Summary
Seven synoptic patterns responsible for heavy precipitation in Austria were identified with a trajectory clustering method. Back trajectories at different levels, at different times during each day, and from different locations in Austria were utilised together with one potential vorticity value. In addition, seven regions within Austria with similar daily precipitation were identified. The response of heavy precipitation in each of these regions to the synoptic patterns was studied. The results correspond to the synoptic experience and reflect known meteorological situations, such as southerly and northerly Stau or the Vb pattern. The analyses are based on the 15-year re-analysis of the ECMWF (1979–1993), used to calculate the back trajectories, and daily precipitation sums of 131 climate stations in Austria. This paves the way to future applications in climate change research, as the necessary input data are also available from global climate models. The clustering was performed with a promising new procedure, a combination of hierarchical and iterative (K-means) clustering.
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Seibert, P., Frank, A. & Formayer, H. Synoptic and regional patterns of heavy precipitation in Austria. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 87, 139–153 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-006-0198-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-006-0198-8