Which climate classification system was developed by Wladimir Köppen?

Wladimir Köppen developed the Köppen climate classification system.

Köppen, a German-Russian climatologist and botanist, introduced the system in 1884 and refined it throughout his career. It classifies climates using long-term averages of temperature and precipitation, while also recognizing how those conditions influence natural vegetation.

The modern version commonly divides climates into five main groups: tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar. Letter codes then describe details such as seasonal rainfall, dry periods, and summer or winter temperature patterns. For example, Af represents a tropical rainforest climate, while BW indicates a desert climate.

The system is popular because it is relatively simple and works well for mapping global climate zones. It does not describe daily weather and should not be confused with a short-term forecast. Later versions incorporated work by Köppen’s collaborator Rudolf Geiger, so the system is also often called the Köppen–Geiger classification.