| 1. |
- Blöschl, Günter, et al.
(författare)
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Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 583:7817, s. 560-566
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are concerns that recent climate change is altering the frequency and magnitude of river floods in an unprecedented way(1). Historical studies have identified flood-rich periods in the past half millennium in various regions of Europe(2). However, because of the low temporal resolution of existing datasets and the relatively low number of series, it has remained unclear whether Europe is currently in a flood-rich period from a long-term perspective. Here we analyse how recent decades compare with the flood history of Europe, using a new database composed of more than 100 high-resolution (sub-annual) historical flood series based on documentary evidence covering all major regions of Europe. We show that the past three decades were among the most flood-rich periods in Europe in the past 500 years, and that this period differs from other flood-rich periods in terms of its extent, air temperatures and flood seasonality. We identified nine flood-rich periods and associated regions. Among the periods richest in floods are 1560-1580 (western and central Europe), 1760-1800 (most of Europe), 1840-1870 (western and southern Europe) and 1990-2016 (western and central Europe). In most parts of Europe, previous flood-rich periods occurred during cooler-than-usual phases, but the current flood-rich period has been much warmer. Flood seasonality is also more pronounced in the recent period. For example, during previous flood and interflood periods, 41 per cent and 42 per cent of central European floods occurred in summer, respectively, compared with 55 per cent of floods in the recent period. The exceptional nature of the present-day flood-rich period calls for process-based tools for flood-risk assessment that capture the physical mechanisms involved, and management strategies that can incorporate the recent changes in risk. Analysis of thousands of historical documents recording floods in Europe shows that flooding characteristics in recent decades are unlike those of previous centuries.
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| 2. |
- Brázdil, Rudolf, et al.
(författare)
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European climate of the past 500 years: new challenges for historical climatology
- 2010
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - Netherlands : Springer. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 101:1-2, s. 7-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temperature reconstructions from Europe for the past 500 years basedon documentary and instrumental data are analysed. First, the basic documentarydata sources, including information about climate and weather-related extremes, aredescribed. Then, the standard palaeoclimatological reconstruction method adoptedhere is discussed with a particular application to temperature reconstructions fromdocumentary-based proxy data. The focus is on two new reconstructions; January–April mean temperatures for Stockholm (1502–2008), based on a combination ofdata for the sailing season in the Stockholm harbour and instrumental temperaturemeasurements, and monthly Central European temperature (CEuT) series (1500–2007) based on documentary-derived temperature indices of the Czech Republic,Germany and Switzerland combined with instrumental records from the samecountries. The two series, both of which are individually discussed in greater detail in subsequent papers in this special edition, are here compared and analysed usingrunning correlations and wavelet analysis. While the Stockholm series shows apronounced low-frequency component, the CEuT series indicates much weaker lowfrequencyvariations. Both series are analysed with respect to three different longperiodreconstructions of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and are comparedwith other European temperature reconstructions based on tree-rings, wine-harvestdata and various climate multiproxies. Correlation coefficients between individualproxy-based series show weaker correlations compared to the instrumental data.There are also indications of temporally varying temperature cross-correlationsbetween different areas of Europe. The two temperature reconstructions have alsobeen compared to geographically corresponding temperature output from simulationswith global and regional climate models for the past few centuries. The findingsare twofold: on the one hand, the analysis reinforces the hypothesis that the indexdatabased CEuT reconstruction may not appropriately reflect the centennial scalevariations. On the other hand, it is possible that climate models may underestimateregional decadal variability. By way of a conclusion, the results are discussed froma broader point of view and attention is drawn to some new challenges for futureinvestigations in the historical climatology in Europe.
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| 3. |
- Brönnimann, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Unlocking Pre-1850 Instrumental Meteorological Records : A Global Inventory
- 2019
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Ingår i: Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS). - 0003-0007 .- 1520-0477. ; 100:12, s. ES389-ES413
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Instrumental meteorological measurements from periods prior to the start of national weather services are designated early instrumental data. They have played an important role in climate research as they allow daily to decadal variability and changes of temperature, pressure, and precipitation, including extremes, to be addressed. Early instrumental data can also help place twenty-first century climatic changes into a historical context such as defining preindustrial climate and its variability. Until recently, the focus was on long, high-quality series, while the large number of shorter series (which together also cover long periods) received little to no attention. The shift in climate and climate impact research from mean climate characteristics toward weather variability and extremes, as well as the success of historical reanalyses that make use of short series, generates a need for locating and exploring further early instrumental measurements. However, information on early instrumental series has never been electronically compiled on a global scale. Here we attempt a worldwide compilation of metadata on early instrumental meteorological records prior to 1850 (1890 for Africa and the Arctic). Our global inventory comprises information on several thousand records, about half of which have not yet been digitized (not even as monthly means), and only approximately 20% of which have made it to global repositories. The inventory will help to prioritize data rescue efforts and can be used to analyze the potential feasibility of historical weather data products. The inventory will be maintained as a living document and is a first, critical, step toward the systematic rescue and reevaluation of these highly valuable early records. Additions to the inventory are welcome.
