Asia Climate

The large extent and changing altitude cause strong climatic differences. Parts of Mesopotamia and the Punjab (in Pakistan and northwest India) are among the hottest areas on earth; Eastern Siberia has the lowest temperatures in Asia; Oymyakon in Yakutia (in the Far East of Russia) is considered to be the cold pole of the northern hemisphere (temperature minimum [1933] −67.8 ° C).

The climate of Asia is largely continental with large daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations. In winter, the most extensive high-pressure area on earth lies over the cooled-down countries of North and Inner Asia, while in summer, low-pressure areas form particularly in the inner-Asian-Indian-Arab inland regions. The wind systems develop according to this different pressure distribution on the continent and over the surrounding seas, whereby the monsoons with their alternation of rainy and dry seasons are of particular importance for East and South Asia.

In Central and North Asia, January mean temperatures range from −15 to −20 ° C (in Northeast Siberia down to −50 ° C), in South Asia they rise to 25 ° C. In summer the differences are smaller (in large areas the July mean is 25–30 ° C and even in the Arctic Ocean it is often 15 ° C).

Only parts of West Asia, Turans and East Asia receive winter or spring rainfall, while the vast majority of Asia receives summer rain. The large frontal and inner-Asian dry zones are opposed to very humid peripheral areas, especially in monsoon Asia; Cherrapunji in northeast India is one of the wettest places on earth (annual mean 11,440 mm). In West Asia, desert, steppe and warm, temperate subtropical climates predominate, in South Asia a tropical monsoon climate, in mainland East Asia a strongly graduated extra-tropical monsoon climate, in Inner Asia winter-cold desert and steppe climate, in North Asia the winter-cold climate of the coniferous forests, which merges into the tundra climate in the north.

Country Form of government Area (in km 2) Ew. (in 1,000) capital city
Afghanistan republic 652 860 34 700 Kabul
Armenia republic 29 740 2 900 Yerevan
Azerbaijan republic 86 600 9 800 Baku
Bahrain kingdom 771 1,400 Manama
Bangladesh republic 17 630 163,000 Dhaka
Bhutan kingdom 38 394 800 Thimphu
Burma (Myanmar) republic 676 590 52 900 Naypyidaw
Brunei sultanate 5 770 420 Bandar Seri Begawan
China 1) republic 9 562 911 1,378,700 Beijing
Georgia republic 69 700 3 700 Tbilisi
India republic 3,287,259 2) 1,324,200 New Delhi (Delhi)
Indonesia 3) republic 1 910 930 261 100 Jakarta
Iraq republic 435 240 37 200 Baghdad
Iran republic 1 745 150 80 300 Tehran
Israel republic 22 070 4) 8 500 Jerusalem
Japan Empire 377 962 127,000 Tokyo
Yemen 5) republic 527 970 27 600 Sanaa
Jordan kingdom 89 320 9 500 Amman
Cambodia kingdom 181 040 15 800 Phnom Penh
Kazakhstan (with European part) republic 2 724 902 17 800 Astana
Qatar emirate 11 610 2,600 Doha
Kyrgyzstan republic 199 949 6 100 Bishkek
Korea (North Korea) republic 120 540 25 400 Pyongyang
Korea (South Korea) republic 100 288 51 200 Seoul
Kuwait emirate 17 820 4 100 Kuwait
Laos republic 236 800 6,800 Vientiane
Lebanon republic 10 450 6,000 Beirut
Malaysia Elective monarchy 330 800 31 200 Kuala Lumpur
Maldives republic 300 420 times
Mongolia republic 1 564 120 3,000 Ulan Bator
Nepal republic 147 180 29,000 Kathmandu
Oman sultanate 309 500 4,400 Muscat
East Timor republic 14 870 1,300 Dili
Pakistan republic 796 100 193 200 Islamabad
Philippines republic 300,000 103 300 Manila
Saudi Arabia kingdom 2,149,690 32 300 Riad
Singapore republic 719 5 600 Singapore
Sri Lanka republic 65 610 21 200 Colombo
Syria republic 185 180 18 400 Damascus
Tajikistan republic 141 376 8 700 Dushanbe
Taiwan republic 36 193 23 500 Taipei
Thailand kingdom 513 120 68 900 Bangkok
Turkey (with European part) republic 783 560 79 500 Ankara
Turkmenistan republic 488 100 5 700 Ashkhabad
Uzbekistan republic 447 400 31 800 Tashkent
United Arab. Emirates federation 83 600 9,300 Abu Dhabi
Vietnam republic 330 967 92 700 Hanoi
1) Including the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions.2) Including the parts of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan and China.

3) With Papua.

4) Including East Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

5) With Socotra.

Central Asia

Central Asia, the sparsely populated regions in the interior of Asia that have no outflow to the oceans, are characterized by a strict continental climate, framed by the Himalayas, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan, by the peripheral mountains of southern Siberia and in the east by the Great Chingan.

Central Asia, which is divided by numerous mountain ranges, includes the highlands of Tibet (highest highlands on earth, on average 4,500 m above sea level), the Tarim Basin with the Takla-Makan desert, the basin landscape of the Djungary (mainly sandy desert in the interior), in the northeast the Mongolia with the desert regions of the Gobi and neighboring areas of Russia. Politically, Central Asia includes West China (with Tibet, Sinkiang and Inner Mongolia), Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, also the easternmost parts of Uzbekistan and the southeast of Kazakhstan as well as the South Siberian republics of the Russian Federation (Altai, Khakassia, Tuva, Buryatia). Afghanistan lies in the transition area to West Asia.

With regard to the delimitation, however, there are different views. Deviating from the geographical definition, politically, in part, all the states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, see countryaah) as well as Afghanistan are fully viewed as part of Central Asia. Central Asia is therefore not identical to Central Asia, although the two terms overlap depending on political, economic, ethnographic or cultural aspects.

Central Asia