Rainfall disparity at monthly scale on Catalonia (NE Spain): dependence on geographic coordinates, altitude and distance to the Mediterranean coast Xavier Lana, Raúl Rodríguez-Solà, María del Carmen Casas-Castillo, Carina Serra, Ricard Kirchner, Maria Dolors Martínez Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2023 The rainfall regime in Catalonia, NE Spain, has a typical Mediterranean behaviour with irregular monthly amounts, sometimes the result of copious and intense torrential episodes for a few months, while for others precipitation is scarce. In addition, the varied topography of this region is related to significant rainfall differences between its different areas. The monthly precipitation from 97 stations spread throughout the territory, from 1950 to 2016, has allowed a detailed study of the spatial distribution of rainfall irregularity, based on the concept of disparity, D. The disparities have been calculated for every calendar month, to characterise the rainfall amount inter-annual oscillations, and also for all the consecutive months, to evaluate the rainfall disparity along the year. The spatial distribution of D has been obtained for all cases, showing a main general increase from North to South, and a secondary increase from West to East, in some months such as July. The winter months, especially January, have the highest values of D, which can reach the value of 2.0. The dependence of D on altitude and distance from the coast has also been analysed. The correlation is predominantly negative in both cases, although in some months, such as January, this correlation is not so clear. Additionally, the histograms of D show statistical characteristics, such as signs of a Gaussian distribution for some calendar months, as well as clear asymmetry in others. The obtained results could be interesting to detect the calendar months with the highest uncertainty on their expected rain amounts, contributing to a better knowledge of the complex structure of the rainfall Mediterranean regime.
Time trends, irregularity and multifractal structure on the monthly rainfall regime at Barcelona, NE Spain, years 1786–2019 Xavier Lana, M. Carmen Casas‐Castillo, Raül Rodríguez‐Solà, Marc Prohom, Carina Serra, Maria Dolors Martínez, Ricard Kirchner International Journal of Climatology, 2023 Abstract A long and complete series of monthly rainfall amounts corresponding to Barcelona city (Catalonia, NE Spain), exceeding two centuries (years 1786–2019), is analysed in detail. The obtained results of periodicity (annual scale), time trends (monthly, seasonal and annual scales), statistical distribution (seasonal and annual scale) and fractal/multifractal structures and self‐similarity at monthly scale depict the complex structure of this pluviometric regime, which is characterized by moderate increasing and decreasing trends on rain amounts, varying from +0.08 mm·year −1 (February) to −0.07 mm·year −1 (September) and quite evident changes on the pluviometric trends at annual and seasonal scales when the rainfall data are analysed for segments of 50 years from 1800 up to 2019. A good example could be the relevant change on the annual scale time trend, from +0.77 mm·year −1 (years 1800–1850) to −0.17 mm·year −1 (years 1950–2019). Clear evidences of decreasing pluviometry for spring, summer and autumn for the last segment (1950–2019) in comparison with the other three segments, including years 1800–1950, are also detected. Additionally, increasing rainfall patterns complexity, expected difficulties on monthly rainfall forecasting and the increasing irregularity of monthly amounts is also detected by interpreting fractal and multifractal results. Irregularity increases on the monthly rainfall series and on the rainfall regime complexity derived from multifractal parameters, could be associated with the very notable increase of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere, globally varying from 51.1 × 10 6 metric tonnes (year 1820) to 36.6 × 10 9 metric tonnes (year 2019) and the tropospheric concentration increasing from 280.8 ppm (year 1850) to 397.5 ppm (year 2014), being the probable relationship between tropospheric concentrations and changes on rainfall patterns the objective of future researches.
