Bachelor Thesis
Auswertung des Present Weather Sensors (Wettercode, Niederschlag, Sichtweite) an der Grenze zwischen ozeanischer und kontinentaler Klimaprägung am Mittelgebirgsstandort Waldstein (Fichtelgebirge, Nordost-Bayern)
Verena Heinzmann (09/2011-01/2012)
Support: Johannes Lüers, Thomas Foken
Waldstein being a secondary mountain site in Germany, is located at the climatic boundary between the rather continental affected climate in the East (Do, by Köppen-Trewartha) and the rather oceanic affected climate in the West (Dc, by Köppen-Trewartha). Consequently, this site proves to be especially interesting for climatic research. This paper aims at analyzing the data set of the „Present Weather Detector“ (PWD) for the sample area Waldstein during the measuring period 2002 - 2010. The invention of the PWD should turn weather observations into an exclusively automatic kind of measurement. The intention of this paper is to work out to what extent oceanic or continental impact can be detected at the chosen sample area. Analysis was conducted using visibility and weather code of the PWD related to the prevailing wind direction and the general weather situation in Germany as well as temperature and precipitation values. According to the evaluations, eastern inlets and high pressure systems lead to a continental affected climate including less rain-, folk- and snowdays, less precipitation itself and a higher probability of months showing extreme temperatures. Therefore, western inlets are supposed to induce oceanic impact entailing higher frequence of rain-, folk-, and snowdays and therefore precipitation above average and a lower probability of months revealing extreme temperatures.