HR: 0830h
AN: A31E-0092    [PDF]
TI: Extreme Temperature and Precipitation Events in Alaska
AU: * Shulski, M D
EM: martha@climate.gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Stuefer, M
EM: martin@climate.gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Wendler, G
EM: gerd@climate.gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: While much emphasis has been placed on changes in temperature and precipitation means, events at the tails of the frequency distribution, or extreme events, are lesser known. However it is generally these events that generate the most detrimental societal impacts. Daily temperature and precipitation observations were investigated for the period 1950 to 2001 at locations representative of arctic, continental, and maritime climate regimes in Alaska. Extreme minimum temperatures showed an increase that was generally almost twice the magnitude as that for extreme maxima. These trends are on the order of 1 to 2$\deg$C for the winter and spring months, whereas trends for summer are almost negligible, and the autumn months show a negative tendency, or decrease. These changes are fairly uniform across Alaska's climate regions. Changes in mean temperatures show similar seasonal dependency with the strongest warming in winter and spring and a slight cooling in the fall, and all regions show a warming for the annual average that is in the range of 0.5 to 2.0$]deg$C. For all regions except the arctic, precipitation shows a general increase on the order of 6% to 23% for the annual total, in which the autumn and winter months show the largest increase. The change in extreme precipitation events was found to be greater than the corresponding change in the mean daily total. The arctic has shown a precipitation decrease that is seasonally uniform, with a strong decrease in the mean daily total.
DE: 0399 General or miscellaneous
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting