Analysis of near-surface diurnal temperature variations and trends in southern Mexico

✍ Scribed by Ana Rosa Peralta-Hernandez; Robert C. Balling Jr; Luis R. Barba-Martinez

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 152 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0899-8418
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.1715

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

We assembled daily maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation records for 143 stations in southern Mexico over the period 1960–2004. We found that the average temperature for the region has increased linearly at a rate of 0.086 °C per decade with maximum temperatures increasing at twice that rate and minimum temperatures basically remaining unchanged. This results in a highly statistically significant increase in the diurnal temperature range of 0.160 °C per decade. We found that the variations and trends in maximum temperatures, minimum temperatures and the diurnal temperature range were generally unrelated to various measures of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Variations in regional precipitation amounts could explain 22.6% of the monthly variations in the diurnal temperature range, but not the trend over the 1960–2004 time period. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society