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http://hdl.handle.net/2122/856
Authors: | Thompson, R.* Green, D. N.* |
Title: | Mediterranean precipitation and its relationship with sea level pressure patterns | Issue Date: | 2004 | Series/Report no.: | 5/47 (2004) | URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2122/856 | Keywords: | Mediterranean precipitation principal component canonical correlation trajectory |
Subject Classification: | 03. Hydrosphere::03.01. General::03.01.99. General or miscellaneous 03. Hydrosphere::03.03. Physical::03.03.01. Air/water/earth interactions |
Abstract: | The relationship between Mediterranean precipitation and North Atlantic and European sea level pressure fields has been studied using statistical techniques to investigate the variability within the data. A principal component analysis shows the major winter precipitation variability is described by a see-saw fluctuation between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean. The pressure-precipitation relationships indicate that a highly variable, pressure region situated to the south of Britain dominates this major precipitation pattern. The large-scale pressure fields which facilitate the precipitation patterns have been isolated using a canonical correlation analysis. Although the well-known major pressure centres of action in the North Atlantic are important, pressure changes in the east are found to also control the transport of moisture across the Mediterranean to a large degree, as the presence of a large high over Kazakhstan causes meridonial flow and impedes the passage of moisture across the Mediterranean. The pressure-precipitation relationships are found to be very consistent over multi-decadal,seasonal, monthly and daily time-scales with trajectory analysis confirming many of the features of the average seasonal pressure charts. This steadiness and regularity indicates that the Mediterranean precipitation teleconnection is a robust phenomenon that is affected by large-scale pressure changes to both the east and west. |
Appears in Collections: | Annals of Geophysics |
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09Thompson.pdf | 1.62 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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