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Trends in extreme climate events over three Agroecological Zones of Southern Ethiopia

Esayas, Befikadu and Simane, Belay and Teferi, Ermias and Ongoma, Victor and Tefera, Nigussie (2018) Trends in extreme climate events over three Agroecological Zones of Southern Ethiopia. Advances in Meteorology, NA . NA. ISSN 1687-9309

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Abstract

The study aims to assess trends in extremes of surface temperature and precipitation through the application of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) on datasets representing three agroecological zones in Southern Ethiopia. )e indices are applied to daily temperature and precipitation data. Nonparametric Sen’s slope estimator and Mann–Kendall’s trend tests are used to detect the magnitude and statistical significance
of changes in extreme climate, respectively. All agroecological zones (AEZs) have experienced both positive and negative trends of change in temperature extremes. Over three decades, warmest days, warmest nights, and coldest nights have shown significantly
increasing trends except in the midland AEZ where warmest days decreased by 0.017°C/year (p < 0.05). Temperature extreme’s magnitude of change is higher in the highland AEZ and lower in the midland AEZ. )e trend in the daily temperature range shows statistically significant decrease across AEZs (p < 0.05). A decreasing trend in the cold spell duration indicator was observed in all
AEZs, and the magnitude of change is 0.667 days/year in lowland (p < 0.001), 2.259 days/year in midland, and 1 day/year in highland (p < 0.05). On the contrary, the number of very wet days revealed a positive trend both in the midland and highland AEZs (p < 0.05). Overall, it is observed that warm extremes are increasing while cold extremes are decreasing, suggesting considerable changes in the AEZs.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Geography, Earth Science and Environment
Depositing User: Victor Ongoma
Date Deposited: 28 Apr 2019 23:43
Last Modified: 28 Apr 2019 23:43
URI: https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/11446

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