Seasonal behavior in the water quality of the River Tisza around the turn of the 21st Century

Abstract

As a result of climate change witnessed in the 19th-20th Century the meteorological seasonality is going through a change. The question is, how, and to what extent does this affect the seasonal behavior in water quality e.g. in the River Tisza. In the present study the seasonal behavior of the water quality parameters of the River Tisza, the second largest river in Central Europe is assessed using generally applicable and novel method, Combined Cluster and Discriminant Analysis. In the research 15 water quality parameters measured at 14 sampling sites in the Hungarian section of the River Tisza were assessed for the time period 1993 - 2005. As a result it was shown that in time there are basically four temporally similar sections (seasons) in the years in 1993-2005 with
summer and winter four-four months long and fall and spring two-two months long.