Abstract
Climate change is an empirical fact evidenced by subsequent IPCC reports. The observed climate change is also manifested in the altered date of occurrence and duration of the seasons in a year. Variability of thermal conditions due to climate warming will have its toll on the bioclimatic conditions. The assessment of bioclimatic conditions was conducted with the use of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The present elaboration is based on hourly values of the following meteorological elements: air temperature, relative air humidity, wind speed and cloud cover. The meteorological data were obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute (IMGW-PIB) in Szczecin and cover the period 2000-2019. Variability of bioclimatic conditions is considered per periods corresponding to thermal seasons of the year as identified by the Gumiński (1948) method on the basis of monthly air temperature values. The analysed UTCI values with respect to thermal seasons indicate that mean UTCI values in the period 2000-2019 representative for thermal summer amount to 22.6°C, thermal spring 9,9°C, thermal autumn 8.4°C, thermal winter -10.4°C, early spring -4.6°C, and early winter -7.9°C. For the periods with identified lack of thermal winter, mean UTCI value was -6.6°C. The aim of the present paper is an attempt to assess the variability of biothermal conditions as calculated using the UTCI index against the thermal seasons of the year in Szczecin.
Highlights
The characteristic feature for the climate of Poland is a great variability of weather conditions and seasons
In the analysed period of 2000-2019, mean values of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) index calculated for 12:00 UTC were from 4.9 in 2010 to 10.4 °C in 2018, which gives an average of 7.7°C (Fig. 1)
The minimum and maximum UTCI values showing the range of possible fluctuations are -44.0 in January 2010 and 40.5°C in August 2015
Summary
The characteristic feature for the climate of Poland is a great variability of weather conditions and seasons (the date of the beginning and end, duration). Other authors recognise the positive trend of air temperature in Poland manifested by increasingly warmer winter seasons (Lorenc, 2000; Boryczka, 2001; Trepińska, 2001; Kożuchowski, 2004) This is acknowledged by Michalska (2011) who states that the highest increase in temperature over 10 years, i.e. from 0.3 recorded in the south of Poland to approximately 0.7°C in the north, is observed in February, followed by March, May and August. Żmudzka (2004) stipulates that the changes are markedly more apparent in the west of the country, as compared to the eastern, cooler part of Poland This is confirmed by Dragańska et al (2007) who showed a lack of statistically significant trends of shortening or lengthening of the duration of thermal seasons in 1970-2000 in the northeast of Poland. According to Woś (2006), in the period 1951-2000 in Poznań, there was a marked trend of increasingly shorter winter seasons, lengthening of the spring season and early spring, and earlier dates of the beginning of spring and early spring
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