Spatial and temporal temperature trends in Nigeria, 1901–2000

Trends and periodicity analyses can provide information on climate variability inherent in a particular variable. In this study, trend tests and spectral analysis are used to examine the existence of trends and cycles in temperature series (1901–2000) of Nigeria. Periods 1901–1929 and 1942–1980 exhibited cooling trends while 1930–1941 and 1981–2000 showed warming trends. The warmest years in Nigeria were 1941, 1935, 1931 and 1987. The coldest years were 1929, 1975, 1925 and 1974. Whereas no significant trends were detected for 1901–1930 period, the standard period 1931–1960 was marked by significant cooling while 1961–1990 was marked with significant warming. Annual temperature has risen by 0.03?°C/decade during the last century. The overall warming was mostly confined to the south of 12°N especially during April and June. Changes in minimum temperature are higher than that of maximum temperature. The quasi-biennial oscillation was found in annual data for all the six zones with periods of about 2–4?years. Nigeria landscape is under strong North Atlantic Oscillation influence in dry season and under ENSO influence during wet season. Annual temperature series was also found to exhibit significant negative correlation with SOI.     

北美和欧亚大陆冬季快速增温与地表干湿变化

采用东英吉利大学气候研究中心（CRU）提供的月地表温度和降水资料,分析了全球年平均及冬季地表温度变化趋势,发现在北半球中高纬地区半干旱区冬季快速增温。在此基础上通过分析帕默尔干旱指数（PDSI）研究了北美和欧亚大陆冬季地表干湿变化的时空特征和差异,并讨论北美和欧亚大陆冬季快速增温对地表干湿变化的影响。结果表明,北美大陆南部微弱变湿,加拿大北极群岛变湿明显,而在北美大陆的中西部有明显的变干趋势;欧亚大陆大部分地区在冬季有一定的变干趋势,其中尤以西欧南部,中国华北、东北,蒙古中北、东北部及俄罗斯远东地区变干最为显著。但北美和欧亚大陆1950-2008年冬季降水并无显著变化趋势,地表干湿变化主要受气温的影响,尤其是在冬季增温最为快速的地区。     

中国春末夏初降水量异常的气候类型

选取中国大陆均匀分布的８０个测站１９５１—１９９４年历年５—６月月总降水量标准化距平资料，利用ＥＯＦ和ＲＥＯＦ方法对春末夏初降水量异常的空间结构及时间演变规律作了研究。结果表明，中国春末夏初降水异常在空间上主要表现为南北相反变化的差异（ＬＶ）。旋转载荷向量场（ＲＬＶ）反映出１１个主要降水异常类型区。旋转主分量（ＲＰＣ）揭示了４４年来春末夏初降水的时间演变特征：江淮和江南地区降水量减少，东北和南疆地区降水量增多；河套东部、华南、北疆、华北地区呈多雨—少雨—多雨的抛物线型，而河套西部、西南地区呈少雨—多雨—少雨的反抛物线型。     

全球不同空间尺度陆地年降水的年代尺度变化特征

基于1951~2010年GPCC（Global Precipitation Climatology Centre）的逐月降水数据,利用集合经验模分解法（Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition,简称EEMD法）对全球、东西半球、五个大陆和四个典型干旱半干旱区等不同空间尺度年降水量的年代尺度特征进行了研究,区分了不同空间尺度上降水的年代际变化及其长期趋势。结果发现:（1）全球陆地平均降水既存在年代际的周期振荡,又存在长期变化的趋势,降水的年代际周期振荡的强度远大于降水的长期趋势,两者的共同作用使得全球陆地平均降水呈现以年代际周期振荡为主的特征。（2）在半球尺度,2000年以前,东、西半球具有明显相反的年代尺度变化特征,东半球变干（降水减少）,西半球变湿（降水增加）。（3）1951~2010年,欧亚大陆和非洲大陆与北美、南美和澳洲大陆的年代际振荡和趋势存在着一个近似反位相的关系;干旱化与干旱时段是完全不同的两个过程,两者所处的时段也不同;近10年（2001~2010年）全球五个大陆可能将进入一个相对湿润的时段。（4）四个典型干旱半干旱区降水的年代尺度变化具有明显的区域差异。总体来说,华北和北非与北美和中亚降水在长期趋势及年代际振荡上具有反位相的特征。华北和北非的年代际振荡具有近似的位相。在最近几十年,北美和中亚同处于湿润时段,但前者开始于1975年,后者开始于1985年。此外,中亚的第一个湿润时段（1959~1968年）却对应北美的干旱时段。     

