In principle if there is a dataset with enough resolution it should be doable. This one had a spatial resolution of 250m x 250m which is why it doubles as a plot of the elevation so well.

In general datasets like this require quite a bit of extra effort to put together since regular measurements for long time periods are not always present in regions with difficult terrain. So for this dataset the group had to do a fair bit of gap filling and spatial interpolation for missing measurements.

Such a high resolution isn’t entirely necessary for large scale weather forecasting so it’s mostly intended for researchers. Sorry for going off on a tangent here but TLDR: yes if someone has put together a similar dataset for all of Austria which I’m not aware of at the moment (would have to look it up)

Of course you can absolutely compute the mean annual temperature even with a low resolution dataset as well if the temperature values are all you’re interested in.

ooooh very interesting idea. definitely worth checking out for sure

Effectively yes. But given that it just shows us the general patterns of elevations i.e. the locations of mountains and valleys rather than their actual specific height above sea level, I feel it would be wrong to classify it purely as an elevation map.

Basically at each point the temperature values are averaged across the time specified time period (1981-2016) and the magnitude of said average value is represented by a color (color bar on the right shows the general range each color represents).

Trentino is the region home to the Dolomites so it has both valleys and mountains. As one would expect, the valleys are the parts of the region with higher average temperatures and the mountains will have lower temperatures due to their elevation. So using just a temperature map, you get a pretty good idea of the overall topography of the region as well.

Even though the Dolomites are a pretty popular tourist destination, I guess it’s still not one of the regions of Italy whose name is immediately recognizable for people who don’t know much about the region

Will definitely try to see if I can find a high resolution dataset for other similar regions.

Thanks for all the helpful information about the right way to cite images like this. Will keep it in mind for the future for sure.

​

For the other variables, I think it might be possible to try overlaying this in someway on an orographic map. Might be an interesting idea. For what it's worth you can still get a general feel for the elevation based on the readings. Since this is largely a mountainous area, the higher temperature areas on the map are the valleys and in between you have lower values wherever we have mountains.

Ah good call. Wish I could change it

Temperature data was obtained from this dataset: data

Plot produced using python