Average annual temperatures are increasing

On January 7th, experts from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) in the fields of hydrology and climatology answered questions from RTL on global climatic warming and the extraordinary warm year 2014.

Indeed, the year 2014 was the warmest one since the beginning of the continuous meteorological measurements at the Findel airport site in 1947. Except May and August that were colder than normal, all other months of 2014 had higher average temperatures compared to the official reference period 1961-1990.

Regional climate change projections for the coming decades show positive trends for air temperatures. This increase comes essentially along with higher winter temperatures. In consequence the frequency of frost events will probably decrease in the far future. Concerning the projections of future precipitation totals in Luxembourg, trends to higher amounts in winter and lower amounts in summer are expected. Based on these projections, more frequent flooding events during winter and higher frequencies of summer droughts are likely. Extreme weather events, that today are exceptional, will also become more and more ordinary under future climate conditions.

>> View the report: tele.rtl.lu/emissiounen/de-journal/3027407.html: minutes 39-42

At LIST, research in hydro-climatology is focusing at the exploration of new approaches and techniques for a better understanding of the water cycle and its components (e.g. flood generation processes; water and contaminant source, flowpaths and transit times). As an example, the PAPARAZZI project aims at a better detection and prediction of inundations via space-borne remote sensing platforms, while the STORE-AGE project targets an improved understanding of the dominating controls on fundamental hydrological functions of catchments (i.e. water collection, storage and release).