Deutscher Wetterdienst Annual Report 2014 Table of contents THE REFERENCE FOR METEOROLOGY IS THE DEUTSCHER WETTERDIENST Virtually everyone is interested In its role as a National Meteoro- in the weather and virtually every logical Service, the DWD is also a area of our lives is affected by weather provider of scientific and technical and climate. As the reference for me- services and a competent and reliable teorology in the Federal Republic of partner for public and private partners Germany the Deutscher Wetterdienst in the field of meteorology. The in- (DWD) is the competent contact point creasing demands of its customers not for all these issues. The range of tasks only oblige the DWD to supply high- is many and varied. It records, ana- quality products and services, but also other important tasks, such as the lyses and monitors the physical and are a continuous incentive to improve provision of services to the Federation, chemical processes in our atmosphere. product quality, customer orientation, the Länder, and the institutions ad- The DWD holds information on all and profitability. ministering justice, as well as the fulfil- meteorological occurrences, offers a The DWD, which was founded in ment of international commitments diverse range of services, both for 1952, is, as the National Meteorologic- entered into by the Federal Republic of the general public and for special user al Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. The DWD thus co-ordinates groups and operates the national Germany, responsible for providing the meteorological interests of Ger- climate archive. services for the protection of life and many on a national level in close agree- property in the form of weather and ment with the Federal Government climate information. This is its core and represents the Government in task. Acting as a federal authority intergovernmental and international under the department of the Federal organisations as, for example the World Ministry of Transport and Digital Infra- Meteorological Organization (WMO). structure (BMVI), the DWD assures the These tasks are embodied in the Law meteorological safeguarding of avi- on the Deutscher Wetterdienst from ation and marine shipping and issues 10 September 1998. warnings of meteorological events that could endanger public safety and order. The DWD, however, also has 2 The President’s Opening Remarks 4 Table of contents Weather & Climate 2014 5 Stefanie Gärtner Cover The special topic: 12 adjusts the thermo- 25 years of Global Precipitation Climatology Centre graphic camera (GPCC) at the DWD for apple sunburn tests. Developments & Events 20 Measuring & Observing Networks 34 Agrometeorological Research Centre Global Co-operation & International Projects 37 Facts & Figures 45 Executive Board & Organisation 50 A Look Back & A Look Forward 56 Contact & Imprint 65 The pictures illustrating the introductory pages to the different chapters were all taken at the DWD’s Agrometeorological Research Centre (ZAMF) in Braunschweig. 3 The President’s Opening Remarks Table of contents And which other developments and events have we highlighted in this Prof. Dr year’s report in order to illustrate our manifold range of activities? Germany’s Gerhard Adrian, new research ship SONNE was launched, for example, carrying on board one President of of the DWD’s automatic shipborne weather stations for continuous provision the Deutscher of meteorological data. Our new high-performance computing facility reached Wetterdienst its final phase in November 2014 and has since then been operational; its per- formance is three times greater than that of its predecessor, but it requires only half the amount of energy. At Germany’s largest international airport at Frankfurt/Main, a new building for meteorological observation was opened and a new automatic system for the recording and distribution of data put into operation. The chapter ‘Global Co-operation & International Projects’ illustrates the DWD’s strong involvement in the international meteorological and climate Dear Reader, community. This includes, among other topics, the setting up of a competence centre for climate change and land management in southern Africa, a confe- Welcome to the online edition of the Deutscher Wetterdienst’s Annual rence of the WMO’s Commission for Climatology in Heidelberg and the DWD’s Report for 2014. It gives me great pleasure to be able to once again present you participation in the European earth observation programme Copernicus. a wide range of topics about weather and climate. With its animated graphics, short films and links to further background information, this year’s report pro- The subject of our customary historical feature is the 70 year anniversary vides another vivid insight into the wide range of tasks and duties of Germany’s of D-Day in Normandy – when the weather still used to be a matter of secrecy. national meteorological service. My colleague Rob Varley of the UK’s Met Office gives us his thoughts in an inter- view on this and other issues. It is the outstanding commitment of our staff members that has