Regional features of long-term changes in cloud cover in Siberian sector of Northern hemisphere for the last 45 years (1969–2013)

Abstract

We discussed the results of statistical analysis of regional features of long-term changes in cloud cover on the territory of Siberia according to data of climatic zoning of this region with respect to the total and low-level cloud regimes, using 45-year (1969–2013) time series of meteorological observations at 60 stations located in the Siberian sector of the Northern hemisphere. We found that there had been a clear trend toward increase in the total and low-level cloud amounts in all seasons and over the entire year after spatial averaging of data over the entire Siberian sector, as well as separately over the territory of Western and Eastern Siberia, during the base 45-year period (1969–2013), total and low-level cloud amounts substantially decreased in all seasons (except in fall) and over the entire year on the territory of the entire Siberian sector in recent years (2006–2013), when there was a trend toward a decrease in the intensity of global warming.