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Weather maps classification over Greek domain based on isobaric line patterns

A pattern recognition approach

Theoretical and Applied Climatology volume 114, pages 691–704 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

The paper presents a semi-supervised weather classification method based on 850-hPa isobaric level maps. A preprocessing step is employed, where isolines of geopotential height are extracted from weather map images via an image processing procedure. Α feature extraction stage follows where two techniques are applied. The first technique implements phase space reconstruction, and yields multidimensional delay distributions. The second technique is based on chain code representation of signals, from which histogram features are derived. Similarity measures are used to compare multidimensional data and the k-means algorithm is applied in the final stage. The method is applied over the area of Greece, and the resulting catalogues are compared to a subjective classification for this area. Numerical experiments with datasets derived from the European Meteorological Bulletin archives exhibit an up to 91 % accurate agreement with the subjective weather patterns.

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Acknowledgments

Funding by the University of Patras Research Committee under the Basic Research Program 2009–2012 ‘K. Karatheodori’, project No. C907, is gratefully acknowledged. The database of the processed images of weather maps is available at http://www.atmosphere-upatras.gr/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Department of Physics, University of Patras, Rio, 26500, Greece

    Athanassios Zagouras & Athanassios A. Argiriou

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA

    Athanassios Zagouras

  3. Electronics Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Patras, Rio, 26500, Greece

    George Economou & Spiros Fotopoulos

  4. Department of Environmental Physics, Faculty of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, 15784, Greece

    Helena A. Flocas

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  1. Athanassios Zagouras
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  2. Athanassios A. Argiriou
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  3. George Economou
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  4. Spiros Fotopoulos
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  5. Helena A. Flocas
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Correspondence to Athanassios A. Argiriou.

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Zagouras, A., Argiriou, A.A., Economou, G. et al. Weather maps classification over Greek domain based on isobaric line patterns. Theor Appl Climatol 114, 691–704 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0870-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0870-8

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