Abstract
This paper studies temperature evolution in the city of Sfax (Middle Eastern Tunisia, with more than 600 000 people) from 1950 to 2007. Daily maximum and minimum temperatures recorded at Sfax observatory from 1950 to 2007 are analysed by studying their homogeneity, possible trends and their statistical significance. Linear regression, Student and Mann–Kendall trend test were applied to annual mean minimum and maximum temperature data to determine the existence and significance of trends. Using a number of statistical tests, it is found that the data measured at the surface station represent a non homogenous time-series. Furthermore, mean annual and monthly temperatures are evaluated and a statistically significant trend starting from year 1950 was found. Important increase of the surface temperature in the City of Sfax was found after 1984. The increase in the surface temperature in the city of Sfax is further associated with global, regional (e.g. Mediterranean area) and meso-scale temperature increase. In addition, the spatial pattern of surface temperature in the city of Sfax from 1982 to 2007 shows that the overall land surface temperature increased with the expansion of Urban Heat Island (UHI) from urban areas to suburban districts.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Average daily temperature = maximum + minimum temperatures/2
References
Ahrens DC (2008) Meteorology today: an introduction to weather, climate, and the environment, 8th edn. Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove
Angell JK (1993) Comparison of stratospheric warming following Agung, El Chichen and Pinatubo volcanic eruptions. Geophys Res Lett 20:715–718
Bartzokas A, Metaxas DA (1991) Climatic fluctuations of temperature and air circulation in the Mediterranean. In: Duplessey JC, Pons A, Fantechi R (eds) Proceedings of the course on climate and global change of the European School of Climatology and Natural Hazards. Arles, European Commission, Luxembourg, pp 279–298
Bois P (1986) Contrôle des séries chronologiques corrélées par étude du cumul des résidus. Deuxièmes Journées Hydrologiques de l’ORSTOM, Montpellier 89–100
Buishand TA (1982) Some methods for testing the homogeneity of rainfall records. J Hydrol 58:11–27
Carrega P, Dauphiné A (1984) Les températures décadaires a’ Lisbonne et Marseille. Etude de longues series. Revue de Géographie de l’Est 24:65–78
Caussinus H, Mestre O (2004) Detection and correction of artificial shifts in climate series. Appl Stat 53(3):405–425
Charfi S, Dahech S, Carrega P (2010) Apport de l’imagerie spatiale dans l’étude de l’îlot de chaleur urbain à Tunis : étude multi-scalaire. 23ème colloque de l’Association Internationale de Climatologie, Rennes, 119–124
Colacino M, Rovelli A (1983) The yearly averaged air-temperature in Rome from 1782 to 1975. Tellus 35A:389–397
Conte M, Giuffrida A, Tedesco S (1989) The Mediterranean oscillation. Impact on precipitation and hydrology in Italy. In Conference on Climate, Water, Pub. Of the Academy of Finland, Helsinki, pp 121–137
Dahech S (2007) Le vent à Sfax (Tunisie), impacts sur le climat et la pollution atmosphérique. Thèse de doctorat de l’Université Paris VII, 309 p + annexes
Dahech S, Beltrando G, Bigot S (2005) Utilisation des données NOAA-AVHRR dans l’étude de la brise thermique et de l’Ilot de chaleur à Sfax (sud-est tunisien). Cybergéo 317:19 p
Dahech S, Beltrando G, Henia L (2007) Le sirocco et son impact sur l’agriculture et la qualité de l’air dans la région de Sfax (Tunisie). Sécheress 18(3):177–184
Delfin FG, Sussman D, Ruaya JR, Reyes AG (1992) Hazard assessment of the Pinatubo volcanic-geothermal system: clues prior to the June 15, 1991 eruption. Geotherm Res Counc Trans 16:519–527
Deschamps PY, Phulpin T (1980) Atmospheric correction of infrared measurements of sea surface temperature using channels at 3.7, 11 and 12 μm. Bound Layer Meteorol 18:131–143
Gaffin SR, Rosenzweig C, Khanbilvardi R, Parshall L, Mahani S et al (2008) Variations in New York City’s urban heat island strength over time and space. Theor Appl Climatol 94:1–11
Gallo KP, Mac Naba L, Karl TR, Brown JF, Tarpley JD (1993) The use of NOAA-AVHRR data for assessment of the urban heat island effect. J Appl Meteorol 32:899–908
Giles BD, Flocas A (1984) Air temperature variations in Greece. Persistence, trend and fluctuations. J Clim 4:531–540
Hamdi R, Schayes G (2008) Sensitivity study of the urban heat island intensity to urban characteristics. Int J Climatol 28:973–982
Hasanean HM (2004) Wintertime surface temperature in Egypt in relation to the associated atmospheric circulation. Int J Climatol 24:985–999
Hénia L (1980) Le sirocco et les types de circulation à sirocco en Tunisie. Revue Tunisienne de Géographie 5:61–87
Hu Y, Jia G (2010) Influence of land use change on urban heat island derived from multi-sensor data. Int J Climatol 30:1382–1395
