Evaluation of thermal continentality within southern Romania and northern Bulgaria (1961-2015)

• Main Authors: Vlăduţ, Alina, Nikolova , Nina, Licurici , Mihaela
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Andrija Mohorovičić Geophysical Institute, Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb 2018
• Subjects: thermal continentality; Johansson Continentality Index (JCI); Ivanov Index of Thermic Continentality (II); Kerner Oceanity Index (KOI); Marsz Oceanity Index (OI); Romania; Bulgaria; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.php/geofizika/article/view/16647

The assessment of continentality and oceanity of the climate at a global level or within particular regions has lately gained in importance on the background of global warming and its impact on food and water resources. Aiming at understanding these influences, there were analysed the spatial distribution (based on the data from 27 meteorological stations) and temporal variability of four indices (for 19 meteorological stations with complete data series covering the interval 1961-2015). In specialized literature, there are used different continentality and oceanity indices. We studied four of them, but the results indicate that three of these are redundant, as they deliver almost the same information. Consequently, only the results based on Gorczyński Continentality Index (GCI) and Kerner Oceanity Index (KOI) are presented and discussed in greater detail. These indices emphasize the continental character of the climate in the region, except for a narrow strip along the Black Sea Coast, which displays a maritime climate. There did not emerge a clear intensification of continentality (the trends were not statistically significant), in spite of the increase of air temperature in the region during the last two decades. However, a good correlation was obtained between three of the analysed indices (GCI, II and KOI) and North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI).