Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Abstract. The European Alps rely on winter precipitation for various needs in terms of hydropower and other water uses. Major European rivers originate from the Alps and depend on winter precipitation and the consequent spring snow melt for their summer base flows. Understanding the fluctuations in...
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Language: | English |
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2009
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ftopenaccessrep:oai:zenodo.org:68520 2023-05-15T15:07:00+02:00 Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Bartolini, E. Pierluigi Claps D Odorico, P. 2009-01-01 https://www.openaccessrepository.it/record/68520 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 eng eng url:https://www.openaccessrepository.it/communities/itmirror https://www.openaccessrepository.it/record/68520 doi:10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by CC-BY info:eu-repo/semantics/article publication-article 2009 ftopenaccessrep https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 2022-11-23T06:39:24Z Abstract. The European Alps rely on winter precipitation for various needs in terms of hydropower and other water uses. Major European rivers originate from the Alps and depend on winter precipitation and the consequent spring snow melt for their summer base flows. Understanding the fluctuations in winter rainfall in this region is crucially important to the study of changes in hydrologic regime in river basins, as well as to the management of their water resources. Despite the recognized relevance of winter precipitation to the water resources of the Alps and surrounding regions, the magnitude and mechanistic explanation of interannual precipitation variability in the Alpine region remains unclear and poorly investigated. Here we use gridded precipitation data from the CRU TS 1.2 to study the interannual variability of winter alpine precipitation. We found that the Alps are the region with the highest interannual variability in winter precipitation in Europe. This variability cannot be explained by large scale climate patterns such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) or the East Atlantic/West Russia (EA/WR), even though regions below and above the Alps demonstrate connections with these patterns. Significant trends were detected only in small regions located in the Eastern part of the Alps. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN): Open Access Repository Arctic Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 13 1 17 25 |
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Open Polar |
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Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN): Open Access Repository |
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ftopenaccessrep |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract. The European Alps rely on winter precipitation for various needs in terms of hydropower and other water uses. Major European rivers originate from the Alps and depend on winter precipitation and the consequent spring snow melt for their summer base flows. Understanding the fluctuations in winter rainfall in this region is crucially important to the study of changes in hydrologic regime in river basins, as well as to the management of their water resources. Despite the recognized relevance of winter precipitation to the water resources of the Alps and surrounding regions, the magnitude and mechanistic explanation of interannual precipitation variability in the Alpine region remains unclear and poorly investigated. Here we use gridded precipitation data from the CRU TS 1.2 to study the interannual variability of winter alpine precipitation. We found that the Alps are the region with the highest interannual variability in winter precipitation in Europe. This variability cannot be explained by large scale climate patterns such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) or the East Atlantic/West Russia (EA/WR), even though regions below and above the Alps demonstrate connections with these patterns. Significant trends were detected only in small regions located in the Eastern part of the Alps. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bartolini, E. Pierluigi Claps D Odorico, P. |
spellingShingle |
Bartolini, E. Pierluigi Claps D Odorico, P. Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
author_facet |
Bartolini, E. Pierluigi Claps D Odorico, P. |
author_sort |
Bartolini, E. |
title |
Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
title_short |
Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
title_full |
Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
title_fullStr |
Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interannual variability of winter precipitation in the European Alps: relations with the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
title_sort |
interannual variability of winter precipitation in the european alps: relations with the north atlantic oscillation. |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://www.openaccessrepository.it/record/68520 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_relation |
url:https://www.openaccessrepository.it/communities/itmirror https://www.openaccessrepository.it/record/68520 doi:10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-17-2009 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
17 |
op_container_end_page |
25 |
_version_ |
1766338580364394496 |