Long–Term Variability of Sea Ice and Air Temperature Conditions Along the Estonian Coast

• Main Author: S. Jevrejeva
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.464.8857; http://www.geophysica.fi/pdf/geophysica_2000_36_1-2_017_jevrejeva.pdf

The results of the analysis of long-term time series regarding ice conditions along the Estonian coast are presented in this paper. This work was focused on the analysis of air temperature, onset of freezing and melting air temperatures, the sums of negative degree-days and the number of ice days. Most of the data were not yet published. Statistical analysis was carried out on the data. Mean air tem-peratures for November–April indicate that during winter seasons almost all parts of Estonia experi-enced an overall warming of 0.5–1.0 ºC for the period 1900–1990. The date of stabilised transition of the air temperature to sub-zero values was observed about 8–14 days later at the end of the study period than in the beginning, while the date of melting air temperature onset was observed 10–15 days earlier. Correlation coefficients between time series of sum of negative degree-days and number of ice days were from 0.61 to 0.76. Key words: Baltic Sea, trends, winter air temperature conditions, number of days with ice 1.