Hubert P, Carbonnel JP, Chaouche A (1989) Segmentation des séries hygrométriques. Application à des séries de précipitations et de débits de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. J Hydrol 110:349–367
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Working Group 1 contribution to the fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, summary for policymakers, technical summary and frequently asked questions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jolliffe IT (2002) Principal Component Analysis, 2nd edn. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc
Jones PD (1988) Hemispheric surface air temperature variations recent trends and an update to 1987. J Clim 1:654–660
Jones PD, Lister DH (2009) The Urban Heat Island in Central London and urban-related warming trends in Central London since 1900. Weather 65:323–327
Jones PD, Moberg A (2003) Hemispheric and large-scale surface air temperature variations: an extensive revision and an update to 2001. J Clim 16:206–223
Kutiel H, Maheras P (1998) Variations in temperature regime across the Mediterranean during the last century and their relationship with circulation indices. Theor Appl Climatol 61:39–53
Laraque A, Mahé G, Orange D, Marieu B (2001) Spatiotemporal variations in hydrological regimes within Central Africa During the XXth century. J Hydrol 245:104–117
Lee AFS, Heghnian SM (1977) A shift of the mean level in a sequence of independent normal random variables- A Bayesisian approach. Technometrics 19(4):503–506
Lo Vecchio G, Nanni T (1995) The variation of the atmospheric temperature in Italy during the last one hundred years and its relationship with Solar Output. Theor Appl Climatol 51(3):159–165
Maheras P (1983) Climatologie de la mer Egée et de ses marges continentales. Thèse d’Etat, Atelier de Reproduction de Thèse. Universite Lille III, 783 p
Maheras P (1989) Principal component analysis of western Mediterranean air temperature variations 1866–1985. Theor Appl Climatol 39:137–145
Maheras P, Kutiel H (1999) Spatial and temporal variations in the temperature regime in the Mediterranean and their relationship with circulation during the last century. Int J Climatol 19:745–764
Maheras P, Kutiel H, Kolyva-Machera F (1996) Variations spatiales et temporelles des températures hivernales au-dessus de a Méditerranée durant la dernière période séculaire. Publication de l’Association Internationale de Climatologie 9:454–462
Maheras P, Xoplaki E, Kutiel H (1999) Wet and dry monthly anomalies across the Mediterranean basin and their relationship with circulation 1860–1990. Theor Appl Climatol 64:189–199
Metaxas D, Bartzokas A, Vitsas A (1991) Temperature fluctuations in the Mediterranean area during the last 120 years. Int J Climatol 11:897–908
Oke TR (1976) The distinction between canopy and boundary-layer urban heat islands. Atmos 14:268–277
Parker DE, Wilson H, Jones PD, Christy JR, Folland CK (1996) The impact of Mount Pinatubo on world-wide temperatures. Int J Climatol 16:487–497
Peterson TC, Easterling DR, Karl TR, Groisman P, Nicholls N, Plummer N, Torok S, Auer I, Boehm R, Gullett D, Vincent L, Heino R, Tuomenvirta H, Mestre O, Szentimrey T, Salinger J, Forland EJ, Hanssen-Bauer I, Alexandersson H, Jones P, Parker D (1998) Homogeneity adjustments of in situ atmospheric climate data: a review. Int J Climatol 18:1493–1517
Pettitt AN (1979) A non-parametric approach of change-point problem. Appl Statist 28(2):126–135
Repapis C, Philandras C (1988) A note on the air temperature trends of the last 100 years as evidenced in the eastern Mediterranean time series. Theor Appl Climatol 39:93–107
Sahin S, Cigizoglu HK (2010) Homogeneity analysis of Turkish meteorological data set. Hydrolog Process 24:981–992
Serra C, Burguen A, Lana X (2001) Analysis of maximal and minimum daily temperature recorded at Fabra observatory (Barcelona, NE Spain) in the period 1917–1998. Int J Climatol 21:617–636
Solow AR (1987) Testing of climate change: an application of the twophase regression model. J Clim Appl Meteorol 26:1401–1405
Tayanç M, Karaca M, Yenigün O (1997) Annual and seasonal air temperature trends patterns of climate change and urbanization effects in relation with air pollutants in Turkey. J Geophys Res 102(2):1909–1919
Tuomenvirta H (2001) Homogeneity adjustments of temperature and precipitation series -Finnish and Nordic data. Int J Climatol 21(4):495–506
Wijngaard J, Klein Tank AMG, Können GP (2003) Homogeneity of 20th century European daily temperature and precipitation series. Int J Climatol 23(6):679–692
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dahech, S., Beltrando, G. Observed temperature evolution in the City of Sfax (Middle Eastern Tunisia) for the period 1950–2007. Climatic Change 114, 689–706 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0420-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0420-x