Ice regime dynamics in the Nemunas River, Lithuania

• Published in: Climate Research
• Main Authors: Stonevičius, Edvinas, Stankūnavičius, Gintautas, Kilkus, Kęstutis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: river ice cover; freeze up; break up; atmospheric forcing; Arctic; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB3954435&prefLang=en_US

Ice cover persistence in the lower reaches of the Nemunas River has decreased during the last 150 yr. The variation in the river freeze- and break-up dates is related to climatic variables. The significance of the negative break-up trend exceeds that of the positive freeze-up trend. Low-frequency large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and Arctic Oscillation (NAO/AO) appear to have more influence on the break-up date than on the freeze-up date. Different classification methods applied to the atmospheric patterns prevailing in the early freeze-up events reveal similar results; however, differences arising between classifications are attributable to non-persistent and high frequency patterns.