The German Meteorological Service Deutscher Wetterdienst First for weather and climate

The weather – and the climate, too, these days – is the DWD’s measuring network is one of the densest a favourite everyday topic of conversation around in the world. It also includes 48 stations that the world. Everyone is interested in the weather, take continuous measurements for monitoring and almost all areas of our lives are directly radioactivity in the air and in precipitation. Add to affected by the weather and climate. The staff of this a further 18 weather radar systems and the data the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Germany’s collected by meteorological satellites, and weather national meteorological service founded in 1952, observation coverage over Germany is quasi- are renowned experts in their field. The DWD complete. Day after day, the DWD’s supercomputing has a nationwide, state-of-the-art infrastructure, centre receives, processes and stores more than with which it records, analyses and monitors the half a million weather bulletins from Germany and physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere. all over the world, preparing them for use by public It also provides information on the entire range of institutions, the industry, the media and, of course, meteorological and climatological developments and the general public. events in Germany to its partners and customers. Meteorological warning management in Germany The core tasks are weather forecasting, issuing One of the DWD’s main tasks is to ensure constant warnings on weather-related hazards, climate improvement of its meteorological prediction models. monitoring throughout Germany as well as the To this end, the DWD runs a research section of its assessment of climate change and the provision of own, making our forecasts increasingly reliable – advice and guidance on climate change adaptation. a vitally important factor in order to best meet our As a federal authority under the department of statutory duty to protect the lives and property of the the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital citizens in Germany. At the same time, the Deutscher Infrastructure (BMVI), the DWD offers both the Wetterdienst is responsible for co-ordinating the general public and special user groups a great warning of meteorological hazards in the whole of wealth of specialist services 24 hours 365 days a Germany. year. The DWD also operates the national climate The DWD’s weather forecasts as well as its severe archive, where long-term data series and climate weather warnings are key components of the records are stored as a basis for climate change complex warning management system, which is research and monitoring. primarily designed to warn disaster management organisations, such as fire brigades and the Federal The DWD’s work is essentially founded on recording Agency for Technical Relief (Technisches Hilfswerk, all accessible data on weather and climate. Com- THW), and to support them with advice and infor- prising more than 180 primary weather stations, mation. This helps them to plan aid operations at an both staffed and automatic, plus close to early stage to protect the population against weather 1,750 stations run by voluntary weather observers, hazards in the best possible way.

2 ◀ Launch of weather balloon at Hohenpeissenberg, the world’s oldest mountain weather station

Quality, reliability and customer orientation

As the sole provider of the full range of services The DWD not only is the number one address for related to weather and climate, the DWD is a weather forecasts, it also provides the fundamental competent and reliable partner in Germany for both climatological data required for long-term planning public and private partners. In winter, for example, in the areas of construction and water management weather forecasts and severe weather warnings or the effective use of renewable energy sources. from the DWD have a great impact: the road and Authorities and institutions at all levels, local, motorway maintenance services use information regional and national, find here the scientifically provided by the DWD to prepare for snow and other sound advice and expert knowledge they need to winter hazards in good time and thus minimise the ensure economical and ecologically sustainable number of traffi jm ad accidents planning, especially during times of climate change. The same applies to the safety of aviation and The increasing quality demands of our customers shipping: knowing the weather conditions at the not only oblige us to supply high-value products point of departure, at the destination and along the and services, but also give us the daily incentive whole route is indispensable to ensure a safe flight for further improvement of product quality, flexible or journey. Nowhere in Germany does a ship leave its customer orientation and profitability – to the benefit port or an aircraft take off the ground without first of the people and economy in Germany. checking the DWD’s weather forecasts. Internationally linked The DWD’s biometeorologists issue heat warnings, Since weather does not stop at national borders, pollen forecasts and UV warnings. Being forewarned meteorology as well as the monitoring of weather about weather-related threats to health enables and climate is not only a national issue. Pursuant to people to take appropriate precautions. Agriculture its statutory mandate, the DWD collaborates with is highly dependent on the weather – there is no the major meteorological institutions and research doubt about that. The DWD’s detailed forecasts centres around the world. In close agreement with allow for better planning of harvest dates, irrigation the Federal Government, it defends Germany’s measures or pest and plant disease control. The data meteorological and climatological interests in needed for this are available on the Internet. the various intergovernmental and international organisations, such as the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

DWD on the web: a short selection of links www.dwd.de www.dwd.de/wetter ▼ View into DWD weather forecasting centre www.dwd.de/warnungen www.dwd.de/app (weather warning app) www.dwd.de/klimawandel www.dwd.de/klimaatlas www.dwd.de/gesundheit www.dwd.de/agrarwetter www.dwd.de/forschung

