Temperature indices in Norway

The temperature is increasing historically and is projected to rise in future scenarios. This trend is evident both globally and locally in Norway. In Norway, the temperature has increased by about 1.3 degrees Celsius since 1900 and is expected to continue increasing in the future. 

 

Changing temperature, and the impacts on various climate indices, are affecting all parts of the society. Here different temperature indices are studied. Changing temperature affects, among other things, infrastructure, such as roads and buildings. This leads to changes in for instance design values, which again affects the requirements for buildings, such as insulation, cooling and heating. 

 

To study temperature indices, observation based and bias-adjusted daily climate projections with a 1km grid resolution that covers mainland Norway are used. For the two historical normal periods 1961-1990 and 1991-2020, and for the future climate in the periods 2041-2070 and 2071-2100, for three scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and SSP3-7.0. 

 

The result shows for example fewer days with freezing temperatures and more summer days in Norway. Other temperature indices that are studied are climatological seasons, growing season, heat waves, tropical days and days with zero crossings. Mainland Norway stretches from about 58 °N to 71 °N, has a long coastline in the west, high mountains and steep valleys, this leads to huge variations throughout the country and seasons. This affects the temperature indices and are clearly visible in the maps.

 

The Norwegian Centre for Climate Services (NCCS) provides information for climate adaptation and helps municipalities to be robust in a changing climate. Information about changes in temperature indices can be of help and background information for climate adaptation. All authors in this abstract are connected to NCCS.