Elevation-dependent warming in European mountains and its possible causes

0493442 - ÚFA 2019 DE eng A - Abstrakt
Pokorná, Lucie - Kučerová, Monika
Elevation-dependent warming in European mountains and its possible causes.
EMS Annual Meeting Abstracts, Vol. 15. Berlín: European Meteorological Society, 2018.
[EMS Annual Meeting: European Conference for Applied Meteorology and Climatology 2018. 03.09.2018-07.09.2018, Budapest]
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-04676S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378289
Klíčová slova: elevation-dependent warming * Central Europe * European mountains * global climate models * atmospheric circulation types
Obor OECD: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EMS2018/EMS2018-772.pdf

Projected temperature changes in mountain ranges are of concern due to their magnitude and possible impacts.
Greater and faster warming in high altitudes is expected in comparison with lowlands all over the world. However
several studies for European Alps suggest that recent warming is faster in lowlands and climate models do
not capture this phenomenon. To better understand the discrepancy the causes of temperature trends should be
identified.
This contribution focuses on causes of trends in observed temperature in six European mountain regions during
the period 1981-2010; the regions are the Alps, Black Sea region, Norway, Central Europe, and Spain. Linear
trends at 85 stations were calculated for moving 30-day sliding seasons shifting during the year with a one-day
step. Elevation-dependent warming was uncovered only for few short parts of the year; the causes of different
magnitude of trends are discussed only for spring and summer episodes. Additionally the trends of sunshine
duration (SS), interdecadal changes of snow cover (SD), and the character of atmospheric circulation were
analysed for individual sliding seasons. Circulation indices of flow direction, flow strength, and vorticity were
computed using the Jenkinson-Collison method modified for individual regions. Series of SS are available except
the Black Sea region; SD is not measured in Spain.
The changes in circulation and SS explain a large proportion of temperature trends in Central Europe, Spain, and
Norway. SS has larger effect on temperature changes in the Alps in comparison with circulation due to frequent
occurrence of low stratus and fogs during anticyclonic conditions and complex orography that can modulate both
flow strength and direction. The effect of SD was not confirmed.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286809