Abstract
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 34,
L07711,
5 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2006GL028001
Summertime European heat and drought waves induced by wintertime Mediterranean rainfall deficit
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation Avancée en Calcul Scientifique, CNRS URA 1875, Toulouse, France
Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif sur Yvette, France
National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, Maryland, USA
The risk of extreme heat waves in Europe like the unprecedented one of summer 2003 is likely to increase in the future, calling for increased understanding of these phenomena. From an analysis of meteorological records over 58 years, we show that hot summers are preceded by winter rainfall deficits over Southern Europe. Subsequent drought and heat spreads northward throughout Europe in early summer, due to atmospheric transport of anomalously warm and dry air from Southern Europe in southerly wind episodes. This is shown by the observations and supported by mesoscale meteorological sensitivity simulations for Summer 1994. Moreover previous winter and early spring rainfall frequency in the Mediterranean regions is correlated with summer temperature in central continental Europe. These results emphasize the critical role of the water reservoir in the soil of continental Mediterranean areas for the maintenance of European climate.
Received 25 August 2006; accepted 23 February 2007; published 13 April 2007.
Citation: (2007), Summertime European heat and drought waves induced by wintertime Mediterranean rainfall deficit, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07711, doi:10.1029/2006GL028001.
Cited By
