Naslov
The Influence of Regional and Global Climatic Oscillations on Croatian Climate

Autori
Bice, David ; Montanari, Alessandro ; Vučetić, Višnjica ; Vučetić, Marko

Izvornik
International journal of climatology (0899-8418) 32 (2012), 10; 1537-1557

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) ; the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) ; El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ; the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) ; temperature ; precipitation ; Croatia

Sažetak
We apply spectral analysis and sliding window correlations to monthly, seasonal, and annual climatological data from station records throughout Croatia going back to 1859 in order to investigate the potential influences of a set of important climatic drivers, including solar variability, and ocean-atmosphere oscillations in both the Pacific realm (ENSO and PDO) and the Atlantic realm (AMO and NAO). In addition to a general long term warming and drying, there are significant interannual to decadal scale variations. Positive phases of AMO correspond to higher Croatian temperatures and also times of greater interannual temperature variability. Higher frequency variations in NAO are positively correlated with temperature such that a negative phase of NAO is associated with lower Croatian temperatures. The strength of NAO’s influence is modulated by the long-term cycles of AMO ; stronger during positive decadal-scale phases of AMO. ENSO exerts a weaker influence on temperatures, and is only significant during positive phases of the PDO. NAO has a strong influence on Croatian winter precipitation, with negative NAO phases corresponding to higher precipitation, modulated by the longer term phases of AMO. Although weaker and less consistent, ENSO also influences Croatian winter precipitation, modulated by longer term cycles of the PDO. Both NAO and ENSO show signs of frequency-dependent correlation ; NAO is influential at cycles of 8-9 and 2.4 yr in the Adriatic-Dinaric part of Croatia, while ENSO is especially influential at a 3.6 yr cycle in the Pannonian region. The influence of solar variability is apparently much weaker than that of NAO and ENSO, yet there is a remarkably coherent correlation between amplitude modulation of winter precipitation in the Pannonian region and the sunspot record.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Geofizika

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