An assessment of monsoon precipitation changes during 1901�C2001

Changes of global land monsoon precipitation are assessed by using three sets of rain-gauge precipitation data for the period of 1901?C2002 compiled by GPCC, CRU and Dai-dataset, respectively. The three datasets show consistent long-term changes of precipitation over the monsoon region with slightly different amplitudes. During 1901?C2001, global land monsoon precipitation (GMI) exhibits multi-decadal variations, with an overall increasing trend from 1901 to 1955, followed by a decreasing trend up to 2001. The upward trends of global and Northern hemispheric land monsoon precipitation during 1901?C1955 are mainly resulted from the increased precipitation over the North African, Indian and East Asian monsoon domains. For the whole period of 1901?C2001, precipitation averaged over the Northern Hemisphere and global land monsoon areas both exhibit a decreasing trend although it is only statistically significant at the 5% level for the Northern Hemisphere. The robust decreasing trend of Northern hemispheric land monsoon precipitations during the twentieth century mainly comes from the downward trend of North African and eastern part of Indian monsoon precipitation and occurs mainly after the 1950s. The first leading mode of Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of precipitation annual range features a coherent change of North African, South Asian, Northeast China, southern South African, eastern Australian and western American monsoon, and a coherent change over the equatorial South African monsoon and eastern American monsoon. The corresponding principal component time series also indicate that the majority of global land monsoon precipitation has experienced an increasing tendency from 1901 to 1955 and a decreasing trend since the 1950s. Examination on the impact of station number change indicates a negligible influence on the results, especially after 1905.     

Spatial dependence of diurnal temperature range trends on precipitation from 1950 to 2004

This paper analyzes the spatial dependence of annual diurnal temperature range (DTR) trends from 1950–2004 on the annual climatology of three variables: precipitation, cloud cover, and leaf area index (LAI), by classifying the global land into various climatic regions based on the climatological annual precipitation. The regional average trends for annual minimum temperature (T _min) and DTR exhibit significant spatial correlations with the climatological values of these three variables, while such correlation for annual maximum temperature (T _max) is very weak. In general, the magnitude of the downward trend of DTR and the warming trend of T _min decreases with increasing precipitation amount, cloud cover, and LAI, i.e., with stronger DTR decreasing trends over drier regions. Such spatial dependence of T _min and DTR trends on the climatological precipitation possibly reflects large-scale effects of increased global greenhouse gases and aerosols (and associated changes in cloudiness, soil moisture, and water vapor) during the later half of the twentieth century.     

Dry spell characteristics over India based on IMD and APHRODITE datasets

Selected characteristics of dry spells and associated trends over India during the 1951–2007 period is studied using two gridded datasets: the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Asian Precipitation-Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of the water resources (APHRODITE) datasets. Two precipitation thresholds, 1 and 3 mm, are used to define a dry day (and therefore dry spells) in this study. Comparison of the spatial patterns of the dry spell characteristics (mean number of dry days, mean number of dry spells, mean and maximum duration of dry spells) for the annual and summer monsoon period obtained with both datasets agree overall, except for the northernmost part of India. The number of dry days obtained with APHRODITE is larger for this region compared to IMD, which is consistent with the smaller precipitation for the region in APHRODITE. These differences are also visible in the spatial patterns of mean and maximum dry spell durations. Analysis of field significance associated with trends, at the level of 34 predefined meteorological subdivisions over the mainland, suggests better agreement between the two datasets in positive trends associated with number of dry days for the annual and summer monsoon period, for both thresholds. Important differences between the two datasets are noted in the field significance associated with the negative trends. While negative trends in annual maximum duration of dry spells appear field significant for the desert regions according to both datasets, they are found field significant for two regions (Punjab and South Interior Karnataka) for the monsoon period for both datasets. This study, in addition to providing information on the spatial and temporal patterns associated with dry spell characteristics, also allows identification of regions and characteristics where the two datasets agree/disagree.     

