Climatic or non-climatic warming in the spanish mediterranean?

Abstract

The present study validates the conclusions drawn in the Spanish National Plan on Climate Change (1996) on the thermal evolution of the Mediterranean region over the period 1950–1996, rigorously treated by the SNHT (Standard Normal Homogeneity Test). In this context, it was considered judicious to verify twenty years later, in 2016, the validity of the trends obtained and conclusions drawn at the end of the 20th century (1996) regarding the regional climate. In this study, two analytical techniques were used: analysis of the regional temperature trend (1950–2016) and localised experimental verification (2001–2016). The territorial delimitation was intended to provide the thermal series used with greater spatial cohesion. The cohesion was further heightened by two factors. The first was the greater proximity to the experimentally investigated area (2001–2016) of the thermal processes inherent to the urbanisation effect. The second factor was that it included the coastal area facing the Columbretes Islands (28 miles off the coast of Castellón). The island climate series, analysed for the first time, entail a profound revision of the conclusions drawn to date. The conclusions entail, as noted, a profound revision of the trends indicated in our previous studies on the processes inherent to the region’s thermal evolution.