Long-term Mean Air Temperatures 1981-2010

The maps present the mean temperatures for the period from 1981 to 2010 for the entire year and for the four seasons. The seasons refer to the months as follows:

The winter mean of a year includes the month of December from the previous year, i.e. the mean winter temperatures for the period 1981 – 2010 include December 1980 but do not include December 2010.

The long-term mean air temperatures from 1981 to 2010 range between 9.3°C and 10.4°C (cf. Table 1) in Berlin, depending on the location. The highest mean temperatures occur in inner city residential areas between Alexanderplatz and the Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg. With increasing vegetation and decreasing building density, the mean temperatures generally decrease successively towards the periphery (Map 04.02.1).

The temperature distributions display very similar characteristics for all five periods analysed (i.e. the four seasons and the entire year) (cf. Map 04.02.2 through 04.02.5). The influence of the topography is evident in all periods investigated. In the bottom of Berlin’s glacial valley, which extends from the south-east to the north-west, the mean temperatures are always a little higher despite the relatively small difference in altitude (less than 30 m) to the adjacent plateaus.

Table 1 presents a selection of statistical characteristic values for the long-term temperature distribution from 1981 to 2010 for each period analysed. The analysis refers to the area of Berlin, excluding surrounding areas.

Previously, the Long-Term Mean Air Temperatures, 1961-1990 were presented based on temperature time series for different stations. To record the temperature distribution on a small scale, these were supplemented by a myriad of daytime and nighttime measurement trips on a variety of routes. On the one hand, the large number of extremely accurate individual measurements was an advantage. On the other hand, the processing and extensive interpolation of the data, originating from different sources and recording periods, involved an immense effort.

With their data set “Multi-annual means of grids of air temperature (2m) over Germany 1981-2010”, the DWD, however, provides extensive and pre-processed information on temperature distributions. This data forms the basis for the current update of the Environmental Atlas. Due to the different data bases and resulting differences in methodology, the current results and these of the previous edition of the Environmental Atlas edition can only be compared to a limited extent.