The Swiss National Basic Climatological Network (Swiss NBCN) connects the major ground-based stations within the MeteoSwiss monitoring network. It consists of 29 climate monitoring stations and 46 precipitation stations. The measurement series available in digital form for temperature, precipitation and hours of sunshine date back, in some cases, to the mid-nineteenth century.
MeteoSwiss has been conducting systematic measurements of climate parameters at ground level in all parts of the country since 1864. Certain monitoring stations in this network are run with particular precision and are the bedrock for research into climate change. The particular ground-based monitoring stations in the network that are the most important from a climatological perspective together form the Swiss National Basic Climatological Network (Swiss NBCN). These provide the basis for long-term, continual high-quality climate data series.
The Swiss NBCN consists of 29 climate stations and 46 precipitation stations.
Climate stations:
Precipitation stations:
The following criteria were of prime importance in forming the Swiss NBCN and selecting the individual ground-based stations:
The following international climate reference network stations are also part of the Swiss NBCN:
When it comes to regional climatological questions with particular reference to the Alps, these eight GSN and RBCN stations are not sufficient. In this sense, the Swiss NBCN can be considered as complementing the GSN and RBCN at national level.
Detailed information on the creation and operation of the Swiss climate monitoring network is provided in various MeteoSwiss publications and activity reports.