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This study discusses scientific contributions analyzingsoil-atmosphere relationships. These studies dealwith both the biogeophysical and biogeochemical aspectsof this relationship, with biogeophysical aspects beingin the majority. All of the studies refer either directly orindirectly to the fundamental importance of soil moisturecontent. Moisture has a basic influence on the spatiotemporalpattern of evapotranspiration, and so 1) oncloud formation and precipitation events by regulatingthe intensity of convection, and 2) on the trace-gas exchangesin the near-surface atmosphere. Hungarian modelingefforts have highlighted that soils in the PannonianBasin have region-specific features. Consequently, shallowand deep convection processes are also, to some extent,region-specific, at least in terms of the diurnal changeof the planetary boundary layer height and the spatial distributionof convective precipitation. The soil-dependentregion-distinctiveness of these two phenomena has beenrecognized; at the same time the strength of the relationshipshas not yet been quantified.

Bright sunshine duration (BSD) data are required for simulating biomes using process-based vegetation models. However, monthly global paleoclimate datasets that can be used in paleo data--model comparisons do not necessarily contain BSD or radiation data. Considering the theoretical and practical aspects, the scheme of Yin, X. (1999) is here recommended to estimate monthly time series of relative BSD using only monthly climate and location data. As a case study for the Carpathian Region, the efficiency of both the original and a variant of that scheme is analysed in this paper. The alternative scheme has high applicability in paleoenvironmental studies. Comparison of the estimated and observed BSD data shows that from May to August, the value of relative root mean squared error in more than 90 percent of the study area does not exceed the threshold of 20 percent, indicating an excellent performance of the original estimation scheme. It is also found that though the magnitude of overestimation for the alternative algorithm is significant in the winter period, the proposed method performs similarly well in the growing season as the original. Furthermore, concerning modelling the distribution of biomes, simulation experiments are performed to assess the effects of modifying some configuration settings: (a) the generation of relative BSD data, and (b) the algorithm used to create quasi-daily weather data from the monthly values. Under both the recent humidity conditions of the study region and the spatial resolution of the climate dataset used, the results can be considered sufficiently robust, regardless of the configuration settings tested. Thus, using monthly temperature and precipitation climatologies, the spatial distribution of biomes can be properly simulated with the configuration settings proposed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Köppen method, the Worldwide Bioclimatic Classification System (WBCS), and Feddema's descriptive climate classification method are used to analyse the Larger Carpathian Region (LCR) climate. Minimum, maximum and average temperature, precipitation and latitude and elevation data as input data are taken from the CarpatClim dataset. It refers to the period 1961–2010 with a 1‐day temporal resolution and a spatial resolution of 0.1° × 0.1°. The methods are compared in terms of their capability to represent climate heterogeneity and thermal and moisture characteristics on the annual and seasonal time scales. The region's climate is analysed separately for lowland, hill, mountain and high mountain regions using the results of the Köppen method as reference. The WBCS gave the highest spatial climate heterogeneity, followed by Feddema's method, and then the Köppen method in all three region types. However, the WBCS has the largest data input requirement. The rarest climate type according to the Köppen method is ET. This climate type is registered according to the Feddema and WBCS methods by three different climate types. The most frequent climate type according to the Köppen method is Cfb. This climate type is represented by 19 and 14 climate types according to the Feddema and the WBCS methods, respectively. The most frequent climate type according to Feddema's method is cool and dry with extreme seasonality of T and according to WBCS it is temperate continental steppic supratemperate sub‐humid. The coldest climate is produced by Feddema, the warmest by the WBCS. The Feddema method treats seasonality in the most comprehensive way. The Feddema and the WBCS methods reproduced the large climate heterogeneity of the LCR. The results can also be used as basic information in the PannEx project, as well as in future environmental and regional climate change‐related investigations for estimating thermal and moisture stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A human body–clothing–atmosphere environment system energy balance model is constructed to evaluate individual human thermal climates in the Carpathian Basin. The analysis is performed in terms of clothing resistance and operative temperature for the period 1971–2000. The model's main strength is that it simulates the metabolic activity rate M as simply as possible taking into account interpersonal variations. Non‐sweating, walking humans are considered in natural outdoor conditions at a walking speed of 4 km⋅h−1. Atmospheric data are used from the CarpatClim dataset; human data are taken from a Hungarian human dataset. The dataset reveals that the interpersonal variations of M of walking humans can reach 40–50 W⋅m−2. According to the results, the variability of individual human thermal climates can be significant. This variability increases towards cold climates and is less in the comfortable thermal zone, when the operative temperature is between 23 and 28°C. It should be mentioned that summer is thermally neutral in the Little Hungarian Plain, the Great Hungarian Plain and in larger parts of the Transylvanian Plateau, irrespective of the person considered. The warmest areas in the Carpathian Basin can be found in Bačka and Banat. In terms of thermal sensation, the results obtained agree well with the results referring to the human considered in the Physiological Equivalent Temperature index model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]