Observational evidence for the relationship between spring soil moisture and June rainfall over the Indian region

Understanding the relationship between gradually varying soil moisture (SM) conditions and monsoon rainfall anomalies is crucial for seasonal prediction. Though it is an important issue, very few studies in the past attempted to diagnose the linkages between the antecedent SM and Indian summer monsoon rainfall. This study examined the relationship between spring (April–May) SM and June rainfall using observed data during the period 1979–2010. The Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analyses showed that the spring SM plays a significant role in June rainfall over the Central India (CI), South India (SI), and North East India (NEI) regions. The composite anomaly of the spring SM and June rainfall showed that excess (deficit) June rainfall over the CI was preceded by wet (dry) spring SM. The anomalies in surface-specific humidity, air temperature, and surface radiation fluxes also supported the existence of a positive SM-precipitation feedback over the CI. On the contrary, excess (deficit) June rainfall over the SI and NEI region were preceded by dry (wet) spring SM. The abnormal wet (dry) SM over the SI and NEI decreased (increased) the 2-m air temperature and increased (decreased) the surface pressure compared to the surrounding oceans which resulted in less (more) moisture transport from oceans to land (negative SM-precipitation feedback over the Indian monsoon region).     

Evaluation of 2-m temperature and precipitation products of the Climate Forecast System version 2 over Iran

Using a continuous multi-decadal simulations over the period 1981–2010, subseasonal to seasonal simulations of the Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2) over Iran against the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) dataset are evaluated. CFSv2 shows cold biases over northern hillsides of the Alborz Mountains with the Mediterranean climate and warm biases over northern regions of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea with a dry climate. Magnitude of the model bias for 2-m temperature over different regions of Iran varies by season, with the least bias in temperate seasons of spring and autumn, and the largest bias in summer. The model bias decreases as temporal averaging period increases from seasonal to annual. The forecast generally produces dry and wet biases over dry and wet regions of Iran, respectively. In general, 2-m temperature over Iran is better captured than precipitation, but the prediction skill of precipitation is generally high over western Iran. Averaged over Iran, observations indicated that 2-m temperature has been gradually increasing during the studied period, with a rate of approximately 0.5 °C per decade, and the upward trend is well simulated by CFSv2. Averaged over Iran, both observations and simulation results indicated that precipitation has been decreasing in spring, with averaged decreasing trends of 0.8 mm (observed) and 1.7 mm (simulated) per season each year during the period 1981–2010. Observations indicated that the maximum increasing trend of 2-m temperature has occurred over western Iran (nearly 0.7 °C per decade), while the maximum decreasing trend of annual precipitation has occurred over western and parts of southern Iran (nearly 45 to 50 mm per decade).     

Trends of Minimum and Maximum Daily Temperatures in Italy from 1865 to 1996

Summary Annual and seasonal changes in maximum and minimum temperatures (Tmax and Tmin) and in daily temperature range (DTR) in Italy are investigated. Monthly average series for northern and southern Italy are analysed for evidence of trend. Tmax and Tmin show a positive trend over the period 1865–1996 which is greater in southern Italy than in northern Italy. DTR shows a positive trend, but greater in the North than in the South. There is a positive correlation between DTR and mean monthly temperature especially in spring and in summer, while there is a high significant negative correlation between DTR and monthly precipitation. Analysis of temperature, precipitation and DTR during the period 1865–1996 suggests that a general relationship between the very warm last 15–20 years and an increase in the frequency of sub-tropical anticyclones over the Central-Western Mediterranean. This relationship is based on the hypothesis that in Italy more frequent sub-tropical anticyclones could have been the most characteristic feature of the warm periods during the last 130 years. Received June 4, 1999 Revised November 2, 1999     

Precipitation climatology over India: validation with observations and reanalysis datasets and spatial trends

