DWD's Climate Services Help to Adapt to Climate Change As Well As Possible

2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s DWD’s Climate Services Observing – Modelling – Consulting Foreword Dear readers, Climate change presents us with great challenges. Extreme weather events and changes in the climate can cause humanitarian disasters and huge damage to the environment. Decision-makers in politics, administration and business require meaningful information about the changing climate and the climate of the future to be able to develop preventive measures against the consequences of climate change. There is therefore demand for high spatial resolution information as well as information for specific fields of action, such as water management and health. The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) regards the provision of climate information as a comprehen- sive and user-oriented service. The DWD has the biggest climate data collection in the whole of Germany and offers many years of experience in climate monitoring, climate modelling on different space and timescales and model result evaluation. The DWD is also well networked with other scientific institutions at the national and international level and ensures that customers are given state-of-the-art scientific information. Besides supplying data and information on various portals, a key aspect of our mission is communicating directly with and providing consultancy services to our customers. This also helps enhance users’ capability to use climate data in various areas of application. The DWD also assists in the development of climate services in other countries, including, in particular, developing countries. All these activities take account of the elements for successful climate services recommended by the Global Framework for Climate Services. Our aim in publishing this brochure is to provide a readable overview of all the climate services provided by the DWD. Dr. Paul Becker Vice-President of the Deutscher Wetterdienst 2 The challenge: Learning to deal with climate change Human activities contribute significantly to climate change. Long series of temperature measurements depict a warming which, in global terms, affects Germany in particular. The DWD's climate services help to adapt to climate change as well as possible. Scientific evidence shows that we are living in an era become an increasingly important cause of migratory of climate change. The Earth has warmed by around flows, which also affect us in Germany. As a complex 0.9°C and Germany even by 1.4°C since the end of the global phenomenon climate change presents us with 19th century. Averaged over the whole of Germany, numerous interrelated challenges. the annual number of hot days on which temperatures peak at 30°C or higher have increased since 1951 One of the answers: climate services from three to nine days. Compared to the long-term Stakeholders at all levels require precise information average for the 1961 1990 period, both the number of in order to plan and implement adaptation measures in warm years and decadal average temperatures have response to climate change. In this context, informa- increased significantly, particularly in the last three tion about past and future climate developments plays decades. an important, supportive and in many cases decisive role. This is caused by human greenhouse-gas emissions. Since the beginning of industrialisation, the concen- In consequence of this, the Global Framework for Cli- tration of carbon dioxide, which is the most important mate Services (GFCS) was created in 2009 on the initi- greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, has increased by ative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) over 40 percent. at the Third World Climate Conference (WCC 3). One of the greatest challenges of our time is limiting The DWD participates through its climate services in global warming. At the same time, we must also adjust the national implementation of the GFCS. It has pro- to ongoing and future climate change. This concerns vided climate information for decades. Since WCC 3, all areas of life, from agriculture and transport infra- efforts have been intensified to improve forecasts structure through to hotter urban climates in the sum- and projections, research and modelling initiatives. mer. The availability and quality of climate data have been enhanced. In addition, we must also help poorer countries to develop climate expertise. Climate change will 3 Climate services - five elements for success The DWD supplies information and expertise for the planning of climate preparedness measures and runs the office of the Deuts Klimadiens (DKD) – both important contribution implementing the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (DAS). The DWD's climate services are guided by the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). They com- prise the following five components: 1. Climate monitoring 2. Climate modelling, forecasts, projections, climate impact assessment 3. Climate information and data platform 4. Communication with users 5. Building climate capacities through international activities. Climate services involve the retrieval and provision of high-quality observations for the most important climate variables stored in national and international databases. In addition to parameters for the atmo- Furthermore, information is provided about climate sphere, oceanic and terrestrial parameters are also developments in the future for all relevant time and important. spatial scales, but also about the user-oriented application of such information. The information results from models, forecasts and projections which take account of greenhouse gas emission scenarios. It also Facts: Deutscher Wetterdienst includes risk and vulnerability analyses, evaluations • Around 2300 employees and estimates of climate impacts in various areas. • Headquarters in Offenbach, 6 branch office The information is presented using modern graphical • 5 regional climate offie providin tools, e.g. digital maps. consultancy services in the field of climate and environment Of particular importance is the provision of data as • Available annual budget: around 190 million well as communication and advisory services to users euros and, linked to this, the building of know-how at their Annual productivity: end to make more effective use of climate data for • Around 14000 advisory statements and various fields of action. expert reports • Around 15000 climate monitoring products As of January 2018 4 ◂ Official launch of the Deutscher Klimadienst in October 2015 by (from right to left) Parliamentary State Secretary Peter Bleser (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, BMEL), State Secretary Rainer Bomba (Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infra- structure, BMVI), Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter (Federal Ministry for the Environ- ment, Nature Conservation, Building, BMUB), Dr Paul Becker (DWD Vice-President) and Prof. Dr Gerhard Adrian (DWD President). Networking with other public authorities The DWD has joined forces with other public bodies, The DWD's climate services play an important role in institutions and organisations to provide climate Germany’s national implementation of the GFCS. They services as part of the Deutscher Klimadienst (DKD). also make a substantial contribution to the implemen- The DKD office is run by th tation of the German Strategy for Adaptation to Cli- mate Change (Deutsche AnpassungsStrategie, DAS). The aim of the DKD network is to provide sound information for political, administrative and business The DAS identifies 15 fields of action in which options decision-makers with the aim of ensuring optimum for adaptation to the impacts of climate change are use of existing climate knowledge. This combination of studied systematically. Examples of such fields of know-how from different sources may be beneficial in action are human health and water management. various fields, such as crop protection in agriculture and forestry. 5 Climate monitoring Climate monitoring helps to understand the state of the climate system in the past, present and future. Successful climate monitoring depends on an observing system providing good spatial coverage and long series of meteorological measurement data. Technology has changed over time. Where a ground-based observation network was adequate in the past, satellite and radar remote sensing data are now as important as surface measurements. Data are measured, verified, combined, evaluated and archived. The DWD operates Germany's densest meteorological and climatological observing network. Data acquired through it have been processed over many decades. What data are measured and how? DWD measurements focus on recording atmo- spheric parameters, such as air temperature, precipitation, wind, air pressure, radiation and sunshine duration. These are complemented by observations of snow cover and albedo, forest fires, soil moisture and phenology, such as the vegetation periods in the bio- sphere. DWD surface stations are increasingly run automatically. The measuring network also includes aircraft measurements and shipboard measuring sites. Radar and satellite remote sensing data are becoming increasingly important as demand grows for information with very high spatial resolution. Additional data are derived from computer modelling to fill the tempo- ral and spatial gaps existing in the data coverage. ▴ Radar sites for the measurement of precipitation in Germany. Radar Are the measurement data verified? measurements are made in radii of 150 km. The RADOLAN technique Data quality and compliance with recognised

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