Redrawing Köppen‐Geiger classes with microclimate: implications for nature and society

Scientists have long categorized the planet's climate using the Köppen‐Geiger (KG) classification to research climate‐change impacts, biogeographical realms, agricultural suitability, and conservation. However, global KG maps primarily rely on macroclimate data collected by weather stations, which may not represent microclimatic conditions experienced by most life on Earth. Few studies have explored microclimate at broad scales, largely due to data and computational constraints. Here, we predicted KG classes separately from macroclimate and microclimate for more than 32 million locations across six continents. As compared to macroclimate, microclimate had 14‐fold lower error and reclassified 38% of the total area. Microclimate‐derived KG classes were not only more spatially variable but also encompassed a broader range of latitudes, relative to macroclimate‐derived KG classes. By redrawing the lines of climate classes, our study prompts a reevaluation of the importance of meteorological drivers of ecology across scales, shedding light on how natural, agricultural, and social systems experience and respond to global change.