Even ancient geographers established themselves in the opinion that there is a significant land area in the Southern Hemisphere. At a time when it was still far from traveling around the world and great discoveries, the hypothetical mainland was called the Unknown Earth, the Unknown Southern Earth or simply Southern Earth, that is, in Latin it sounded like Australis. It is this name that formed the basis of the modern name of Australia.
Geography of australia
The position of Australia relative to the equator makes its climate mild, warm and moderately humid. In such climatic conditions, as well as in a situation of prolonged isolation from other continents, a completely unique nature could not fail to form, which causes sincere admiration for everyone who had the good fortune to encounter it.
You can understand what the position of Australia relative to the equator is by looking at the map. The whole continent is occupied by the state of the same name - Australia, which is a member of the British Commonwealth, which means that the Queen of Great Britain is the formal head of the country.
Climate Australia
For the parts closest to the equator, namely, the north and north-east, lying in the sub-equatorial climate zone, a slight temperature change from season to season is characteristic. At the same time, seasonality is expressed in the amount of precipitation, which sometimes reaches 2000 millimeters.
Summer is considered the wettest season when monsoons bring large volumes of moist air masses from the northwest. In winter, on the contrary, rains are extremely rare and far from in all areas, but dry and hot winds that originate deep in the continent constantly blow. Such winds can even cause droughts, which destroy a significant part of crops.
Tropical belt
Given the position of Australia relative to the equator, it can be concluded that two types of climate are most common in the country - tropical wet and tropical dry. This is due to the position of the continent in the latitudes most exposed to solar radiation.
It is solar radiation, together with the features of the relief that impede the penetration of moist air into the interior of the continent, that makes the continent the driest of all existing on Earth.
The climate is also affected by the peculiarity of the coastline of the mainland, which is weakly indented and therefore practically does not allow ocean air to penetrate deep into the continent. How Australia is located relative to the equator affects the continent’s humidity and season changes. Seasonality, however, does not appear pronounced in Australia, and the change of seasons takes place in some regions almost imperceptibly.
But, in addition, what is the position of Australia relative to the equator, landscape features are also important. One of such important features is the presence of a mountain system that stretches almost four thousand kilometers parallel to the east and south-east coasts.
It is this barrier that does not allow the Pacific monsoon air masses to penetrate deep into the continent and doom it to gradual desertification. Widespread deserts are another important feature of Australian nature that affects climate. After all, deserts tend to spread and overheat, which means that over time, all large areas of Australia will become less suitable for permanent residence, and this is another consequence of what Australia's position relative to the equator is.