Investigating the effects of climate change over two periods at the Botanical Garden station, in Sopron, Hungary

The effects of climate change can be studied using a wide variety of methods and measurements. It is important to monitor the different impacts of climate change not only regionally, but also locally, as this can provide valuable information and help local interventions to succeed. Using the available data (long-term daily air temperature and precipitation data series), we have carried out studies focusing on changes in the hydrological system. Changes in the elements of the hydrological regime, changes in snow and changes in seasonality were investigated. The results show that the largest changes in the elements of the water balance was a decrease in runoff and recharge potential by 58.7%, followed by a decrease in snow storage by 46.8%, a decrease in soil moisture storage by 12%, an increase in evapotranspiration by 9.5%, and finally a decrease in water input by 2.2%. The snow analysis also shows a decrease in average annual snowfall and the number of snow days. The seasonality test shows seasonality, with July as the average month of occurrence in both periods, but with a slight increase for the present (from 0.188 to 0.227).

Acknowledgements: This study was financially supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under Contract No. VEGA 1/0577/23. The research was supported by the OTKA grant 143972SNN, the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency grant N2-0313 and the associated project TKP2021-NKTA-43. The project TKP2021-NKTA-43 was implemented with the support of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology through the National Fund for Research Development and Innovation, funded by the TKP2021-NKTA call for proposals.