Changing rainfall patterns have significant effect on water resources, agriculture output in many countries, especially the country like India where the economy depends on rain-fed agriculture. Rainfall over India has large spatial as well as temporal variability. To understand the variability in rainfall, spatial–temporal analyses of rainfall have been studied by using 107 (1901–2007) years of daily gridded India Meteorological Department (IMD) rainfall datasets. Further, the validation of IMD precipitation data is carried out with different observational and different reanalysis datasets during the period from 1989 to 2007. The Global Precipitation Climatology Project data shows similar features as that of IMD with high degree of comparison, whereas Asian Precipitation-Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation data show similar features but with large differences, especially over northwest, west coast and western Himalayas. Spatially, large deviation is observed in the interior peninsula during the monsoon season with National Aeronautics Space Administration-Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (NASA-MERRA), pre-monsoon with Japanese 25 years Re Analysis (JRA-25), and post-monsoon with climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) reanalysis datasets. Among the reanalysis datasets, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) shows good comparison followed by CFSR, NASA-MERRA, and JRA-25. Further, for the first time, with high resolution and long-term IMD data, the spatial distribution of trends is estimated using robust regression analysis technique on the annual and seasonal rainfall data with respect to different regions of India. Significant positive and negative trends are noticed in the whole time series of data during the monsoon season. The northeast and west coast of the Indian region shows significant positive trends and negative trends over western Himalayas and north central Indian region.     

A study on the role of land-atmosphere coupling on the south Asian monsoon climate variability using a regional climate model

The spatial and temporal trends of 11 (7) temperature (precipitation) extreme indices are examined for the Loess Plateau Region (LPR) and its southeast and northwest sub-regions based on daily observations at 214 meteorological stations. Results show widespread significant warming trends for all the temperature extremes except for the diurnal temperature range (DTR) and the lowest daily maximum temperature in each year (TXn) during 1961–2010. When regionally averaged, a significant warming trend is detected for all the indices except for DTR and TXn in the past 50 years. Compared with the entire LPR, a significant warming trend is detected for all the indices except for DTR and TXn over the southeast sub-region of LPR; while it is observed for all the indices over the northwest. The trends for these indices are generally stronger in the northwest than in the southeast in the past 50 years. In contrast, for precipitation indices, only a small percentage of areas show significant drying or wetting trends and, when regionally averaged, none of them displays significant trends during the past 50 years. On the sub-regional scale, however, a larger percentage of areas show significant drying trends for precipitation indices generally over the southeast relative to the entire LPR, and noticeably, the sub-regional average heavy precipitation (R10mm) and wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT) display significant decreasing trends during the past 50 years; whereas only a slightly larger percentage of areas show significant wetting trends for these indices over the northwest compared with the entire LPR, and when sub-regionally averaged, none of the indices have significant trends during the past 50 years.     

Boreal summer continental monsoon rainfall and hydroclimate anomalies associated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation

With the twentieth century analysis data (1901–2002) for atmospheric circulation, precipitation, Palmer drought severity index, and sea surface temperature (SST), we show that the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) during boreal summer is a major mode of the earth climate variation linking to global atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate anomalies, especially the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer land monsoon. Associated with a positive APO phase are the warm troposphere over the Eurasian land and the relatively cool troposphere over the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Such an amplified land–ocean thermal contrast between the Eurasian land and its adjacent oceans signifies a stronger than normal NH summer monsoon, with the strengthened southerly or southwesterly monsoon prevailing over tropical Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. A positive APO implies an enhanced summer monsoon rainfall over all major NH land monsoon regions: West Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Mexico. Thus, APO is a sensible measure of the NH land monsoon rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, reduced precipitation appears over the arid and semiarid regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, manifesting the monsoon-desert coupling. On the other hand, surrounded by the cool troposphere over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the extratropical North America has weakened low-level continental low and upper-level ridge, hence a deficient summer rainfall. Corresponding to a high APO index, the African and South Asian monsoon regions are wet and cool, the East Asian monsoon region is wet and hot, and the extratropical North America is dry and hot. Wet and dry climates correspond to wet and dry soil conditions, respectively. The APO is also associated with significant variations of SST in the entire Pacific and the extratropical North Atlantic during boreal summer, which resembles the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation in SST. Of note is that the Pacific SST anomalies are not present throughout the year, rather, mainly occur in late spring, peak at late summer, and are nearly absent during boreal winter. The season-dependent APO–SST relationship and the origin of the APO remain elusive.     

