Spatial differentiation of air temperature in Poland using circulation types and GIS

Abstract

AbstractThis paper is devoted to the synoptic–climatic analysis with the application of circulation types and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Construction of daily climatic air temperature maps for the Polish territory was the main aim of the work. Analysis was based on the mean daily temperature data from all synoptic and some climatological stations (73 stations totally) for the 50‐year period of 1951–2000. The synoptic–climatic analysis was done using a well known circulation calendar developed by the German Meteorological Service ‘Grosswetterlagen’. Residual kriging was chosen for the map constructions. Several geographic parameters, including elevation, latitude, longitude, and distance to the Baltic coast, were used as predictor variables for air temperature. However, the particular circulation type was the crucial predictor. Maps were created for all months for the Grosswetterlagen circulation types, which occurred more than 30 times during 1951–2000. Special attention was paid to the extreme thermal months of January and July. Maps constructed in the way described confirmed that application of circulation types was quite a good tool for improving accuracy of thermal daily maps. Accuracy was much higher for most of the maps constructed for particular circulation types than for the maps created without application of circulation types. There was only one exception: non‐advective anticyclonic types during winter time. Then, relatively large variability of the temperature can be observed in the concave landforms and the constructed maps have only approximate meaning. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.