Temperature Characteristics and Spring Frost Risk in the Sour Cherry (Prunus Cerasus L.) Blooming Period in 1985–2010

The aim of the paper is an attempt to present the relationships between sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) blooming time, climatic conditions and spring frost risk in western Poland (Great Poland Lowland). Air temperature indices from meteorological stations in Przybroda and Poznań for the period 1985-2010 representing contemporary climate warming were used. ‘English Morello’ sour cherry phenological records for the period 1985–2010 were collected at the Research Station of Poznań University of Life Sciences located in Przybroda. The earliest end of blooming was observed on 2nd of May 1999, and the latest one on 26th of May 1987. The average period of sour cherry blooming was between 30th April and 12th May. During 50% of the years the blooming period lasted from 11 to 15 days. Mean monthly temperature in Przybroda varied from -1.1ºC in January to 19.6ºC in July. A significant relationship between the beginning date of cherry blooming and the beginning of the thermal vegetation period was found. Variability of the index explained more than 50% of variability in the first dates of cherries blooming (coefficient of determination R2 = 0.505 is significant on the level p < 0.05). The beginning of blooming was also significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with mean April temperature, which could explain about 43% of variability in the dates of the first bloom. An increase in April temperature by 1.0ºC caused earlier blooming by about 2.8 days. During the period of 1985–2010 a significant increase in April temperature was observed (in Poznań 0.79ºC per decade). It had an effect on advanced dates of the beginning of sour cherry blooming of about 3 days per decade. In 26 of the years the last frost occurred 4 times (15% of seasons) during the blooming phenological phase or later in Przybroda. Frost occurred 10 days before blooming started and during blooming in 54% of the years

Regional differentation in probability of ice dayes occurrence in Poland

This paper aims at recognizing spatial differentiation in probability of ice days occurrence with reference to atmospheric circulation, using regional classification of circulation types for Poland. Daily maximum air temperatures measured at nine meteorological stations were used to recognize the ice days occurrence in the period from January 1951 to March 2014. The relations between the ice days occurrence and atmospheric circulation were analysed using catalogues of circulation types compiled for nine grid boxes within Poland. Linkage between the frequency of ice days and atmospheric circulation was recognized in the period of January 2001 - March 2014. A decreasing tendency in the frequency of the occurrence of winter ice days was found. The occurrence of ice days in Poland is clearly related to atmospheric circulation. In the entire area of Poland their occurrence is favoured by eastern and south-eastern advection of air during anticyclonic conditions (types Ea nad SEa). Regional variability is also noticeable

Surface-based nocturnal air temperature inversions in southern Poland and their influence on PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in Upper Silesia

The frequency, strength and seasonal variations of surface-based temperature inversions (SBTIs) in Upper Silesia (Southern Poland) were examined using data from January 2001 to September 2020. Based on the air temperatures recorded at the meteorological station of the Institute of Earth Sciences in Sosnowiec (263 m a.s.l.) at heights of 2 m and 88 m above the ground, the vertical temperature gradient of the 100-m layer (γSos100 m) was determined. A lapse rate of γSos100 m > 0.5 K was defined as a temperature inversion. The measurements for 00 UTC (midnight) and 12 UTC (midday) were compared with data from the upper air station in Wrocław (116 m a.s.l.) located in the Lower Silesia Lowland, approximately 170 km NW of Sosnowiec. Based on soundings from Wrocław, in addition to the temperature gradient in the lower 100-m layer of air (γWrc100), three other characteristics of SBTIs were calculated: inversion depth (ID) or thickness in metres, inversion strength (ΔTi) in K and vertical temperature gradients across the whole SBTI layer γi in K 100 m−1. On an annual basis, the frequency of nighttime SBTIs (γ > 0.5 K 100 m−1) ranged from 47% in Sosnowiec to almost 59% in Wrocław. At both stations, the fewest SBTIs occurred in winter (23–38%) and the most in summer (64–75%). Moreover, they were more frequent in spring (52–61%) than in autumn (49–59%). The SBTI frequency was very low during the midday hours, amounting to 0.6–0.7% days a year, and it increased to 1–2% only in winter. Annually, the depth of 81% of inversions ranged between 50 and 300 m, varying seasonally from almost 67% in winter to 87% in summer. The presented research shows that SBTIs in winter were among the main factors contributing to a high concentration of particulate matter pollutants in the ground-level atmosphere. During nights with temperature inversions, the annual mean PM10 concentration reached 125% of the mean value, ranging from 114% in summer to 189% in winter

