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Objective classification of atmospheric circulation over southern Scandinavia

Linderson, Maj-Lena LU (2001) In International Journal of Climatology 21(2). p.155-169
Abstract
A method for calculating circulation indices and weather types following the Lamb classification is applied to southern Scandinavia. The main objective is to test the ability of the method to describe the atmospheric circulation over the area, and to evaluate the extent to which the pressure patterns determine local precipitation and temperature in Scania, southernmost Sweden. The weather type classification method works well and produces distinct groups. However, the variability within the group is large with regard to the location of the low pressure centres, which may have implications for the precipitation over the area. The anticyclonic weather type dominates, together with the cyclonic and westerly types. This deviates partly from... (More)
A method for calculating circulation indices and weather types following the Lamb classification is applied to southern Scandinavia. The main objective is to test the ability of the method to describe the atmospheric circulation over the area, and to evaluate the extent to which the pressure patterns determine local precipitation and temperature in Scania, southernmost Sweden. The weather type classification method works well and produces distinct groups. However, the variability within the group is large with regard to the location of the low pressure centres, which may have implications for the precipitation over the area. The anticyclonic weather type dominates, together with the cyclonic and westerly types. This deviates partly from the general picture for Sweden and may be explained by the southerly location of the study area. The cyclonic type is most frequent in spring, although cloudiness and amount of rain are lowest during this season. This could be explained by the occurrence of weaker cyclones or low air humidity during this time of year. Local temperature and precipitation were modelled by stepwise regression for each season, designating weather types as independent variables. Only the winter season-modelled temperature and precipitation show a high and robust correspondence to the observed temperature and precipitation, even though <60% of the precipitation variance is explained. In the other seasons, the connection between atmospheric circulation and the local temperature and precipitation is low. Other meteorological parameters may need to be taken into account. The time and space resolution of the mean sea level pressure (MSLP) grid may affect the results, as many important features might not be covered by the classification. Local physiography may also influence the local climate in a way that cannot be described by the atmospheric circulation pattern alone, stressing the importance of using more than one observation series. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Southern Scandinavia, atmospheric circulation patterns, weather type classification, Lamb weather types, station temperature, station precipitation
in
International Journal of Climatology
volume
21
issue
2
pages
155 - 169
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:0035097801
ISSN
1097-0088
DOI
10.1002/joc.604
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b7588e3b-42db-4672-9f0b-9d4c63c52737 (old id 4393565)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:37:29
date last changed
2022-01-29 20:36:55
@article{b7588e3b-42db-4672-9f0b-9d4c63c52737,
  abstract     = {{A method for calculating circulation indices and weather types following the Lamb classification is applied to southern Scandinavia. The main objective is to test the ability of the method to describe the atmospheric circulation over the area, and to evaluate the extent to which the pressure patterns determine local precipitation and temperature in Scania, southernmost Sweden. The weather type classification method works well and produces distinct groups. However, the variability within the group is large with regard to the location of the low pressure centres, which may have implications for the precipitation over the area. The anticyclonic weather type dominates, together with the cyclonic and westerly types. This deviates partly from the general picture for Sweden and may be explained by the southerly location of the study area. The cyclonic type is most frequent in spring, although cloudiness and amount of rain are lowest during this season. This could be explained by the occurrence of weaker cyclones or low air humidity during this time of year. Local temperature and precipitation were modelled by stepwise regression for each season, designating weather types as independent variables. Only the winter season-modelled temperature and precipitation show a high and robust correspondence to the observed temperature and precipitation, even though &lt;60% of the precipitation variance is explained. In the other seasons, the connection between atmospheric circulation and the local temperature and precipitation is low. Other meteorological parameters may need to be taken into account. The time and space resolution of the mean sea level pressure (MSLP) grid may affect the results, as many important features might not be covered by the classification. Local physiography may also influence the local climate in a way that cannot be described by the atmospheric circulation pattern alone, stressing the importance of using more than one observation series.}},
  author       = {{Linderson, Maj-Lena}},
  issn         = {{1097-0088}},
  keywords     = {{Southern Scandinavia; atmospheric circulation patterns; weather type classification; Lamb weather types; station temperature; station precipitation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{155--169}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Climatology}},
  title        = {{Objective classification of atmospheric circulation over southern Scandinavia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.604}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/joc.604}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2001}},
}