100 years aerology in Lindenberg and first long-time observations in the free atmosphere

Abstract

This contribution gives a short overview of 100 years aerological observation at Lindenberg Observatory. It describes the geographical location and the climatological characteristics of the observatory. The first part of the paper is a short version of the chronicle: It starts with the opening ceremony on October 16, 1905 and considers the main scientific achievements of the observatory from 1905 to 2005, characterized by its directors Assmann, Hergesell, von Ficker, Marten, Koschmieder, Herath, Beelitz, Robitzsch, Dubois, Glöde, Leiterer, Schwirner, Neisser and Berger. In the second part of the paper we present the results of a time series of the 100 years period for temperature and relative humidity measured by tethered kite and balloon techniques and radiosondes. For both atmospheric parameters we find a positive trend in the lower and a negative trend in the upper troposphere. Finally we discuss our plans, aims, and the difficulties in creating a homogeneous 100 year time series of significant meteorological parameters in the free atmosphere for detailed scientific investigations.