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Changes in temperature extremes and their relationship with ENSO in Malaysia from 1985 to 2018
Author(s) -
Tan Mou Leong,
Juneng Liew,
Tangang Fredolin T.,
Chung Jing Xiang,
Radin Firdaus R. B.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.6864
Subject(s) - climatology , el niño southern oscillation , environmental science , climate extremes , climate change , homogeneity (statistics) , mathematics , statistics , geology , oceanography
Understanding the changes in temperature extremes is important for managing and coping with the risks associated with regional climate change. However, the climatological characteristics of temperature extremes and their variabilities is still not adequately studies in Malaysia. This study evaluates the spatial and temporal variations of temperature extremes over Malaysia for the period 1985–2018. This study includes four phases: (a) collection, quality control and homogeneity analysis of temperature data; (b) general (TXmean, TNmean, TMmean and DTR), warm (TXx, TNx, TX90p and TN90p) and cool (TXn, TNn, TX10p and TN10p) temperature extreme indices calculations; (c) trend analysis of temperature extremes using the Mann‐Kendall and Sens's slope test; and (d) analyses of correlations between temperature extremes and El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The results indicate a warming of surface temperature across Malaysia, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia. In general, TXmean, TNmean and TMmean increased significantly at 5% significance level by 0.12°C/decade, 0.27°C/decade and 0.17°C/decade, respectively. A significant decreasing trend in DTR by 0.12°C/decade is seen, which is related to the higher increasing rate of TNmean. All of the warm extreme indices, TXx, TNx, TX90p and TN90p presents significant increasing trends by 0.19°C/decade, 0.28°C/decade, 2.86%/decade and 3.08%/decade, respectively. For the cool extreme indices, TX10p and TN10p decreased significantly by 0.95%/decade and 3.18%/decade, respectively, though the trend in TXn by 0.11°C/decade is not statistically significant. The only cool index presenting a significant increasing trend is TNn by 0.44°C/decade, indicating a reduction of cool nights. Besides that, major cities in the northern and western parts of Peninsular Malaysia generally exhibit a higher warming trend compared to rural and highland area. These are possibly related to the intensified urban heat island effect under the rapid urbanization. This study also found that the ENSO affected warm extreme indices much stronger than cool extreme indices in Malaysia.