the.com/tropical
Nature's greenhouse, where life shows off because it never had to survive winter.
means Relating to the tropics — the hot, humid zone of the Earth near the equator — or anything characteristic of that climate, like heat, lush growth, and fruit you can't grow at home.
from From the Latin 'tropicus' and Greek 'tropikos,' meaning 'pertaining to a turn,' from 'tropē,' a turning. The link is astronomical: the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn mark the latitudes where the sun appears to halt and 'turn back' at the solstices, the farthest it ever swings from the equator. The land caught between those two turning-points became the tropics — and 'tropical' came to mean anything belonging to that sun-soaked belt. The same Greek root for 'turn' gives us 'trope,' a figure of speech that turns meaning.
- biodiversity
- Holds most of Earth's species on small land area
- no seasons
- Defined by temperature, not summer and winter
- the cyclone belt
- Warm seas fuel hurricanes and typhoons
- soil paradox
- Lush forests grow on surprisingly poor soil
- day length
- Twelve-hour days roughly year-round near equator
amazon rainforest — largest rainforest spanning 5.5 million km² across 9 countries including brazil
great barrier reef — world's largest coral reef system stretching 2,300 km off queensland, australia
southeast asian monsoon — seasonal wind system bringing heavy rains to indonesia, philippines, and malaysia june-september
hawaiian islands — volcanic islands in north pacific at 20°n latitude with tropical climate year-round