ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Pluviothermal Regionalization of Poland in Light
of Present-Day Climate Change
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Department of Ecology, Climatology and Air Protection, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying,
University of Agriculture in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
Submission date: 2018-06-17
Final revision date: 2018-10-07
Acceptance date: 2018-11-25
Online publication date: 2019-09-10
Publication date: 2019-12-09
Corresponding author
Agnieszka Ziernicka-Wojtaszek
Department of Ecology, Climatology and Air Protection, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Kraków, al. Mickiewicza 24/28, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(1):989-996
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ABSTRACT
This study presents three new regionalizations based on materials from 1971-2000 and from
1981-2010, and for an assumed scenario of a temperature increase of 1ºC. Heat resources are expressed in
these regionalizations as sums of effective temperatures ≥10ºC, and water resources such as Sielianinov’s
hydrothermal coefficient K from June to August. An increase was found in the area of the moderately
warm region with a sum of temperatures ≥10ºC from 61% in 1931-1960 to 62% in 1971-2000, 87% in the
30-year period 1981-2010, and 73% for the scenario with the assumed 1ºC temperature increase. In the
last case, a new thermal region appeared: a warm region with a sum of temperatures ≥10ºC in the range
of 2800-3200ºC, covering almost the entire remaining area of the country. As warming progresses, in the
absence of clear tendencies for atmospheric precipitation, the climate in Poland is becoming increasingly
dry. Areas classified as dry with a hydrothermal coefficient of 1.0-1.3 increased from 13% of the area of
the country in 1931-1960 to 20% in the 30-year period 1971-2000, 46% in the 30-year period 1981-2010,
and 65% for the scenario with a 1ºC temperature increase.