Status and changes in key meteorological variables at the CONECOFOR plots, 1996 - 2005

Abstract

In this paper, variability of precipitation, temperatures and temperature stress indexes of permanent monitoring plots (PMPs) of Italian CONECOFOR network are analyzed. The study is carried out in 16 Open Field areas over the period 1996-2005. For four areas among these (BOL1, EMI1, VAL1, VEN1) longer time series are considered. An eventual trend in time series is analysed using the Mann- Kendall test, applied to annual and seasonal values, and using the additive stochastic model to separate the seasonal variation, despite the limited number of available data. Both methods do not show clear temperature or precipitation trends on long-term period. Changes in annual climatic parameters for different areas may be related to fluctuations on short-term period.

Keywords

• trends
• precipitation
• temperature
• time series.