To receive our severe weather warnings or a lot of other weather-related news by e-mail you can also subscribe to our free newsletters: www.dwd.de/newsletter The DWD at a glance

DWD sites throughout Germany ▪ Headquarters in Offenbach am Main ▪ 6 major branch offices: Hamburg Potsdam Leipzig Essen Around Stuttgart, Munich (partly with more than 100 staff members) 2,200 staff ▪ 5 regional climate offie poiig cnutny srie i the field of climate and environment members ▪ 5 MET advisory centres ▪ 3 agrometeorological advisory centres ▪ 182 main weather stations ▪ Aeronautical meteorological observation at 28 regional airports ▪ 48 stations where radioactivity is measured ▪ 3 mobile measuring units ▪ 1735 secondary weather and precipitation stations ▪ 1082 phenological observation sites ▪ 18 weather radar sites in Germany ▪ 2 meteorological observatories ▪ 66 automated shipboard weather stations ▪ 2 staffed main weather stations aboard research ships ▪ 472 weather reporting stations aboard merchant ships ▪ 5 moored buoys in the North and Baltic Seas ▪ 4 automated shipboard aerological stations ▪ 10 upper-air stations with approx. 7,000 radiosonde launches per year ▪ Use of the data from around 15 meteorological satellites ▪ 7 automatic greenhouse gas measuring stations at high towers ▪ 1 volcanic ash crisis task force (which is activated in the event of volcanic activity threatening to affect the German airspace) and a special air mission unit for volcanic ash measurements

Budget ▪ Total budget (expenditure): planned 370 million euros (of which over 158 million are contributions to international organisations such as EUMETSAT) ▪ Available budget: around 212 million euros ▪ Investments: close to 42,5 million euros ▪ Expenditure on staff approx. 116 million euros

4 FACTS Showpiece supercomputing centre The Deutscher Wetterdienst and the Bundeswehr Geoinformation Centre jointly operate the German Meteorological Computing Centre at the DWD’s headquarters in Offenbach. In its final configuration, the supercomputer, a Cray XC30 machine, delivers a peak performance of 2 x 550 teraflops (which is the equivalent to 2 x 550 trillion computations per second or a capacity of over 30,000 standard PCs).

Annual productivity ▪ Approx. 90,000 forecasts and 185,000 weather and severe weather warnings ▪ Over 14,000 advisory statements on weather and climate as well as expert reports for public authorities, disaster control units and other customers ▪ Approx. 460,000 forecasts and warnings for aviation ▪ Approx. 34,000 telephone briefings for aviation ▪ Provision of self-briefing systems for civil aviation, aerodromes & airports and air services providers (around 380 million requests) ▪ Approx. 200,000 reports, warnings and advisory statements for marine shipping, coastal protection and offshore projects ▪ Participation in around 50 large national and international climate and weather research projects ▪ Provision of over 23,000 products for climate monitoring ▪ Registration of 1,300 new heavy rain events in Germany (since 2001, the DWD has registered over 22,000 heavy rain events) ▪ Approx. 7.5 terabytes of archived weather and climate data (station data as well as gridded and reanalysis data), which are freely available to the general public, public authorities, industry and research community (https://opendata.dwd.de/) ▪ Around 500 terabytes of archived, free meteorological satellite data and satellite-based climate data ▪ Number of recorded satellite overflightss: over 20,000 As of 02/20 FACTS Deutscher Wetterdienst – an attractive employer The DWD offers a variety of interesting and challenging jobs in meteorological research and technology, weather forecasting, climate consultancy and administration. The DWD attaches great importance to helping its employees find a good balance between work and family in all phases of life. Since 2011, the DWD has been awarded the ‘job and family’ (berufundfamilie®) certificate of the Hertie Foundation. The DWD’s work-family balance package so far includes a multitude of working hours schemes, part-time and telework contracts, a parent-child office at the headquarters in Offenbach and two childcare places in a non-profit nursery at Offenbach. The DWD is committed to further optimising this range.