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| 4. |
- Camenisch, Chantal, et al.
(författare)
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Extreme heat and drought in 1473 and their impacts in Europe in the context of the early 1470s
- 2020
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Ingår i: Regional Environmental Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1436-3798 .- 1436-378X. ; 20:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Droughts and heatwaves are both dangerous natural hazards with a potential significant impact on human societies. In order to understand these hazards, it is important to examine such extreme events in the past. During the years 1471 to 1474, warm and dry weather conditions are described in most parts of Europe. Until now, these extraordinary years have not been examined in depth. Moreover, in spring 1473, a great drought and heat occurred in Europe. This heatwave facilitated a fast phenological development. During the summer and the autumn, temperatures were unusually high, and extremely dry weather conditions continued. In many places, the harvest began remarkably early, and there was abundant wine of a good quality. Fruit trees even bloomed for the second time in autumn. The heat and drought had a considerable impact on the environment and also caused damage to agriculture and society, including water shortages, harvest failures and rising food prices. The weather conditions of the years from 1471 to 1474 were outstanding during the fifteenth century and the heatwave and drought, as well as impacts on environment, economy, and society in the year 1473, were comparable to-if not more severe-than those in the year 1540. Learning from past climate anomalies like the 1473 drought in Europe is important for evaluating more recent and future climate extremes under increasing anthropogenic pressure.
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| 5. |
- Dobrovolný, Petr, et al.
(författare)
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Monthly, seasonal and annual temperature reconstructions for Central Europe derived from documentary evidence and instrumental records since AD 1500
- 2010
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - Netherlands : Springer. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 101:1-2, s. 69-107
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Monthly temperature series for Central Europe back to AD 1500 aredeveloped from documentary index series from Germany, Switzerland and theCzech Republic (1500–1854) and 11 instrumental temperature records (1760–2007).Documentary evidence from the Low Countries, the Carpathian Basin and Polandare used for cross-checking for earlier centuries. The instrumental station recordsare corrected for inhomogeneities, including insufficient radiation protection ofearly thermometers and the urban heat island effect. For overlapping period (1760–1854), the documentary data series correlate with instrumental temperatures, moststrongly in winter (86% explained variance in January) and least in autumn (56%in September). For annual average temperatures, 81% of the variance is explained.Verification statistics indicate high reconstruction skill for most months and seasons.The last 20 years (since 1988) stand out as very likely the warmest 20-year period,accounting for the calibration uncertainty and decreases in proxy data quality beforethe calibration period. The new reconstruction displays a previously unobserved long-term decrease in DJF, MAM and JJA temperature variability over last fivecenturies. Compiled monthly, seasonal and annual series can be used to improve therobustness of gridded large-scale European temperature reconstructions and possibleimpact studies. Further improvement of the reconstruction would be achieved ifdocumentary data from other European countries are further developed.
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| 6. |
- Luterbacher, Jürg, et al.
(författare)
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Circulation dynamics and its influence on European and Mediterranean January–April climate over the past half millennium : results and insights from instrumental data,documentary evidence and coupled climate models
- 2010
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - Netherlands : Springer. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 101:1-2, s. 201-234
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use long instrumental temperature series together with available field reconstructions of sea-level pressure (SLP) and three-dimensional climate modelsimulations to analyze relations between temperature anomalies and atmospheric circulation patterns over much of Europe and the Mediterranean for the late winter/early spring (January–April, JFMA) season. A Canonical Correlation Analysis(CCA) investigates interannual to interdecadal covariability between a new gridded SLP field reconstruction and seven long instrumental temperature series covering the past 250 years. We then present and discuss prominent atmospheric circulation patterns related to anomalous warm and cold JFMA conditions within different European areas spanning the period 1760–2007. Next, using a data assimilation technique, we link gridded SLP data with a climate model (EC-Bilt-Clio) for a better dynamical understanding of the relationship between large scale circulationand European climate. We thus present an alternative approach to reconstruct climate for the pre-instrumental period based on the assimilated model simulations.Furthermore, we present an independent method to extend the dynamic circulation analysis for anomalously cold European JFMA conditions back to the sixteenth century. To this end, we use documentary records that are spatially representative for the long instrumental records and derive, through modern analogs, large-scale SLP, surface temperature and precipitation fields. The skill of the analog method is tested in the virtual world of two three-dimensional climate simulations (ECHOGand HadCM3). This endeavor offers new possibilities to both constrain climate model into a reconstruction mode (through the assimilation approach) and to better assess documentary data in a quantitative way.
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| 7. |
- Trachsel, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-archive summer temperature reconstruction for the European Alps, AD 1053-1996
- 2012
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 46, s. 66-79
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a multi-archive, multi-proxy summer temperature reconstruction for the European Alpscovering the period AD 1053-1996 using tree-ring and lake sediment data. The new reconstruction isbased on nine different calibration approaches and errors were estimated conservatively. Summertemperatures of the last millennium are characterised by two warm (AD 1053-1171 and 1823-1996) andtwo cold phases (AD 1172-1379 and 1573-1822). Highest pre-industrial summer temperatures of the12th century were 0.3 degC warmer than the 20th century mean but 0.35 degC colder than proxy derivedtemperatures at the end of the 20th century. The lowest temperatures at the end of the 16th centurywere ~1 degC lower than the 20th century mean.
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| 8. |
- Trnka, Miroslav, et al.
(författare)
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Priority questions in multidisciplinary drought research
- 2018
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Ingår i: Climate Research (CR). - : Inter-Research Science Center. - 0936-577X .- 1616-1572. ; 75, s. 241-260
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Addressing timely and relevant questions across amultitude of spatio-temporal scales,state-of-the-art interdisciplinary drought research will likely increase in importance under projectedclimate change. Given the complexity of the various direct and indirect causes and consequences of adrier world, scientific tasks need to be coordinated efficiently. Drought-related research endeavorsranging from individual projects to global initiatives therefore require prioritization. Here, wepresent 60 priority questions for optimizing future drought research. This topical catalogue reflectsthe experience of 65 scholars from 21 countries and almost 20 fields of research in both naturalsciences and the humanities. The set of drought-related questions primarily covers drought monitoring,impacts, forecasting, climatology, adaptation, as well as planning and policy. The questionshighlight the increasingly important role of remote sensing techniques in drought monitoring, importanceof drought forecasting and understanding the relationships between drought parametersand drought impacts, but also challenges of drought adaptation and preparedness policies.
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| 9. |
- Wetter, Oliver, et al.
(författare)
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The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540-a worst case
- 2014
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 125:3-4, s. 349-363
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The heat waves of 2003 in Western Europe and 2010 in Russia, commonly labelled as rare climatic anomalies outside of previous experience, are often taken as harbingers of more frequent extremes in the global warming-influenced future. However, a recent reconstruction of spring-summer temperatures for WE resulted in the likelihood of significantly higher temperatures in 1540. In order to check the plausibility of this result we investigated the severity of the 1540 drought by putting forward the argument of the known soil desiccation-temperature feedback. Based on more than 300 first-hand documentary weather report sources originating from an area of 2 to 3 million km(2), we show that Europe was affected by an unprecedented 11-month-long Megadrought. The estimated number of precipitation days and precipitation amount for Central and Western Europe in 1540 is significantly lower than the 100-year minima of the instrumental measurement period for spring, summer and autumn. This result is supported by independent documentary evidence about extremely low river flows and Europe-wide wild-, forest- and settlement fires. We found that an event of this severity cannot be simulated by state-of-the-art climate models.
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| 10. |
- Zorita, Eduardo, et al.
(författare)
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European temperature records of the past five centuries based on documentary/instrumental information compared to climate simulations
- 2010
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Ingår i: Climatic Change. - Netherlands : Springer. - 0165-0009 .- 1573-1480. ; 101:1-2, s. 143-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two European temperature reconstructions for the past half-millennium,January-to-April air temperature for Stockholm (Sweden) and seasonal temperaturefor a Central European region, both derived from the analysis of documentarysources and long instrumental records, are compared with the output of climate simulations with the model ECHO-G. The analysis is complemented by comparisonswith the long (early)-instrumental record of Central England Temperature(CET). Both approaches to study past climates (simulations and reconstructions)are burdened with uncertainties. The main objective of this comparative analysisis to identify robust features and weaknesses in each method which may help toimprove models and reconstruction methods. The results indicate a general agreementbetween simulations obtained with temporally changing external forcings andthe reconstructed Stockholm and CET records for the multi-centennial temperaturetrend over the recent centuries, which is not reproduced in a control simulation.This trend is likely due to the long-term change in external forcing. Additionally,the Stockholm reconstruction and the CET record also show a clear multi-decadalwarm episode peaking around AD 1730, which is absent in the simulations. Neitherthe reconstruction uncertainties nor the model internal climate variability caneasily explain this difference. Regarding the interannual variability, the Stockholmseries displays, in some periods, higher amplitudes than the simulations but thesedifferences are within the statistical uncertainty and further decrease if output froma regional model driven by the global model is used. The long-term trend of theCentral European temperature series agrees less well with the simulations. Thereconstructed temperature displays, for all seasons, a smaller difference between thepresent climate and past centuries than is seen in the simulations. Possible reasons forthese differences may be related to a limitation of the traditional ‘indexing’ techniquefor converting documentary evidence to temperature values to capture long-termclimate changes, because the documents often reflect temperatures relative to thecontemporary authors’ own perception of what constituted ‘normal’ conditions. Bycontrast, the amplitude of the simulated and reconstructed inter-annual variabilityagrees rather well.
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