Version 1
: Received: 14 October 2024 / Approved: 15 October 2024 / Online: 15 October 2024 (20:34:35 CEST)
How to cite:
Brimblecombe, P.; Bibl, A.; Fischer, C.; Pristacz, H.; Querner, P. Microclimate of the Natural History Museum, Vienna. Preprints2024, 2024101235. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1235.v1
Brimblecombe, P.; Bibl, A.; Fischer, C.; Pristacz, H.; Querner, P. Microclimate of the Natural History Museum, Vienna. Preprints 2024, 2024101235. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1235.v1
Brimblecombe, P.; Bibl, A.; Fischer, C.; Pristacz, H.; Querner, P. Microclimate of the Natural History Museum, Vienna. Preprints2024, 2024101235. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1235.v1
APA Style
Brimblecombe, P., Bibl, A., Fischer, C., Pristacz, H., & Querner, P. (2024). Microclimate of the Natural History Museum, Vienna. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1235.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Brimblecombe, P., Helmut Pristacz and Pascal Querner. 2024 "Microclimate of the Natural History Museum, Vienna" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1235.v1
Abstract
Climate change increases the importance of maintaining environmental conditions suitable for preventive conservation within museums. The microclimates at the Natural History Museum of Vienna, a large national collection housed within a classical building, were studied using >200 data loggers placed out from mid-2021 to provide thermo-hygrometric measurements at 15-minute intervals. Daily mean temperatures showed exhibition halls typically the warmest rooms; well heated in winter and with open windows on summer days. They may become even hotter than the outside temperature. In winter, most areas of the museum are very dry, as heating lowers the relative humidity, typically to 25–35% for the coldest season. Opening hours impose daily and weekly cycles on internal climate. There was little difference between sunny and shaded parts of the building or adjacent offices, corridors and depots. Similarly, the micro-climate at the floor resembled that of the room air at ~2 m elevation. Mechanically controlled climates in cold storage areas maintain 10 °C and relative humidity ~50%, but this has become increasingly difficult in hot summers. While there is little apparent damage to the collection, at times the museum can have an extreme indoor climate: very hot in the summer and dry in the winter.
Keywords
indoor museum environment; climate monitoring; climate change
Subject
Arts and Humanities, Museology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
