LTER-Austria - Austrian Society for Long-term Ecological Research
Feldbach | Website
Short Description
The WegenerNet climate station network Feldbach region is a pioneering weather and climate observation experiment at very high resolution located in Eastern Styria near the city of Feldbach in Southeast Austria, a region characteristic for experiencing a rich variety of weather and climate patterns.
Contact Person
Gottfried Kirchengast
Research Services
The network serves as a long-term monitoring and validation site for weather, climate, and hydrology research and applications. Core uses include validation of non-hydrostatic models operated at 1-km scale resolution and of statistical downscaling techniques, in particular for precipitation, validation of weather radar and satellite data, study of orography-climate relationships and of hydrological changes, and many others. More generally, the site supports research and education on climate and environmental change and its impacts as well as related applications and also serves as a bridge for transdisciplinary cooperation with stakeholders like municipalities in the region, regional private-sector users, educational users/schools, state government offices, and more.
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The network comprises 153 meteorological stations measuring temperature, precipitation, and other parameters, in a tightly spaced grid within an area of 23 km x 18 km centered near the city of Feldbach (46.93°N, 15.90°E). With its stations every about two square-km (area of about 300 square-km in total), and each station with 5-min time sampling, the network provides regular measurements since January 2007. As of 2010 a complementary meteorological-hydrological network of several stations was added in the mountainous upper Styrian region of National Park Gesaeuse as contribution to the LTER site Johnsbachtal. As part of the Johnsbachtal site, the WegenerNet Johnsbachtal consists of eleven mountain-proof stations within a region-scale of about 10 km, ranging from valley altitudes below 700 m to mountain tops higher than 2100 m. The WegenerNet at both sites together provides strong value for both alpine foreland and mountain region studies.
Klimastationsnetz WegenerNet (University of Graz): https://forschungsinfrastruktur.bmbwf.gv.at/de/fi/klimastationsnetz-wegenernet_427