MOTEDAS century: A new high-resolution secular monthly maximum and minimum temperature grid for the Spanish mainland (1916–2015)

Abstract

Information was retrieved from the Annual Climate Summaries (ACS) on average monthly temperatures in Spain for the period 1916–1949, and combined with the digitalized data from the National Climate Data Bank of the Spanish meteorological service (AEMET) to create the new MOTEDAS_century (MOnthly Temperature Dataset of Spain) database of mean monthly maximums (Tmax) and minimums (Tmin). This database was used to calculate a high-resolution (10 × 10 km) grid that allowed to make a detailed analysis of the temporal evolution of temperature in Spain during the period 1916–2015. Over the period, mean Tmax increased by 1.2°C, while Tmin increased by 1.0°C (this ratio is reversed in the second half of the century). In the last 30 years, however, mean annual Tmax and Tmin trends have not been significant. There are some differences between the new mean annual maximum and minimum temperature series and previous versions, which seem to arise from the much higher number of weather stations analysed, their location and the processing used. There is a discussion on the improved spatial representativeness of the new MOTEDAS_century that provides a more detailed representation of the spatial variability of temperatures in continental Spain.