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    Original Research Papers

    Enhanced lifetime of atmospheric circulation types over Europe: fact or fiction?

    Authors:

    Monika Cahynová ,

    Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Boční II 1401, 141 31 Prague; Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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    Radan Huth

    Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Boční II 1401, 141 31 Prague, CZ
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    Abstract

    We analyse the lifetimes (persistence) of circulation types using 23 classifications (of which 18 are objective and 5 subjective) in the period 1957–2002 over Europe and its subregions. The objective catalogues are developed on the same gridded climatic data (ECMWF ERA-40 reanalysis) but differ in the classification method used and in the number of synoptic types. Significant seasonal trends in the lifetime (both positive and negative) are fairly scarce and are present in all seasons in the manual catalogues only. In the subjective Hess—Brezowsky catalogue, there is an abrupt shift toward higher persistence in 1986, whereas in the Hungarian manual catalogue, a smaller but significant negative shift took place in the same year. These statistical inconsistencies probably result from inhomogeneities in the subjective catalogues. Our results suggest that the increase in the persistence of circulation types reported recently in several papers for the Hess—Brezowsky catalogue is an artefact rather than a real feature.

    How to Cite: Cahynová, M. and Huth, R., 2009. Enhanced lifetime of atmospheric circulation types over Europe: fact or fiction?. Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 61(3), pp.407–416. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2008.00393.x
      Published on 01 Jan 2009
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 12 Jan 2008            Submitted on 22 Jul 2008

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