K. H. Schlunzen, P. Hoffmann, G. Rosenhagen and W. Riecke

International Journal of Climatology

Published date May 26, 2009

Long-term changes and regional differences in temperature and precipitation in the metropolitan area of Hamburg

  •  Analyzes climate changes and the urban climate of the ‘green city’ Hamburg and its metropolitan region
  • Uses observational data for temperature and precipitation
  • The analysis of the long-term data shows that the climate has already changed
  • Finds that annual precipitation significantly increases ∼0.8 mm/year when focusing on years 1891–2007 and ∼1.3 mm/year for 1948–2007
  • Finds that precipitation increases are largest in November through March and March as well as June for 1978–2007
  • Finds that for April and July of this period, there is a decrease in precipitation
  • The precipitation distribution shows that moderate daily precipitation amounts (≤10 mm/day) have increased by about 10% between 1948–1977 and 1978–2007
  • Precipitation amounts > 10 mm/day have increased by 20% in the same period
  • Average temperatures significantly increase by 0.07 K/decade (1891–2007), 0.19 K/decade (1948–2007), 0.6 K/decade (1978–2007) with largest significant increases in fall