Cave Climatology

The climatic conditions, especially the airflow regimes, of climatically static and dynamic cave systems are today not fully understood.

The Working Group Cave- and Subway-Climatology at the Geography Department of the Ruhr-University Bochum focuses on the following topics:

The detailed investigation of the climatic conditions of different cave systems in order to answer questions regarding:

  • the interdependence between the characteristics of different meteorological elements inside the caves
  • the exchange processes with the atmosphere
  • the detection and functioning of circulation systems
  • the detection and description of the touristic impact on the climate of show caves
  • the role of CO2-content in the cave air and evaporation processes for recent sinter formation processes which is important for the paleoclimatic interpretation of older speleothems

In addition to that the group focuses on the connections of cave climatology with the new field of subway climatology because the two fields have many common aspects (see: subway climatology).

Measurement in Wind Cave, South Dakota, USA

Measurement in Wind Cave, South Dakota, USA