Sea level pressure climatology in black sea region

Abstract

In the present study, to achieve a comprehensive view of pressure conditions in the Black Sea region, sea level pressure data in Reanalysis II database in National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) were used. The data temporal resolution is daily and the spatial resolution is 2.5×2.5 degrees of arc. The investigated framework covers the areas between -30-70 degrees east longitude and 20-70 degrees north latitude and has dimensions equal 41×21 pixels consisting of 861 pixels. The studied period of time is 33-year (1979 to 2012) and includes 12419 days and 861 spatial pixels. Therefore, sea level pressure data matrix is 12419×861, which has 12419 temporal pixels and 861 spatial ones. In other words, the arrangement of the data is S-shaped. The rows of the matrix represent time while columns represent space. At the end, using the cluster analysis, six sea level pressure circulation patterns based on the spatial - temporal features were obtained: Red Sea trough is fall pattern; Iraq trough is spring pattern; Persian Gulf trough is transitional pattern; Persian Gulf deep trough is summer pattern; Caucasian high pressure is fall - winter pattern and the Caucasian Strong high pressure is winter pattern. In most of these patterns, intensive allobaric conditions can be observed in the troughs and ridges