A quality control procedure for long-term series of daily precipitation data in a semiarid environment Javier Estévez, Alba Llabrés-Brustenga, M. Carmen Casas-Castillo, Amanda Penélope García-Marín, Ricard Kirchner, Raül Rodríguez-Solà Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2022 The availability of quality precipitation records in the current climate situation is of great importance in the scientific-technical field but also for the public institutions that manage the meteorological networks. This work has implemented a comprehensive spatial quality control procedure in the semiarid region of Andalusia (Southern Spain), using precipitation time series from 1947 stations from three meteorological networks: Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET), Agroclimatic Information Network of Andalusia (RIA), and Phytosanitary Information Alert Network (RAIF). The method consists of three consecutive steps: basic, absolute, and relative quality control processes. The latter step compares data from neighboring stations taking into account their proximity, height difference, and correlation, leading to a complete evaluation of each daily value. Finally, the quality of each year at each station can be declared as acceptable, good, or excellent. The automatic weather station networks RIA and RAIF gave absolute quality index $$Q$$ Q above 85% for almost 87% of their stations, while only 57% of AEMET network reached this percentage. However, one of the longest AEMET datasets, San Fernando-Cádiz, obtained, except for 1 year, $$Q$$ Q values over 90% in all available years for more than a century of measurements, since 1870 until 2000. From a total of more than 15 million daily records, almost 82% was flagged as correct. Despite the limitations of Andalusia region (low density of stations and its structural water deficit), the complete quality control procedure has been satisfactorily applied. Finally, related to the number of outliers, no temporal trend was found across the region. Graphical abstract
A study on correlations between precipitation ETCCDI and airborne pollen/fungal spore parameters in the NE Iberian Peninsula R. Rodríguez-Solà, M. C. Casas-Castillo, J. J. Ho Zhang, R. Kirchner, M. Alarcón, C. Periago, C. De Linares, J. Belmonte International Journal of Biometeorology, 2022 Precipitation is one of the meteorological variables usually involved in the aerobiological studies, which presents a complex relationship with atmospheric levels of pollen and fungal spores and the temporal characteristics of their seasons. This complexity is due in a large part to rainfall's twofold impact of having, prior to pollination, a positive influence on subsequent pollen production and of contributing, during pollination, to pollen removal from the air through a wash-out effect. To better explore this impact, we place particular emphasis on extreme rainfall by calculating the correlation between airborne pollen and fungal spore parameters and the precipitation indices that the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) proposed for characterising climate extremes. Parameters for twenty-seven pollen and fungal spore taxa measured in six aerobiological stations in the NE Iberian Peninsula have been considered. We have distinguished between annual and winter ETCCDI in order to compare the correlations between extreme rainfall and airborne pollen concentrations and to avoid the wash-out effect as far as possible. Results show a positive influence from an increase in moderately extreme winter rainfall, specifically on subsequent pollen/fungal spore production: the percentage of all possible significant correlations is higher for winter than for annual rainfall. Furthermore, while annual rainfall in this region has nearly the same number of positive as negative correlations, the positive correlations for winter rainfall are more than twice that of the negative ones. The seasonal consideration on rainfall ETCCDI made with the aim to avoid the confounding overlapping of different rainfall impacts has led to more sharpened observations of its positive and negative effects on airborne pollen and fungal spore concentrations.
Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO2 emissions effects Xavier Lana, M. Carmen Casas-Castillo, Raül Rodríguez-Solà, Carina Serra, M. Dolors Martínez, Ricard Kirchner Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2021 The pluviometric regime in the Western Mediterranean and concretely in Catalonia (NE Spain) is characterised by irregular amounts at monthly and annual scales, sometimes with copious short episodes causing floods and, conversely, sometimes with long dry spells exceeding 1 month length, depending on the chosen threshold level to define the dry episode. Taking advantage of a dense network of rain gauges, most of them with records length of 50–60 years and some others exceeding 85 years, the evolution of these monthly and annual amounts is quantified by means of their time trends, statistical significance and several irregularity parameters. In agreement with the evolution of the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and the increasing concentration, in parts per million (ppm), of this greenhouse gas, different time trends at annual scale have been detected up to approximately years 1960–1970 in comparison with the interval 1960–1970 to nowadays. Consequently, besides the greenhouse effects on the temperature regime, the influence on the pluviometric regime could not be negligible. Graphical abstract
Autoregressive process of monthly rainfall amounts in Catalonia (NE Spain) and improvements on predictability of length and intensity of drought episodes Xavier Lana, Raül Rodríguez‐Solà, M. Dolors Martínez, M. Carmen Casas‐Castillo, Carina Serra, Ricard Kirchner International Journal of Climatology, 2021 Advantages offered by a pluviometric network in Catalonia (NE Spain) have permitted a detailed analysis of the two primary results derived from the autoregressive ARIMA process applied to monthly rainfall amounts. The first was the spatial distribution of the necessary number of previous monthly amounts needed to predict the next amount. The second was the spatial distribution of discrepancies between the real recorded amount and those derived from the autoregressive process. The heterogeneous spatial distribution of both parameters of the ARIMA process is in accordance with the complex spatial distribution of the monthly rainfall regime in Catalonia and fractal/multifractal analyses of several monthly rainfall time series. The statistical distribution of monthly discrepancies also permits a prediction of the probable evolution at monthly scale of drought episodes in terms of length and accumulated rainfall deficit. The results of the ARIMA algorithm are characterized by a few cases of rain gauges with remarkable differences (10–20 mm⋅month–1) between real and autoregressive amounts, a predominant number of emplacements lowering 10 mm⋅month–1 and a not negligible number of cases with discrepancies lower than 5 mm⋅month–1. In terms of percentages with respect to average monthly amounts, most of discrepancies do not exceed 15%, and only in a very few cases they are within the 20–40% range. It is also worth mentioning that the discrepancies between real and predicted drought lengths use to be no longer than 1 month. Results corresponding to monthly series recorded at two Earth Sciences observatories are described with more detail to illustrate the advantages offered by the ARIMA autoregressive process in the prediction of beginning, continuity and end of drought episodes.
