climáticos están relacionados principalmente con la altitud relativa determinada por ese relieve.… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Colombia — Colombian, adj., n. /keuh lum bee euh/; Sp. /kaw lawm byah/, n. a republic in NW South America. 37,418,290; 439,828 sq. mi. (1,139,155 sq. km). Cap.: Bogotá. * * * Colombia Introduction Colombia Background: Colombia was one of the three countries …   Universalium

  • Sierra Madre — /see er euh mah dray/; for 2 also Sp. /syerdd rddah mah dhrdde/ 1. a mountain range extending from S Wyoming into N Colorado. 2. two parallel mountain chains in Mexico, bordering the central plateau on the E and W, and extending SE into N… …   Universalium

  • Costa (Ecuador) — Topographische Karte von Ecuador. Der zweithöchste Berg des Landes: Der aktive Vulkan Cotopaxi in der Sierra …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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