Changes in Summer Pressure Patterns across the Late 1960s and Their Influence on Temperature Trends on the Eastern Coast of the Iberian Peninsula

• Published in: Atmosphere
• Main Authors: Favà, Vicent, Curto, Juan José, Llasat, M. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2018
• Subjects: Silvia; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/161429; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9020042

During the second half of the 20th century, in the littoral and pre-littoral areas of the Valencia region, the diurnal temperature range (DTR) registered a significant drop in summer (July and August). Meanwhile, in the same period in the lower Ebro Valley (Ebro Observatory), to the north of the Valencia region, the maximum temperature and DTR increased steeply. In order to explain the DTR drop in the coastal areas of the Valencia region, some studies have proposed an increase in the summer sea-surface temperature (SST) and others have attributed it to the urban heat island effect. Nevertheless, this drop occurred well before the current climate change was evident and therefore, before the rise of the SST. Furthermore, regarding the second proposed explanation, the drop in the DTR does not disappear when working with selected stations away from heavily urbanized areas. In this work, we propose that both the DTR rise at the Ebro Observatory and the DTR drop in the Valencia region are linked to the same process: changes in atmospheric circulation on a synoptic-scale in the North Atlantic that occurred in the late 1960s. We want to acknowledge the great contribution of the meteorological observers of the Ebro Observatory for their huge commitment over the years to record and digitize the wind data used in this work. We further extend our gratitude to AEMET as well as the Santander Meteorological group (Universidad de Cantabria-CSIC) for elaborating the Spain02 dataset and making it available. The authors extend their appreciation to UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) NCEP/NCAR for allowing us access to their huge meteorological data base and the extremely powerful and versatile software (NCL). The authors thank the Catalan Meteorological Service (Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya) for making available to us, the observational data corresponding to maximum temperatures of Catalonia (1996–2006) used in this study. The authors thank Brian and Silvia for their accurate translation. Finally, we ...