Influence of solar activity on the cyclic variations of precipitation in the Baltic region

Abstract

We discuss the influence of solar activity on pluvial precipitation from time series of Lithuania (1910-1993) and Estonia (1866-1993), and using data of sunspots areas (1866-1993). By means of autoregressive and spectral methods for monthly and annual series we obtain significant cycles for solar and terrestrial processes with periods of 6 and 12 months, and 2.5 and 11 years. The analysis of the annual series of Estonian precipitation and sunspot areas features changes in the 11 year cycle, reduced to 9 years between 1915 and 1956; also, a significant oscillation with a period of 5 years in the last 6 decades was determined. The co- spectra of the solar and climatic processes agree with other works and support the common nature of all cycles and the influence of the solar activity on the climate variability.