Climate Variation or Climate Change? Evidence in Favour in the Northern Adriatic Area, Croatia

Abstract

Global warming is getting ever more concerning. Meteorological -parameters such as yearly mean temperature, minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity, yearly precipitation depth as well as number of days with rain obtained at meteorological station in Rijeka (120 m a.s.l.) were analysed. The time series include data from 1977 to 2010. The data analyses showed increase in yearly average temperature by 0.3-0.6°C, and increase of daily maximum by approx. 10°C over the period studied. In spite of declining trend in precipitation depths until 2007, the number of rainy days increased for approx 30 days at the same time, suggesting switching to warmer and more humid climate. The last 3 years data show the opposing trend thus smoothing these trends. The first evidence of climate variation and/or climate change might be the appearance of Asian tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) recently, as well as sea level elevation in the Northern Adriatic. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012.