THERMAL COMFORT TRENDS AND VARIABILITY IN THE CROATIAN AND SLOVENIAN MOUNTAINS

Mountain meteorological stations played an extremely important role in weather forecasting in the past because they were the only available data source on meteorological conditions several hundred metres above the sea level. Nowadays they are mainly used to estimate the climatic variations and the climate change trends in the environment that is not under the direct influence of the local anthropogenic factors. Two mountain meteorological observatories were chosen to illustrate climatic and bioclimatic trends and variability, Zavizan in Croatian Dinaric Alps and Kredarica in Slovenian Julian Alps. Both have the same monitoring protocol and similar instruments. Because of their unchanged surrounding since time of establishment the data from both observatories are extremely valuable for studying changes in sensitive mountain ecosystems in both countries. Data from the period 1955-2004 were used to assess mountain climatic and bioclimatic variability and trends in Croatia and Slovenia. Results point at the significant increase in the thermal bioclimate index (PET) based on the human energy balance models. At both sites the increase is mainly caused by temperature changes.