The name Kaapsduin refers to the landmark that used to be atop this tall dune. It was a post erected for the Hanseatic league, a confederation of entrepreneurs and cities stretching northern Europe all the way to the Baltic Sea. This cape was financed by the Hanseatic city of Kampen.
In the 1950’s the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute opened a weather measurement station at Kaapsduin. In the second world war, a German radar tower was built atop Kaapsduin, to monitor the English coast. Nowadays , a tiny steel mast refers to the old radar construction, a bird house overlooks the inlet between Vlieland and Terschelling – birds watch with vigilant eyes.
Luke Howard (1772-1864) came up with a systematization of clouds, a parallel to Beaufort’s (1774-1857) classification of wind. Clouds are signs for weather conditions – and vaguely for long term weather (climate). Nephology, the study of clouds, and meteorology are essential to our knowledge of the Wadden Sea. A genealogy of climate science, including the way in which climate has become a public issue, will deepen our understanding.

Guide: Christophorus Buijs Ballot (1817-1890)

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute was founded in 1854, with Buijs Ballot as its first president. He is mostly remembered for the Law of Buijs Ballot, and for his efforts to organize a dutch involvement in the international polar expedition of 1882-1883, which he believed would be “profitable for shipping and trade”. Buijs Ballot was the first dutchman to publish weather forecasts. Through the use of weather maps he reached a wide audience with forecasts that would later be tailored to the needs of captains, farmers and tourists. In Wadgasten, we would like to make contact with the electronic network of unmanned weather stations along the coast, that knows what is going to happen to the Wadden area before anyone else does.