European isotherms move northwards by up to 15 km year<sup>-1</sup>: using climate analogues for awareness-raising

Beniston, Martin

doi:10.1002/joc.3804

Advanced search

Browse by...

Deposit

Highlights

More informations

Title		European isotherms move northwards by up to 15 km year^-1: using climate analogues for awareness-raising
Author		Beniston, Martin
Published in		International Journal of Climatology. 2014, vol. 34, no. 6, p. 1838-1844
Abstract		Little use has been made up till now of the concept of climate analogues to link the present and the past, i.e. places whose current climate (‘target' locations) is similar to that experienced some decades ago at distant locations (‘reference' sites). Indeed, most research up till now has focused on analogues between present and future climates. Here we assess at what period of time the climate at a target station in Europe has reached—or will reach—that of a reference location, and show that the velocity of northward-moving isotherms can attain 15 km year−1. Such displacements in space imply that temperatures at many target sites in Europe have already exceeded those experienced by stations located 300–500 km to the south in the last half-century. Such results can serve to better portray what a rapidly changing climate means to a lay audience, and can provide useful information to the policy-making community.
Keywords		climatic change — climate analogues — policy guidance
Identifiers		DOI: 10.1002/joc.3804
Full text		Article (Published version) (359 Kb) - Limited access to UNIGE
Structures		Centres et instituts / Institut des sciences de l'environnement
Research groups		Groupe Beniston ISE Pôle Sciences ISE Climat
Citation (ISO format)		BENISTON, Martin. European isotherms move northwards by up to 15 km year^-1: using climate analogues for awareness-raising. In: International Journal of Climatology, 2014, vol. 34, n° 6, p. 1838-1844. doi: 10.1002/joc.3804 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:29223