Abstract
Contemporary climate warming is a key problem faced not only by scientists, but also all by humanity because, as is shown by the experience of recent years, it has multiple environmental, economic and biometeorological implications. In this paper, the authors identify the magnitude of annual and seasonal temperature changes in Europe and its immediate surroundings on the basis of data from 210 weather stations from 1951 to 2020. An analysis of temperatures in the 70-year period shows that air temperature has continued to grow linearly in Europe since 1985. The rate of temperature rise in three seasons of the year, namely winter, spring and summer, does not differ greatly. The highest growth over the 1985–2020 timespan was recorded in spring and the lowest in autumn—0.061 °C/year and 0.045 °C/year, respectively. In winter, the rise in temperature should be considered the least steady, as opposed to the summer when it displays the greatest stability. Overall, the warming intensifies towards the north-east of the continent. Such a strong gradient of change is especially perceivable in winter and spring, and is also marked in autumn. The opposite is true in summer, when it increases towards the south and south-west.
Highlights
In order to gain knowledge about general temperature trends across Europe and its immediate surroundings, area-averaged values of annual and seasonal air temperature were calculated for all 210 stations
A statistical analysis of the area-average series of air temperature values in the 70-year period of 1951–2020 from the entire area under consideration has revealed the existence of 2 periods: (1) 1951–1985 with a relatively constant temperature, and (2) 1985–2020 with linear growth of high statistical significance
An actual temperature trend can be identified from the second half of the seven-decade period under consideration, namely from 1985
Summary
A systematic increase in air temperature on Earth IPCC, 2013; Rahmstorf et al, 2017, Kundzewicz et al, 2020), including Europe (e.g. Chen et al, 2015; Jones et al, 2012; Krauskopf & Huth, 2020; Luterbacher et al, 2004; Schonwiese & Rapp, 1997; Slonosky et al, 2001; Xoplaki et al, 2005; Zveryaev & Gulev, 2009), is the most characteristic feature ofThe research conducted so far clearly demonstrates that the increase in air temperature in Europe and its immediate surroundings is not uniform in terms of space and time (Jones & Moberg, 2003; van Oldenborgh et al, 2009; Zveryaev & Gulev, 2009; Anisimov & Zhil’tsova, 2012; Krauskopf & Huth, 2020).Zveryaev and Gulev (2009) demonstrated on the basis of grid air temperature values in Europe that in summer and autumn over the period 1901–2000 the greatest warming was recorded in western and southern Europe, in winter in the south of the continent and in spring in Scandinavia and north-eastern Europe. Chen et al, 2015; Jones et al, 2012; Krauskopf & Huth, 2020; Luterbacher et al, 2004; Schonwiese & Rapp, 1997; Slonosky et al, 2001; Xoplaki et al, 2005; Zveryaev & Gulev, 2009), is the most characteristic feature of. The research conducted so far clearly demonstrates that the increase in air temperature in Europe and its immediate surroundings is not uniform in terms of space and time (Jones & Moberg, 2003; van Oldenborgh et al, 2009; Zveryaev & Gulev, 2009; Anisimov & Zhil’tsova, 2012; Krauskopf & Huth, 2020). Meleshko et al (2019) found that the average annual warming in the Arctic since the mid-1990s had been twice as fast as the average on Earth while in northern Eurasia, including European Russia, the frequency of anomalously cold winter months had increased
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