High resolution maps of climatological parameters for analyzing the impacts of climatic changes on Swiss forests

Assessing the impacts of climatic changes on forests requires the analysis of actual climatology within the forested area. In mountainous areas, climatological indices vary markedly with the micro-relief, i.e. with altitude, slope, and aspect. Consequently, when modelling potential shifts of altitudinal belts in mountainous areas due to climatic changes, maps with a high spatial resolution of the underlying climatological indices are fundamental. Here we present a set of maps of climatological indices with a spatial resolution of 25 by 25 m. The presented dataset consists of maps of the following parameters: average daily temperature high and low in January, April, July, and October as well as of the year; seasonal and annual thermal continentality; first and last freezing day; frost-free vegetation period; relative air humidity; solar radiation; and foehn conditions. The parameters represented in the maps have been selected in a knowledge engineering approach. The maps show the climatology of the periods 1961-1990 and 1981-2010. The data can be used for statistical analyses of forest climatology, for developing tree distribution models, and for assessing the impacts of climatic changes on Swiss forests.评估气候变化对森林的影响，需对林区内的实际气候学特征开展分析。在山地环境中，气候指标会随微地形（即海拔、坡度与坡向）发生显著变化。因此，在模拟气候变化驱动下山地海拔带的潜在迁移时，具备高空间分辨率的基础气候指标地图是核心支撑。本研究公开一套空间分辨率为25米×25米的气候指标地图集。本数据集包含以下参数的空间分布地图：1月、4月、7月、10月及全年的日均最高与最低气温；季节及年度热力大陆度；初霜日与终霜日；无霜植被期；相对空气湿度；太阳辐射；以及焚风状况。地图所涵盖的参数均通过知识工程方法筛选确定。该地图集覆盖1961-1990年与1981-2010年两个时段的气候学特征。本数据集可用于森林气候学统计分析、树种分布模型开发，以及评估气候变化对瑞士森林的影响。