Trend of Climate Variability in North Carolina During the Past Decades

Conference paper

Abstract

Trend of climate variability in North Carolina for the period of 1950–2009 was investigated in this study with annual scale minimum temperature (T min), maximum temperature (T max), mean temperature (T mean), and precipitation data series from 249 evenly distributed meteorological stations. The trends were tested using Mann–Kendall (MK) test. Theil–Sen approach (TSA) and Sequential Mann–Kendall (SQMK) test were also applied to detect the magnitude and abrupt change of trend, respectively. Lag-1 serial correlation and double mass curve analysis were adopted to check the independency and in homogeneity of the data sets, respectively. For most regions and over the period of past 60 years, trend of T min was found increasing (on 73% of the stations) while for T max, it was found decreasing (on 74 % of the stations). Although the difference between T max and T min trends were decreasing, but increasing trend in T mean represent the overall temperature increasing pattern in North Carolina. Magnitude of T max, T min, and T mean were found to be −0.05 °C/decade, +0.08 °C/decade, and +0.02 °C/decade, respectively, as determined by the TSA method. The SQMK test identified a significant positive shift of T mean during 1990s. For precipitation trends analysis, almost equal nos. of stations was showing statewide positive and negative trends in annual time series. Annually, positive (negative) significant trends, seven (three) nos. of stations were observed at the 95 and 99 % confidence levels. A magnitude of precipitation trend of +3.3 mm/decade was calculated by the TSA method. No abrupt shift was found in precipitation data series over the period by the SQMK test.

Keywords

Climate Variability North Carolina 
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Energy and Environmental System DepartmentNorth Carolina A&T State UniversityGreensboroUSA
  2. 2.Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental EngineeringNorth Carolina A&T State UniversityGreensboroUSA

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