Digital Climate Atlas of Hungary

The newly developed Digital Climate Atlas of Hungary allows users to view different climate variables and derived indicators for Hungary, including their past averages and projected future values, across various spatial scales, presented in both maps and graphs.

The climate of the present and recent past is described using homogenized (MASH) and gridded (MISH) observations from the HungaroMet network, except sunshine duration, for which satellite-based products were used. Climate data for 36 climate parameters (basic variables and derived indicators) are provided at a spatial resolution of about 1×1 km, generally covering 1901–2024, with shorter periods for global radiation and wind speed (2001–2024), sunshine duration (1986–2024), and soil moisture (5×5 km, 1991–2020). Values are aggregated to monthly, seasonal, and annual scales based on standard climatological periods (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1991-2020).

Future climate change is described by the 10 km resolution projections of two regional climate models, ALADIN-Climate and REMO using two anthropogenic scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The simulations cover the 21st century with a special focus on the periods of 2041–2070 and 2071–2100. Projected changes for 25 climate indicators (mostly on annual, but also seasonal and monthly scales) are expressed relative to the 1971–2000 reference period, with uncertainty represented by the minimum and maximum changes across simulations.

In addition to the maps, graphs of monthly means and long time series as well as statistics of the measurement records are presented. The observation data are updated annually, while new projections are published in line with the research progress. The Atlas is linked also to the climate service portal of the HungaroMet Hungarian Meteorological Service, from where some requests directly lead to pre-selected information for different sectors.

Acknowledgements:

The research presented was carried out within the framework of the Széchenyi Plan Plus program with the support of the RRF 2.3.1 21 2022 00014 project.