January temperature and wind

Asia - Agriculture and climate
978-3-14-100790-9 | Page 95 | Ill. 2
January temperature and wind |  | Asia - Agriculture and climate | Karte 95/2

Information

The temperature maps show, the strong spatial and also seasonal differences in the climate of Asia through the increase in latitude. While the average temperature in Indonesia in January is over 25 °C, in the interior of Northeast Asia temperatures of minus 45 °C and less occur. Eastern Siberia is in effect the cold pole of the Earth, because of the strong thermal continental climate.

Cold and warm extremes
Characteristic of the winters in northern Asia are the high average wind speeds of seven to nine metres per second and peak values of 40 metres per second are sometime reached on the open tundra. Through the interaction of air temperature and wind-cooling or "windchill", the world's lowest temperature values are recorded.
The cold and stormy north wind is called a "Buran", which can be seen in winter in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Northwest China, eastern Russia and western Siberia. Similarly it occurs in North American blizzards in the sequence of cold polar air advances and is frequently associated with heavy snowfalls and snowdrifts. In the tundra of Siberia a "Buran" is also called a "Purga".
In July, temperatures in Central Asia are over 10 °C on a monthly average. The 0 °C isotherm is now above the melting ice of the Arctic Ocean, the isotherms have turned to the west and are in the middle of north Asia in its meridional direction in the winter (January) in a zonal direction. The 20 °C isotherm is located in Kazakhstan, north of the 50th Latitude, which means that the summer temperatures are at a similar level as in Central and Northern Europe, or even exceed it. However, night frosts are always to be expected the same time.
The summer heat in the Arab region is particularly significant — the temperatures increase at an average spread of over 30 °C. In the area of the tropical Southeast Asia daily climate, the temperatures are governed by little seasonal variation. The height dependence of temperature is evident in the area of the Himalayas. The high mountain area is shown, both in summer and winter, as a cold "island" on the map.

Perma-frost Soils
The interior of the Asian continent is characterised by extreme thermal conditions. Due to the very low temperatures during the long winters, permafrost soils from the glaciations have been preserved in large parts of Siberia. This thawing during the relatively warm, but only short summer, is at best superficial. Between this active summer layer and a geothermal gradient is a year-round frozen layer, from which the Earth's heat prevents the soil from freezing. The permafrost is coherently formed surface-wise at up to 100 metres thickness. If it is at less than 100 metres in thickness, it changes with each sub-level which can be fully thawed in summer, as in the European part of Russia. On the southern border, the permafrost in the underground is about 60 metres thick. South of that, the seasonal frozen soil starts to fully thaw in the summer.
P. Frankenberg, A. Siegmund, D. Volz; Ü: C. Fleming