The applicability of the Hess-Brezowsky synoptic classification to the description of climate elements in Europe

This thesis deals with the applicability of the Hess-Brezowsky synoptic classification to the description of climate elements, minimal and maximal temperatures and precipitation, in Europe. The first part of the thesis is an overview of the knowledge concerning circulation classifications (with emphasis on the Hess-Brezowsky synoptic classification) and its applicability to the description of climatic elements. In the second part of this thesis, the suitability of the Hess-Brezowsky classification for this purpose in the European domain is analyzed, using the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The test was performed on ECA&D data from 113 climatic stations for the years 1961 - 2000. The suitability of the classification for describing climatic elements at a given station was assessed according to the percentage of the synoptic types, during which the elements' probability distribution functions differed from the rest of the values. The classification was deemed most suitable for describing climatic elements in Germany and its neighboring states and least suitable in the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. The classification was more suitable for the description of minimal and maximal temperatures than precipitation and less suitable for description of all climatic elements in the summer months than..