COPLOT DISPLAY TECHNIQUE AS AN AID TO CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION

COPLOT, a new graphic display method for multivariate data analysis, i s introduced and used to divide a geographical region into climatic su bregions. This method, a variant of the BIPLOT technique, is applied h ere to study similarity among climatic stations, the correlation struc ture among climatic variables, and the mutual relationships between st ation observations and climatic variables. At this stage, this techniq ue is used as a supplement to cluster analysis in the attempt to under stand the covariance structure of the climatic data set. However, in t he future, the final decision on area grouping will be based exclusive ly on visual inspection of the COPLOT output display.