Large-scale and spatio-temporal extreme rain events over India: a hydrometeorological study

Frequency, intensity, areal extent (AE) and duration of rain spells during summer monsoon exhibit large intra-seasonal and inter-annual variations. Important features of the monsoon period large-scale wet spells over India have been documented. A main monsoon wet spell (MMWS) occurs over the country from 18 June to 16 September, during which, 26.5 % of the area receives rainfall 26.3 mm/day. Detailed characteristics of the MMWS period large-scale extreme rain events (EREs) and spatio-temporal EREs (ST-EREs), each concerning rainfall intensity (RI), AE and rainwater (RW), for 1 to 25 days have been studied using 1° gridded daily rainfall (1951–2007). In EREs, ‘same area’ (grids) is continuously wet, whereas in ST-EREs, ‘any area’ on the mean under wet condition for specified durations is considered. For the different extremes, second-degree polynomial gave excellent fit to increase in values from distribution of annual maximum RI and RW series with increase in duration. Fluctuations of RI, AE, RW and date of occurrence (or start) of the EREs and the ST-EREs did not show any significant trend. However, fluctuations of 1° latitude–longitude grid annual and spatial maximum rainfall showed highly significant increasing trend for 1 to 5 days, and unprecedented rains on 26–27 July 2005 over Mumbai could be a realization of this trend. The Asia–India monsoon intensity significantly influences the MMWS RW.     

Influence of Changes in Solar Radiation on Changes of Surface Temperature in China

The long-term trends of total surface solar radiation(SSR),surface diffuse radiation,and surface air temperature were analyzed in this study based on updated 48-yr data from 55 observational stations in China,and then the correlation between SSR and the diurnal temperature range(DTR) was studied.The effect of total solar radiation on surface air temperature in China was investigated on the basis of the above analyses.A strong correlation between SSR and DTR was found for the period 1961-2008 in China.The highest correlation and steepest regression line slope occurred in winter,indicating that the solar radiation effect on DTR was the largest in this season.Clouds and water vapor have strong influences on both SSR and DTR,and hence on their relationship.The largest correlations between SSR and DTR occurred in wintertime in northern China,regardless of all-day(including clear days and cloudy days) or clear-day cases.Our results also showed that radiation arriving at the surface in China decreased significantly during 1961-1989(dimming period),but began to increase during 1990-2008(brightening period),in agreement with previous global studies.The reduction of total SSR offset partially the greenhouse warming during 1961-1989.However,with the increase of SSR after 1990,this offsetting effect vanished;on the contrary,it even made a contribution to the accelerated warming.Nonetheless,the greenhouse warming still played a controlling role because of the increasing of minimum and mean surface temperatures in the whole study period of 1961-2008.We estimated that the greenhouse gases alone may have caused surface temperatures to rise by 0.31-0.46℃(10 yr) 1 during 1961-2008,which is higher than previously estimated.Analysis of the corresponding changes in total solar radiation,diffuse radiation,and total cloud cover indicated that the dimming and brightening phenomena in China were likely attributable to increases in absorptive and scattering aerosols in the atmosphere,respectively.     

Trend analysis of precipitation in Jharkhand State,India

Jharkhand is one of the eastern states of India which has an agriculture-based economy. Uncertain and erratic distribution of precipitation as well as a lack of state water resources planning is the major limitation to crop growth in the region. In this study, the spatial and temporal variability in precipitation in the state was examined using a monthly precipitation time series of 111 years (1901–2011) from 18 meteorological stations. Autocorrelation and Mann–Kendall/modified Mann–Kendall tests were utilized to detect possible trends, and the Theil and Sen slope estimator test was used to determine the magnitude of change over the entire time series. The most probable change year (change point) was detected using the Pettitt–Mann–Whitney test, and the entire time series was sub-divided into two parts: before and after the change point. Arc-Map 9.3 software was utilized to assess the spatial patterns of the trends over the entire state. Annual precipitation exhibited a decreasing trend in 5 out of 18 stations during the whole period. For annual, monsoon and winter periods of precipitation, the slope test indicated a decreasing trend for all stations during 1901–2011. The highest variability was observed in post-monsoon precipitation (77.87 %) and the lowest variability was observed in the annual series (15.76 %) over the 111 years. An increasing trend in precipitation in the state was found during the period 1901–1949, which was reversed during the subsequent period (1950–2011).     

