Thermal stress in the northern Carpathians and air circulation

Abstract

In mountain areas, air circulation plays a major role in the forming of the climate. This paper examines how it influences thermal stress in the northern Carpathians. The Niedźwiedź’s classification of air circulation was applied. Thermal stress was assessed by Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Daily meteorological and circulation data for the period 1986–2015 were used for 20 stations in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Air circulation was found to have a significant impact on thermal stress. The highest UTCI values are observed at Ca+Ka (centre of the high and anticyclonic wedge or ridge of high pressure) and the lowest values at N+NE and W+NW circulation; at the Southward stations, UTCI is higher than in the Northward ones; thermoneutral days are more frequent on the southward than on the northward slopes; during N+NE, E+SE and W+NW circulation and for heat stress days, the greatest thermal privilege of the southward slopes is observed at E+SE, S+SW, Ca+Ka and Cc+Bc (centre of low and through of low pressure) types of circulation.

Thermal stress in selected mountain system in Central and Eastern Europe – initial research based on UTCI characteristics

“…However, the changes have different intensity at northward and southward slopes. They also reported great influence of air circulation on thermal stress in Carpathians (Błażejczyk et al, 2020b). It seems that exposure of mountain systems to different air circulation patterns can be one of causes of different altitudinal UTCI gradients in regions considered in this paper.…”

“…Some research underline the role of continentality in creating climate features in transitional areas, both in lowland and mountain regions (Ciaranek, 2014;Vilček et al, 2016). A significant impact of continentality on thermal stress intensity in the northern Carpathians has been reported by Błażejczyk et al (2020aBłażejczyk et al ( , 2020b. They also found a strong influence of elevation above sea level and the exposure of a location (southward vs. northward) on UTCI values and frequency of thermal stress categories.…”

“…Up to now there have been only few papers presenting the biometeorological specificity of individual mountain areas in Europe (e.g. Gaijc-Čapka & Zaninović, 1997;Głowicki, 2000;Harlfinger et al, 2004;Zaninović et al, 2006;Miszuk, 2008;Endler et al, 2010;Endler & Matzarakis, 2011a, 2011bMatzarakis et al, 2012;Błażejczyk et al, 2013Błażejczyk et al, , 2020aBłażejczyk et al, , 2020bMilewski, 2013;Pecelj et al, 2017;Bokwa et al, 2019).…”