Vol. 129, No. 3 * Pages 241–372 * July - September 2025

It is a well-known phenomenon that sinkholes, compared to their environment, have a relatively colder microclimate, due to the topographic conditions (closed depressions). Its geomorphological characteristics favors the development of cold-air pools and can cause significant temperature anomalies. This process has been documented in several papers before, but the detailed buildup and breakup, and especially the environmental covariates that drive these processes, are not well documented yet. This paper aims to summarize a three months period measurement (spring of 2023) in Northern Hungary, on the karst plateau of the Bükk Mountains. This plateau is characterized with a complex karst surface development, having interconnected sinkhole systems. The Mohos sinkhole – the largest sinkhole of the area with several contributing smaller sinkholes – was selected for the measurement campaign. A detailed terrain and remotely sensed database were built to characterize the geomorphology and its contribution to the development of the sinkhole’s microclimatic system. A sensor system was developed and adopted to the local conditions using 10 directly measured or derived meteorological parameters (air temperature (200 cm, 40 cm), dew point, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed, daily evapotranspiration, vapor pressure deficit., and soil temperature), along with two comparison sites from the edge of the sinkhole and from a representative site of the Bükk Plateau, where no major microclimatic derivation factor was assumed. During this period, the Carpathian Basin was characterized by a significant variability of weather patterns, and was optimal to analyze the behavior of the sinkhole's microclimate system based on the regional weather trends and their atmospheric dynamics. Several temperature inversion events were developed and analyzed to describe the relationships between the cold-air pool development and the external meteorological affects. The events were classified into the commonly accepted categories. The results demonstrated that the time of the lowest recorded temperatures was partly independent from the general temperature regimes. The most important factors are the general geomorphological factors, favorable radiation conditions, and lack of any external physical disturbance. It was also proved that the soil temperature had the largest correlation with the temperature change (r = 0.95), followed by the dew point (r = 0.92), vapor pressure deficit (r = 0.85), wind speed (r = 0.83) and the relative humidity (r = -0.8). That was also documented, that the near-surface dynamics play an important law in the behaviors of the sinkhole microclimate system, thus the buildup and breakup of the cold-air pool.