Day to Day Variability of Air Temperature over Greece for the Period 1957–2002

Abstract

In the ongoing discussion of global warming and current climatic changes, an open issue is the increased variability of climatic parameters and the changing frequency and intensity of their extreme values. In this framework, the present work deals with the day-to-day variability of maximum (ΔTmax) and minimum (ΔTmin) air temperature and diurnal temperature range (Δ(DTR)) over the Greek area for the period 1957–2002. The data used are daily values from ten stations of the National Hellenic Meteorological Service (N.H.M.S.) which are uniformly distributed over the study area. The absolute values of the considered parameters, for each station, are analyzed in terms of intra-annual and inter-annual variation, whereas the existence of statistically significant trends on a seasonal and annual basis is also examined. The analysis reveals stations with common behaviour regarding temperature variability mainly determined by their geographical location and other geophysical characteristics. In many cases, especially for day-to-day variability of ΔTmin and Δ(DTR) there appear statistically significant trends, mainly increasing, either on a seasonal basis or annual.