enabled us to always fulfil our tasks to the highest standards and to the welfare of the The report’s section describing the Weather in Germany has been given a people in Germany, and this despite the constantly changing framework con- new layout, which now provides not only texts and graphics but also moving ditions and all the requirements to cut costs. This is the place and opportunity images – enabling you to review the entire year 2014 in terms of weather and to give our staff members the recognition they richly deserve! climate events. As outlined in the strategy, the DWD focuses increasingly on possible ad- Now, I invite you to find out more about the Deutscher Wetterdienst vances in weather data collection such as those which precipitation radar and and wish you happy reading and discovering during your virtual visit around satellite technologies open up in the area of remote sensing. At both scales, the DWD. temporal and spatial, a considerably larger volume of data is thus available. In addition to conventionally collected data, the DWD-run Global Precipitation Yours sincerely, Climatology Centre (GPCC) bases its analyses mainly on radar and satellite data. A detailed study carried out by it on the heavy downpours over Münster at the end of July 2014, for example, came to the conclusion that these rainfalls resembled a monsoon – which is a most unusual event for our latitudes. The GPCC has been collecting, analysing and publishing global precipitation data for 25 years now, a good reason to present its work in a chapter of its own. Gerhard Adrian 4 Table of contents Weather & Climate 5 2014 Dr Cathleen Frühauf determines the sugar content of grapes using a refractometer. Weather & Climate 2014 Table of contents Sunshine normal slightly exceeded Source: Hans Richard Henken (DWD) Annual satellite film for 2014 WARMEST YEAR SINCE THE START OF ROUTINE IN SOME CASES, EXTREMELY HIGH RAINFALL DURING THUNDER- TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS STORMS – BUT OVERALL SOMEWHAT TOO DRY In 2014, the precipitation was around 729 litres per square metre (l/m2), which In Germany, the year of 2014 was much too warm. The average temperature is eight per cent below the long-term average of 789 l/m2. At approximately for the year was, at 10.3 degrees Celsius (°C), significantly higher than the 1,975 l/m2, most rain and snow fell on the Zugspitze. In lowland areas, the temperatures for the previous record years of 2000 and 2007. This makes 2014 highest figure of around 1,920 l/m2 was recorded in Marktschellenberg in the the warmest year in Germany since routine temperature measurements were Berchtesgadener Land. The highest daily rainfall recorded in the DWD measur- started in 1881. ing network was 109 l/m2 on 28 July, when the heavens opened over Emmingen- Liptingen near Tuttlingen. Only sparse snow fell in January and February and also at the start of December whereas at the end of December snow covered OLD HEAT RECORDS FROM 2000 EXCEEDED BY 0.4 DEGREES the ground up to 60 cm deep in some places at altitudes below 1,000 metres. At 10.3 °C, the average temperature for 2014 was 2.1 degrees higher than the average over the international reference period 1961 to 1990. Apart from SLIGHTLY MORE SUNSHINE THAN AVERAGE August, all average monthly temperatures for the year were higher than aver- Sunshine during 2014 was, at approximately 1,600 hours, around 105 per cent age and, in some cases, by a substantial amount. Even when looking at the of the average of 1,528 hours. The sunniest areas were again on the Baltic coast period 1981 to 2010, the difference was still + 1.4 degrees. This makes 2014 the where Arkona on Rügen took the top spot this year with about 2,030 hours. The warmest year on record, thus beating the previous record of 9.9 °C set in 2000. least sunshine was recorded in the Sauerland. Here the total figure for Kahler Records also fell one after the other in all Federal States and at nearly all meas- Asten was only around 1,260 hours. uring stations. In general, the hottest day of the year was 9 June, which was Whit Monday. The highest temperature recorded on this date was 37.7 °C in Rheinau-Memprechtshofen to the south-west of Baden-Baden. The coldest night Take here a closer look at two extreme events that hit Germany in 2014: was on 29 December in Altheim near Riedlingen on the upper Danube, where the severe weather event in North Rhine-Westphalia on 09 June and the mon- a temperature of minus 24.9 °C was recorded. soon-like rainfall that occurred in Münster on 28 July. 6 Weather & Climate 2014 Table of contents SEVERE WEATHER OVER NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA Gust series for the summer months May to September (1971 – 2014) AT WHITSUN: A DIARY FROM THE FIRST WARNING TO THE ALLOCATION OF FINANCIAL HELP During the afternoon of 9 June 2014, Whit Monday, a particularly intense thunderstorm complex began to develop, which, in the evening, brought ex- tremely severe weather to North Rhine-Westphalia and With the extraordin- later also to Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.