National report: Croatia

The chapter reports the findings of the analysis of 2019 European Parliament election campaign in Croatia

Using urban climate modelling and improved land use classifications to support climate change adaptation in urban environments: A case study for the city of Klagenfurt, Austria

This study outlines the results of current and future climate scenarios, and potentially realizable climate adaptation measures, for the city of Klagenfurt, Austria. For this purpose, we used the microscale urban climate model (MUKLIMO_3), in conjunction with the cuboid method, to calculate climate indices such as the average number of summer and hot days per year. For the baseline simulation, we used meteorological measurements from 1981 to 2010 from the weather station located at Klagenfurt Airport. Individual building structures and canopy cover from several land monitoring services were used to derive accurate properties for land use classes in the study domain. To characterize the effectiveness of climate adaptation strategies, we compared changes in the climate indices for several (future) climate adaptation scenarios to the reference simulation. Specifically, we considered two major adaptation pathways: (i) an increase in the albedo values of sealed areas (i.e., roofs, walls and streets) and (ii) an increase in green surfaces (i.e., lawns on streets and at roof level) and high vegetated areas (i.e., trees). The results indicate that some climate adaptation measures show higher potential in mitigating hot days than others, varying between reductions of 2.3 to 11.0%. An overall combination of adaptation measures leads to a maximum reduction of up to 44.0%, indicating a clear potential for reduction/mitigation of urban heat loads. Furthermore, the results for the future scenarios reveal the possibility to remain at the current level of urban heat load during the daytime over the next three decades for the overall combination of measures

Urban Heat Island Hazard and Risk Indices for Austria

This collection contains two geotiffs: the UHI Hazard Index and the UHI Risk Index, both for Austria at a 100 m resolution. The methodology for their development is described in the attached factsheets (in English and German)

Supporting Climate Adaptation Measures in Small- to Medium-Sized Austrian Cities Using Climate Modelling

This study outlines the results of current climate conditions for the city of Mödling, Klagenfurt and Salzburg located in Austria. Furthermore, it will analyse specific measures regarding climate adaptation, which are potentially realizable. To characterize the current climate conditions with the average number of summer days per year (SD y−1), we use the microscale urban climate model MUKLIMO_3, in combination with a trilinear interpolation method. For the reference model simulation, we use atmospheric observations from 1981 to 2010 provided by one weather station located in a rural site near each city. We combined different land use data sets with various spatial resolutions to evaluate precise properties for the land use classification. Furthermore, we compared changes in SD y−1 to the reference simulation to evaluate the effectiveness of the here proposed adaptation strategies. Specifically, we consider two types of adaptation measures: (i) an increase in the shortwave reflectivity of impervious and sealed areas and (ii) an increased number of low-vegetated areas (i.e. lawns on streets and at roof level) and high-vegetated areas (i.e. bushes and trees). The results of the individual simulations indicate a substantially decreased SD y−1 by up to − 7.3 (− 10.9%) for the case of highly reflective roofs and up to − 7.7 (− 22.7%) for the case of an increased number of trees. A combination of both pathways leads to a decrease in SD y−1 by up to − 19.4 (− 29.3%), indicating a clear potential to mitigate the heat burden in each city