The influence of the atmospheric circulation on the occurrence of ice days in Hornsund (Spitsbergen)

Dni mroźne, definiowane jako dni z Tmax<0°C są jednym z termicznych wskaźników współ-czesnych zmian klimatu. Celem artykułu jest określenie wieloletnich zmian częstości występowania dni mroźnych w Hornsundzie oraz określenie relacji pomiędzy ich występowaniem i cyrkulacją atmosfery. Badania przeprowa-dzono na podstawie dostępnych danych dobowej maksymalnej temperatury powietrza (26.07.1957-16.08.1958 MRG; 4.07.1978-29.02.2012). Średnio w Hornsundzie notuje się 183 dni mroźnych w roku. Najczęściej pojawiają się one w marcu, zaś w ogóle nie występują w lipcu i sierpniu. W badanym okresie częstość występowania dni mroźnych istotnie malała w maju, czerwcu i grudniu. Tendencja spadkowa dotyczy również rocznych wartości liczby dni mroźnych. Sezonowe zróżnicowanie relacji pomiędzy częstością występowania dni mroźnych a cyrkulacją atmosfery jest słabsze niż w przypadku dni z przejściem temperatury przez próg 0°C. W większości miesięcy największym prawdopodo-bieństwem ich wystąpienia charakteryzują się typy antycyklonalne: Na, NEa, Ea, NWa oraz Ca i Ka. Występowaniu dni mroźnych nie sprzyja adwekcja ciepłego powietrza z południa.Ice days defined as days with daily maximum temperature below 0°C are placed amongst the indices of current climate change. This paper aims at research both the long-term variability in the ice days occurrence and their relations to atmospheric circulation. All available data on daily maximum temperature were used (26.07.1957-16.08.1958 MRG; 4.07.1978-29.02.2012). On average, 183 ice days a year are noted in Hornsund. The highest number of the days occurs on March whereas they do not appear on July and August. The frequency of ice days were significantly lowering in May, June and August. The downward trend was also found in the annual index values. Seasonal differentiation of the relations between the ice days occurrence and atmospheric circulation are weaker than in case of days with freeze-thaw events. In majority months the highest probability of the ice days occurrence is linked to the six anticyclonic types (Na, NEa, Ea, NWa, Ca and Ka). Advection of warm air from south results in rarer ice days

The occurrence of days with freeze-thaw events at selected stations within the Atlantic sector of Arctic