Multifractal structure of the monthly rainfall regime in Catalonia (NE Spain): Evaluation of the non-linear structural complexity X. Lana, R. Rodríguez-Solà, M. D. Martínez, M. C. Casas-Castillo, C. Serra, R. Kirchner Chaos, 2020 The complex non-linear regime of the monthly rainfall in Catalonia (NE Spain) is analyzed by means of the reconstruction fractal theorem and the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis algorithm. Areas with a notable degree of complex physical mechanisms are detected by using the concepts of persistence (Hurst exponent), complexity (embedding dimension), predictive uncertainty (Lyapunov exponents), loss of memory of the mechanism (Kolmogorov exponent), and the set of multifractal parameters (Hölder exponents, spectral asymmetry, spectral width, and complexity index). Besides these analyses permitting a detailed description of monthly rainfall pattern characteristics, the obtained results should also be relevant for new research studies concerning monthly amounts forecasting at a monthly scale. On one hand, the number of necessary monthly data for autoregressive processes could change with the complexity of the multifractal structure of the monthly rainfall regime. On the other hand, the discrepancies between real monthly amounts and those generated by some autoregressive algorithms could be related to some parameters of the reconstruction fractal theorem, such as the Lyapunov and Kolmogorov exponents.
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Proyección del régimen pluviométrico futuro en el noreste de la península ibérica bajo escenarios de cambio climático MC Casas Castillo, R Kirchner, R Rodríguez-Solà Asociación Meteorológica Española , 2024 2024.0
Rainfall disparity at monthly scale on Catalonia (NE Spain): dependence on geographic coordinates, altitude and distance to the Mediterranean coast: X. Lana et al. X Lana, R Rodríguez-Solà, M del Carmen Casas-Castillo, C Serra, ... Theoretical and Applied Climatology 153 (3), 1293-1306 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 6
Comparative Study Between the Effects R Kirchner, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVIII, 261 , 2023 2023.0
On the convenience of the use of seasonal and monthly climatic indices in correlation studies MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, R Kirchner, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... Meteorology and Geophysics, 35 , 2023 2023.0
Time trends, irregularity and multifractal structure on the monthly rainfall regime at Barcelona, NE Spain, years 1786–2019 X Lana, MC Casas‐Castillo, R Rodríguez‐Solà, M Prohom, C Serra, ... International Journal of Climatology 43 (1), 499-518 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 11
A quality control procedure for long-term series of daily precipitation data in a semiarid environment J Estévez, A Llabrés-Brustenga, MC Casas-Castillo, AP García-Marín, ... Theoretical and Applied Climatology 149 (3), 1029-1041 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 21
A study on correlations between precipitation ETCCDI and airborne pollen/fungal spore parameters in the NE Iberian Peninsula R Rodríguez-Solà, MC Casas-Castillo, JJH Zhang, R Kirchner, M Alarcón, ... International journal of biometeorology 66 (6), 1173-1187 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 11
Análisis de escala simple de veinticinco años de registros de la red pluviométrica de Barcelona J Navarro Bosque, R Kirchner Amor, R Rodríguez Solá, M Casas Castillo XXXVIII Bienal de Física de la Real Sociedad Española de Física. Murcia, 11 … , 2022 2022.0
Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO 2 emissions effects: Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in … X Lana, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, C Serra, MD Martínez, ... Theoretical and applied climatology 146 (3), 981-996 , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 21
Comparative study between the effects of autumn and winter rainfall on aerobiological variables in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula R Kirchner, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modelling and its … , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 3
Anàlisi de les correlacions de Spearman entre els índexs ETCCDI de pluja hivernal i de tardor i els paràmetres de pol· len i espores a Bellaterra R Rodríguez Solá, M Casas Castillo, R Kirchner Amor 2021.0
Autoregressive process of monthly rainfall amounts in Catalonia (NE Spain) and improvements on predictability of length and intensity of drought episodes X Lana, R Rodríguez‐Solà, MD Martínez, MC Casas‐Castillo, C Serra, ... International Journal of Climatology 41, E3178-E3194 , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 15
Multifractal structure of the monthly rainfall regime in Catalonia (NE Spain): evaluation of the non-linear structural complexity X Lana, R Rodríguez-Solà, MD Martínez, MC Casas-Castillo, C Serra, ... Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science 30 (7) , 2020 2020.0 Citations: 20
