Increasing large scale windstorm damage in Western, Central and Northern European forests, 1951-2010.

ABSTRACT: Using reports of forest losses caused directly by large scale windstorms (or primary damage, PD) from the European forest institute database (comprising 276 PD reports from 1951-2010), total growing stock (TGS) statistics of European forests and the daily North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, we identify a statistically significant change in storm intensity in Western, Central and Northern Europe (17 countries). Using the validated set of storms, we found that the year 1990 represents a change-point at which the average intensity of the most destructive storms indicated by PD/TGS > 0.08% increased by more than a factor of three. A likelihood ratio test provides strong evidence that the change-point represents a real shift in the statistical behaviour of the time series. All but one of th

SUBMITTER: Gregow H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5388877 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature