Interannual variability in the summertime hydrological cycle over European regions

Abstract

A variety of observations-based hydrological variables from different data sets are used to investigate interannual variability and changes in the summertime hydrological cycle over four European regions-Iberian Peninsula (IP), British Isles (BI), Central Europe (CE), and European Russia (ER). An analysis performed on seasonal means (June, July, and August) suggests that soil moisture variability is impacted almost equally by precipitation and air temperature in BI and ER regions. However, stronger links between soil moisture and precipitation are revealed for CE region and between soil moisture and air temperature for IP region. In all except IP regions summertime interannual variability of column-integrated water vapor is strongly linked to air temperature consistent with the dominating influence of the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. In BI, CE, and ER interannual variability of regional precipitation is driven by variations in atmospheric moisture transport into these regions. In IP the link between precipitation and moisture transport is relatively weak. Based on monthly data, analysis of the lag-lead correlations revealed specific regional relationships between different hydrological variables. In particular, it is shown that in some regions (and months) interannual variability of soil moisture is linked more strongly to precipitation and air temperature anomalies in the previous month, rather than in the coinciding month. An analysis of the vertical structure of regional atmospheric moisture transport has revealed that the more continental the climate of the region is, the larger deviation from the mean (i.e., climatological) profile might be observed during anomalously dry/wet summers.

Changing summer precipitation variability in the Alpine region: on the role of scale dependent atmospheric drivers

“…The NAO seems to be important in general terms for the European climate, but it is less so for the Alpine Region and in the summer season in particular (Haslinger et al 2019). In another study Zveryaev et al (2016) analyzed the interannual variability of the hydrological cycle in summer for selected regions in Europe. Their results highlight the importance of atmospheric moisture transport into a specific region as a driver for the interannual variability of summer precipitation.…”

Seasonal variability of precipitations over the territory of Russia for 1966-2021

“…Climatic changes have a significant impact on the components of the hydrological cycle [1][2][3], including the atmospheric precipitation regime [4][5][6][7][8]. In recent decades, global warming led to an increase in the amount of atmospheric precipitation in the middle latitudes and to an intra-annual redefinition of precipitation.…”