Category Archives: Africa

The African continent extends over two climatic zones: the tropics near the equator and the subtropics beyond the tropics. Due to the relatively high position of the sun all year round and the associated high energy supply, no real thermal high winters develop in Africa. Even in the high areas of the mountains, the monthly average temperatures in winter do not fall below 0 ° C. In the lowlands, temperatures are even between around 10 ° C beyond the tropics and over 25 ° C at the equator.

CAUSES OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
The temperature distribution in Africa is essentially determined by three factors – solar radiation, cloud cover and evaporationwhich in turn depends, among other things, on the amount of precipitation. Theoretically, the equatorial latitudes experience the greatest energy input, since the position of the sun is very high all year round. Due to the heavy cloud cover associated with the confluence zone of the trade winds in the area of ​​the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), however, part of this incident radiation is reflected, which reduces the warming of the earth’s surface. The high equatorial precipitation also leads to heavy evaporation. As a result of the energy required for this, a further part of the radiation energy is converted into latent and non-sensible heat. For these reasons, the highest temperatures in Africa do not occur near the equator, but in the tropics. The subtropical high pressure belt leads to the dissolution of clouds and the formation of extremely dry areas through descending air movements. This results in largely unhindered solar radiation, which in summer causes strong warming due to the zenith of the sun. The low moisture content of the soil and the largely missing vegetation, which in equatorial latitudes contributes significantly to evaporation due to its transpiration, result in low evaporation rates. As a result, most of the incident solar energy can be converted into sensible heat; the temperatures in the interior of the Sahara sometimes rise to over 50 ° C during the day. In contrast, the radiation is correspondingly high at night and in winter; this leads to a strong cooling and extreme temperature contrasts.

PREVAILING WINDS
See Notes on Card 148.4.

DAILY AND YEARLY FLUCTUATIONS
The year-round, relatively uniform supply of radiation leads to the development of a typical tropical time-of-day climate near the equator. The seasonal temperature differences are significantly smaller than those between day and night. For this reason, the temperatures in tropical Africa fluctuate by no more than one temperature level between January and July. With increasing distance from the equator, the seasonal radiation and thus also temperature differences increase. This becomes particularly clear beyond the tropics. The monthly average temperatures there sometimes fluctuate by up to 20 ° C.

The highest point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at 5895 meters high. The lowest point is Lake Asal in Djibouti at 153 meters below sea level. There are 54 internationally recognized countries in Africa. Victoria is the largest lake in Africa. The world’s longest river — the Nile — and the world’s largest desert — the Sahara — both are home in Africa. The world’s hottest place — Ethiopia — is in Africa. Tugela Falls is the second highest waterfall in the world lies in Africa. The San people are the oldest tribe in Africa, and the direct descendants of the first Homo sapiens. According to COUNTRYAAH, there are 54 countries in Africa. For the complete list of nations in Africa, please visit businesscarriers.com.