HSHL05/HSRR04: Region specific climate information for Haaglanden and Rotterdam
The goal of this project is to make climate data and information about the current and future climate specific for the region Haaglanden and Rotterdam. The focus is on the climate effects which will concern users who are affected by climate in the area. Potentially affected users will be identified, as well as their dependency on climate and the relevant climate variables.
An extensive overview will be given about the available knowledge concerning climate variables like temperature, precipitation, drought, wind, sea level etc. in current and future climate.
Within the Hotspots excess and of smaller importance shortage of water play a major part. To assess the impact of the changes in precipitation properly, region specific climate information is needed. In the passed few years several projects of the KNMI have made for information available about regional differences in precipitation patterns. This information can be used to adjust climate information and data which are currently being used, to enable improved assessment of the impacts.
There is also high demand for information about extreme temperatures in urban areas in the Haaglanden and Rotterdam area. Due to the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI-effect) the temperature in urban areas is higher than rural areas. Especially during heat waves this can lead to thermal stress resulting in more deaths, decreased productivity etc. There isn’t much data about the UHI-effect in The Netherlands. Based on literature and third party measurements this project will try to quantify the UHI-effect under different weather conditions in a quickscan. Where possible, the effect of adaptation measures will be estimated.