Climatology

Climatology or climatology is a highly interdisciplinary science that ranges from meteorology and geography to geology, biology, glaciology and, in a broader sense, to economics, sociology and politics.

The laws of the climate are to be researched, i.e. the average state of the atmosphere in a place.

The laws result from the long-term observation of radiation, temperature, air pressure, winds and wind systems and precipitation as well as geographical factors such as longitude and latitude, altitude, surface shape, soil conditions and vegetation.

Climatology and climate research is not a sharply defined, closed science, but as a primary sub-area of ​​meteorology and geography, it deals with the physical phenomena of the earth's atmosphere and its interaction with the conditions on the earth's surface in space and time (Lauer 1995).

Climatology is divided into four sub-disciplines:

General climatology
General climatology or theoretical climatology deals with the physics of the atmosphere, in particular the composition and structure of the atmosphere, the solar constant, the radiation balance, the heat balance, air temperature, the water balance, precipitation, air pressure and wind, planetary circulation and more recently with the development of climate models.

Regional Climatology
Regional climatology deals with the weather and climate in the tropics, subtropics, extratropical west wind zone and the polar regions.

Special Climatology
The climate history, climate changes and climate impact research, such as the greenhouse effect, global warming, as well as the vulnerability of the systems affected by climate change are the main areas of special climatology.

Applied climatology
Solving the climate problem, in particular climate protection and adaptation to climate change, are the main tasks of applied climatology.