Advancing Climate Data for the Carpathian Region
The increasing demand for reliable climatological data is essential for technological advancements, international cooperation, and environmental management. However, smaller countries face challenges in developing large-scale climate databases due to differences in national (hydro)meteorological services, measuring networks, instruments, data management tools, and quality control methods. These variations can result in inconsistencies, potentially skewing climatological analyses.
Our project aims to address these challenges by establishing a freely available, high-resolution gridded climatological database for the Larger Carpathian Region (LCR). This initiative enhances the foundation for regional climatological studies, including a Climate Atlas and drought monitoring, and provides a unified methodology for analyzing the temporal and spatial structure of the climate in the Carpathian Mountains and the Carpathian Basin.
Project Objectives
To achieve these goals, our project is structured into three key modules:
- Module 1: Enhancing Climate Data Availability & Quality
- Improve access to homogeneous and spatially representative climatological data for the LCR.
- Implement data rescue, quality control, and homogenization techniques.
- Module 2: Data Harmonization Across Carpathian Countries
- Ensure consistency in climate data across national boundaries.
- Produce gridded climatologies for each country using a standardized approach.
- Module 3: Development of a Climate Atlas & Drought Monitoring System
- Create a Climate Atlas for climate assessment and applied climatological research.
- Contribute to the European Drought Observatory with refined climate monitoring tools.
Key Principles & Methodologies
Recognizing the need for a unified climate database, we adhere to the following principles:
- Respect national data policies while ensuring maximum data access.
- Minimize data exchange while maintaining comprehensive coverage.
- Use common software tools for data quality control, homogenization, and gridding.
- Maintain equal collaboration across participating countries.
We employ advanced methodologies for data processing, including:
- Homogenization & Quality Control: Multiple Analysis of Series for Homogenization (MASH)
- Interpolation & Gridding: Meteorological Interpolation based on Surface Homogenized Database (MISH)
Project Scope
- Timeframe: 1961–2010
- Spatial Range: Latitudes 44°N to 50°N, Longitudes 17°E to 27°E
- Temporal Resolution: 1-day intervals
- Spatial Resolution: 0.1˚ x 0.1˚ grids
By developing a robust and standardized climate database, we strive to enhance climate research, improve environmental monitoring, and support decision-making processes for the sustainable development of the Carpathian Region.