Determinación del índice de estrés térmico WBGT R Kirchner http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/33365/1/WBGT%20Indice%20de … , 2013 2013.0 Citations: 4
Public Activities around the Transit of Venus E Masana, SJ Ribas EAS Publications Series 16, 233-239 , 2005 2005.0
Autoregressive process of monthly rainfall amounts in Catalonia (NE Spain) and improvements on predictability of length and intensity of drought episodes MC Casas-Castillo, C Serra, R Kirchner
Exploring some characteristics of the rainfall island in Barcelona M del Carmen Casas-Castillo, R Kirchner, R Rodríguez-Solà, C Serra, ... Meteorology and Geophysics, 29 , 0
Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO 2 emissions effects R Kirchner
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
A quality control procedure for long-term series of daily precipitation data in a semiarid environment J Estévez, A Llabrés-Brustenga, MC Casas-Castillo, AP García-Marín, ... Theoretical and Applied Climatology 149 (3), 1029-1041 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 21
Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO 2 emissions effects: Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in … X Lana, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, C Serra, MD Martínez, ... Theoretical and applied climatology 146 (3), 981-996 , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 21
Multifractal structure of the monthly rainfall regime in Catalonia (NE Spain): evaluation of the non-linear structural complexity X Lana, R Rodríguez-Solà, MD Martínez, MC Casas-Castillo, C Serra, ... Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science 30 (7) , 2020 2020.0 Citations: 20
Autoregressive process of monthly rainfall amounts in Catalonia (NE Spain) and improvements on predictability of length and intensity of drought episodes X Lana, R Rodríguez‐Solà, MD Martínez, MC Casas‐Castillo, C Serra, ... International Journal of Climatology 41, E3178-E3194 , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 15
Time trends, irregularity and multifractal structure on the monthly rainfall regime at Barcelona, NE Spain, years 1786–2019 X Lana, MC Casas‐Castillo, R Rodríguez‐Solà, M Prohom, C Serra, ... International Journal of Climatology 43 (1), 499-518 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 11
A study on correlations between precipitation ETCCDI and airborne pollen/fungal spore parameters in the NE Iberian Peninsula R Rodríguez-Solà, MC Casas-Castillo, JJH Zhang, R Kirchner, M Alarcón, ... International journal of biometeorology 66 (6), 1173-1187 , 2022 2022.0 Citations: 11
Rainfall disparity at monthly scale on Catalonia (NE Spain): dependence on geographic coordinates, altitude and distance to the Mediterranean coast: X. Lana et al. X Lana, R Rodríguez-Solà, M del Carmen Casas-Castillo, C Serra, ... Theoretical and Applied Climatology 153 (3), 1293-1306 , 2023 2023.0 Citations: 6
Determinación del índice de estrés térmico WBGT R Kirchner http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/33365/1/WBGT%20Indice%20de … , 2013 2013.0 Citations: 4
Comparative study between the effects of autumn and winter rainfall on aerobiological variables in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula R Kirchner, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modelling and its … , 2021 2021.0 Citations: 3
Proyección del régimen pluviométrico futuro en el noreste de la península ibérica bajo escenarios de cambio climático MC Casas Castillo, R Kirchner, R Rodríguez-Solà Asociación Meteorológica Española , 2024 2024.0
Comparative Study Between the Effects R Kirchner, MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVIII, 261 , 2023 2023.0
On the convenience of the use of seasonal and monthly climatic indices in correlation studies MC Casas-Castillo, R Rodríguez-Solà, R Kirchner, M Alarcón, C Periago, ... Meteorology and Geophysics, 35 , 2023 2023.0
Análisis de escala simple de veinticinco años de registros de la red pluviométrica de Barcelona J Navarro Bosque, R Kirchner Amor, R Rodríguez Solá, M Casas Castillo XXXVIII Bienal de Física de la Real Sociedad Española de Física. Murcia, 11 … , 2022 2022.0
Anàlisi de les correlacions de Spearman entre els índexs ETCCDI de pluja hivernal i de tardor i els paràmetres de pol· len i espores a Bellaterra R Rodríguez Solá, M Casas Castillo, R Kirchner Amor 2021.0
Public Activities around the Transit of Venus E Masana, SJ Ribas EAS Publications Series 16, 233-239 , 2005 2005.0
Autoregressive process of monthly rainfall amounts in Catalonia (NE Spain) and improvements on predictability of length and intensity of drought episodes MC Casas-Castillo, C Serra, R Kirchner
Exploring some characteristics of the rainfall island in Barcelona M del Carmen Casas-Castillo, R Kirchner, R Rodríguez-Solà, C Serra, ... Meteorology and Geophysics, 29 , 0
Rainfall regime trends at annual and monthly scales in Catalonia (NE Spain) and indications of CO 2 emissions effects R Kirchner
