Precipitation change in Southern Italy linked to global scale oscillation indexes

The spatiotemporal analysis of a region's precipitation climate regime could be particularly interesting for many fields of applied sciences, such as climatology, hydrology and water resources management. In this study, the precipitation trends at seasonal and annual scale, over a large area of the northern Hemisphere have been analysed based on a globally gridded precipitation data sets of monthly observations. In particular, among the several data sets available in literature, with spatial resolutions of 0.5° longitude/latitude, in this work the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre Full Data Reanalysis Version 6 data set has been used. The broad extension of the area under investigation allowed a better understanding of trend precipitation patterns over space. In fact, yearly results evidenced a marked negative rainfall tendency in the eastern Mediterranean (more than −20 mm/10 years) and in North Africa (until −16 mm/10 years), while a relatively large positive trend (more than 20 mm/10 years) in central and northern Europe has been observed.

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“…; Caloiero et al . ; Ferrari et al . ) showed the impacts of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) especially in the western Mediterranean area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Long‐term precipitation trend analysis in Europe and in the Mediterranean basin

Caloiero

Frustaci

2018

Water & Environment J

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“…These trend behaviors in the Euro-Mediterranean area could be related to teleconnection patterns which reflect large-scale changes in the atmospheric wave and influence temperature, rainfall, storm tracks, jet stream location and intensity over vast areas [70,71]. Several past studies [72][73][74] showed the impacts of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) especially in the western Mediterranean area. The influence of the NAO is strongest in winter and early spring.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought Analysis in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin Using the Standardized Precipitation Index

Caloiero

Veltri²,

Caloiero³

et al. 2018

Water

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Abstract:In this study, drought events over a large area of the Northern Hemisphere, including continental Europe, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Mediterranean basin, were analyzed using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at various times scales (3, 6, 12, and 24 months). To this purpose, the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) Full Data Monthly Product Version 2018 data set, with spatial resolutions of 0.5 • longitude/latitude and for the period 1951-2016, has been used. First, the temporal evolution of the percentage of grid points, falling within the severe and extreme drought categories, has been evaluated. Then, a trend analysis has been performed at a seasonal scale, considering the autumn-winter and the spring-summer periods, and at an annual scale. The results of this paper highlight that the Mediterranean basin and North Africa are the most consistently vulnerable areas showing a general reduction in SPI values especially for the long time scale.

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“…A strong interdependence among the NAO, precipitation, river discharges and air temperature in some southern Italy regions (Brandimarte et al, 2011;Caloiero et al, 2011) was discovered. Recent studies revealed that the impact of the NAO in Mediterranean areas can also be widely conceived as extendable to snow accumulation, crop production, landslides and soil erosivity (Vicente-Serrano and Trigo, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled decadal variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation, regional rainfall and karst spring discharges in the Campania region (southern Italy)

Vita

Allocca

Manna

et al. 2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract.Thus far, studies on climate change have focused mainly on the variability of the atmospheric and surface components of the hydrologic cycle, investigating the impact of this variability on the environment, especially with respect to the risks of desertification, droughts and floods. Conversely, the impacts of climate change on the recharge of aquifers and on the variability of groundwater flow have been less investigated, especially in Mediterranean karst areas whose water supply systems depend heavily upon groundwater exploitation.In this paper, long-term climatic variability and its influence on groundwater recharge were analysed by examining decadal patterns of precipitation, air temperature and spring discharges in the Campania region (southern Italy), coupled with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).The time series of precipitation and air temperature were gathered over 90 yr, from 1921 to 2010, using 18 rain gauges and 9 air temperature stations with the most continuous functioning. The time series of the winter NAO index and of the discharges of 3 karst springs, selected from those feeding the major aqueducts systems, were collected for the same period.Regional normalised indexes of the precipitation, air temperature and karst spring discharges were calculated, and different methods were applied to analyse the related time series, including long-term trend analysis using smoothing numerical techniques, cross-correlation and Fourier analysis.The investigation of the normalised indexes highlighted the existence of long-term complex periodicities, from 2 to more than 30 yr, with differences in average values of up to approximately ±30 % for precipitation and karst spring discharges, which were both strongly correlated with the winter NAO index.Although the effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) had already been demonstrated in the long-term precipitation and streamflow patterns of different European countries and Mediterranean areas, the results of this study allow for the establishment of a link between a large-scale atmospheric cycle and the groundwater recharge of carbonate karst aquifers. Consequently, the winter NAO index could also be considered as a proxy to forecast the decadal variability of groundwater flow in Mediterranean karst areas.

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Precipitation change in Southern Italy linked to global scale oscillation indexes

Cited by 68 publications

References 46 publications

Long‐term precipitation trend analysis in Europe and in the Mediterranean basin

Long‐term precipitation trend analysis in Europe and in the Mediterranean basin

Drought Analysis in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin Using the Standardized Precipitation Index

Coupled decadal variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation, regional rainfall and karst spring discharges in the Campania region (southern Italy)

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