Wladimir Köppen, Alfred Wegener, and Milutin Milankovitch: their impact on modern paleoclimate research and the revival of the Milankovitch hypothesis

Abstract

Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940, originally from St. Petersburg), Alfred Wegener (1880–1930, originally from Berlin) and Milutin Milankovitch (1879–1958, originally from Dalj, then Austria-Hungary, today eastern Croatia) made significant contributions to paleoclimatology during the early years of the 20th century. Köppen described the global climate zonation, Wegener defined the continental drift during the Phanerozoic, using Köppen’s climate zonations applied to paleogeographic scenarios of the geological past, and Milankovitch introduced regularly changing orbital parameters as controls of past climatic changes providing a precise timescale for Glacials and Interglacials during the Quaternary. By combining their scientific efforts, they succeeded to change our understanding of Earth history fundamentally, each of them with their specific expertise and their wide scientific horizons. Wladimir Köppen’s scientific work began with observations from the Crimea and from contributing to produce synoptic weather maps while he was working at the Central Physical Observatory in St. Petersburg. Later he pursued his scientific career at the “Deutsche Seewarte” in Hamburg. While producing numerous scientific papers, he was also engaged in instrumental development (kite technology) and in shaping the organisational framework for meteorology, both nationally and internationally. One of his major scientific achievements was the definition of the global climate zonation which he repeatedly published in global maps and which is still used today.