EXTREME PRECIPITATION INDICES IN VOJVODINA REGION (SERBIA)

Abstract

The evolution of daily extreme precipitation from 1966 to 2013 in Vojvodina Region (Serbia) was investigated. We calculated trends of ten precipitation indices and tested their corresponding significances using the Student’s t-test for seven locations. The obtained results suggest that the climate of the northern and central parts of Vojvodina region becomes wetter in terms of precipitation magnitude and frequency, reflecting the characteristic of the central European regime, while the southernmost part of the region is drier, reflecting the characteristic of the Mediterranean regime. In addition, the results indicate an increase in the amount of precipitation in short time intervals. Positive annual trends are strongly influenced by the significant increase of autumn frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation. According to the correlation between extreme precipitation indices and atmospheric teleconnection patterns, it was found that the NAO has the strongest influence on precipitation intensity indices in spring and winter, while during winter it also affects the frequency of dry conditions. The EAWR pattern has a strong influence on the statistically significant positive autumn trends.

Keywords

• climate extremes
• precipitations
• atmospheric teleconnection patterns
• trends