Influence of geographical factors on thermal stress in northern Carpathians

Błażejczyk Krzysztof,Halaś Agnieszka,Skrynyk Oleh,Mikulova Katarina,Błażejczyk Anna,Skrynyk Olesya,Nejedlik Pavol

doi:10.1007/s00484-020-02011-x

Abstract

While general features of mountain climate are well recognised, there is not many research regarded their bioclimatic differentiation. The aim of the present study is to answer the question how different geographical factors: elevation above sea level, physiographical type of area, climate continentality and location of area in relation to the main mountain ridge influence thermal stress in northern Carpathians. To analyse thermal stress in the region, daily meteorological data from 21 stations of national weather networks of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia for the period 1986–2015 were used. Daily data of air temperature, relative humidity, total cloud cover and wind speed at 10 m above ground for 12 UTC were used because they represent midday hours which are mostly used for any human activity. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied as a measure of thermal stress. The results show that (1) cold stress significantly increases and heat stress decreases due to rise of altitude, (2) due to climate continentality and physiographical differences between western and eastern parts of northern Carpathians in their eastern edge, the cold stress is more evident than in western one, (3) at southward slopes of Carpathian, heat stress is significantly more frequent then at northward areas.

Highlights

Thermal stress caused by meteorological conditions plays important role in different kinds of human activity, e.g. outdoor occupation, sport, tourism and health prophylactic
The general decrease of the temperature with rising elevation is modified by orography mostly in northerly or southerly sharply oriented high positioned valleys and slopes (KRY, Skalnaté Pleso (SKP), RAK) (Fig. 2)
The presented research confirms that thermal stress conditions in northern Carpathians are strongly influenced by geographical factors of that mountain massive

Summary

Introduction

Thermal stress caused by meteorological conditions plays important role in different kinds of human activity, e.g. outdoor occupation, sport, tourism and health prophylactic. Mountain regions are very sensitive areas because of wide list of factors which influence the actual weather conditions. Throughout the last century, there has been conducted an active research regarding how to define bioclimatic conditions. The most frequently used indices were listed and discuss by Epstein and Moran (2006), Błażejczyk et al (2012) and de Freitas and Grigorieva (2017). New developed Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) is more and more frequently applied in bioclimatic research (Błażejczyk et al 2012; Bröde et al 2012; Fiala et al 2012; Jendritzky et al 2012; Błażejczyk and Błażejczyk 2014; Błażejczyk and Vinogradova 2014; Urban and Kyselý 2014; Błażejczyk et al 2015; Pappenberger et al 2015; Roshan et al 2018)

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Discussion

Conclusion