Long‐term variability of the low‐level cloud base height in Poland

• Published in: International journal of climatology 2023-06, Vol.43 (8), p.3506-3522
• Main Authors: Matuszko, Dorota, Bartoszek, Krzysztof, Soroka, Jakub
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air temperature; ceilometer; cloud base height (CBH); cloud cover; Clouds; Cumulonimbus clouds; Cumulus clouds; Deforestation; Height; Lower troposphere; low‐level clouds; Meteorology; Poland; Relative humidity; Statistical analysis; Stratocumulus clouds; Stratus clouds; Troposphere; Variability; Water management; Weather stations
• ISSN: 0899-8418; 1097-0088
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.8041

The aim of the study is to characterize the long‐term variability of the low‐level cloud base heights (CBH) in Poland in the years 1971–2020. Data were used from six weather stations belonging to the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – the National Research Institute (IMWM‐NRI), where CBH was first measured using the IWO device and, since the 1990s, using a ceilometer. The analysis allowed for data from eight observation periods (0000, 0300, 0600, 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2100 UTC), which referred to several height ranges (between the ground surface and 2500 m a.s.l.). In the analysed multiyear period, in the cool half of the year, the height of the Cumulonimbus cloud bases increased significantly, that is, the number of cases increased at a height of >1000 m and, in the warm half of the year, at >1500 m. In recent years, the number of cases of the Cumulus cloud with a base at a height between 300 and 999 m has clearly decreased, while it has increased at a height of 1000–1499 m (in October–March) and 1500–1999 m (April–September). A similar increase in CBH was found in the case of the Stratocumulus cloud (their greater share between 1500 and 2499 m). It was only in the case of the Stratus cloud that a lowering of the cloud base was noticed, possibly owing to the imperfect measurement of the fractus species. The positive upward trend in the base height of most low‐level clouds can be explained by a statistically significant increase in temperature and a decrease in relative air humidity in the lower troposphere. The aim of the study is to characterize the long‐term variability of the low‐level cloud base heights in Poland in the years 1971–2020. The positive trend in the increase in the height of the base of Cumulus, Cumulonimbus and Stratocumulus clouds can be explained by a statistically significant increase in air temperature in the lower troposphere.