engleski

Indices for daily temperature and precipitation extremes in Europe analysed for the period 1901-2000

We analyse century-long daily temperature and precipitation records for stations in Europe west of 60degE. A set of climatic indices derived from the daily series, mainly focussing on extremes, are defined. Linear trends in these indices are assessed over the period 1901-2000. Average trends, for 75 stations mostly representing Europe west of 20degE, show a warming for all temperature indices. Winter has, on average, warmed more (~1.0 degC/100yr) than summer (~0.8 degC), both for daily maximum (TX) and minimum (TN) temperatures. Overall, the warming of TX in winter was stronger in the warm tail than in the cold tail (1.6 and 1.5 degC for 98th and 95th, but ~1.0 degC for 2nd, 5th and 10th, percentiles). There are, however, large regional differences in temperature trend patterns. For summer, there is a tendency for stronger warming, both for TX and TN, in the warm than in the cold tail only in parts of central Europe. Winter precipitation totals, averaged over 121 European stations north of 40degN, have increased significantly by ~12% per 100yr. Trends in 90th, 95th and 98th percentiles of daily winter precipitation have been similar. No overall long- term trend occurred in summer precipitation totals, but there is an overall weak (statistically insignificant and regionally dependent) tendency for summer precipitation to have become slightly more intense but less common. Data inhomogeneities and relative sparseness of station density in many parts of Europe preclude more robust conclusions. It is of importance that new methods are developed for homogenizing daily data.

climate extremes indices ; daily temperature and precipitation ; Europe

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