Opracowanie dotyczy ważnego wskaźnika współczesnych zmian klimatu – dni z przejściem temperatury powietrza przez 0°C, które wyróżniono na podstawie temperatury dobowej maksymalnej i minimalnej mierzonej na 4 wybranych stacjach w obrębie atlantyckiego sektora Arktyki w okresie regularnych pomiarów instrumentalnych. Analiza częstości występowania tych dni w kolejnych miesiącach wskazuje na ich bimodalny przebieg roczny z maksimum w maju lub czerwcu, a minimum w lipcu lub sierpniu. Obliczona metodą Mann- Kendalla istotność tendencji wykazała spadek częstości występowania dni z Tmax>0°C i Tmin0°C and Tmin<0°C) occurrence in the period 1979-2012 which allowed the comparison of the statistics between the stations. Statistical significance of trends were checked with Mann-Kendall test whereas the trends magnitudes were calculated with the least square method and expressed as a change in the number of days per 10 years. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relations between the DT0 occurrence and atmospheric circulation. Three local circulation indices (S index, W index, C index) and one macroscale circulation index (AO index) were taken into consideration. Statistical significance level of 0.05 was used for both trends and correlations coefficients. The trends were calculated for three various periods: the period of regular instrumental measurements – various at particular stations, the period 1979-2012 – common for all stations analysed and 1995-2012 which is the period of dramatic warming of the Arctic (Przybylak 2007). The investigations were conducted from monthly, seasonal (winter – Dec, Jan, Feb; spring – Mar, Apr, May; summer – Jun, Jul, Aug; autumn – Sep, Oct, Nov) and annual perspective. Days with freeze–thaw events are considered as an indicator of current climate change primarily manifesting in the rapid increase of air-temperature. The average annual number of days with freeze-thaw events varied depending on station from 63 days to 96 days in the period of 1979-2012. These days occurred during the whole year with the maximum in autumn (Svalbard Lufthavn, Hornsund and Hopen) or spring (Bjørnøya) and the minimum in summer (Svalbard Lufthavn, Hornsund, Bjørnøya) or winter (Hopen). The annual course of the number of days with freeze-thaw events is bimodal with the first rate maximum in May (Svalbard Lufthavn, Hornsund, Bjørnøya) or June (Hopen) and the secondary maximum in October. The clearest changes (increase) in the frequency of DT0 occurrence were found in Hopen and Bjørnøya in the months belonging to the warmer part of a year – July, August, September. In Svalbard Lufthavn and Hornsund significant increase in the frequency of DT0 was detected in June. In December increasing trends in the DT0 occurrence were significant which also applies to January DT0 trends at both Longyearbyen and Bjørnøya stations. Dramatic increase of the air-temperature in the Arctic which began in the middle of the nineties has not influenced the frequency of days with freeze-thaw events – the trends calculated for the period of 1995-2012 were significant only in September and sporadically (single stations) in May and December. The long-term variability in the number of days with freeze-thaw events was significantly related to atmospheric circulation. The occurrence of such days was most influenced by the S circulation index, which determined the frequency of DT0 in majority of months and seasons despite summer. At the beginning of a year (February – March) the frequency of DT0 depended most on the flow of air from west (W circulation index). The cyclonity index (C index) affected the number of DT0 at Hopen and Bjørnøya stations. The impact of macroscale circulation (AO index) on the variability of DT0 was limited to Bjørnøya station in the case of monthly values and covered Hopen station in the case of seasonal values. Statistically significant correlation coefficients calculated for the warmer part of a year (from June to September) were positive and were negative for the rest months. Significant decrease of the DT0 frequency in September might be related to the strengthening of the northern flow

The influence of the atmospheric circulation on the occurrence of days with freeze-thaw events in Hornsund (Spitsbergen)

