World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated

The most frequently used climate classification map is that of Wladimir Köppen, presented in its latest version 1961 by Rudolf Geiger. A huge number of climate studies and subsequent publications adopted this or a former release of the Köppen-Geiger map. While the climate classification concept has been widely applied to a broad range of topics in climate and climate change research as well as in physical geography, hydrology, agriculture, biology and educational aspects, a well-documented update of the world climate classification map is still missing. Based on recent data sets from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia and the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) at the German Weather Service, we present here a new digital Köppen-Geiger world map on climate classification for the second half of the 20th century.

Die am häufigsten verwendete Klimaklassifikationskarte ist jene von Wladimir Köppen, die in der letzten Auflage von Rudolf Geiger aus dem Jahr 1961 vorliegt. Seither bildeten viele Klimabücher und Fachartikel diese oder eine frühere Ausgabe der Köppen-Geiger Karte ab. Obwohl das Schema der Klimaklassifikation in vielen Forschungsgebieten wie Klima und Klimaänderung aber auch physikalische Geographie, Hydrologie, Landwirtschaftsforschung, Biologie und Ausbildung zum Einsatz kommt, fehlt bis heute eine gut dokumentierte Aktualisierung der Köppen-Geiger Klimakarte. Basierend auf neuesten Datensätzen des Climatic Research Unit (CRU) der Universität von East Anglia und des Weltzentrums für Niederschlagsklimatologie (WZN) am Deutschen Wetterdienst präsentieren wir hier eine neue digitale Köppen-Geiger Weltkarte für die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts.

Kottek, M., J. Grieser, C. Beck, B. Rudolf, and F. Rubel, 2006: World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated. Meteorol. Z., 15, 259-263. DOI: 10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130.

Download this map as gif-image (~ 130 kB) or as pdf-file in A4 format (297 x 210 mm, ~ 1.3 MB) or A1+ format (914 x 610 mm, ~ 1.3 MB).

The underlying data of the here presented Köppen-Geiger climate classification are available for use in scientific research and can be obtained by following this link:

   Koeppen-Geiger-ASCII.zip (~ 245 kB)

This zip-archive contains one text file (ASCII text with CRLF line terminators) including the climate classification on a regular 0.5 degree lat/lon grid for the period 1951 to 2000. The text file contains one line of header followed by 92416 lines of grid box center coordinates (latitude, longitude) with corresponding climate class abbreviated according to the climate classification established by Köppen and Geiger. The data are available on the global land areas.

For use in GIS software a copy of these data in shape format and as grid file is available:

   Koeppen-Geiger-GIS.zip

For use in Google Earth the following KMZ¹ file is available:

   Koeppen-Geiger-GE.kmz

For further informations please contact Markus Kottek or Franz Rubel.

Beck, C., J. Grieser, M. Kottek, F. Rubel, and B. Rudolf, 2006: Characterizing Global Climate Change by means of Köppen Climate Classification. Klimastatusbericht, 2005, 139-149.

¹ The KMZ file for use in Google Earth was produced by M. Scott Wilkerson, DePauw University, Department of Geosciences, Greencastle, USA.