The Climate Information System Graz

Modern city planning must account for local climatic condition, thereby making a continual climate monitoring essential. The Klimainformationssystem (KIS) Graz strives to continuously and comprehensively collect, prepare and provide climate relevant information for the city of Graz and its surroundings. The outcomes of this process are published via a web service (kis.graz.at), to foster evidence-based policy making and improve professional decisions as well as raise awareness of the public. Initially, the KIS was kicked-off by demands for an update of the urban climate analysis, which at the same time should support visionary concepts and strategies. Subsequently, the KIS working group was formed by a consortium of several departments of the city of Graz and the state of Styria. Following a three-year development phase, the KIS has gone operational in the beginning of 2024. Currently, the KIS portal (kis.graz.at) provides various bodies and the public with detailed city-wide information on climatic aspects often presented as maps, such as surface temperatures, solar energy potential, thermal loss, short range temperature forecasts, climate projections, and heat-related current and future risk analyses. In the case of redevelopments of urban spaces, the KIS provides heat stress analysis on the point scale for different planning options. Moreover, the KIS installed several additional weather stations within the city, which among other things inform on observed climatic changes and differences in temperatures over the diverse landscape of the city of Graz.

Moderation: Lasse Weis