Dni z przejściem temperatury przez 0°C (Tmin0°C) są ważnym wskaźnikiem współczesnych zmian klimatu. W obszarach polarnych przekroczenie wspomnianego progu termicznego ma istotne znaczenie ze względu na uruchamiające się wówczas procesy zamarzania wody i tajania lodu. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest określenie wieloletnich zmian występowania dni z Tmin0°C oraz zbadanie relacji pomiędzy ich występowaniem a makroskalową cyrkulacją atmosfery w Hornsundzie, na podstawie dostępnych danych. Dni z przejściem temperatury przez 0°C w Hornsundzie pojawiają się w ciągu całego roku. Ich występowanie podlega istotnym statystycznie różnokierunkowym zmianom w czerwcu (trend ujemny) i w grudniu (trend dodatni), a kierunek tych zmian wykazuje związek ze średnią miesięczną temperaturą powietrza oraz jej wzrostową tendencją. Relacje pomiędzy występowaniem dni z przejściem temperatury powietrza przez 0°C a cyrkulacją atmosfery zmieniają się w przebiegu rocznym. W miesiącach zimowych (grudzień, styczeń, luty, marzec) oraz w kwietniu, październiku i listopadzie występowaniu dni z przejściem temperatury przez 0°C najbardziej sprzyja adwekcja powietrza z południa (S, SW i W) bez względu na rodzaj układu barycznego. W sierpniu, kiedy zależności wystę-powania dni z Tmin0°C od cyrkulacji atmosfery są bardzo wyraźne, oraz w lipcu, ich występowanie związane jest z napływem zimnego powietrza z NW i W, szczególnie podczas zalegania wyżu.Days with freeze-thaw events at which air temperature crosses the threshold of 0°C (Tmin0°C) are regarded as an important index of climate change. In the Polar Region such thermal conditions trigger the processes of water melting and freezing. This paper aims at the recognition of the variability and changes in the frequency of days with Tmin0°C as well as the relationships between their occurrence and macro scale circulation on the basis of available data. Days with freeze-thaw events occur throughout the year. Statistically significant trends in the occurrence of such days were found in June (downward trend) and December (upward trend). The directions of the trends are related to the magnitude of the average monthly temperatures and their growing tendencies. Relationships between the occurrence of days with Tmin0°C and atmospheric circulation change seasonally. Regardless of the type of baric centre, the warm air advection from the south-west sector (S, SW, W) favours the occurrence of such days in the winter half-year months (November-April) as well as in October. In August, when the relation between days with freeze-thaw events and atmospheric circulation is evident, as well as in July, the occurrence of the days concerned is linked to the inflow of cold air from the NW and W directions, particularly when Spitsbergen is influenced by the anticyclone

Classification of precipitation types in Poland using machine learning and threshold temperature methods

Abstract The phase in which precipitation falls—rainfall, snowfall, or sleet—has a considerable impact on hydrology and surface runoff. However, many weather stations only provide information on the total amount of precipitation, at other stations series are short or incomplete. To address this issue, data from 40 meteorological stations in Poland spanning the years 1966–2020 were utilized in this study to classify precipitation. Three methods were used to differentiate between rainfall and snowfall: machine learning (i.e., Random Forest), daily mean threshold air temperature, and daily wet bulb threshold temperature. The key findings of this study are: (i) the Random Forest (RF) method demonstrated the highest accuracy in rainfall/snowfall classification among the used approaches, which spanned from 0.90 to 1.00 across all stations and months; (ii) the classification accuracy provided by the mean wet bulb temperature and daily mean threshold air temperature approaches were quite similar, which spanned from 0.86 to 1.00 across all stations and months; (iii) Values of optimized mean threshold temperature and optimized wet bulb threshold temperature were determined for each of the 40 meteorological stations; (iv) the inclusion of water vapor pressure has a noteworthy impact on the RF classification model, and the removal of mean wet bulb temperature from the input data set leads to an improvement in the classification accuracy of the RF model. Future research should be conducted to explore the variations in the effectiveness of precipitation classification for each station

Regional differentiation in probability of ice days occurrence in Poland

This paper aims at recognizing spatial differentiation in probability of ice days occurrence with reference to atmospheric circulation, using regional classification of circulation types for Poland. Daily maximum air temperatures measured at nine meteorological stations were used to recognize the ice days occurrence in the period from January 1951 to March 2014. The relations between the ice days occurrence and atmospheric circulation were analysed using catalogues of circulation types compiled for nine grid boxes within Poland. Linkage between the frequency of ice days and atmospheric circulation was recognized in the period of January 2001 – March 2014. A decreasing tendency in the frequency of the occurrence of winter ice days was found. The occurrence of ice days in Poland is clearly related to atmospheric circulation. In the entire area of Poland their occurrence is favoured by eastern and south-eastern advection of air during anticyclonic conditions (types Ea nad SEa). Regional variability is also noticeable

The trends in air temperature and the number of ice and freeze-thaw days in the Atlantic and Siberian sector of Arctic