全球地表气温日较差长期趋势的演化特征

基于多维集合经验模态分解方法,利用CRU全球地表气温日较差、最高气温和最低气温资料,开展对1951～2019年全球地表气温日较差长期趋势的演化研究.结果表明:全球地表气温日较差主要呈现下降趋势,并以北半球中高纬度地区为甚,空间差异性较大.全球地表最高气温和最低气温的长期演化趋势则主要表现为上升,且最低气温更为剧烈.从纬...     

Examination of diurnal temperature range at coterminous U.S. stations during Sept. 8–17, 2001

The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 resulted in suspension of commercial flights over North America. It has been suggested that the diurnal temperature range (DTR) increased due to an absence of airplane contrails. This study examined hourly data observed at 288 stations. The average DTR, temperature, maximum/minimum temperature and relative humidity were found for each day in 2001 and compared to the average value occurring during 1975–2005. For the coterminous U.S., the DTR averaged over the period Sept. 11–14, 2001 was about 1°C larger than that found for the 3?days prior and after the flight ban. However, the day-to-day DTR does not correlate well with the flight ban. Plots of the change in DTR throughout North America during Sept. 8–17 show changes consistent with the natural progression of weather systems.     

Temperature trends of Chennai City, India

Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan city in India, and it is one of India's chief industrial and economic growth centers. The temperature change in Chennai is studied in this research by analyzing the mean maximum temperature (MMaxT), mean minimum temperature (MMinT), and mean annual temperature (MAT) from 1951 to 2010. Data are analyzed in three parts by running linear regression and by taking anomalies of all time periods: (a) the whole period from 1951 to 2010; (b) phase 1, 1951–1980; and (c) phase 2, 1981–2010. The trends have been evaluated by Student's t statistics and supported by Mann Kendall rank statistics. The observed change in temperature is positive, which has been clear increasing trends in MMaxT, MMinT, and MAT. MAT has increased 1.3°C since the last 60 years. MMaxT has increased up to 1.6°C, in which the second phase accounts for 75 % of the total change during the last 60 years. MMinT over Chennai has increased 1.0°C. There is a high rise in temperature during winter season.     

Trends and low frequency variability of extra-tropical cyclone activity in the ensemble of twentieth century reanalysis

An objective cyclone tracking algorithm is applied to twentieth century reanalysis (20CR) 6-hourly mean sea level pressure fields for the period 1871–2010 to infer historical trends and variability in extra-tropical cyclone activity. The tracking algorithm is applied both to the ensemble-mean analyses and to each of the 56 ensemble members individually. The ensemble-mean analyses are found to be unsuitable for accurately determining cyclone statistics. However, pooled cyclone statistics obtained by averaging statistics from individual members generally agree well with statistics from the NCEP-NCAR reanalyses for 1951–2010, although 20CR shows somewhat weaker cyclone activity over land and stronger activity over oceans. Both reanalyses show similar cyclone trend patterns in the northern hemisphere (NH) over 1951–2010. Homogenized pooled cyclone statistics are analyzed for trends and variability. Conclusions account for identified inhomogeneities, which occurred before 1949 in the NH and between 1951 and 1985 in the southern hemisphere (SH). Cyclone activity is estimated to have increased slightly over the period 1871–2010 in the NH. More substantial increases are seen in the SH. Notable regional and seasonal variations in trends are evident, as is profound decadal or longer scale variability. For example, the NH increases occur mainly in the mid-latitude Pacific and high-latitude Atlantic regions. For the North Atlantic-European region and southeast Australia, the 20CR cyclone trends are in agreement with trends in geostrophic wind extremes derived from in-situ surface pressure observations. European trends are also consistent with trends in the mean duration of wet spells derived from rain gauge data in Europe.