Aridification of the Warm Season Climate of Astoria, Oregon?

Abstract:

Aridification is a long-term directional change in climate that can be natural or a result of human-induced climate change. Monthly data for the warm season months at Astoria, Oregon, are analyzed using a geographical climatology approach, which emphasizes understanding local conditions using empirical methods. Three indices of aridity that others have modified for use at a monthly time-step (i.e., Lang, de Martonne, and Walter and Lieth) are used to classify climate data for the period 1953 to 2020. Based on all three of the indices, the warm season climate at Astoria, OR, has at least one arid month on a yearly basis and conditions have become more arid during the last 68 years. Linear regression of aridity index values with Palmer’s Z-index and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index values document connections beyond the southern shore of Youngs Bay, Oregon. Geographical climatology findings suggest that the Age of Humans (i.e., the Anthropocene) can be described as a period of increasing aridification for the northwest coast of Oregon.

Keywords: Aridification, warm season, geographical climatology, Astoria Oregon

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