Geografie 2017, 122, 1-20

https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2017122010001

Maximum temperatures over Slovenia and their relationship with atmospheric circulation patterns

Dragan D. Milošević1, Stevan M. Savić1, Uglješa Stankov2, Igor Žiberna3, Milana M. Pantelić1, Dragan Dolinaj1, Igor Leščešen4

1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Climatology and Hydrology Research Centre, Serbia
2University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Center for Spatial Information of Vojvodina Province, Serbia
3University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Geography, Slovenia
4University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Serbia

Received June 2015
Accepted May 2016

This paper examines temporal and spatial patterns of annual and seasonal maximum temperatures (Tmax) in Slovenia and their relationship with atmospheric circulation patterns. A significant increase in maximum temperature (Tmax; from 0.3°C to 0.5°C·decade-1) was observed throughout the country at the annual scale in the period 1963–2014. Significant positive trends are observed on all stations in summer (from 0.4°C to 0.7°C·decade-1) and spring (from 0.4°C to 0.6°C·decade-1). The results indicate significant correlations between the mean annual maximum temperature (Tmax) and the East Atlantic Oscillation (EA) (from 0.5 to 0.7), the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (from 0.4 to 0.7) and the Scandinavian Oscillation (SCAND) (from −0.3 to −0.4) throughout the country. A significant EA influence is observed in all seasons, while the AO influence is noticed in winter and spring, SCAND in spring and summer, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Mediterranean Oscillation (MO) in winter, the East Atlantic/Western Russia Oscillation (EA/WR) in summer and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in autumn.

Funding

This research was partly supported by the Project No. 43002 financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

References

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