Opracowanie dotyczy oceny zmienności wybranych charakterystyk termicznych na 4 wybranych stacjach meteorologicznych w obrębie atlantyckiego i syberyjskiego sektora Arktyki w okresie 1979-2013. Arktykę Atlantycką reprezentuje stacja w Hornsundzie (SW Spitsbergen) oraz w Danmarkshavn na wschodnim wybrzeżu Grenlandii. W pobliżu granicy obu regionów znajduje się stacja Dikson. Natomiast Arktykę Syberyjską dobrze reprezentuje stacja Ostrov Kotielnyj w archipelagu Wysp Nowosyberyjskich. Zmienność i trendy średniej temperatury powietrza oraz liczby dni mroźnych (Tmax0°C) przedstawiono w ujęciu rocznym i sezonowym. Znaczne ocieplenie w świetle średniej rocznej temperatury powietrza z trendami rzędu od +0,6°C do 1,0°C/10 lat znajduje odzwierciedlenie w tendencji spadkowej liczby dni mroźnych w obu regionach. Natomiast odmiennie kształtują się tendencje w występowaniu dni z przejściem temperatury przez 0°C, które są wzrostowe w Arktyce Atlantyckiej i spadkowe w Arktyce Syberyjskiej.An increase in the air temperature is an evident manifestation of contemporary climate change. In the Arctic this trend began to be significant in the middle of the nineties and has been accompanied by significant changes in the frequency of thermally characteristic days. This paper discusses the directions and the rate of changes in the average annual and seasonal air temperatures, the number of ice days (Tmax0°C) in both the Atlantic Arctic and The Siberian Arctic in the period 1979-2013. Four meteorological stations were considered: Danmarkshavn, Hornsund, Dikson, Ostrov Kotielnyj. In this paper annual courses of the above mentioned characteristics of air temperature are recognized and their trends are calculated from annual and seasonal perspectives. Trend magnitude was assessed with least square method and its significance was tested with Mann-Kendall test. Trends were calculated for several long-term periods starting with the 30-year period of 1979-2008 followed by further periods of which each was lengthened by a year in relation to preceding period, e.g. 1979-2009, 1979-2010 etc. Such an approach enables the trends stability assessment. At the stations considered average monthly air temperature was varying in the range from about -30°C in February at Ostrov Kotielnyj station to slightly more than +5°C in July and August at Dikson station. The mildest thermal conditions characterize Hornsund station where average monthly temperature in winter months reaches about -10°C and during four months (June-September) it is above 0°C. Statistically significant increase in the average annual air temperature of magnitude of +1.0°C or +0.8°C per 10 years was found at all the stations. Trends in the seasonal air temperature were also positive however not always significant. The strongest increase of the rate of more than +2.0°C per 10 yrs was found at Hornsund in winter for the period of 1979-2013. Spring air temperature showed significant increasing trends for all of the long-term periods at the station in Siberian Arctic (Ostrov Kotielnyj) and Dikson. At both Ostrov Kotielnyj and Danmarkshavn stations significant increase of temperature in this season started from the period of 1979-2010. Trends in autumn temperature were significant and stable at most of the stations. At Dikson station exclusively an increase in temperature reached statistical significance slightly later - in the period of 1979-2011. Significant changes in average air temperature caused changes in the frequency of thermally characteristic days. Trends in the frequency of both ice days and days with freeze-thaw events were less significant. The frequency of ice days has been diminishing at all of the stations but significant were mostly annual trends. Significant decrease of the ice days was found at Ostrov Kotielnyj and Danmarkshavn stations in spring and at Hornsund station in summer. In summer significant were also trends for the longest of the multiyear periods analysed at Ostrov Kotielnyj and Danmarkshavn stations. In autumn downward trends were stable at Ostrov Kotielnyj station. At other stations trends in this index were significant only for the period of 1979-2013. A direction of trends in the frequency of days with freeze-thaw event is less stable. In the case of annual index values trends were negative at Ostrov Kotielnyj and Dikson stations whereas at other stations they were positive. Trend directions in the frequency of days with Tmin≤0°C^Tmax>0°C varied depending on season. In spring and autumn trends were positive at majority of the stations. However, they were significant only in spring at Ostrov Kotielnyj and Danmarkshavn stations. In summer trends in this index were negative. This decrease was the strongest and the most pronounced at Dikson station