German climate tracker
Authors: Tobias Kellner
Abstract: This app visualizes historical data of the German Weather Service on different forms. With both interactive graphics (plotly) and maps (leaflet) an overview of the climate trends of the last 150 years in Germany is given.
Full Description: There are many half-truths and questionable statements surrounding the topic of climate and global warming. Mostly, people argue on the basis of subjective memories and not with the help of empirical data. The result is often distorted debates and questionable argumentation.
I would like to counter this unfortunately increasing development with my web app. This interactive web app illustrates historical climate data from the German Weather Service on several levels.
This web app was programmed using the "R" programming language. The "Flexdashboard" extension package provides a visual basis. Interactivity is provided by the "Shiny" package. Based on the "rdwd" package, the data sets for the individual weather stations could be downloaded.
In the first place of the web app, annual and monthly averages for temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration or snow depth are displayed. The user can select the respective weather station as well as the year or month. It is also possible to display a trend line over time.
In the next tab, the weather data for a specific day in the past can be displayed, provided that the data is available from the DWD. So you can see, for example, how the weather was on your birthday at the weather station of your choice.
In the third tab the courses of the weather data can be compared over several years. Also several variables (temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration, snow depth) as well as the whole year or the single month can be selected.
In the fourth tab, climate records can be displayed. One can select between maximum and minimum values as well as determine the weather station.
The fifth tab shows an interactive map of Germany with all available weather stations. If you move the mouse over the marker, the station name, the state, the station height above sea level and the station ID of the DWD are displayed.
Furthermore, there is a header in the upper right corner where you can share the app on social networks and a button where you can view the source code of the web app.
Keywords: weather, research, Germany, visualize, climate, rdwd
Shiny app: https://tobias-kellner.shinyapps.io/german_climate_tracker/
Repo: GitHub - TobiasKellner/German-climate-tracker
RStudio Cloud: Posit Cloud
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