A principal component and long-term trend analysis of daily precipitation in Switzerland

Widmann, Martin; Schär, Christoph

doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0088(199710)17:12<1333::aid-joc108>3.0.co;2-q

Cited by 121 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(26 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Investigation of the links between atmospheric circulation patterns and surface climate variables, such as rainfall, is important for the understanding of climatic variability, although observed changes in rainfall cannot always be explained by changes in circulation (Schär et al, 1996;Widmann and Schär, 1997;Frei et al, 1998;Buishand and Brandsma, 1999;ACCORD, 2000). Such investigations are also highly relevant to the development of empirical circulation-based methods for downscaling from the relatively coarse general circulation model (GCM) scale to the higher spatial resolution required for impact analysis (Hewitson and Crane, 1996;Goodess and Palutikof, 1998;Wilby et al, 1998;Goodess, 2000).…”

Section: Aims Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The finding that the standard deviations are consistently underestimated indicates that circulation variability is also insufficient to explain the observed inter-annual variability of rainfall (as has been shown for other regions: Widmann and Schär, 1997;Wilby et al, 1998;Buishand and Brandsma, 1999). Four different approaches, perhaps in combination, could be evaluated in order to overcome or reduce such shortcomings: applicability of the classification scheme to southeastern Spain has previously been investigated (Goodess and Palutikof, 1998;Goodess, 2000).…”

Section: Cross-validation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Links between circulation and changes in the characteristics of Iberian rainfall

Goodess

Jones

2002

Intl Journal of Climatology

293

239

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Investigation of the links between atmospheric circulation patterns and rainfall is important for the understanding of climatic variability and for the development of empirical circulation-based downscaling methods. Here, spatial and temporal variations in circulation-rainfall relationships over the Iberian Peninsula during the period 1958-97 are explored using an automated circulation classification scheme and daily rainfall totals for 18 stations. Links between the circulation classification scheme and the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) are also considered, as are the direct links between rainfall and the NAO. Trends in rainfall and circulation-type frequency are explored. A general tendency towards decreasing mean seasonal rainfall over the peninsula, with the exception of the southeastern Mediterranean coast, hides larger changes in wet day amount and rainfall probability. There is a tendency towards more, less-intensive rain days across much of Iberia, with a tendency towards more, more-intensive rain days along the southeastern Mediterranean coast, both of which are reflected in changes in rainfall amount quantiles. A preliminary analysis indicates that these changes may have occurred systematically across all circulation types. Comparison of the trends in rainfall and in circulationtype frequency suggests possible links. These links are supported by linear regression analyses using circulation-type frequencies as predictor variables and rainfall totals for winter months as the predictands. The selected predictor variables reflect the main circulation features influencing winter rainfall across the peninsula, i.e. the strong influence of Atlantic westerly and southwesterly airmasses over much of the peninsula, of northerly and northwesterly surface flow over northern/northwestern Spain and northern Portugal and the stronger effect of Mediterranean rather than Atlantic influences in southeastern Spain. The observed rainfall changes cannot, however, be explained by changes in circulation alone.

show abstract

Section: Aims Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cross-validation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Links between circulation and changes in the characteristics of Iberian rainfall

Goodess

Jones

2002

Intl Journal of Climatology

293

239

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the other hand, the lack of a causal mechanism between circulation and surface climate trends, found with use of various methodologies, has been reported, e.g. for temperature and precipitation in the northwest USA (Yarnal, 1985), for temperature in central and western Europe (Werner and von Storch, 1993), for precipitation in Switzerland (Widmann and Schär, 1997), and for temperature in the Norwegian Arctic (Hanssen-Bauer and Førland, 1998). The present results support this ambiguity, suggesting that the impact of circulation changes on trends in surface climate differs among the elements and from season to season and is also likely to be determined orographically.…”

Section: Circulation Changes 6ersus Trends In Climate Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaggregating climatic trends by classification of circulation patterns

Huth

2001

Intl Journal of Climatology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The trends in occurrence frequencies of circulation types over Europe and in nine climate variables in the Czech Republic conditioned by the types are examined for period . The circulation types are determined by an objective procedure from daily 500 hPa heights. Both in summer and winter, anticyclonic types have become more frequent at the expense of cyclonic types. The circulation changes are shown to be unrelated to the trends in surface climate elements in summer, whereas in winter, trends in circulation explain a part of the observed warming and strengthening of southerly winds.The trends in climate elements are not uniform among circulation types. In summer, the trend pattern consisting of decreasing maximum and daily mean temperatures, daily temperature range (DTR) and sunshine duration, and increasing cloudiness and relative humidity is observed under the cyclonic types and the types with a well-pronounced jet, but is missing under types with a blocking anticyclone over Europe. Two possible mechanisms causing this trend pattern are proposed: increasing cloudiness, and a process responsible for the reduction of sunshine without a concurrent increase of cloudiness. The latter mechanism can possibly be identified with increasing aerosol concentrations. In winter, the degree of warming is governed by changes in zonal wind. The mechanism of change in DTR seems to vary with elevation: at the lowland station (Prague-Klementinum), the increase in DTR is related to the warming trend, and consequently with zonal wind changes, while at the mountain station (Milešovka), the increase in DTR reflects the increase in precipitating clouds.The changes in DTR are related much more to mid-tropospheric circulation than to cloud cover in summer, whereas in winter, cloud cover plays a more important role in affecting DTR trends.

show abstract

“…For example, Widmann and Schär (1997) classified daily precipitation records from Switzerland for the period 1901-1990 by means of unrotated and rotated PCA. The purpose of their study was, in parallel to the trend analysis, the homogenization of the precipitation series.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate testing of spatio-temporal consistence of daily precipitation records

Mächel

Kapala

2013

Adv. Sci. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The project KLIDADIGI of the German Meteorological Service (DWD) systematically rescues historical daily climate data of Germany by keying and imaging. Up to now, daily nearly gap-free precipitation time series at 118 locations for the period 1901-2000 are collected and extended by digitalization of handwritten protocols. To screen the spatio-temporal consistence of these raw data, we apply principal component analysis (PCA) in S (spatial) mode for daily precipitation records as well as for indices such as the number of rainy days above a certain threshold, intensity and absolute daily maximum in monthly, seasonal or annual resolution. Results of this screening test indicate that the PCA is a useful tool for detection of questionable stations and data preprocessing for further quality control and homogenization.

show abstract

A principal component and long-term trend analysis of daily precipitation in Switzerland

Cited by 121 publications

References 43 publications

Links between circulation and changes in the characteristics of Iberian rainfall

Links between circulation and changes in the characteristics of Iberian rainfall

Disaggregating climatic trends by classification of circulation patterns

Multivariate testing of spatio-temporal consistence of daily precipitation records

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About