Geography

Ikaria is one of the middle islands of the northern Aegean, 255.303 square kilometres (98.573 sq mi)[2] in area with 102 miles (164 kilometres) of coastline and a population of 8,312 inhabitants.

The topography is a contrast between verdant slopes and barren steep rocks. The island is mountainous for the most part. It is traversed by the Aetheras range, whose highest summit is 1,037 metres (3,402 feet).

Most of its villages are nestled in the plains near the coast, with some in the mountains. Ikaria has a tradition of producing strong red wine. Many parts of the island, especially the ravines, are covered in shrubbery, making the landscape lush with green. Aside from domestic and domesticated species such as goats, there are a number of small wild animals to be found, such as martens, European otters, jumping spiders, and green toads.

Climate

Ikaria, an island in the Eastern Aegean Sea belonging to the South Sporades, has a Mediterranean climate (1.Köppen: Csa), with mild, rainy winters and hot, sunny summers.

The average temperature ranges from 10 °C (50 °F) in January and February to 25 °C (77 °F) in July and August. Annual rainfall amounts to almost 700 millimeters (27.5 inches), concentrated between October and April; it often occurs in the form of a storm and can sometimes be abundant.

During the summer, it hardly rains at all. Due to the length of the drought period, the landscape is semi-arid. Winter, from December to mid-March, is quite mild: daytime temperatures are around 13/14 °C (55/57 °F). Rain is quite frequent and can sometimes be abundant, especially in December and January.

However, there are also a moderate amount of sunny days. Summer, from June to mid-September, is warm and sunny. Meltemi, the north-west wind, often blows, keeping the temperature generally acceptable. When Meltemi blows, the maximum temperature remains below 30 °C (86 °F), otherwise the temperature rises, and there can be periods of intense heat, which usually last a few days, with highs of about 33/36 °C (91/97 °F).

(1.Köppen: Csa) The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notably in 1918 and 1936.  Later, German climatologist Rudolf Geiger (1894–1981) introduced some changes to the classification system in 1954 and 1961, which is thus sometimes called the Köppen–Geiger climate classification.