Daily concentration of snowfalls in the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula

• Published in: International Journal of Climatology
• Main Authors: Lemus Canovas, Marc, Alonso González, Esteban, Bonsoms, Josep, López Moreno, Juan Ignacio
• Other Authors: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Física de Partículas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Instituto Interdisciplinar de Tecnoloxías Ambientais (CRETUS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley
• Subjects: Concentration index; Iberian Peninsula; Low-frequency climate modes; Snowfall; Synoptic patterns; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10347/33627; https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8338

The temporal concentration of snowfalls has direct implications on the management of water resources as well as on the economic activity of mountain areas, conditioning, for example, the seasonal performance of ski resorts. This work uses the daily concentration index (CI) for analysing the frequency concentration of snowfalls in the Iberian Peninsula Mountain ranges. First, we provide a spatiotemporal analysis of the CI patterns and trends for the 1980–2014 period. Subsequently, we determine the atmospheric circulation patterns that control the CI variability. In addition, we determine the geographical and low-frequency climate modes that control the CI for this mid-latitude area. In addition, we have estimated the partial dependence relationship between the CI and several geographical factors by fitting a multiple linear regression. The results from these analyses show that elevation as well as the distance from the Atlantic are the main geographical pattern that controls the CI in the Iberian Peninsula Mountain ranges. These geographical factors also reflect the role of the main atmospheric circulation patterns in the Iberian Peninsula in controlling the spatial dynamics of the CI. The Cantab rian, Iberian, and northern slopes of the Pyrenees show the lowest CI due to their exposition to northern and Atlantic circulation weather types. On the contrary, the highest CI values are found in the southern and eastern slopes of the Pyrenees, eastern slopes of Sierra Nevada, and southern slopes of the Central system. Trend analysis shows a slight increase of CI in the Central system and in the western Sierra Nevada. However, eastern Sierra Nevada, Cantabrian, Central, and Iberian show a downward CI trend. CI is principally driven by the East-Atlantic/Western Russia pattern and the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO) in the Cantabrian, Iberian, and northern slopes of the Central range. The CI values in the Pyrenees show a different relationship with the Western Mediterranean Oscillation (WeMO) depending on whether it is ...