Long-term air temperature variation in the Karkonosze mountains according to atmospheric circulation

Abstract

The results of meteorological measurements carried out continuously on Mt Śniezka in Karkonosze mountains since 1880 well document the warming observed on a global scale. Data analysis indicates warming expressed by an increase in the mean annual air temperature of 0.8 °C/100 years. A much higher temperature increase was recorded in the last two decades at the turn of the twenty-first century. Mean decade air temperatures increased from −0.1 to 1.5 °C. It has been shown that there are relationships between air temperature at Mt Śniezka and global mechanisms of atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Thermal conditions of the Karkonosze (Mt Śniezka) accurately reflect global climate trends and impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, macrotypes of atmospheric circulation in Europe (GWL) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). The increase in air temperature during the 1989–2012 solar magnetic cycle may reveal a synergy effect to which astrophysical effects and atmospheric and oceanic circulation effects contribute, modified by constantly increasing anthropogenic factors.