Climate: How Wladimir Koppen Studied Weather and Drew the First Climate Map

Elementary Science - Weather and Climate

As a teenager, Wladimir K鞿pen became interested how the landscape changed as he traveled south from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea in northern Russia to Crimea on the Black Sea. Explaining that changing landscape became his life's work.

In late 1800s, weather and climates were poorly understood. They needed someone to study it carefully over a long period of time. K鞿pen moved to Hamburg, Germany as head weatherman at the Deutsche Seewarte, the German Marine Observatory on the Baltic Sea. His job was to start one of the world's first daily weather reports. He helped set up weather stations on the North Sea and train its staff. From around the world, he gathered other weather data.

The World's First Climate Map

Slowly, that childhood problem of changing landscapes came into focus as he developed the world's first climate map. Still today, we use K鞿pen's maps, with some slight modifications. K鞿pen's maps still help us understand the world's ecosystems and plan for the future.