Climate of the Romanian Carpathians (eBook)

1.  Introduction 2.  Theoretical background2.1 Mountain regions – key issues in environmental research2.1.1 Mountain regions and climate change2.1.2 Mountain research in the Carpathian region2.2 Weather and climate of the Romanian Carpathians: a literature reviewReferences3.  Study area3.1    Geographical location of the Romanian Carpathians within the Carpathian Chain3.2    General morphological settings3.3    Paleogeographic evolution and geological constitution3.4    Hydrology and hydrogeology3.5    Zonation of vegetation and soilsReferences4.  Data4.1    Datasets4.2    Mountain meteorological networkReferences 5.  Methods5.1    Homogenization5.2    Statistical methods5.2.1   Mann-Kendall trend test5.2.2   Kendall-Theil slope estimate5.2.3   Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient5.3    Spatialization of climatic information5.4    Regional climate modelsReferences6.  Geographical and synoptic control on the climate6.1    Latitude 6.2    Topography6.2.1   Altitude6.2.2   Slope aspect6.2.3   Slope angle6.2.4   Landforms6.3    Regional atmospheric circulationReferences7.  Regional climatic patterns7.1    Solar radiation7.2    Air temperature7.2.1   Average air temperature lapse rate7.2.2   Vertical thermal zonation7.2.3   Annual variation of average temperature7.2.4   Lapse rates of minimum and maximum temperatures7.2.5   Spatial distribution of minimum and maximum temperatures7.2.6   Annual variation of minimum and maximum temperatures7.2.7   Extreme temperature records7.3    Precipitation7.3.1   Vertical zonation and spatial distribution7.3.2   Wind-induced bias7.3.3   Annual variation7.3.4   Precipitation type7.3.5   Precipitation absolute records7.4    Wind7.4.1   Surface wind direction7.4.2   Surface wind speed7.4.3   Maximum wind speed7.4.4   Atmospheric calm7.4.5   Local winds7.5    Snowfall and snowpack7.5.1   Atmospheric circulation patterns related to snowfall events7.5.2   Snowfall occurrence interval7.5.3   Snowfall frequency7.5.4   Snow showers7.5.5   Snow cover interval7.5.6   Snow depth7.5.7   Snow water equivalentReferences 8.  Observed variability trends from instrumental records8.1    Air temperature8.2    Precipitation8.3    Wind8.4    Snowpack8.5    Influence of large-scale circulationReferences9.  Changing climate extremes in the last five decades9.1    Change in air temperature extremes9.2    Change in precipitation extremes9.3    Change in snow extremesReferences10.  Projections of future changes in climate of the Romanian Carpathians11.  Conclusions Index