Job offers: www.dwd.de/stellen

5 Service provider with an international perspective

Data acquisition and data management Consultation services Observing weather and climate, recording, col- From meteorological expert reports to seasonal lecting and analysing all related data – all these forecasts and individual, scientifically sound activities form the basis of the DWD’s work. Thanks advice, the DWD offers a wide and varied range of to our measuring network providing full coverage services covering all of its areas of responsibility. of Germany, we can ensure a consistently high level Be it citizens, policy-makers or business people, of quality. In addition, we use weather bulletins and anyone can receive the support they need from reports from all over the world. In return, of course, the professional experts at all of the DWD the DWD makes its data available to other national specialist departments: weather forecasting, meteorological services and to the international aeronautical meteorology, marine meteorological meteorological scientific community for climate services, climate and environment consultancy, research purposes. hydrometeorology, human biometeorology and agrometeorology. Particularly in times of climate Weather forecasting and warning services change, the expert reports from the DWD on the Based on both the wealth of data collected and all future climate in towns and cities are in great the intensive research activities, the experts at demand, above all in large conurbations. With their the DWD compile weather analyses and forecasts. help, towns and cities will be able to take action on Observing the atmosphere around the clock, they adaptation to climate change as early as possible. warn the public of any weather hazard that might be threatening. Furthermore, the DWD supplies not International activities only Germany’s armed forces, the Bundeswehr, but In its role as Germany’s national meteorological also research institutes, industry and the public with service, the DWD is deeply involved in a large all the meteorological information they need. number of international working groups, programmes and institutions. It plays a particularly Climate monitoring active role at the European Organisation for One of the key statutory duties of the Deutscher the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites Wetterdienst is to monitor and document climate (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for Medium- and climate change. Among other things, the DWD Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF, which also deals hosts the national climate archive to store long- with seasonal weather forecasting) and the World term climate data for the purpose of climate change Meteorological Organization (WMO). Acting as a research and which serves as a basis for the DWD’s Regional Telecommunication Hub for the worldwide calculations of future climate change. exchange of data and operating a reference station within the Global Environment Monitoring Programme, the DWD fulfils important tasks for the international meteorological community. In addition to these tasks, the DWD hosts the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), which it operates in the name of WMO.

6 ▲ DWD headquarters in Offenbach

2019 DWD President Prof. Dr Gerhard Adrian Historical milestones is the first German to be elected as WMO President. 2015 2015 Launch of weather warning app and start of the DWD’s new global forecast 2012 Introduction of ensemble forecasting model ICON. for the production of weather forecasts 2010 2009 Launch of the national climate data 2008 Move into the new headquarters building centre at the DWD in Offenbach

2000 2002 50 years of DWD

1990 German reunification: integration of the Meteorological Service of the GDR into the DWD 1975 Foundation of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading/England, aimed at making weather forcasts up to 10 days ahead possible 1967 Beginning of measurement of total ozone in the atmosphere at the DWD 1966 Beginning of computer-aided weather forecasting and first reception of satellite images at the DWD 1961 First reception of satellite images at the DWD (and thus seamless observation of global cloud cover)

1955 Beginning of measurement of atmospheric radioactivity 1954 Accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to the World Meteorological 1952 Foundation of the DWD, passage of Organization (WMO) the Deutscher Wetterdienst Act (union of 1950 the meteorological services in the western allied occupation zones) 1950 Foundation of the ‘Meteorologischer Dienst der DDR’ (Meteorological Service of the former GDR) 1934 Foundation of the ‘Reichswetterdienst’ 1900 (Meteorological Service of the Third Reich) 1868 Foundation of the ‘Norddeutsche Seewarte’ 1847 Foundation of the Prussian (North German Maritime Observatory) in Meteorological Institute in Berlin 1800 Hamburg 1781 Beginning of continuous weather obser- vations on the Hoher Peissenberg Mountain in Upper Bavaria (within the framework of 1700 the ‘Societas Meteorologica Palatina’)

7 Deutscher Wetterdienst Headquarters Frankfurter Str. 135 D-63067 Offenbach Tel.: +49 (0)69 8062 - 0 Fax: +49 (0)69 8062 - 4484 E-mail: [email protected] www.dwd.de

Deutscher Wetterdienst Essen Branch Office Wallneyer Str. 10 D-45133 Essen [email protected]

Deutscher Wetterdienst Hamburg Branch Office Bernhard-Nocht-Str. 76 D-20359 Hamburg [email protected]

Deutscher Wetterdienst Leipzig Branch Office Kärrnerstr. 68 D-04288 Leipzig [email protected]

Deutscher Wetterdienst Munich Branch Office Helene-Weber-Allee 21 D-80637 München [email protected]

Deutscher Wetterdienst Potsdam Branch Office Güterfelder Damm 87-91 D-14532 Stahnsdorf [email protected]

Deutscher Wetterdienst Stuttgart Branch Office Am Schnarrenberg 17 D-70376 Stuttgart [email protected]

Imprint Text and editing: Uwe Kirsche, DWD Layout: Karin Borgmann Grafikdesign Pictures and graphics: Michael Alfen, DWD Printed by Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) on paper from sustainably managed Visit us on our website ▸ forests or other controlled sources.

Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) Press and Public Relations Frankfurter Str. 135 63067 Offenbach edition, 1.000/02.20 Germany Go to www.dwd.de to access our pages on th Tel.: +49 (0)69 8062 - 0

E-mail: [email protected] 14 DWD,