Factors contributing to the summer 2003 European heatwave

Black, Emily; Blackburn, Michael; Harrison, Giles; Hoskins, Brian J.; Methven, John

doi:10.1256/wea.74.04

Cited by 484 publications

(407 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

377

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…An alternative source of warm air masses causing the occurrence of heat waves in the analysed region was the inflow of air masses from the south and the south-west. The analyses of the circulation conditions concerning the selected heat waves in many regions of Europe showed that these occur mainly during anticyclonic weather (Black et al 2004;Fink et al 2004;Founda and Giannakopoulos 2009). The occurrence of the warmest WS was connected with a higher SLP and z500 hPa and more T850 anomalies than on average during all of the WSs.…”

Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 96%

Warm spells in Northern Europe in relation to atmospheric circulation

Tomczyk

Piotrowski

Bednorz

2016

Theor Appl Climatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study describes warm spells in Northern Europe and determines the synoptic situations that cause their occurrence. In this article, a relatively warm day was defined as a day when the maximum temperature exceeded the 95th annual percentile, and a warm spell (WS) was considered to be a sequence of at least five relatively warm days. In the analysed multiannual period and within the investigated area, 24 (Kallax) to 53 (Oslo) WSs were observed. The occurrence of WSs was mainly connected with positive anomalies of sea level pressure and a 500-hPa isobaric surface, displaying the presence of high-pressure systems. This occurrence was also accompanied by positive T850 anomalies.

show abstract

Section: Discussion and Summarymentioning

confidence: 96%

Warm spells in Northern Europe in relation to atmospheric circulation

Tomczyk

Piotrowski

Bednorz

2016

Theor Appl Climatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, several authors have recently looked at the most likely large-scale forcing mechanisms that could help generate a persistent heat anomaly for such a long period as the one observed in 2003. Among the factors contributing to the summer 2003 heatwave, Black et al (2004) have considered the northward displacement of the Azores anticyclone and the African Inter Tropical Convergence Zone; the southward shift of the extratropical storm tracks; the anomalously clear skies, and the downward net radiative fluxes leading to high sea-surface temperatures (SST) in a strip extending to west-southwest of Portugal, flanked by low SST anomalies to the north and south. In fact, the monthly SST, averaged over the entire Mediterranean Sea, for May, June, July and August 2003, were consistently above the corresponding monthly maximum values observed during the previous 45 years (Grazzini and Viterbo, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also worth stressing that the low resolution of the data set (2.5°latitude by 2.5°longitude) does not resolve local or regional atmospheric circulation features, particularly those related to topography. Black et al (2004) have also stressed the need to take into account direct ground measurements of temperature and humidity when characterising the summer 2003 heatwave. Accordingly, the evolution of the heatwave will be described in finer detail, using data recorded at 45 stations from the National Weather Service (IM).…”

Section: Surface Meteorological Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Atmospheric conditions associated with the exceptional fire season of 2003 in Portugal

Pereira²,

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The summer of 2003 was characterised by exceptional warm weather in Europe, particularly during the first two weeks of August, when a devastating sequence of large fires was observed, reaching an amount of circa 450 000 ha, the largest figure ever recorded in Portugal in modern times. They were concentrated in two relatively confined regions of Portugal and a considerable proportion of burnt area was due to fires started on the 2nd and 3rd of August.It is shown that the 850 hPa temperature values observed over Portugal for the 1st and 2nd of August 2003 were the highest recorded since 1958. Using data from synoptic stations covering the entire Portuguese territory, the event was characterised in fine detail, including the evolution of both maximum and minimum temperatures, surface relative humidity, and wind anomaly fields. The different spatial extent of maximum and minimum temperatures is analysed leading to the new all-time Portuguese records of 47.3°C for maximum and 30.6°C for minimum temperatures that were recorded on the 1st of August near the main area of occurrence of the largest fire.Finally, it is shown that the summer of 2003 was preceded by a wet winter followed by a very dry month of May, a precipitation anomalous regime that contributed to a climatic background that favoured the role played by the early August heatwave and the associated meteorological surface conditions.

show abstract

“…2a,c). A typical result of the southward movement of a huge anticyclone loaded with high ozone levels from Western and Central Europe to the Mediterranean is the "August heatwave" of the year 2003 (Black et al 2004;Fink et al 2004). Exceptionally long-lasting and spatially extensive episodes of high ozone mixing ratios were measured in Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, North and Central Italy during that time (Solberg et al 2005;Vautard et al 2005;Cristofanelli et al 2007).…”

Section: Simultaneous Surface Co and So 2 Measurements On Gozomentioning

confidence: 99%

A 10-year study of background surface ozone concentrations on the island of Gozo in the Central Mediterranean

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A 10-year study of surface ozone mixing ratios in the Central Mediterranean was conducted based on continuous ozone measurements from 1997 to 2006 by a background regional Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) station on the island of Gozo. The mean annual maximum mixing ratio is of the order of 66 ppbv in April-May with a broad secondary maximum of 64 ppbv in July-September. No long-term increase or decrease in the background level of surface ozone could be observed over the last 10 years. This is contrary to observations made in the Eastern Mediterranean, where a slow decrease in the background ozone mixing ratio was observed over the past 7 years. Despite the very high average annual ozone mixing ratio exceeding 50 ppbv-in fact, the highest average background ozone mixing ratio ever measured in Europe-, the diurnal O 3 max /O 3 min index of <1.40 indicates that the island of Gozo is a good site for measuring background surface ozone. However, frequent photosmog events from June to September during the past 10 years with ozone mixing ratios exceeding 90 ppbv indicate that the Central Mediterranean is prone to long-range transport of air pollutants from Europe by northerly winds. This was particularly evident during the so-called "August heatwave" of the year 2003 when the overall ozone mixing ratio was 4.6 ppbv higher than the average of all other 9 months of August since 1997. Air mass back-trajectory analysis of the August 2003 photosmog episodes on Gozo confirmed that ozone pollution originated from the European continent. Regression analysis was used to analyse the 10-year data set in order to model the behaviour of the ozone mixing ratio in terms of the meteorological parameters of wind speed, relative humidity, global radiation, temperature, month of year, wind sector,

show abstract

Factors contributing to the summer 2003 European heatwave

Cited by 484 publications

References 7 publications

Warm spells in Northern Europe in relation to atmospheric circulation

Warm spells in Northern Europe in relation to atmospheric circulation

Atmospheric conditions associated with the exceptional fire season of 2003 in Portugal

A 10-year study of background surface ozone concentrations on the island of Gozo in the Central Mediterranean

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About