Wladimir Köppen

Wladimir Peter Köppen ( Russian: Владимир Петрович Кёппен; * 25 Septemberjul / October 7 1846greg in Saint Petersburg, Russia, † June 22, 1940 in Graz, Austria. . ) Was a German geographer, meteorologist, climatologist and botanist.

Life

Wladimir Peter Köppen was born as the son of German parents in Russia and went to the Crimea to school. Even at that time he was interested in the relationship between plants and the climates in which they grow. Later he studied at the universities of St. Petersburg, Heidelberg and Leipzig, where he graduated in 1870.

Between 1872 and 1873 he was employed by the Russian Meteorological Service; In 1875 he moved back to Germany and became head of the then newly created Seewetterdienstes at the German Naval Observatory in Hamburg, where he was employed until 1919.

His was born on February 1, 1892 daughter Else married in 1913 the German polar explorer Alfred Wegener.

Köppen campaigned for the planned language Esperanto and published articles in that language in the ScienCa Revuo and Germana Esperantisto.

Work

He played a decisive role in the development of the German Seewetterdienstes and Marine Meteorology. He has published over 500 publications, most of which dealt with the meteorological Ensuring Maritime and the climatic conditions of the oceans and continents.

Climates

His work system Geography of Climates from 1936, which is the first objective classification climate of the earth is still of great importance.

The classification is done using an air formula that takes into account the temperature, rainfall and distribution, and references to vegetation. This results in five climate zones:

A: Tropical Climates

• Af tropical rainforest climate ( moist )
• On rainforest climate despite dry season
• Aw savanna climate ( dry winter )

B: Trockenklimate

• BS steppe climate
• BW desert climate

C: Warm Temperate Climates

• Cf humid temperate climate
• Cs Etesienklima ( summer dry)
• Cw sinisches climate ( dry winter )

D: Boreales air or snow forest climate

• Df always wet
• Dw Trans Siberian climate ( dry winter )

E: Eisklimate above the tree line or Schneeklimate

• ET tundra
• EF climate of Eternal Frost

Appreciation

Koppen's classification is a so-called effective climate classification, since the individual climates of him from his findings of the analysis of the real (effective) on the earth's surface measurable climate elements ( temperature, precipitation, etc.) and the actual searchable vegetation (as visibly become an expression of the prevailing climatic conditions (climate proxy )) were created.

Other well-known effective climate classifications have been presented, among other things (in joint work) by Carl Troll and Karlheinz puffing. A significant spread of Klimaklassifaktion ( Köppen - Geiger climate classification ) was held by the Munich meteorologist Rudolf Geiger.

Koppen's estate is located at the University Library of Graz.