Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Climate
- 3 Edaphic factors
- 4 The geological history of the present European flora
- 5 The atlantic and oceanic elements
- 6 The thermophilic element
- 7 The boreal element
- 8 The arctic, alpine and montane elements
- 9 Endemic, disjunct and centric distribution patterns
- 10 Anthropochorous plants
- Appendix I Calculation of climatic parameters for comparison with plant distributional data
- Appendix II The Northern European species of Flora Europaea with indications of their status and climatic correlations
- Appendix III Arctic species of vascular plants
- Appendix IV Endemic species of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens
- Appendix V Extra-European disjunctions – bryophytes and lichens
- References
- Index
2 - Climate
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Climate
- 3 Edaphic factors
- 4 The geological history of the present European flora
- 5 The atlantic and oceanic elements
- 6 The thermophilic element
- 7 The boreal element
- 8 The arctic, alpine and montane elements
- 9 Endemic, disjunct and centric distribution patterns
- 10 Anthropochorous plants
- Appendix I Calculation of climatic parameters for comparison with plant distributional data
- Appendix II The Northern European species of Flora Europaea with indications of their status and climatic correlations
- Appendix III Arctic species of vascular plants
- Appendix IV Endemic species of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens
- Appendix V Extra-European disjunctions – bryophytes and lichens
- References
- Index
Summary
Northern Europe is situated in the low pressure belt between the subtropical high and the polar high. In areas of the Atlantic Ocean that are south and southeast of Iceland the average atmospheric pressure is low and this directs southwesterly winds to Northern Europe. These southwesterly winds bring heat to northern latitudes in western Europe. Warm water transported by the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift also contributes to this. Thus North Europe has, for its latitude, an unusually mild climate. At the same latitude as southern Norway but west of the Atlantic is southern Greenland, where most of the land is covered by an inland ice sheet.
In this climatic system, cyclones are generated that travel eastwards with rain that is enhanced when the cyclones meet the mountains of Scotland, Scandinavia and the Alps. The cyclones have a more northerly position in summer than in winter and the Mediterranean areas thus have drought during summer. In Northern Europe there is cyclonic rain in all the seasons, with a maximum in late summer and autumn. The other major source of precipitation is convective rain, especially during the warm season. On hot days the air near the ground is heated and becomes unstable so that warm air rises up through the atmosphere, is cooled, and liberates precipitation, often as thunderstorms. This is the most important source of rain in the eastern, more continental parts of Europe.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Phytogeography of Northern EuropeBritish Isles, Fennoscandia, and Adjacent Areas, pp. 15 - 21Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998