Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000
Abstract Principal component (PC) analysis was carried out on annual snow cover series from 15 mountain climate stations in Bulgaria to characterize the spatial and temporal variability in snow cover over the 1931–2000 period. Three distinct snow cover response regions were identified: (1) high elev...
Published in: | International Journal of Climatology |
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crwiley:10.1002/joc.1468 2024-09-15T18:24:16+00:00 Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 Brown, Ross D. Petkova, Nadezhda 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1468 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.1468 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.1468 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor International Journal of Climatology volume 27, issue 9, page 1215-1229 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 journal-article 2007 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1468 2024-08-13T04:14:57Z Abstract Principal component (PC) analysis was carried out on annual snow cover series from 15 mountain climate stations in Bulgaria to characterize the spatial and temporal variability in snow cover over the 1931–2000 period. Three distinct snow cover response regions were identified: (1) high elevation sites above 1500 m in the Vitosha and Rila Mountains; (2) low elevation sites below 1000 m in the eastern Rhodope and southern Pirin Mountains and (3) a mid‐mountain zone of 1000–1500 m elevation including stations from several mountain ranges. Snow cover exhibited evidence of significant decadal‐scale variability over the 1931–2000 period but little evidence of long‐term trends linked to climate warming. Over the more recent 1971–2000 period, the mid‐mountain zone has increased in importance and shows a significant trend toward a later start to the snow cover season. Composite analysis of high and low snow accumulation winters showed high accumulation years associated with a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)/East Atlantic (EA)‐like pattern that favored increased winter precipitation over the Mediterranean and Balkans and anomalous easterly flow across the Black Sea into Bulgaria. Low snow accumulation years were associated with the positive mode of a Scandinavian (SCA)‐like pattern that generated fall warming, a delay to the start of the snow cover season and reduced winter precipitation. Correlation of annual snow cover series with these modes of atmospheric variability revealed few significant correlations but evidence of considerable secular variability in the strength and sign of the relationships. This reflects the complex climate regime of Bulgaria, which is located at the cross‐roads of Mediterranean and Continental climate influences and on the periphery of the main nodes of influence of Northern Hemisphere circulation patterns that play important roles in European snow cover variability. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Wiley Online Library International Journal of Climatology 27 9 1215 1229 |
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English |
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Abstract Principal component (PC) analysis was carried out on annual snow cover series from 15 mountain climate stations in Bulgaria to characterize the spatial and temporal variability in snow cover over the 1931–2000 period. Three distinct snow cover response regions were identified: (1) high elevation sites above 1500 m in the Vitosha and Rila Mountains; (2) low elevation sites below 1000 m in the eastern Rhodope and southern Pirin Mountains and (3) a mid‐mountain zone of 1000–1500 m elevation including stations from several mountain ranges. Snow cover exhibited evidence of significant decadal‐scale variability over the 1931–2000 period but little evidence of long‐term trends linked to climate warming. Over the more recent 1971–2000 period, the mid‐mountain zone has increased in importance and shows a significant trend toward a later start to the snow cover season. Composite analysis of high and low snow accumulation winters showed high accumulation years associated with a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)/East Atlantic (EA)‐like pattern that favored increased winter precipitation over the Mediterranean and Balkans and anomalous easterly flow across the Black Sea into Bulgaria. Low snow accumulation years were associated with the positive mode of a Scandinavian (SCA)‐like pattern that generated fall warming, a delay to the start of the snow cover season and reduced winter precipitation. Correlation of annual snow cover series with these modes of atmospheric variability revealed few significant correlations but evidence of considerable secular variability in the strength and sign of the relationships. This reflects the complex climate regime of Bulgaria, which is located at the cross‐roads of Mediterranean and Continental climate influences and on the periphery of the main nodes of influence of Northern Hemisphere circulation patterns that play important roles in European snow cover variability. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Ross D. Petkova, Nadezhda |
spellingShingle |
Brown, Ross D. Petkova, Nadezhda Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
author_facet |
Brown, Ross D. Petkova, Nadezhda |
author_sort |
Brown, Ross D. |
title |
Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
title_short |
Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
title_full |
Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
title_fullStr |
Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snow cover variability in Bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
title_sort |
snow cover variability in bulgarian mountainous regions, 1931–2000 |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.1468 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.1468 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.1468 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
International Journal of Climatology volume 27, issue 9, page 1215-1229 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1468 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1215 |
op_container_end_page |
1229 |
_version_ |
1810464604357132288 |