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

• Köppen climate classification
• Altitudinal zonation
• Tierra caliente, Ecoregion border, 2,500 ft or 1,000 m (Javier Pulgar Vidal)
• Tierra fria, Ecoregion border, 6,000 ft or 2,300 m (Javier Pulgar Vidal)
• Tierra helada, Ecoregion border, Treeline: 12,000 ft or 3,500 m (Javier Pulgar Vidal)

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.