CLIMATE: How Wladimir Koppen Studied Weather and Drew the First Climate Maps

2026 Best STEM Book – NSTA/CBC

2026 NSSTA Notable Social Studies Book

“A visually evocative and mentally stimulating introduction to a climatologist.” Kirkus Reviews

 

Before kids can understand climate change—first, they need to understand climate.

 

As a teenager, Wladimir Köppen became interested how the landscape changed as he traveled south from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea in northern Russia to Crimea on the Black Sea. Explaining that changing landscape became his life’s work.

 

In late 1800s, weather and climates were poorly understood. They needed someone to study it carefully over a long period of time. Köppen moved to Hamburg, Germany as head weatherman at the Deutsche Seewarte, the German Marine Observatory on the Baltic Sea. His job was to start one of the world’s first daily weather reports. He helped set up weather stations on the North Sea and train its staff. From around the world, he gathered other weather data.

 

The World’s First Climate Map

Slowly, that childhood problem of changing landscapes came into focus as he developed the world’s first climate map. They set out the five climate classifications Köppen identified (tropical, arid, temperate, continental, and polar). Köppen’s maps are still used today to help us understand the world’s ecosystems and plan for the future.